How to play
PRISM is a one-button climbing game. You are a small glowing ball at the bottom of an endless neon tower, and every tap, click or press of Space makes it hop up a little. Stop tapping and gravity pulls it straight back down. Up and W hop too.
Every obstacle in the tower is split into colours: cyan, pink, yellow and violet. Your ball has one of those colours, and it can only pass through the part of an obstacle that matches it. Touch any other colour and the ball shatters. Fall too far below the highest point you have reached and it shatters too.
In the middle of each obstacle sits a star, worth one point. In the gap above each obstacle floats a four-colour switch orb. Hop through it and your ball turns a new colour, and it is always a different colour from the one you had, so look at your ball again before the next shape. When you die, Space, R or the big RETRY button starts a new run straight away. P or Esc pauses, and M turns the sound off.
Tips and strategy
- Nothing moves until you tap. The first ring waits with your colour facing you at both the bottom and the top, so take a breath, then tap steadily and go straight through.
- Hover, then go. Small, even taps keep the ball floating in place under an obstacle. Wait there until your colour swings round, then tap a few times quickly to get through before it turns away.
- Bars are easier than they look. The sliding bars come in two rows that mirror each other, so the same colour always meets in the middle of the screen. When your colour lines up in the centre, hop through both rows at once.
- Double rings play fair too. The inner ring spins the opposite way, but it is a mirror of the outer one, so where you cross them in the middle they show the same colour.
- Windmills have a gap. A single windmill sits off to one side of the tower. You do not always have to pass through an arm: wait for the arms to swing clear and you can slip by.
- Watch your colour after every switch. The orb never gives you the colour you already had, and most deaths come from hopping into the next shape out of habit.
What's in it
Eight kinds of obstacle that unlock as you climb. The first two are always from the simple set: rings, squares and sliding bars. From the third obstacle you also meet windmills and three-colour triangles, from the sixth dotted rings and double counter-spinning rings, and from the tenth twin windmills. Each new obstacle also turns a little faster than the one before, up to 60 per cent faster once you are thirty obstacles up.
Two modes. CLASSIC starts gently with the waiting ring. RUSH skips the warm-up: every shape is in play from the first obstacle and everything moves 25 per cent faster. Each mode keeps its own best score.
Every star you collect is banked when your run ends, and you spend them on new ball styles in the picker on the title screen: COMET for 25 stars, HALO for 60, SPARK for 120, PRISM for 200 and PULSE for 350. Every tenth star in a run gets a big score flash, and quick chains of stars play a rising tune. There are synth sound effects and an optional music loop, each with its own button in the corner.
Questions
Why did I die when I was the right colour?
The ball is round, so its edge can clip the colour next door when a shape is turning. Wait until your colour is right in the middle of your path before you hop through.
How do I get a new ball?
Collect stars. On the title screen, use the arrows to find a ball style, and tap it to unlock it once you have enough banked stars. Tap an unlocked ball to wear it.
Can I play on a phone?
Yes. Tap anywhere on the screen to hop. It works upright or sideways.
Does it save?
Yes, in your own browser: your best score in each mode, your banked stars, the ball styles you own and your sound settings. Clearing your browser's site data clears the save.