Cube Trap

The pitch

The room looks simple. Five steps to the door you want, level floor, no enemies. You start walking — and the floor drops out from under you. A 3D platformer that lies to your face. The platform slides away at the exact instant you jump. The ceiling comes down the moment you stand still. The controls flip to mirror mode halfway down a corridor. Gravity turns over, and the sky becomes the floor. And the door you were heading for sidesteps two paces and slams shut. Nothing here is random: every dirty trick fires the same way every single time. The first time it kills you; the second time it doesn't. Death is instant and costs you nothing — the little cube guy bursts into parts and half a second later he's standing at the start again. Losing is impossible. The only thing you can do is fail to catch on.

Controls & how it runs

The goal is simple: reach the green door. The hard part is that the level will fight you. PC: WASD or arrow keys — move Space — jump (hold longer to jump higher) Hold mouse button and drag — rotate camera R — restart level Esc — pause Mobile: Touch the left half of the screen — a joystick appears; drag your finger in the direction you want to go Button on the right — jump (hold = higher) Swipe anywhere on the free part of the screen — rotate camera

Getting a run going takes exactly one press: Press start, up top, and the game boots inside this page — nothing downloads in the background and no form wants your details before the first jump. The cabinet is drawn for a portrait (upright) screen and listens to mouse, keyboard or touch, whichever the game prefers. This cabinet stands tall: it was built for portrait screens, so a phone held upright gives it the frame it wants — though it will squeeze politely into any window. Given a fullscreen button, use it — scores look better at full size, that's just science.

Pro tips for arcade cabinets

Treat your first run as a scouting mission. Arcade cabinets hide their cruelty in the second minute, not the first — learn where the difficulty spikes before you start chasing numbers.
Small scores compound. Grab the easy pickups on every pass instead of gambling the whole run on one heroic line; heroes respawn, banked points don't evaporate.
Watch the edges of the screen. In classic arcade design the next problem almost always enters from somewhere you weren't looking — build the habit of scanning the borders.

Cube Trap — quick-fire questions

Does Cube Trap cost anything to play?

Not a token. The cabinet is free from the first run to the five-hundredth — no wallet, no sign-up, no toll booth hiding three levels in. The adverts around the page are what keep the floor's lights on.

What sort of game is Cube Trap?

It stands on our Arcade row — that's the family it plays most like. The pitch above is the publisher's own rundown of what it throws at you and what it hands back.

Can I play Cube Trap on my phone?

Happily, yes. It runs inside the browser on phones and tablets the same way it does on a computer. This cabinet stands tall: it was built for portrait screens, so a phone held upright gives it the frame it wants — though it will squeeze politely into any window.

Do I need to install anything first?

Nothing whatsoever. Cube Trap is an HTML5 game: hit the start button and it boots on this page, and shutting the tab sweeps the cabinet clean behind you.

Before you wander off

Personal best banked, or still chasing it? Either way the full Arcade row is powered on and waiting — The main floor: 415 cabinets of pure arcade stock — the quick, the loud and the gloriously unfair. If it beeps, flashes and dares you to beat a number, it lives on this row.