Sketchy Levels

The pitch

Troll platformer. Every level lies to you. The sign says "EASY LEVEL". It isn't. Floors fall, flags run away, spikes pop out of nowhere and the narrator laughs at every death. 200 hand-drawn notebook levels across 10 worlds with bosses, a level editor to build your own traps, a daily trap, secret erasers, silly outfits to unlock and a global leaderboard. Stuck? Reveal the traps or skip the level. Die. Learn. Try again. How many deaths will it take you?

Controls & how it runs

Reach the flag (or the curled page corner) to finish each page. Every level hides a trap: when you die, look at what got you and try again. Desktop: arrow keys or A/D to move, Space, W or Up to jump, P to pause. Mobile: on-screen buttons (move left/right on one side, jump on the other). Works in portrait and landscape.

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.

Sketchy Levels — quick-fire questions

Does Sketchy Levels 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 Sketchy Levels?

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 Sketchy Levels 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. Sketchy Levels 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.