Don't Let It Land

A one-tap keepy-uppy game where the ball keeps turning into something worse. Kick it on the way down; every 10 kicks it poofs into a new object with its own physics.

Don't Let It Land is a one-tap keepy-uppy game set in a goblin backyard at night. Tap the object to kick it, and tap it on the way down: a tap while it is still rising is a whiff. Where you hit it sets the direction, so tapping left of centre sends it right, and the brick side walls bounce it back. Your score is simply how many kicks you kept it up for. The first 10 kicks are on a big, forgiving Goblin Ball. On the 10th kick it poofs into the next object, and every 10 kicks after that it turns into something worse: a Toilet Roll that gets lighter as it unspools, a Raw Egg that cracks if you kick it while it is falling fast (two hard kicks and it splats), a floaty Balloon pushed around by warned-in gusts, a heavy Pumpkin, a wobbly Jelly where you aim for the cherry, a Teapot whose kicks get weaker as it tips over, a Birthday Cake that shrinks with every kick, and a Potted Cactus you can only kick by its pot. Make it to kick 91 to meet the secret finale. After kick 100 the gauntlet starts again as Lap 2, faster and smaller, so the score never caps. Kick dead-centre for a golden kick that goes straight up and builds a golden streak, a separate stat that never changes your score. Daily mode (the default) shuffles the order and the gusts the same way for everyone each day, within fixed difficulty bands; Classic keeps one fixed order forever. Every object has its own kick sound and its own landing gag, and the Morph Book collects every object you have met. On Goblin Arcade your bests, Morph Book and settings save automatically.

By Goblin Originals

How to play

Tap or click the falling object · P/Esc pause · M mute sounds

Tap the ball to kick it. That first tap starts the run.

Kick it on the way down. A tap while it is still rising is a whiff and counts nothing, so wait for the top of its arc or later.

Tap left of centre to send it right, and right of centre to send it left. The brick walls on both sides bounce it back.

Every 10 kicks it poofs into a new object with its own rule. The name card tells you the rule, and the strip at the top shows what you have reached and when the next change comes.

The run ends when the object touches the cobblestones, or when the egg takes a second hard kick. Your score is the number of kicks.

Tips

Dead-centre kicks are golden: they go straight up and calm spin and wobble. The golden streak glow grows at 3, 6 and 10 in a row.

The egg starts to glow red as it nears cracking speed and turns bright red once a kick would crack it. Kick it before the glow.

On the jelly, aim for the cherry. It marks the true centre while the jelly sloshes.

Keep the teapot upright: kicks get weaker as it tips, and once it tips well past sideways it starts pouring. Kick the side that is tipping down to straighten it.

On the cactus, tap the pot. A tap on the spiky top is an OUCH that doesn't count.

Balloon gusts are announced: leaves and streaks blow in from one wall and a whoosh rises just before the push.

What is a keepy-uppy game?

Keepy-uppy means keeping something in the air without letting it touch the ground. In Don't Let It Land you do it with one tap at a time, and every 10 kicks the thing you are keeping up turns into something new.

Can I play Don't Let It Land on a phone?

Yes. It is built for one thumb: tap the object to kick it. It works in portrait and landscape, every button is at least 44 pixels, and the play area is the same size and shape on every screen, so scores are comparable between phones and computers.

What does the score mean?

The score is exactly the number of counted kicks in the run. Golden kicks still count as one kick each, and nothing else adds to it, so "63 kicks" means you kicked it 63 times.

What is the difference between Daily and Classic?

Daily is the default: the order of the eight changing objects and the balloon's gusts are shuffled for each UTC day, the same for everyone, inside fixed easy, tricky and nasty bands, so every day is about as hard. Classic uses one fixed order that never changes.

Does the game save my progress?

Yes, on Goblin Arcade. Your Classic best, your best for each daily, your best golden streak, lifetime kicks, the Morph Book and the sound setting save automatically. A run in progress is not saved. Played outside the arcade, progress lasts only until the page closes.

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