Sling Chicken

The pitch

You start in a barn and climb upward by attaching to wooden rungs (pegs). From each rung you pull back and release the chicken like a slingshot to fling it to the next peg higher up. The track is endless and gets harder as you climb: Spinning saws guard some rungs Wood boards block half the lane (with a gap you must fly through) Other obstacles appear at higher heights: slanted beams, diamonds, moving pills, stone blocks, spinning wheels Golden eggs float along flight paths as bonus pickups. Your main score is height in meters — how high you’ve climbed. A simulated rival chicken climbs alongside you, gaining meters over time. Each match lasts 90 seconds. Win by ending with more meters than your rival. If you die mid-match, your score freezes at your peak height and the match ends shortly after; you still win if you’re ahead. Outside matches you can earn coins and rank points (RP), unlock cosmetics, and play Quick Match or the Coop Climb ladder (5 rivals in a row).

Controls & how it runs

Core loop Start on a rung in the barn. Drag backward from the chicken to stretch its wings (slingshot tension). Release to launch upward. Land on the next peg to stop and sling again. Repeat to climb higher. Collect golden eggs by flying through them (shown as coin pickups in the HUD). Avoid hazards — especially spinning saws and solid obstacle hits.

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.

Sling Chicken — quick-fire questions

Does Sling Chicken 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 Sling Chicken?

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 Sling Chicken 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. Sling Chicken 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.