THE MANUAL 味玉

Nothing in Ajitama is complicated — there are just a lot of moving parts. This manual is organized by what you're trying to do.

The only thing you ever have to do is log bowls. Everything else is optional depth.

Logging bowls

1 · Live — you're eating it right now

  1. Tap the + button (bottom of every main screen).
  2. Search for the shop and tap it. Not listed? Tap + Add a new shop — name and city are enough. You just put a real shop on the map for everyone.
  3. Pick the dish from the shop's menu, or type its name if it's new.
  4. Rate it — tap or drag the stars; half-stars count.
  5. Tap Save. That's a complete check-in, thirty seconds flat.

With location on and your feet at the shop, the check-in verifies automatically — verified bowls are what ranks and the biggest quests count. Eating the same bowl next week isn't a duplicate; it's a visit. Log it every time.

Optional depth, any time before or after saving

2 · Retroactive — bowls from your past

  1. Start a normal check-in.
  2. Change the visit date on the form to when you actually ate it — last month or last decade.
  3. Save. It files into your journal in date order and counts toward the shop's rating like any other bowl.

One honesty rule: log bowls you actually ate, when you actually ate them. Bowls logged more than two days after the visit earn a quarter of the XP — the game rewards the live hunt — but your journal and the shop's rating treat history as first-class.

3 · Adding a new shop

If the shop isn't listed when you search, you're the first — add it:

  1. Tap + Add a new shop on the check-in form.
  2. Type the shop's name. The app checks for near-matches so a typo doesn't create a twin — if it's already listed under a slightly different name, tap the match instead.
  3. Standing at the shop? Tap Use my location — it pins the shop to where you are and fills in the address for you. This is the best way: the pin is exact, and your check-in verifies.
  4. Not there? Type the city (the address is optional — but multi-location shops need a street address so they don't merge into one).
  5. That's it. Name and a place are enough; everything else can be filled in later, by you or anyone.

Shops are community property: you're putting a real place on the map for everyone, and after a grace period it belongs to the community — others can suggest corrections, and so can you.

4 · Adding a new dish

Same idea — if the bowl you're eating isn't on the shop's menu in the app, name it and it exists:

  1. On the check-in form, type the dish's name as the menu prints it ("Spicy Tonkotsu", "Yuzu Shio").
  2. Nothing else is required. The identity fields — regional style, tare, broth, noodles, format — are all optional, and "not sure" is always a legitimate answer. Skip what you don't know.
  3. If you do pick a regional style, the app fills in the rest for you — choose Hakata and it guesses tonkotsu broth, thin firm noodles, and so on. They're educated defaults, never law: override any field the actual bowl disagrees with.
  4. Declare the standard toppings if you like — future check-ins of this dish (yours and everyone's) pre-fill with them.

Identity is what the bowl is — facts, shared by everyone who logs it. Your sliders and rating are how it tasted — yours alone. Adding a brand-new dish makes you its pioneer, which pays bonus XP and a little immortality.

Finding good ramen

1 · By overall rating

Near me

  1. Open Discover and allow location.
  2. Set the radius; shops rank by their community rating.

Anywhere

  1. Type a city into Discover's search instead — planning a trip works the same as planning dinner.

Filtering

  1. Add filters for style, tare, broth, noodles, or format.
  2. A shop qualifies if any single bowl matches everything you asked for — you're filtering bowls, the shops come along.

Rankings are computed from real check-ins only, weighted so a shop with three perfect ratings can't outrank one with a hundred great ones. No shop can buy its position, ever.

2 · By best ingredient

  1. Open Dendō (gold medal on Discover) → the Bowls board.
  2. Tap the component on the bowl — the bowl itself for overall, or chashu / ajitama for the component ladders: the best ajitama in town is a real, computed answer.
  3. Scope it near me with the distance button, or leave it everywhere.

These ladders come from per-topping ratings on ordinary check-ins — every ajitama you rate makes this answer better.

3 · Search for a shop

  1. By name — type it into Discover's search.
  2. By city — type the city; browse what ranks there.
  3. By style — set a style filter (Hakata, Jiro-kei, tantanmen…) with or without a place.
  4. Stack filters freely; they narrow the same list.

4 · Omakase

  1. On Discover, tap the Omakase stone (the glowing sphere).
  2. Pick your mode: loved (a great bowl, whether or not you've had it) or new (only bowls new to you).
  3. Any filters you've set still apply — "surprise me, but it must be kotteri tonkotsu" is a valid order.
  4. It picks one bowl and tells you why.

5 · Kibun

  1. On Discover, open the Kibun card.
  2. Tap what you're in the mood for — the craving buttons are the same identity filters, worn casually.
  3. Results re-rank around your mood; add a radius to keep it walkable.

