Turbo Pudding
Beat the Mole King at the end of Lassoodle’s first world, and a new mode opens: Endless. There is no finish line and no par time. The menu sums it up: “Eat, grow and last as long as you can.” You start with three hearts, and the run is over when they are gone. Here is how a run works, and how to make it last.
A new arena every time
Every Endless run builds a fresh square arena. In the Sunny Orchard that means six to eight small obstacles, hedges, trees and rocks, plus two patches of mud that slow you down. Nothing is ever placed right where you start.
The walls are kinder here than in the story levels. As the tip on screen says, “Walls only bump you here.” Only the enemies can take your hearts.
How the pressure builds
The first enemy shows up four seconds in. For the first minute, things stay calm: only a few enemies at a time, and a new one at most every seven seconds. After that, the wait between new arrivals gets one second shorter every half minute, until a fresh enemy turns up every three seconds. The number of enemies the field can hold keeps rising for eight minutes, then levels off.
New enemies always appear a little way from your head, never right on top of it. Use the quiet first minute to eat and grow.
Who lives in the orchard
Buzzbees never hurt you, but they fly to the nearest fruit and carry it off. They dodge a head that charges straight at them, so a loop is the way to catch one. Loop a bee that is carrying fruit, and you get the fruit too.
Beetles patrol the grass and nibble your body. You get a warning of less than half a second, and then your tail is cut off where they bit. Running into one head-on costs a heart.
Moles hide underground. A mound of dirt shakes over the hole a mole has picked, and then it pops up. Don’t park your head on that hole, or you’ll get bonked. Once the mole is up, it stays up for a little while, and that is your moment.
Lasso for points
Close a loop of your body around an enemy to catch it. A Buzzbee is worth 40 points, a beetle 60 and a mole 70, plus a few coins each.
Fruit is the real prize
Still, as the game reminds you, fruit scores the most. An apple is worth 10 points, a berry 15, a melon 25 and a golden pear 60. Eat the next piece within about a second, and your combo goes up, all the way to five times the points. A golden pear at the top of a combo is worth 300. Up to seven pieces of fruit lie around at once, and new ones keep turning up.
Milo can also grow a lot longer in Endless than in the story levels. If he ever reaches full length, every piece of fruit he can’t grow from is worth five extra points instead.
A power-up every 40 seconds
Every 40 seconds a power-up appears, as long as the last one isn’t still lying on the grass. So pick them up quickly, or the next one won’t come.
There are five in Endless. The shield takes the next hit for you, and it turns up twice as often as the others. The magnet pulls nearby fruit into your mouth for 8 seconds. Turbo makes you one and a half times as fast for 5 seconds, with a boost meter that never runs dry. Frost freezes every enemy for 6 seconds, and you catch a frozen one just by touching it with your head. And the rainbow doubles all your points for 10 seconds.
Hearts are rare
Hearts are hard to come by in Endless. One can only appear while you are missing a heart, never in the first 45 seconds, and no more than twice a run. It fades after 12 seconds, so go for it right away. If you get back to full hearts before you reach it, you get 50 points and a full boost meter instead.
The Daily Arena
At the top of the Endless menu sits the Daily Arena. The menu says it plainly: “the same arena for everyone today.” Retry as often as you like, and you get the same arena back each time, while the game keeps your best score for the day. A new one arrives at midnight UTC.
Whatever coins you catch in a run are yours to keep. In the full game, each new world you sail to adds its own Endless arena, and its enemies join the crowd.
Start your run
World 1, with Endless and the Daily Arena, is free to play in your browser at lassoodle.com. The full game, all six worlds, is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on the Lassoodle page.
