Skyhop is an endless climbing game starring a little orange ball with googly eyes. Every landing launches it again automatically, so you only steer left and right while the tower of platforms keeps rising. Skyhop unblocked takes seconds to start, and one missed landing usually ends the climb, which makes each attempt quick and tense. Frank Force made it as part of his free LittleJS Arcade collection.
How a Climb Starts
Choose Play on the title screen (with a keyboard, press Enter once to highlight it and again to start). The ball pops up off a safe starting platform and the first bounce is automatic. From then on, every landing sends it upward again at the same speed, roughly two platform gaps high. The camera only ever moves up. Slip off the lower edge of the screen and the run is over and a Game Over panel shows your score.
Your score is the greatest height you reached, multiplied by ten. With a normal bounce of about 7.4 units, each clean hop to the next platform is worth roughly 35 to 55 points, and a spring can add more than 200 in one go. Dropping back down after a bad bounce does not lower the number, but it puts you dangerously close to the bottom edge.
How the Platforms Change as You Climb
The tower is built fresh for every run, with rules that keep it fair. Platforms are spaced between 3.5 and 5.5 units apart, while a normal bounce reaches about 7.4 units, so every next step can be reached. Here is how the mix changes:
- The opening stretch is all green. Until you pass a score of about 250, every platform is solid and still.
- Brown platforms come next. They give one normal bounce and then fall away. Two brown platforms never appear back to back, so a crumbling ledge is never your only way up.
- Blue platforms arrive after about 450 points. They glide at a steady speed and reverse when they reach the side of the column.
- Springs ride on green or blue platforms. A spring bounce launches you with 1.8 times the normal speed, which works out to more than three times the height.
The odds keep shifting until a score of about 3,000. By then, about one new platform in five is brown and one in four is blue. Springs actually become slightly rarer the higher you go, so the early ones are worth taking.
Steering and the Wrap-Around Walls
Steer with the left and right arrow keys or A and D, the on-screen stick on a touch device, or a gamepad stick. The ball speeds up over a moment and keeps drifting once you release the key, so small, early taps beat long presses.
The play column is only as wide as a few platforms, and its two sides are connected. Leave through the left wall and you appear on the right, and the reverse. Platforms near one edge can be reached from the other side, and that route is frequently quicker.
Skyhop Tips for Higher Scores
- Release before you arrive. Because the ball keeps sliding, let go of the key just before it is over the platform.
- Pick the short way around. When your target hugs the opposite side, exiting through the closer side can save time.
- Leave brown platforms immediately. Begin heading for the following ledge while you are still rising off the crumbling one.
- Lead the blue platforms. They move at a fixed pace, so judge the spot they will reach as you drop, not their current spot.
- Take every early spring. One spring is worth several normal hops, and they show up most often low in the tower.
- Read colors before you commit. A quick glance at the next two platforms tells you whether to plan for a crumble, a slide or a launch.
Mistakes New Players Make
The biggest one is holding a direction the whole time. The ball overshoots, wraps around the screen and lands nowhere. Another is waiting on a blue platform to come back, when it may be on the far side of the column by then. Players also forget that the ball can pass up through platforms. You do not need to steer around a ledge above you, only line up with it on the way down.
Playing on a Phone or School Laptop
The view is a tall, slim column, so a phone held upright fills nicely, with the arena spread across the full width. On a wide laptop screen, dark side walls frame the column. Press Escape, or tap the menu button in the top corner, to pause. Options lets you change the volume, switch off screen shake and reset your best score. There are two medals to earn: one for riding your first spring and one for reaching 1,000 points.
Similar Games on Totally Science
Wing Dash is another one-skill game, but you tap to flap through pipe gaps instead of steering. Road Hopper has you guiding a frog across traffic and floating logs with a time limit. For a different kind of steering, Coil asks you to draw loops around orbs. More quick games wait on the arcade games page.
