How the port sweep hack works
The grid is four rows of six ports, each with a number, and it starts dark. The scan is a wave: it runs along the top row and then each row below, lighting every port for a moment as it passes — green if the port is open, red if it is closed — and each port goes dark again as the wave moves on. Three ports are open. When the wave has crossed the last row, you probe the three you saw. The first sweep takes a little over a second; the second and third are faster.
Two wrong probes are allowed across the whole run; the third ends it. So does thirty seconds on any single scan. The score is the total time from the first scan starting to the last open port found, and a run that ends early scores its time plus ten seconds for every open port still unfound.
This is the 5.0 port sweep as players describe it: a sweep across the grid, then probing from memory with a strike limit. It is a visual memory task where the exposure is not a snapshot but a moving line — each port is visible for well under half a second, and never at the same time as the others.
Benchmento is not affiliated with Rockstar Games, NoPixel or any roleplay server. These are original implementations built from descriptions of how the minigames work, for practice in the browser.
What counts as a fast sweep
| Total time | Standing |
|---|---|
| Under 8s | Exceptional |
| 8 – 10s | Fast |
| 10 – 13s | Solid |
| 13 – 20s | About average |
| 20 – 34s | Hesitating |
| Over 34s | Struck out |
The three sweeps alone take about three seconds, so a perfect run is a little over that plus three quick clicks per grid. Most of the time in an average run is hesitation before the second click — the moment you realise the picture has already started to fade.
How to sweep faster
- Encode positions as the wave passes. "Row two, columns one and five; row four, column three." You never see the whole grid at once, so you are building the picture one row at a time — say each position to yourself as it lights.
- Click in the order you memorised. Deciding which to probe first wastes the seconds your memory is strongest. Take them in the order you read them.
- Use the port numbers as anchors. They stay visible after the scan. If you noted that an open port read 1481, you can find it again without counting cells.
- Spend a strike rather than a scan. If you are torn between two adjacent ports, probing both costs at most one strike; hesitating costs time on every remaining scan.
- Follow the wave, do not scan ahead of it. Your eye wants to jump to the next row early. Stay on the lit port until it goes dark, then move with the sweep.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the NoPixel 5.0 port sweep hack?
It is an independent recreation built from descriptions of how the 5.0 port sweep plays: a brief scan of a port grid, then probing the open ones from memory with a strike limit. It is not connected to any server and is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or NoPixel.
How long is the scan?
It is a sweep, not a hold. Each port lights for well under half a second as the wave passes over it, and the whole grid takes a little over a second on the first sweep and less on the next two. You can probe the moment the wave has crossed the last row.
What happens on a wrong probe?
It costs a strike. You have two across the whole run; the third ends it. A wrong probe does not reset the current grid.
Are there always three open ports?
Yes, three on every scan, in random positions. The count is fixed so the task is remembering where, not how many.
What is the score?
Total seconds from the first scan to the last open port found, across all three grids. A run that ends on strikes or time scores what you had plus ten seconds per port left unfound.