6 · Dendō — the best of the best

  1. DENDO card on Home → straight to the heroes ladder.
  2. Gold medal on Discover → the full hall: heroes, bowls, shops, each with near-me scoping.

The shop and bowl ladders are Finding-Good-Ramen tools wearing trophy paint — same honest math as Discover, presented as a hall of fame.

History

1 · Chronological

  1. Open the History tab — every bowl you've ever logged, newest first.
  2. Tap any check-in to revisit it, edit it, or jump to its dish and shop.

2 · By rating

  1. Tap the sort toggle at the top of History and switch from date to rating.
  2. Your personal all-time ranking — the answer to "what's the best bowl I've ever had?" is one tap away.

Corrections & reports

1 · Edit your own fresh addition

  1. Added a shop or dish and typo'd it? For 48 hours it's yours to fix directly: open its page → Edit.
  2. After the grace period it becomes community property, and corrections go through suggestions like everyone else's.

2 · Suggest a change

  1. Open the shop or dish page → Suggest an edit (needs an account — suggestions are signed).
  2. Correct the fields — the name, the address, the broth the menu actually says — and submit.
  3. A human reviews and applies it. You're not editing the record directly; you're testifying, which is why one bad actor can't vandalize a shop.

3 · Report content

  1. A dish — at the bottom of its page, tap Report this dish: duplicate of another dish (you'll pick which one it duplicates), spam, offensive, fake, or other.
  2. A review — tap the ⋯ on any community check-in → Report content: spam/fake, offensive, or other.
  3. Reports go to a human. In beta that human is fast.

4 · Block someone

  1. Tap the ⋯ on any of their check-ins → Block.
  2. Their check-ins, ratings, and photos disappear for you — immediately, everywhere, and from everything you load in the future.
  3. They are never notified, and you can report and block in the same visit.

Rewards

1 · How shops join

Shops sign up at ajitamaapp.com/shops — a plug-and-play punch card with no hardware and no POS integration: they design the card (every 8th bowl free, a birthday reward, whatever), print a QR for the counter, and they're live.

2 · Your workflow (the eater)

  1. Order and pay like a normal human.
  2. Open the Rewards tab → tap Scan → scan the shop's QR at the counter. You need to be at the shop; location proves the visit.
  3. Your punch card stamps. When you earn a reward it appears as a voucher on the Rewards tab.
  4. To redeem: show the voucher at the counter.

3 · The shop's workflow

Some shops scan you instead — staff scans the member card on your Rewards tab and confirms your bowls. Either way the stamps land on the same punch card, and staff honor vouchers at the counter. If your shop issued it, they're obligated to honor it — that's in their agreement with us.

4 · Want your shop on Ajitama Rewards?

  1. Tell them — the pitch is one sentence: "a punch card your customers already carry, no hardware."
  2. Point them at ajitamaapp.com/shops, or send us the shop's name at shops@ajitamaapp.com and we'll reach out.

Rewards pay you for visiting, never for what you rate. Your ratings can't be bought — including with ramen.

Social

I · Nakama

1 · Adding friends

a. Request by username

  1. Social tab → Add a nakama → type their exact username → Ask.
  2. They get a notification; your ask sits in their Requests until they answer.

b. Present or send your friend code

  1. Tap Invite a friend — share your code and send it anywhere (the message includes the app link, so it works on someone who doesn't have Ajitama yet) — or just read your code to the person across the table.
  2. They enter it under Have a friend code? → Redeem → instantly nakama. No accept step: sharing the code is the yes.

c. Awaiting reply — your outgoing asks are listed on the Social tab until answered.

d. What rejection looks like — nothing. Declines are silent by design: a declined ask and an unanswered one look identical to the asker, forever. Nobody gets a "they rejected you" moment, so asking is never risky.

2 · Your friend list

a. The rolodex — your nakama live in a rotary card file. Drag the card sideways (or tap the arrows) to spin the wheel; long-press a card to quietly remove a friend (they're never told).

b. Public palates — tap a friend's card, or their username anywhere in the app, to open their journal — if they've made it public (see Settings). A private palate says so politely.

3 · Osusume

a. What it is — a recommendation with rules: you can only recommend bowls and shops you've logged yourself, and it pays both of you if it lands.

b. Sending one

  1. Open a bowl or shop you've logged → tap Osusume — recommend to a nakama (or use the Social tab's osusume button and pick from your journal).
  2. Tap Send next to each friend. They get one notification and the rec waits on their Social tab, linked to the bowl.

c. The extra XP — if they log it for the first time ever, you're told it landed and you both earn bonus XP. One osusume per bowl per friend, ever — a repeat could never pay, so the app won't let you burn one.

d. History — Pending and History fold under the Social tab's osusume button, with counts.

