How it works
The bird falls on its own. Every flap gives it a short burst of lift, and gravity takes over again straight after. You never steer left or right, so the whole game is a question of when to press.
Pipes scroll in from the right with a gap in each one. Pass through a gap and your score goes up by one. Touch a pipe, hit the ground or rise into the sky above the playfield, and the run ends there. Clear twenty-five gaps and the flight is complete.
Finding the rhythm
The tempo of your taps matters more than the timing of any single one. A steady beat holds the bird at roughly the same height and lets you read the next gap early. Long pauses let the bird build speed downward, and then one flap is rarely enough to pull it back up.
Flap a little before you reach the gap rather than inside it. The bird keeps climbing for a moment after each press, so an early tap carries you through the opening while a late one bounces you into the lower pipe. When you drift too high, simply stop pressing for a beat and let the fall bring you back to the middle.
Scoring and difficulty
Your score counts the gaps you have cleared, and your best result is kept between sessions in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, so clearing your browser data also clears the record.
The pipes do not stay friendly. Gaps narrow and the scroll speed rises as your score grows, so the last few gaps demand far tighter taps than the first few. Aim for the centre of each gap early on, because the margin you enjoy at the start disappears later in the run.
Controls
Space, the up arrow, W, a mouse click or a tap on the playfield all flap. Swiping up works on touch screens. Press P or Escape to pause, and space or a click to resume.
Frequently asked questions
Can I lose by flying too high? Yes. The top edge of the playfield is as solid as the ground, so holding the bird at the ceiling is not a safe place to wait. Keep it near the middle of the screen where you can react in either direction.
Does the game ever get easier again? No. Gaps shrink and speed increases step by step with your score, and they never reset until you start a new run. The difficulty is the same at any given score, so a run that reaches gap twenty always faces the same spacing.
Why did my score stop at twenty-five? Twenty-five gaps is the finish line rather than a cap on the fun. Reaching it counts as a completed flight, and you can start again right away to clear it more cleanly.
Is my best score shared with anyone? No. It lives only in your own browser, and there is no account, server or leaderboard behind it.