The basics
Tap to hop one row forward, swipe left or right to side-step, and swipe down to hop back. On a keyboard, use the up arrow, W or Space to hop forward, left and right or A and D to side-step, and down or S to hop back. Your score is the furthest row you reach, so stepping back to dodge something costs you nothing.
1. Roads: read the lane, then commit
Every lane has its own speed and direction, and road lanes side by side always run in opposite directions. Cars are short; trucks are longer but a little slower. Watch the lane for a moment, wait until a vehicle has passed the space in front of you, and hop.
A hop is quick, but for the first half of it you still count as being in the row you left. Do not wait until the last instant to hop away from a car that is about to reach you.
2. Rivers: ride the logs
Water is deadly, so you cross rivers on floating logs and lily pads. You land on the nearest part of a log, and logs carry you sideways as they drift. Being carried off the edge of the screen counts as a splash, so hop forward early rather than riding a log to the end.
Rows of lily pads do not move at all, and there is always at least one pad to land on. They only appear partway through a river, never as its first row, and give you a moment to breathe.
3. Railways: trust the light
Trains are far faster than any car and cross the screen almost instantly. A warning light flashes and a bell rings about a second and a half before a train arrives. If the light is flashing, wait on the row before the tracks. Once the train has passed you have a few seconds before the next one, so go straight away.
4. Grass: plan around trees
Trees and rocks block your way on grass, and bumping into one wastes a moment. There is always at least one open route through the trees, but it can wander left or right, so look a couple of rows ahead and side-step early instead of getting boxed in while the camera closes in.
5. Keep moving: the hawk is watching
After your first hop forward, the camera starts creeping ahead on its own, and it creeps faster the further you get. If you fall behind the bottom of the screen, a hawk swoops in and ends the run, and a red glow at the bottom edge is your warning. Waiting for the right gap is good; waiting for three of them is how you meet the hawk.
6. Collect coins for hats
Coins appear on some grass rows. They are saved across all your runs, and at 20, 60 and 150 coins your chick unlocks a cap, a party hat and then a crown. Only grab a coin if it is on your way: a sideways detour while the camera creeps forward is rarely worth it.
How the difficulty ramps up
The first rows are gentle and early traffic moves a little slower. Rivers appear after the first dozen rows and railways after about twenty. From there, road sections get more lanes, traffic gets faster, the gaps between cars get tighter and logs get shorter. The difficulty keeps rising for roughly the first two hundred rows, then holds steady.
Bronze is 25 rows, silver 60 and gold 120. The Daily Challenge gives every player the same world to cross, so it is the fairest way to compare distances with friends.
Common mistakes
- Hopping the moment a car passes without checking the next lane.
- Riding a log to the edge of the screen.
- Crossing the tracks while the warning light is flashing.
- Waiting on the grass so long that the hawk catches up.
Try it now: read the lanes, keep a steady rhythm and see how many rows you can cross.