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How to Play Spellfall

Controls, modes and scoring — free multiplayer platform racer

Spellfall is a vertical platform racer: you fall down a procedurally generated shaft, threading the gaps between platforms, and the only thing that matters is getting to the bottom faster or more cleanly than everyone else. A run takes a minute or two. There is nothing to install and no account to make.

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Controls

ActionKeyboardTouch
Move left or AHold the left of the screen
Move right or DHold the right of the screen
DashSpaceSwipe up

Gamepads work too, and are how the second, third and fourth players join a split-screen game. You also wrap around the screen edges — leaving the left side puts you back on the right, which is often the fastest line to a gap rather than a mistake.

Dashing is the whole skill

A dash only fires while you are already moving, and gives a burst of horizontal speed. It is what crosses a gap too wide to walk to, dodges a hazard you have already committed to falling past, and — in Rush — turns an awkward gap into a Perfect. Learning when not to dash matters just as much: a dash that overshoots the gap costs more time than the walk would have.

Game modes

Time Trial — Reach the bottom in the shortest time. Nothing else is scored. Race your own ghost replay, or a friend's if they sent you one. Courses come in 25, 50, 100 and 250 platforms.
Rush — Score attack. Every gap is graded, and chaining good gaps builds a multiplier that quickly outweighs everything else.
Race — Real-time online racing, 2 to 4 players. First to the bottom wins, and wins and losses go on the leaderboard.
Battle Race — A race where you can fight on the way down. Pick a class, get its three spells, and spend the run deciding whether to run faster or to slow somebody else down.

Rush scoring

Each gap is graded on how quickly and cleanly you took it:

GradePointsWhat it means
PERFECT500Quick and precise
CLEAN300Fast, good line
NICE150Decent speed
OK50Some hesitation
SLOW10Time wasted

Perfect and Clean build your combo multiplier. Nice holds it. OK and Slow reset it to x1. Your score for a gap is base × depth × combo, so depth and combo compound — which is why a run that stays clean to the bottom scores several times what a run of the same gaps taken carelessly does.

Harder gaps — far, narrow or blocked — carry a 1.5× to 2× bonus, and skipping a platform entirely is a FREEFALL worth 200. Hit a x10 combo and Fever mode triggers.

The daily run and thrones

Time Trial and Rush each get one course a day, the same for every player, resetting at midnight UTC along with the board. Whoever is top when it resets takes that mode's throne, and holding it day after day grows a streak — until somebody takes it off you, which anyone can do right up to midnight.

Challenge a friend

Finish a solo run and you can send it as a link. Your friend opens it and gets the same course with your ghost or your score to beat — no install, no account, no lobby to organise. It is the fastest way to get somebody into the game, and the link previews with the time or score you set.

Playing offline and installing

Spellfall runs in any modern browser on phone, tablet or desktop. On a phone you can add it to your home screen from the browser menu, after which it opens full-screen with its own icon like an installed app. Online modes still need a connection; solo runs are the ones you can play anywhere.

Common questions

Is Spellfall free?

Yes — free, in the browser, no download, install or account.

Can I play with friends?

Three ways: online Race and Battle Race match 2–4 players in real time, split-screen seats 2–4 on one device, and any solo run can be sent as a challenge link.

Does it work on mobile?

Yes. It is built mobile-first with touch controls and runs at 60fps on phones from 2016 onward.

How many characters are there?

Eight playable racers, each with their own animation set, across ten biome environments with their own visuals and hazards.

Start a run →