How to play Catch It If You Can

What is Catch It If You Can?

Catching falling things is one of the oldest ideas in arcade games, and we love it because anyone gets it in one second. We wanted ours to feel physical. Every food in the game falls the way it really would: a heavy watermelon drops straight down, a carrot tumbles end over end and slowly turns its thick end down, a lettuce leaf rocks side to side, and toast spins about half a flip before it lands.

You get five plates. Each food that hits the ground breaks one. When the last plate goes, something very large falls on Bun, and you tap Again. The game is free and runs in your browser on phone, tablet or computer, with no download.

How to play

• Move Bun left and right so the falling food lands in the basket.
• The food has to drop in through the top of the basket. Bun's basket is a little more forgiving than it looks.
• Every food that lands on the ground breaks a plate. You start with five.
• Foods that bounce or roll can still be saved. Run over them before they stop and Bun scoops them up. A shrinking ring shows how long you have.
• Boots and tin cans are clutter. Catching one costs no plate, but it ends your combo, so dodge them.

Food arrives in waves. Each wave has a set number of drops, and when they have all landed, the next wave starts a little faster. Get through a whole wave without breaking a plate for a clean wave bonus.

Landing marks and fair drops

A soft shadow on the ground shows where each food will land, and it darkens as the food gets close. A white ring marks the next food to catch, and a red ring warns you about a boot or a can. Foods in the air pass through each other, so a landing mark never lies. Every wave is checked so that each food can be reached from the one before it.

The basket is a little kind, too: if it arrives a moment late, while the food is still inside its rim, the catch counts as a Clutch.

Big, small, thin, and then the tricky ones

Wind pushes light foods much more than heavy ones. Watch the bunting at the top of the field: it leans the way the wind blows.

Scoring

Each food has a base value (big foods 10, small foods 15, thin foods 25, eggs 30). The value grows by 10 percent each wave and by a quarter for every 5 catches in a row, up to three times. On top of that:

• Perfect: catch in the middle of the basket for half again as much.
• Clutch: arrive in the very last instant for 25 extra. The world slows for a moment so you can enjoy it.
• Rim roll: a food that bounces off the rim and rolls in is worth 30 extra.
• Scoop: a food saved off the ground scores half points, but keeps your combo.
• Golden foods are rare and worth five times as much.
• Full basket: the basket holds eight. Then Bun tips it into the crate for a bonus.
• Clean wave: no broken plates in a wave earns 100 times the wave number.

The pile, Feast and bubbles

Caught food stacks up in the basket and the pile sways like a real stack would. Quick stops and sharp turns make it lean. Lean too far and the top food tips out. You can catch it again, and it never costs a plate, but your combo resets.

Every catch fills the Feast meter under the score. When it is full, food rains from the clouds for seven seconds, everything is worth double, and nothing can break a plate.

Bubbles drift down slowly from wave 4. Catch them for a boost: Wide basket for 10 seconds, Slow honey (the world slows down for 6 seconds but Bun does not), Magnet that pulls nearby food in, Double points, and an Extra plate.

Long combos fill the Feast meter faster. Food that tips out of a swaying pile can be caught again for free, and eight foods with five or more different kinds in the pile make a fruit salad basket, worth half again as much.

Dishes, boss drops and themed waves

From wave 2, a dish card in the corner shows three foods that really fall in that wave, like apples, oranges and plums for a fruit salad. Catch all three before the wave ends to serve the dish for a big bonus. Every dish you serve is saved in the Food Book, and serving dishes unlocks Basil the bunny and the Big wok.

After waves 4, 8, 12 and so on comes a boss drop. The giant jelly splits in two each time you catch it, and then splits again, so there are seven pieces to catch. The golden melon bounces back up twice before it bursts into a shower of golden food. Pieces you miss never break a plate, and clearing a boss pays a large bonus.

In Classic, every third wave from wave 6 has a theme: a golden shower, an egg rush, a big bonanza of giant foods, a berry blast of small ones, a breezy wave, or bubble time with no clutter at all.

Daily Drop and leaderboards

The Daily Drop is the same for everyone and changes at midnight UTC. Every player gets the same foods in the same order with the same wind, plus a dish of the day like Windy day, Egg hunt, Golden hour or Veggie day. Your first run of the day goes on the Daily leaderboard. After that, you can play it again as practice.

Classic mode is endless and different every time. Your best Classic score goes on the all time board.

Every drop is planned so it can be caught. Before a wave starts, the game works out where each food will land and makes sure Bun can get from one landing to the next with time to spare. If you miss, it was close.

Unlocks and the Food Book

The Food Book has every food in the game with a fun fact about it, how many you have caught, and a golden tick once you catch a golden one. The Kitchen holds seven more catchers (Clementine the fox, Pickle the frog, Mochi the cat, Barley the bear, Waddle the penguin, Nana Plum and Sprocket the kitchen robot), eight baskets from a colander to a giant teacup, and six scenes from Orchard Morning to Starlit Kitchen. They unlock by catching, scoring, reaching waves, playing the Daily Drop and earning ribbons. Three new goals each day pay a ribbon each.

There are four finales, and you will see them all eventually: a birthday cake, a cheese piano, a jelly mountain and a pancake tower.

Controls

• Phone and tablet: slide your finger anywhere, like a trackpad. In Settings you can switch to Basket under finger.
• Mouse: just move it. Bun follows.
• Keyboard: Left and Right or A and D move, Space or Esc pauses, Enter plays again and M mutes.

Tips and strategy

• Watch the shadows on the ground. They grow as food gets closer, and they show you where it is right now.
• When two foods are coming close together, stand where you can catch the first one on the side nearest the second.
• Do not chase a tumbling carrot. It falls almost straight once it turns its thick end down.
• For eggs, get there early and stop. Moving slowly is fine, rushing is not.
• Let jelly bounce. It goes up and comes straight back down.
• Big foods are slow but worth the least. Save your dashes for the small and thin ones.
• Keep your moves smooth when the basket is full, or the top of the pile tips out.
• Bounced oranges and coconuts can be scooped, so a miss is not always a miss.

Questions