How to play
Every racer in Neon Trails is a glowing spark that never stops moving and lays down a solid trail of light behind it. You steer with right-angle turns, keep clear of walls and trails, and try to leave your rivals with nowhere to go. The last spark still moving wins the round, and the first to win enough rounds wins the match.
Choose a mode in Setup: play alone against one to three computer rivals, or share one device with a friend, with or without extra computer rivals. Each round starts with a 3-2-1 countdown.
Rules
- All racers move at the same time, one cell per step, at a constant speed (Slow, Normal or Fast). With Speed up on, a round gets gradually quicker.
- You are eliminated if you hit a wall, your own trail or anybody else’s trail.
- If two racers enter the same cell, or swap cells head on, both are eliminated.
- An eliminated racer’s trail fades away and its cells become free. Choose Stay in Setup to keep every trail until the round ends.
- The last racer alive wins the round. If the final racers go out on the same step, the round is a draw and nobody scores.
- A match is first to 3 or 5 round wins. There are no other points.
- Boost: holding boost doubles your speed while your small meter lasts; it then refills slowly. Collisions are checked cell by cell, so you cannot jump over a trail.
- Your settings and statistics (matches won per level, longest win streak, longest survival in steps) are saved in your browser. Statistics count one-player matches only.
Controls
- Keyboard: the arrow keys or W A S D point your spark in an absolute direction. In a one-player game both sets work. With two players, the arrows steer player 1 and WASD steers player 2. Boost is Space or Shift (two players: Space or left Shift for player 2, right Shift or Enter for player 1). P or Esc pauses, M toggles sound.
- Touch: swipe anywhere in the arena to steer, or pick Turn buttons in Setup for turn-left and turn-right buttons that work relative to your heading. Boost is a button below the arena. With two players each gets a row of buttons at their own end of the screen.
- Mouse: click the buttons; dragging inside the arena steers like a swipe.
Pressing the opposite direction is ignored, so you cannot reverse into your own trail. Up to two turns are buffered: two quick taps make a tight U-turn over two steps, and a turn pressed late in a step is applied on the next one.
Tips and strategy
- Keep to the centre early. A spark in the middle can go anywhere; one at the edge has already lost half its options.
- Cut off rather than chase. Following a rival only lets it pick the route. Aim for the cell it will reach in a step or two and draw a line across its path.
- Count the space before you commit. Before a turn that splits the arena, estimate the free cells on each side and stay on the bigger one.
- Use the wall late. Running tight along a wall or an old trail wastes no cells, which is what you want when the arena is nearly full.
- Spend boost on purpose. Use it to slip in front of a rival, close a gap or leave a shrinking pocket, not on open straights.
How the computer rivals think
Easy looks only at the cell in front of it, wanders now and then, reacts late to a blocked path, sometimes blunders and never boosts. Medium never makes a fatal move when a safe one exists, counts the free space it can reach after each option so it avoids dead ends, and boosts only in short bursts on a clear line. Hard also measures territory: for each move it counts the cells it could reach before every rival and looks one reply ahead against the nearest one, then picks the move that gives it the most room. That is why Hard rivals try to cut you off instead of following you.
Frequently asked questions
Why did both of us lose at once?
Two sparks that enter the same cell, or swap cells, are both eliminated. If they were the last two racers, the round is a draw.
Can two people play on a phone?
Yes. Choose 2 players in Setup and put the phone flat between you. Each player has turn and boost buttons at their own end of the screen.
Why can’t I turn around completely?
A 180-degree reversal would put you straight into your own trail, so it is ignored. Two quick perpendicular turns make a U-turn instead.
Why did a trail disappear?
When a racer is eliminated, its trail fades and the cells are free again. Set Eliminated trails to Stay if you prefer a board that keeps filling up.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Once the page has loaded, the game runs entirely in your browser. Sound is off by default and uses no audio files.