Guides
Beginner Guide
How to Play covers the buttons. This page is about using them on purpose: which threat to respect first, when a token is worth the jump, and how to turn ten messy runs into a farther mile count.
What to focus on first
Ignore the Skin Shop, the board, and weekly challenges until you can land a gap without panic-jumping. The course auto-runs. Your only job in the first sessions is staying on platforms. Miles are the score. Everything else is optional until you stop falling.
Start from Play so the run can sync. Read How to Play if the keys or swipes are still fuzzy. Then take short runs and watch the next ledge, not the HUD.
Learning obstacle timing
The course is not a flat road. Connected stretches let you idle. Gaps need a jump with enough hang time to clear the hole. Moving ledges drift, so the landing you saw a beat ago may have slid. Stacked decks put a high platform over a low one — duck under the top if you want the lower line, or jump if you want the upper one.
Look one platform ahead. If the next piece is still connected, keep running. If you see empty air, jump on the last solid ground, not in the middle of the previous ledge. If the next ledge is bobbing, wait until it is swinging toward you, then jump. Late jumps get later as miles climb, because cruise speed ramps and then caps. The same gap that felt honest at mile 5 wants an earlier press at mile 40.
When to jump, duck, or dodge
Jump for gaps and for the upper deck. You get a grounded jump and one extra jump in the air, slightly weaker. Save the double jump for a missed first jump or a wide hole. Burning it on every hop leaves you with nothing when the platform ends.
Duck only works on the ground. It shrinks your hitbox so you can slide under a stacked platform. If you are already airborne, land first. Swiping down and swiping left will not fire on the same gesture, so pick one.
Dodge is a short reverse dash, not a new movement mode. Use it when a Cryptic Eagle is about to occupy the space you are running into. For a moment you slip through instead of eating the hit, then auto-run carries you forward again. Do not dodge to “explore backward.” Eagles that have already passed behind you are not what kills you.
Using power-ups on purpose
Tokens sit with the gold. Silver is scarcest, then purple, then blue. Each lasts ten seconds and picking the same color again resets that timer.
Purple 2× doubles gold only. Take it when you can see a coin line, not as a default pickup if the next stretch is a blind gap. Blue shield is the fight button: a shielded bump destroys a normal eagle and chips one of three hits off a boss. If a weekly challenge says “without ever using a shield,” leave blue on the platform for that run. Silver pulls gold toward you. It does not pull tokens, so you still jump for the color you actually need.
Coin collection vs survival
Gold is greed. Miles are the board. If a coin sits on the far edge of a moving ledge and the next gap is already open, skip it. A live run with a modest coin count still credits the wallet after a verified finish. A dead run chasing one gold credits nothing from that attempt.
The exception is a weekly coin challenge. Then a purple stretch is worth planning around. Even then, do not jump off the course for a token. Survival still wins.
How longer runs change
There is no separate “hard mode.” Cruise speed rises with miles and then caps. Platforms keep mixing gaps, stacks, and movers. Eagles keep spawning ahead. Bosses join later on their own cadence. The night-city backdrop also shifts as miles climb; after 100 miles in one run it becomes the Space Sector sky. None of that changes jump rules.
The skill shift is earlier jumps and treating blue tokens as insurance once birds are on screen. If you feel late, you are late. Jump on the approach, not over the hole. The HUD mile counter and the token timers are the only numbers that matter mid-run. When a purple, blue, or silver clock is ticking, play to that effect for the remaining seconds, then go back to landings. Details of the ramp live on the mechanics page.
Common beginner mistakes
- 1
Holding a forward key. You already auto-run.
- 2
Double-jumping every takeoff. Keep the second jump for mistakes.
- 3
Trying to duck in the air.
- 4
Dodging for fun and backing into a gap.
- 5
Grabbing every blue token on a no-shield challenge week.
- 6
Chasing gold off a moving ledge.
- 7
Fighting a boss without a shield as if it were a coin.
- 8
Starting from a stale tab instead of Play, then wondering why the board ignored the run.
Approaching boss eagles
Bosses are larger, faster, and take three shielded hits. A scrape is not always instant Game Over, but a front-on hit without a shield is still how most runs die. See the bird, find a blue token, then bump. Each bump knocks it back and removes a pip.
If you have no shield, dodge through and return to platforms. Do not empty the double jump on the boss — you still have to land. Boss Hunter weeks are when you go looking for blue on purpose.
Improving leaderboard distance
The Top 50 ranks miles, not coins. Verified runs that start and finish through Play are the ones that can post. Personal best still matters off the board: 100 miles in one run unlocks the Space Sector and Commander Nova in the Skin Shop roster.
Distance comes from not dying. Clean landings beat greedy magnet lines. Use dodge for eagles, shield when you have it, and jump earlier as the mile counter climbs.
A first 10-run plan
Treat these as practice themes, not a quest log. Crash, Try Again, keep the same focus.
- 1
Runs 1–2: only land. Skip coins if they sit near a gap.
- 2
Runs 3–4: one double jump saved for the first wide hole.
- 3
Runs 5–6: duck a stacked deck on purpose once per run.
- 4
Run 7: dodge one eagle instead of jumping into it.
- 5
Run 8: take purple only when gold is already on screen.
- 6
Run 9: take blue when a bird is visible; bump or skip the fight.
- 7
Run 10: play for miles. Ignore the shop until Game Over.
After ten, you should know whether you die to gaps, stacks, or eagles. Practice that one thing next. If a weekly set is up, read the three jobs before run 11 so you do not accidentally grab a blue token on a no-shield week. Controls recap stays on How to Play.
Take the next ten runs
Start from Play, pick one focus, and see if the mile counter moves.