How to play Rivethop

A visual guide · Make your first shot, route back to braced capsules and learn clean racks and Bank.

Your goal

Fire here. Hop next.

Keep the descending scrap away from the striped safety line. Each fresh Left or Right fires up your current lane, then hops one lane sideways. Choose a landing spot that sets up your next shot.

These are simplified teaching diagrams with enlarged original workshop shapes. Spacing and falling positions are adjusted for the lesson.

01Make your first shot

Select Start. You begin in the middle, lane 3, with an ordinary capsule already lined up.
Press Left once. The shot breaks the capsule in lane 3 for 100 points, then the robot hops to lane 2. It fires from where it was, before moving.
With the field focused, use A or Left Arrow for Fire + Left; D or Right Arrow for Fire + Right. Click or tap the matching buttons. A focused action button also works with Enter or Space.
Release before every new action. Holding does not repeat. Wait 0.3 seconds between shots; early presses are ignored rather than queued. The small lime bar beneath the robot fills when the next shot is ready.

The shot stays in the old lane

Actual first action: Start, then one fresh Left. The faint robot marks the previous position; the solid robot shows the destination.

02Read the notches

Shape tells you the remaining hits

Ordinary capsules need one hit. Braced capsules keep their side braces after cracking, and still earn 150 when destroyed. A partial hit earns no points.

Watch both the notch count and the braces. Colour helps, but the shapes also tell the two types apart.
The first braced capsule arrives in the middle at rack 2. Hop away after the first hit, find a route back, then finish it.

03Hop away and back

Three fresh presses finish the first brace

First rack 2 capsule, starting in lane 3: Left cracks and hops to 2; Right fires the empty lane and returns to 3; Left finishes for 150 and hops to 2. Leave 0.3 seconds between presses.

An empty shot is useful for moving into position. There is no separate move button.
At the left or right outside rail, only the inward action works. An outward press does nothing and adds no cooldown.

04Protect your three shields

Read the closest capsule

Simplified crowded-lane example: each shot hits only the lowest capsule in your current lane. A capsule must be destroyed before it reaches the striped line.

Each escape uses one shield. Shields carry across racks and do not refill. The third escape finishes the run with your earned score.
Select Pause or press P for a break; P also resumes. Escape pauses when the game has focus. Leaving the game, resizing it or leaving the window parks play; select Resume when you return.
If the workshop needs more room, your run waits safely. Make more space, then choose Resume.

05Continue, or bank your run

Clean racks add up

A surviving rack clear adds 200, plus 250 if nothing escaped. These totals assume every capsule was destroyed. No points are added for an unfinished rack when you bank.

Ordinary scrap earns 100; braced scrap earns 150 on destruction. A perfect first rack earns 1,250. Clean rack 2 adds 1,750; clean racks from 3 add 1,850 each.
A one-second breather separates racks. The first three introduce the workshop; from rack 4, the pace settles and patterns and their horizontal mirrors repeat indefinitely. There is no final rack or run timer.
Stop & Bank finishes whenever you are ready, including while paused or in a breather, and keeps earned points. Choose Play Again for a fresh run or Menu to browse games.

Visual Guide freezes capsules, the cooldown, the breather and sound, and clears held controls. Close with Escape or Back to Game. A started run waits for Resume; an already paused run stays paused, and an unstarted game stays ready. Release your controls and begin with a fresh press.

Play Rivethop