Unless one player is master level, the set of islands selected for the game is determined by the rank of the more highly ranked player. Since the more highly ranked player will usually be the yayger, this means that the yayger will have more knowledge of the island than the forsher, which helps the yayger to force a battle. Additionally, the lower ranked player will be less familiar with the island and will have to explore in order to find the zonenstrall. When one player is master level, the set of islands is determined by the rank of her opponent. Since the opponent should already be somewhat familiar with the island, this will give the opponent more of a chance of getting to the zonenstrall. When both players are master level, the islands will be randomly generated so that both players can compete on even footing.
When playing against the computer, the computer's rank is based on the player's rank. As several games are played, the player's rank compared to the computer's rank will vary. Therefore, the player will have to be able to beat the computer as both the forsher and the yayger to continue advancing.