Challenge

What's an ESPL challenge?

A “box” that holds the reason to walk

The core concept of ESPL is the “challenge”. This page explains the idea and the basic flow at the concept level. Specific operational steps will be added on dedicated pages over time.

01 / What is it

What's a challenge

An ESPL challenge is a single box that combines a step goal, a period, a sponsorship, and a recipient — the reason to walk made tangible.

Unlike apps that only record steps, the moment you create a challenge, “by when, how many steps, for whom” is settled. You can run one solo, or build one alongside family and friends.

02 / Flow

The basic flow

A challenge runs through roughly these four steps. Detailed operational steps will be covered on dedicated pages over time.

  1. Create or join a challenge

    Decide on a step goal and period, then create your own challenge or join one someone else has created.

  2. Stake the sponsorship (if any)

    For challenges with a sponsorship, the Sponsor stakes it. The sponsorship and the distribution rules are held on a smart contract.

  3. Walk during the period

    Steps are pulled from your health data (HealthKit / Google Fit, etc.) and flow into the challenge automatically.

  4. Distribute by outcome at the end

    On success, the sponsorship goes to the success-case recipient. On a miss, it goes to the failure-case recipient — following the rules set in advance.

03 / Three Roles

The three roles (high level)

A challenge runs on three roles: the Challenger (the walker), the Sponsor (who funds the sponsorship), and the Receiver (who receives it).

  • Illustration of a Challenger — the person who walks

    Challenger

    The one who walks

    The person who takes on the challenge and aims to meet the step goal. You can set yourself, or someone you want to support — family, a friend, etc.

  • Illustration of a Sponsor — the one who funds the sponsorship

    Sponsor

    The one who funds the sponsorship

    The person who creates the challenge and backs the walker. Sets the step goal, period, sponsorship, and recipients. The Challenger themselves can serve as Sponsor, or it can be a family member or a company.

  • Illustration of a Receiver — the one who receives the sponsorship

    Receiver

    The one who receives the sponsorship

    The person or organization that receives the sponsorship based on the outcome. Can be the walker, family, friends, or a charity — and you can set different recipients for the success and failure cases.

One person can play more than one role. For example: you sponsor yourself, you walk, and family is the recipient — that's a valid design.

04 / Outcome

How success and miss are handled

When a challenge ends, the sponsorship is distributed according to the outcome.

On success — the sponsorship reaches the pre-set success-case recipient
Success → reaches the success-case recipient
On a miss — the sponsorship reaches the pre-set failure-case recipient
Miss → reaches the failure-case recipient
  • Success → reaches the pre-set “success-case recipient”
  • Miss → reaches the pre-set “failure-case recipient”

In either case, the sponsorship never disappears. It's distributed automatically — without any human in the loop — according to the rules the Sponsor set in advance.

The failure-case recipient is freely configurable: refunded to the Sponsor, sent to a charity, sent to another family member, and so on.

Note: specific operational steps for creating a challenge, joining one, and sending steps will be added on dedicated pages over time.

Next

What to read next

Continue with the thinking behind a challenge, and with JPYC — the unit of sponsorship.