Moonshot

What is Moonshot?

Moonshot is a one touch timing game in the knife throwing style, except you're throwing little star darts at a sleepy moon. Each tap sends one dart straight up into the bottom of the moon. The moon keeps spinning, so every dart you land becomes something the next dart has to miss.

It's free, it plays in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and there's no download. A run can last thirty seconds or a good long while, depending on your nerve.

How to play

Tap or click anywhere to throw. On a keyboard, Space, Up, W or Enter throws. P or Esc pauses and M mutes. If you tap a hair too soon, while the last dart is still flying, the game holds onto your tap for a moment and throws as soon as it can.

Each stage gives you a set number of darts. Stage 1 gives you 6. Later stages give up to 10. Land them all to clear the stage. From stage 2 on, a few old gray darts are already stuck in the moon when it arrives, so you're working around those too.

There are no lives. One clink, and the run is over.

How the moon spins

The first moon spins at a steady speed. After that, each moon picks a spin style, and new styles join as you go deeper. Spin speed also creeps up until about stage 22.

Boss moons

Every fifth stage is a boss moon. Bosses are a bit bigger, need 8 to 12 darts, and have a health bar. They also get grumpy: after any hit there's a good chance the boss huffs and reverses direction. There are eight to meet, starting with Grumble Moon, then Sir Sulk, The Snorer, Old Pockmark, Captain Crater, Huffy, Lady Gloom and the Crater King. Beat one and it goes in your Moon Album.

Scoring

Moon gems are the little crystals sitting on the moon's edge. Your dart has to land on one to collect it.

Daily Moon and leaderboards

Play is endless: keep going until you clink. Daily Moon is a 10 stage run that's the same for everyone that day. Clear all ten for a 500 point bonus. Signed in players can post endless and daily scores to the leaderboards with the trophy button.

Star darts to unlock

Tips for reaching later stages

Watch the bottom of the moon, not your dart

Every dart lands at the same spot: the bottom of the moon. So the only question is whether a dart is passing through that spot right now. Keep your eyes on that patch of moon and throw into the gaps as they come by.

The dart you just threw is the dangerous one

Right after a throw, your newest dart is still near the bottom. Give it time to rotate away before you throw again. On a fast moon that's a split second. On a slow or turning moon it's much longer, and that's where most runs end.

Rapid fire on steady moons only

On a steady moon, throwing at an even rhythm spaces your darts out evenly, and you collect the rapid bonus as you go. On wave, jerk and swing moons, the same rhythm bunches darts together when the moon slows down. Slow down with it.

Count the bonus honestly

Rapid throws add at most 20 a dart and a close shave adds 25, but one clink ends everything. The real points in Moonshot come from stage clear bonuses, which grow every stage. Surviving one more stage is worth more than any single risky throw.

Swing moons: wait for the turn to finish

When a swing moon slows to reverse, darts barely move away from the bottom. Hold your throw until it's spinning properly again in the new direction.

Boss moons: one dart, one breath

Because a boss can flip after any hit, take a beat after each dart to see which way it's going now. Bosses are slightly larger, which gives a bit more room between darts, but they also need more darts than a normal stage.

Take gems when they're on the way

Gems pay 25 points and buy new darts. If a gem is about to pass the bottom and there's no dart near it, go for it. If going for it means a tight squeeze, let it pass.

Plan the last few darts

The moon gets crowded at the end of a stage. Before your last two or three throws, look for the two biggest open stretches of moon and save your darts for those.

Questions