Assembly Competitions Guide — Winning the Device Contests

Overview

Assembly competitions are ReStory's contest layer: timed device assembly challenges separate from normal walk-in orders, where speed and correctness earn you wins — and one prize that money cannot buy. They're also the gate for three achievements and for the only license that is won rather than purchased. This guide collects everything documented about them so far.

What Assembly Competitions Are

Standalone contests you enter and must win — they appear later in the campaign
Contest format: assemble a device against the clock/against competitors, judged on correctness and speed
Winning is the point: participation alone doesn't unlock the rewards below

⚠️ Note: detailed competition mechanics (round structure, scoring, difficulty scaling) are still being mapped post-launch — the community is documenting them as runs complete. What's confirmed is the reward structure, which is solid.

The Competition License

One license cannot be bought — it must be won in the device assembly competition that appears later in the campaign. This is the missing piece of the license collection:

It's part of the full license roster (see the License Guide)
Owning every license is the requirement for the Platinum Partner achievement
So a 100% run (and the best license perks) is impossible without winning the competition at least once

Competition Achievements

Achievement	Condition
Promise of Akiba	Win a device assembly competition for the first time
Star of Akiba	Win three device assembly competitions
Legend of Akiba	Win at least one assembly competition for every device type

The third is the completionist entry: it's not about total wins — you need a win in every device category the competitions cover, which means competing across the whole catalog.

How to Prepare

Master the Assembly Order

Competitions test what the Repair Process Guide covers: disassemble → clean → repair → reassemble, in the right order. Speed comes from knowing the sequence before the clock starts.

Practice the Tricky Devices

Devices that give walk-in customers trouble will give the competition the same trouble — but you have no second chances. The Repair Process Guide's hardest-repairs section (Nony Goman, small-board phones, soldering jobs) is your study sheet.

Build a Parts Library

Competition builds need parts on hand — waiting to source components burns time. The Money & Profit Guide's spare-parts strategy (mystery boxes, stripping used devices) is what fills your bins before you enter.

Prioritize Correctness Over Speed at First

One clean, slow win beats a fast failure. Win once (Promise of Akiba), then optimize for speed once the format is familiar.

Nony Goman Assembly Steps for Competitions

The Nony Goman cassette player is the hardest job in the launch catalog, which makes it the one device worth drilling before a competition clock starts. The repair process is the same every time:

Set aside the whole bench. Do not run other complex jobs while a Nony Goman is open — competition time is the worst place to juggle two assemblies.
Disassemble with the right screwdriver and a consistent order. Wrong sizes strip screws, and a stripped screw costs time you do not have.
Separate the mechanism parts from the case screws. Zone the bench: cassette mechanism on one side, shell hardware on the other.
Clean every gear and roller. Cassette players fail on sticky mechanisms more than dead electronics, and dirt is the most common "broken" symptom.
Reassemble in the notepad's assembly order. The moving parts must go back in sequence — the notepad lists the order and the spacebar hint highlights parts you cannot find.
Check the notepad and Sonic Bath before ordering a part. A "missing" part may be on the table or still in a cleaning cycle.

Practise that sequence until it is muscle memory, then take it into a competition. The same approach transfers to the other trouble spots — tiny phone boards and soldering jobs — which the Repair Process Guide covers in full.

Strategy for "Legend of Akiba" (Every Device Type)

Enter every competition you see. Wins in different categories require entering as categories rotate
Track which device types you've won. The achievement needs every type — keep a checklist across the full Device Database
License order matters. The License Guide recommends phones early (they appear constantly); competition categories likely follow the same unlock structure, so early licenses mean more competition types available sooner

Next steps: Understand how the competition license fits the full progression in the License Guide, and study the devices you'll be racing on in the Device Database.