4 · Off-kai

a. What it is — a broadcast to your nakama: one shop, one time, no chat. The ramen is the conversation.

b. Organizing one

  1. Social tab → Call an off-kai.
  2. Pick the shop (nearest first, searchable, or add a new one).
  3. Tap a day, then a time → Call it.
  4. Every nakama gets one notification. Only you see the answers roll in. Plans change? Call it off — everyone who said In or Maybe is told.

c. Responding to an invitation — the off-kai appears on your Social tab; tap In, Maybe, or Out. You can change your answer until it starts. The host is never listed as a respondent — hosting is going.

d. History — past and cancelled off-kai simply leave the board; the record of the meal is the check-ins everyone logs at the table.

II · Cards

a. What it is — your player card is your business card. Collecting someone's card is not friending them, by design: meeting someone once is a card; friendship is chosen.

b. The ceremony

  1. Social tab → Cards.
  2. Show your card — your counterpart scans it with their phone. Then scan theirs. Two collectors, two cards, ten seconds.

c. The binder — collected cards live in a leather binder, four to a page. Swipe to turn pages; tap a pocketed card to pull it out, tap again to flip it over.

Profile

I · Getting there

Tap the profile bust top-right on any screen — it sits beside the notification bell everywhere.

II · Journal sync status

Signed in, your journal backs up automatically. The Profile screen shows the sync state: how many bowls are safely on the server and whether any are still waiting. "Pending" just means "next time you're online"; nothing is lost. Guests sync nothing — the journal lives on the device until an account exists.

III · The scoreboard

Your career stats, baseball-card style: bowls, shops, and average by season (year), lifetime totals, and your best bowl as the highlight line. It's computed from your journal — retro-log your history and your early seasons fill in.

IV · Your player card

1. The front — your hero, your username, your team banner, your rank and level.

2. The back — the scoreboard in card form: season rows, totals, the highlight.

3. How you get one — reach D-rank and create your hero (Profile → Create your Hero): pick a base, open the card pack, and swipe through the whole set before you choose — because once you vow a player with bowls in your journal, the vow is forever.

4. Exchanging it — see Cards; your player card is exactly what the meishi ceremony trades.

V · Kuesuto

1. What it is — the quest board. Profile → tap the wooden quest plaque to open it.

2. The types

3. Quests are never retroactive — a bulk import of old bowls ticks at most one day's dailies. The clock only moves forward.

VI · Dendō from here

The heroes ladder ranks every player by XP — top three stand on the podium wearing their vowed player. Tap any hero to open their public palate (if they've opened it). Your own rank climbs by the rules in Kuesuto and Logging: depth beats volume, verified beats couch.

Settings

I · Getting there

Profile → the Settings icon.

II · What you can configure

III · Deleting your account

  1. Settings → Account → Delete account.
  2. We email you a code; type it back (proves it's really you, really now).
  3. Type your username to confirm, and it's done.

⚠ This is permanent. Your journal, check-ins, photos, XP, rank, and hero are erased and cannot be recovered. Shops and dishes you added stay on the map — they're real places the community shares — with your name removed.

Notifications

I · The types

II · Turning them on or off

Ajitama asks for permission once; after that it's your phone's controls: iPhone Settings → Notifications → Ajitama; Android Settings → Apps → Ajitama → Notifications.

III · What you'd miss

Everything above is one-shot and quiet — there are no streaks, no "come back!" nags, no marketing pushes, so turning notifications off mostly means missing people: a friend's ask sitting unanswered, an off-kai you'd have joined, an osusume gone cold. The in-app bell (top right) still collects asks and rewards, but only when you look.

For shop owners

1 · Claim your shop

  1. Your shop is probably already on the map — a customer put it there. To take the wheel, email shops@ajitamaapp.com from your shop's public email (or point us at it), and a human verifies you're really the shop.
  2. There's deliberately no "claim" button in the app — a human gatekeeper is what keeps impostors off your listing.

2 · The owner portal

Once verified, ajitamaapp.com/portal is yours: fix your listing (hours, contact, links), upload your logo, and run your rewards program from any browser. No hardware, no POS integration, no app to install behind the counter.

3 · Rewards, your side

  1. Design the punch card in the portal — "every 8th bowl free," a freebie at ten, a birthday reward: real punch-card grammar.
  2. Print the counter QR straight from the portal. Customers scan it when they visit; GPS keeps the stamps honest.
  3. Prefer to stay in control? Scan the customer's member card with any phone instead — no customer self-scans needed.
  4. Print one-time handout cards for comps, apologies, and VIPs — each code works exactly once.
  5. When a customer shows a voucher your shop issued, honor it — that's part of the deal, and it's in the terms.

4 · What you can't do — ever

The honest version of the pitch: your regulars are already logging your bowls. Claiming just means you get the wheel — and the punch card their loyalty deserves.