How to play Podlift

A visual guide · Bring your first pod home

Your goal

Clear a path. Bring them home.

Fly your rescue tug to a cyan pod, then return to the lime dock at the bottom. Your ship fires automatically. Rescue deliveries are the heart of your score.

These are simplified teaching diagrams with enlarged pieces. They reuse the original game sprites; your live field has its own positions.

01Make your first rescue

Select Play. With the board focused, Arrow keys or W A S D steer in any direction. Hold the mouse button and move on the board, or drag on touch. Mouse hover alone does not move the tug.
Fly close to the first cyan capsule. It appears just above your starting position after one active second. Pickup adds one cargo light, but no points yet.
Move into the bottom dock with cargo. The dock delivers everything aboard once and empties your cargo lights. Your first single-pod delivery earns 100 points.

Collect first, then return

Before: one pod aboard, zero pickup points. After: enter the dock, empty the cargo and earn 100 points. The dock delivers cargo; it does not protect you from threats.

02Choose when to come home

One, two or three together

Deliver one for 100 points, two together for 250 or three together for 400. These are total batch values, not points per pod.

Carry up to 3 pods. A full tug leaves extra pods in the field. Bring a smaller load home when the return route looks safer.
Pods are protected from shots. Missing one costs no hull or points; it can drift out of the field.
Watch Cargo to see what is aboard and Score to see what you have already earned. A pod aboard has not scored yet.

03Read the patrols

Scout or armored heavy

Orange scouts take one hit and score 10. Lavender heavy drones take two hits; the first removes an armor mark for zero points, and the second scores 20. Your upward shots cannot harm pods.

Your tug always fires upward, even while moving sideways or down. Scouts score 10; destroyed heavy drones score 20.
Heavy drones charge visibly beneath their hull before a straight downward shot. The first wave has no hostile fire. Avoid drone bodies as well as orange shots.
The small cargo lights follow your tug. Cyan capsules with handles are pickups; thin ivory and cyan streaks are your shots. The stationary lime brackets identify the dock.

04Repair through rescue

Eight delivered pods restore one hull

Example: six rescued, one hull, and two pods aboard. Deliver both to reach eight rescued and two hull. Earned repair at full hull is consumed rather than saved for a later hit.

Start with 3 hull. A drone or hostile shot uses one hull, then a shield protects you for 1.25 active seconds. Your cargo and earned score stay with you.
Every 8 delivered pods restores one hull, up to 3. Pickups alone do not count toward repair.
Losing the last hull finishes the run. A delivery on the same step cannot save an already destroyed tug, so return before your route becomes crowded.

05Keep flying, or bank your run

Waves repeat without a final stage

Columns, side lanes and weavers repeat. Each wave lasts 30 active seconds. Cargo and earned progress continue; difficulty settles from wave nine.

A new wave begins every 30 active seconds. Existing drones, cargo and score continue. There is no final victory after wave three or nine.
Use Pause or P for a break. Escape also toggles manual pause while the board is focused. Leaving the board or tab parks play; paused time never advances the waves.
Stop & bank keeps your earned score, including points from the current wave. Pods still aboard add no points. Losing all hull also ends the run. The result screen offers Play Again for a fresh run or Menu to browse games.

Opening Visual Guide freezes the field and timers. Close it with Escape or Back to Game. A running game waits for an explicit Resume afterward; a manually paused game stays paused and a ready game still waits for Play.

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