# Desert Bus Westfalia Edition

Public browser tribute game for the 1979 VW Westfalia Desert Bus endurance premise.

Base URL: https://desertbus.platphormnews.com
Version: 0.1.0
Updated: 2026-06-24T03:18:46.344Z

## Product Identity
Desert Bus is the public browser tribute game. Trace, MCP, Docs, Sheets, Decks, BrowserOps, and other PlatPhorm services are integrations, not this site identity.

## Canonical Gameplay
- Route: Jerome, Arizona -> La Jolla, San Diego
- Distance: 360 miles
- Nominal speed: 45 mph
- Canonical duration: 08:00:00
- Scoring: 1 point per completed canonical run
- No pause in canonical play
- Steering pulls left; player must steer right
- Dateland milestone: mile 180

## Persistence Policy
- Local leaderboard and run history are browser-local in Phase 1.
- Server/global leaderboard persistence is degraded and future protected.
- No fake leaderboard entries are published.

## Charity Policy
- Desert Bus for Hope: https://desertbus.org/ (Outbound only. This site does not process or route donations.)
- Childs Play Charity: https://childsplaycharity.org/ (Outbound only. This site does not process or route donations.)
- Support Childs Play: https://childsplaycharity.org/get-involved (Outbound only. Support actions happen on Childs Play systems, not PlatPhormNews.)
- Unofficial fan tribute. Not affiliated with Penn & Teller, Absolute Entertainment, LoadingReadyRun, Desert Bus for Hope, or Childs Play.

## Public Access
- Public-safe gameplay, docs, discovery, health, RSS/sitemap, and read-only MCP introspection are open by default.
- Future protected actions use PLATPHORM_API_KEY only when PLATPHORM_REQUIRE_API_KEY=true.

## MCP
- GET /api/mcp returns metadata and usage.
- POST /api/mcp accepts JSON-RPC 2.0 initialize, ping, tools/list, tools/call, resources/list, resources/read, prompts/list, prompts/get.
- Tools: get_game_info, get_game_rules, get_route_info, list_milestones, get_milestone, get_leaderboard, get_local_run_schema, list_charity_links, validate_charity_links, get_story_sections, get_polaroids, get_health, get_info, get_route_compliance, get_discovery_compliance, create_docs_report, create_sheet_report, create_deck_summary

## Routes
- /: Playable Desert Bus Westfalia Edition homepage.
- /play: Public playable game cockpit.
- /how-to-play: Controls, canonical rules, and accessibility notes.
- /leaderboard: Browser-local leaderboard and global persistence status.
- /history: Original Desert Bus context and tribute disclaimer.
- /charity: Official outbound charity links and donation policy.
- /story: Westfalia road-trip story layer.
- /dateland: Halfway milestone and route context.
- /polaroids: Accessible story image gallery.
- /faq: Public frequently asked questions.
- /about: Site purpose and platform contract summary.
- /privacy: Browser-local storage and no-account policy.
- /terms: Tribute terms and safety notes.
- /disclaimer: Unofficial tribute and external donation disclaimer.
- /stats: Browser-local player stats page.

## API Endpoints
- GET /api/health: Health summary with honest degraded states.
- GET /api/v1/health: Versioned health summary.
- GET /api/v1/game: Game metadata and rules.
- GET /api/v1/game/state-schema: Local game state schema.
- GET /api/v1/game/rules: Canonical and non-canonical mode rules.
- GET /api/v1/runs/local-schema: Browser-local run schema.
- GET /api/v1/leaderboard: Leaderboard policy and ephemeral server cache.
- GET /api/v1/route: Route and landmarks.
- GET /api/v1/milestones: Route milestones including Dateland.
- GET /api/v1/charity-links: Official external charity links.
- GET /api/v1/story: Story sections.
- GET /api/v1/polaroids: Accessible polaroid gallery metadata.
- GET /api/events: Event capability metadata.
- GET /api/v1/events: Versioned event capability metadata.
- POST /api/v1/events: Bounded event validation scaffold; future protected sync.
- POST /api/webhooks: Webhook validation scaffold.
- POST /api/v1/webhooks: Versioned webhook validation scaffold.
- GET /api/v1/webhooks/status: Webhook degraded status.
- GET /api/v1/integrations/games: Games/BBS integration status.
- GET /api/v1/integrations/status: Cross-site integration status.
- GET /api/mcp: MCP metadata and usage.
- POST /api/mcp: JSON-RPC 2.0 MCP endpoint.
- GET /api/cron/refresh: Bounded refresh preview/status.
- POST /api/cron/refresh: Bounded refresh job.

## Story Sections
- The Original Joke: Desert Bus began as an intentionally monotonous driving game in Penn & Teller: Smoke and Mirrors.
- Westfalia Edition: This browser tribute places the endurance premise inside a 1979 VW Westfalia road-trip cockpit.
- Charity Awareness: Official donation links point players to Desert Bus for Hope and Childs Play without implying affiliation or local donation processing.

## Polaroids
- Westfalia in the Desert: /images/westfalia-hero.jpg
- Dateland Halfway: /images/dateland-sign.jpg
- Date Shake Stop: /images/date-shake.jpg
- Desert Road Clouds: /images/polaroid-desert-clouds.jpg

## Trust Policy
Public-safe browser-based Desert Bus gameplay, local non-sensitive run history, local leaderboard entries, official charity outbound links, story/history browsing, read-only MCP introspection, RSS/feed consumption, trusted-domain discovery, standard route compliance, Vercel metadata capture, backend model scaffolding, and trace-linked Desert Bus operations are intentionally supported for public entertainment and charity-awareness use. This is an unofficial tribute and does not process donations. PLATPHORM_API_KEY support is scaffolded for future protected backend services, global leaderboard persistence, event ingestion, webhook operations, sync, test-triggering, reporting, administrative actions, and sensitive operations.