Panellka: Build a Tower

The pitch

A crane swings a floor on its cable — release it at the right moment so it lands squarely on the tower. Floors are never trimmed: every miss shifts the center of mass, and the tower starts to tilt and sway. Every build is a new combo: pick ability cards, unlock special sections like concrete, magnets and counterweights, and take your tower to the sky before it collapses.

Controls & how it runs

Tap the screen or press Space or Enter to release the floor from the crane. The floor keeps the cable's momentum, so release it a little before it's above the tower. If a floor hangs more than halfway over the edge, it falls and you lose a life. If the tower tilts too far, it collapses — straighten it by placing the next floors shifted the other way. Floors give XP: on each new level pick one of three ability cards. Gold from every build is spent in the Workshop on permanent upgrades.

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 flexible screen and listens to mouse, keyboard or touch, whichever the game prefers. It reshapes itself for tall and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all get the full picture. 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.

Panellka: Build a Tower — quick-fire questions

Does Panellka: Build a Tower 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 Panellka: Build a Tower?

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 Panellka: Build a Tower on my phone?

Happily, yes. It runs inside the browser on phones and tablets the same way it does on a computer. It reshapes itself for tall and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all get the full picture.

Do I need to install anything first?

Nothing whatsoever. Panellka: Build a Tower 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.