Orbit Hop

What is Orbit Hop?

Orbit Hop is a one tap arcade game about a small, smiling comet that hops from planet to planet up through space. While you're in orbit you spin around a world. Tap, and you leave on a straight line along the direction you were moving at that instant. If your line crosses another planet's orbit ring, you're caught and the spin starts again. If it doesn't, you drift off into the dark and the run is over.

That's the whole game, and it's the reason we like it. Every hop is a single decision about timing. It's free and plays in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer with nothing to download.

How to play

Watch your comet circle the planet it's on. The next planets sit above you. When your comet is moving in a direction that points at one of them, tap. The comet flies straight, with no gravity bending its path, until it enters a planet's orbit ring. Then it starts circling that planet.

You lose a run three ways:

• Drifted off into space: you missed every ring, flew off the side or bottom of the screen, or stayed in flight for more than about two seconds.
• Bonk! Meteor hit: a meteor clipped you while you were in flight.
• Swallowed by a black hole: you stayed in a black hole's orbit too long and spiraled in.

Controls on phone and computer

On a phone or tablet, tap anywhere on the play area to launch. On a computer you can click, or press Space, Up, W or Enter. Press Esc or P to pause. The game also pauses itself if you switch tabs.

The planets

The first couple of worlds are always plain rocks or gas giants. As you climb, new types mix in. Each one spins you at a different speed, and that changes your timing.

Some planets also slide side to side, and some groups of planets sit inside a meteor shower. During a shower, meteors streak across the screen with a short warning line first. They only hurt you while you're flying, so orbits are safe.

How scoring works

Every new planet you reach is worth 10 points times your multiplier. If your shot skips past a planet and lands on one further up, you're paid for every planet you jumped, and you'll see a SKIP badge.

Perfect skims and the combo

A perfect happens when your flight line passes right along the surface of the planet that catches you, close enough to graze it. Each perfect in a row doubles your multiplier: x2, x4, x8, x16, up to a cap of x32. Any ordinary catch on a new planet drops you back to x1.

Modes

Endless

The main game. Hop as far as you can on a fresh random galaxy every time. Your best is saved and goes to the leaderboard if you're signed in.

Daily Galaxy

One galaxy for everybody, built from the date, and it changes at midnight UTC. You can replay it as often as you like and your best counts. Playing on back to back days builds a day streak, shown with a flame on the menu.

Constellations

Twelve short hand-built runs, each ten hops long, with a golden home planet at the end. Light them up in order: The Kettle, The Paper Kite, The Sleepy Fox, The Lantern, The Teacup, The Little Whale, The Acorn, The Bicycle, The Moss Crown, The Two Sisters, The Lost Boot and The Great Moth. Clearing one earns a star. Three perfects in the same run earns a second star and six perfects earns the third.

Comet Shop: trails and faces

Stardust you collect stays with you between runs and buys new looks in the Comet Shop. They're cosmetic, so spend freely.

• Trails: Comet (free), Ember 40, Mint 80, Rose 180, Aurora 300, Sparkle 420, Void 600.
• Faces: Smile (free), Wink 30, Wow 70, Sleepy 150, Cool 220, Kitty 320, Grin 450.
• Earned, not bought: the Gold trail for escaping 5 black holes, the Prism trail for reaching a x32 combo, the Starry face for clearing 6 constellations, and the Veteran face for hopping 500 worlds in total.

Tips for higher scores

Most of your score comes from the multiplier, so the real game is chasing perfects. Here's what works for us.

• Aim for the edge of the planet, not the middle. A shot aimed straight at the center gets caught safely but never scores a perfect. A perfect needs your straight line to just kiss the planet's surface. Picture the line and launch so it grazes the near edge.
• Know when to bank it. At x8 or x16, a single safe catch costs you the whole chain, but a miss costs you the run. If the next planet is small, moving or a pulsar, take the safe hop and rebuild.
• Use gas giants to set up. Their slow spin gives you the most time to line up a perfect. Rush through pulsars and ice worlds instead.
• Tap early on ice. The faster spin means the right moment arrives sooner than your thumb expects.
• Don't loiter in a black hole. It's tempting to wait for the perfect angle, but the orbit keeps shrinking and the spin keeps speeding up. Launch on your first decent angle and take the 50 × multiplier escape bonus.
• Skips are worth it. If two planets line up, a shot that flies past the first and lands on the second pays for both and keeps you climbing faster.
• Wait out moving planets. You can circle as long as you like on a normal planet. Let a sliding planet come to you rather than leading it by guesswork.
• Fly through stardust on purpose. When two launch angles are both safe, pick the one that runs through the yellow dust. Big pieces are worth 10 points and 5 stardust each.
• In meteor showers, keep flights short. Meteors can't touch you in orbit. Watch for the warning line, then launch right after a meteor passes.

Questions