diff --git a/src/data/User.js b/src/data/User.js
index 7771521..74b51f2 100644
--- a/src/data/User.js
+++ b/src/data/User.js
@@ -180,9 +180,19 @@ class User {
   }
 
   incrementPixelcount(amount = 1) {
-    if (this.regUser) {
-      incrementPixelcount(this.regUser, amount);
+    if (!this.id) {
+      return;
     }
+    /*
+     * incrementation gets queued to be processed
+     * in batches
+     */
+    if (!this.queuedPxlIncrement) {
+      this.queuedPxlIncrement = amount;
+      incrementPixelcount(this);
+      return;
+    }
+    this.queuedPxlIncrement += amount;
   }
 
   async getTotalPixels() {
diff --git a/src/data/sql/RegUser.js b/src/data/sql/RegUser.js
index b0f9158..e367a87 100644
--- a/src/data/sql/RegUser.js
+++ b/src/data/sql/RegUser.js
@@ -205,44 +205,75 @@ export async function getNamesToIds(ids) {
 }
 
 /*
- * increment user pixelcount in a batched transaction
+ * increment user pixelcount in batches sequentially
+ * Queue directly accesses queuedPxlIncrement in user object
  */
 const incrementQueue = [];
 let pushLoop = null;
+let lastLog = 0;
 const incrementLoop = async () => {
   if (!incrementQueue.length) {
     pushLoop = null;
     return;
   }
   try {
-    await sequelize.transaction(async (t) => {
-      while (incrementQueue.length) {
-        const [model, amount] = incrementQueue.pop();
-        // eslint-disable-next-line no-await-in-loop
-        await model.increment(
-          ['totalPixels', 'dailyTotalPixels'],
-          { by: amount, transaction: t },
-        );
-      }
-      return true;
+    incrementQueue.sort((a, b) => {
+      const aa = a.queuedPxlIncrement;
+      const ba = b.queuedPxlIncrement;
+      if (aa < ba) return -1;
+      if (aa > ba) return 1;
+      return 0;
     });
+    let cnt = incrementQueue.length;
+    let user = incrementQueue.pop();
+    while (cnt) {
+      cnt -= 1;
+      const amount = user.queuedPxlIncrement;
+      user.queuedPxlIncrement = 0;
+      const ids = [user.id];
+      while (cnt) {
+        cnt -= 1;
+        user = incrementQueue.pop();
+        if (user.queuedPxlIncrement !== amount) {
+          break;
+        }
+        user.queuedPxlIncrement = 0;
+        ids.push(user.id);
+      }
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-await-in-loop
+      await RegUser.increment(['totalPixels', 'dailyTotalPixels'], {
+        by: amount,
+        where: {
+          id: ids,
+        },
+        silent: true,
+        raw: true,
+        // TODO: remove this after testing
+        logging: (msg) => {
+          const now = Date.now();
+          if (now - 5000 > lastLog) {
+            lastLog = now;
+            logger.warn(msg);
+          }
+        },
+      });
+    }
   } catch (err) {
-    logger.warn(`Error on batched incrementing pixelcounts: ${err.message}`);
+    logger.warn(`Error on pixel increment: ${err.message}`);
+    incrementQueue.forEach((q) => {
+      if (q) q.queuedPxlIncrement = 0;
+    });
+    incrementQueue.length = 0;
   }
-  pushLoop = setTimeout(incrementLoop, 50);
+  pushLoop = setTimeout(incrementLoop, 250);
 };
 // TODO remove this after testing
 setInterval(() => {
   // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
   console.log('INCREMENTATION QUEUE SIZE', incrementQueue.length, pushLoop);
 }, 300000);
-export async function incrementPixelcount(model, amount) {
-  const exists = incrementQueue.find((q) => q[0] === model);
-  if (exists) {
-    exists[1] += amount;
-  } else {
-    incrementQueue.push([model, amount]);
-  }
+export async function incrementPixelcount(user) {
+  incrementQueue.push(user);
   if (!pushLoop) {
     pushLoop = setTimeout(incrementLoop, 0);
   }