Flume

Arcade · plays in your browser, no download

A race down a zigzag water slide on a swim ring. Lean into the bends or they throw you in the pool, and on the straights jump off on purpose to land further down.

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Where it comes from

Water-slide racers, where everyone shares one long slide and the fastest way down is off the side of it, have been one of the most played io-style games on phones and on YouTube Playables. Here the slide is seen from above and you steer with your thumb.

How to play

You are the red ring. Put your finger down and slide it left or right to steer. The arrows work too.
In the bends the speed pushes you outwards: steer against it, or it throws you into the pool.
On a straight you can leave on purpose and fly: land on the slide further down and you have taken a shortcut; land in the pool and you lose time.
Bump into the others and you push each other sideways. The first to the finish wins.
More stars means a longer slide and faster rivals, and from three stars they jump too. Up to three stars a ring shows where you would land.

What makes this one different

Staying on the slide is only half of it. The bends want to throw you out, so you lean into them; but on the straights the edge is the quickest way down, because the slide zigzags under you and a good jump lands two turns further on. A bad one lands in the pool, and the others go past while you climb back in.

The slide and the places where each rival will try a jump are decided when the race starts, and the race runs on a fixed clock, so it plays the same at 60 and at 120 frames a second. A rival only jumps after checking, from where it really is, that it will land on the slide. More stars means a longer slide, faster rivals that jump more often, and no ring showing where you would land.

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