Twisty Planet

The pitch

Twisty Planet is a minimalist arcade-style game in which your goal is to survive as long as possible on a rotating planet, dodging obstacles while collecting items to boost your score.

Controls & how it runs

You tap the screen (or press) to cause the planet (or the surface) to twist or rotate. This changes where obstacles appear relative to your hero. As the planet twists, obstacles rotate into your path. You must time your taps so that you don’t collide with these obstacles. If you hit one, the game likely ends (you lose). Alongside avoiding dangers, you can collect “foods” (or collectible items) as you go. These add to your score. The main objective is to survive as long as possible while collecting items to increase your score. The longer you live and the more items you gather, the higher your score. While not explicitly detailed in the App Store text, most games of this style gradually increase the speed, frequency, or complexity of obstacle placement as you play longer, making it harder to avoid collisions.

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.

Twisty Planet — quick-fire questions

Does Twisty Planet 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 Twisty Planet?

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 Twisty Planet 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. Twisty Planet 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.