GREED AND THE SCORE

THE LINE

Run over a creature and it joins the line behind Kai, in the order you took it. The line holds ten. When it is full, the screen says RELEASE THEM, the counter in the corner turns gold, and no new creatures are dealt onto the road until you let some go. A full line is a reason to dash.

WHAT A RELEASE PAYS

Score comes from setting creatures free. A release pays for every creature in the line, and the longer the line, the more each creature is worth, so ten released together pay far more than ten released one at a time. On top of that, the run itself grows: the deeper you are and the longer you have survived, the higher the multiplier on everything you release. A release late in a long run is worth many early ones.

Breaking things pays too. Every wall or bumper a dash breaks pays a small bonus on its own, so a dash through a row of walls is worth more than a dash through an empty road.

WHAT A HIT COSTS

A hit is the other side of greed. It takes one of Kai's hearts, scatters half of the creatures in the line and costs a little score. The longer the line, the more half of it is. With no heart left, the next hit takes Kai's head and the run is over.

Hearts come back. Every hundred creatures you set free puts a new horn on the road for Kai to pick up, and the counter in the corner shows how many more you need. Breaking a gate gives one back. And once Kai has lost a horn, or the run has lasted a minute, a horn can turn up among the ordinary pickups whenever one of his sockets is empty.

WHEN TO LET GO

A good rule: hold the line while the road is easy and release before the road gets hard. Quiet stretches are for filling the line; a gate, a hand from outside or a run of drifters is the moment to cash it in. The worst release is the one you never made, the ten creatures scattered by a wall you were too greedy to dash.