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How to play Vault Runner

A visual guide · Collect your first gold bar

Your goal

Collect every gold bar. Then find the exit.

Guide your courier through Loading Bay, Cable Gallery and Crown Vault. Collect all the gold in each room to open its exit, then enter the hatch. You share three lives across the whole run.

Three vaults · three shared livesVault 18 bars2:30 clockVault 211 bars2:45 clockVault 314 bars3:00 clockAll gold → open exit → next vaultThe clock uses active play time only.

These are simplified teaching diagrams using the game's original artwork. Their spacing illustrates the rules rather than a live room layout.

01Collect your first gold bar

Use a desktop keyboard and a window at least 1024 × 768. Select Enter the vault, then hold Right or D to reach the first bar. Click the play area to focus your keys again after using another control.

Before: step towards gold

1. Move onto the goldRight / D · no jump needed
Arrow keys or WASD move and climb. There is no jump, and falling causes no damage.

After: your first 100 points

2. Gold collectedScore: 0 → 100
Moving onto a gold bar removes it from the room and adds 100 points. It stays collected if you lose a life.
  • Use Up / W and Down / S on ladders. Ropes hold you overhead; use Left / A or Right / D to cross.
  • Down / S releases a rope. You fall until a floor, ladder or another rope catches you.
  • If you hold several directions, the last one pressed takes priority. Touch gameplay is unsupported.
  • P, Escape or Pause freezes the run. Select Resume and press fresh keys to continue.

02Dig a route past a bot

Stand on a floor or ladder. Press Z or Q to dig diagonally below-left, or X or E to dig below-right. The target must be a clay brick, with a clear cell directly above it.

Before: choose the brick

1. Dig below-right with X / EZ / Q digs the other sideSteel, ropes and ladders cannot be dug.
Tap a dig key once. Holding it does not repeat the dig. Leave a short moment between digs; you need floor or ladder support. A rope alone is not enough.

After: a harmless trapped bot

2. Bot falls into the holeFirst trap: +75 pointsHole: 5 sec · bot: up to 3 sec
A bot that falls into the hole stays trapped for up to three active seconds. Its first trap in this vault adds 75 points. Repeated traps of that bot add no extra points.
  • Open holes close after five active seconds. Watch the rim and countdown, then leave room to get out.
  • A trapped bot is harmless and supports a safe crossing above it. After leaving the hole it returns at its marked spawn, following a warning.
  • A returning bot waits if you are at its spawn or a neighbouring cell. Active bots still cost a life on contact.
  • Steel, ladders and ropes cannot be dug. Pressing a dig key at an invalid target leaves the room intact.

03Read the room

What each shape means

CourierYour cyan, visor-wearing runnerMaintenance botAvoid contact; lure it into a holeClay brickDiggable floorSteelSolid and indestructibleLadderUp / W and Down / S to climbRopeWalk across; Down / S releasesGold barCollect every bar · +100 each
Use shape and labels as well as colour. The dark machinery behind these objects is scenery; the brick, steel, ladder and rope tiles define your routes.
  • Gold shows collected bars versus the room total. Time counts down during active play; lives and score carry across vaults.
  • Bot contact or a hole closing around you costs a life. Gold, earned points and the time already spent stay recorded; actors and holes reset.
  • After contact, a bright outline protects you briefly for 1.5 seconds. A closing hole can still catch you.
  • Small windows, leaving the play area or switching tabs pause safely. Return to a supported desktop window, choose Resume and use fresh keys.

04Open the hatch and finish the run

Closed hatch → open exit

Collect all gold, then enterGold remainsExit openExample: 90 whole seconds left+500 + 2 × 90 = 680 points
Collect every bar before entering the hatch. Clearing a vault adds 500 points plus 2 for each whole second left. This example checks the 90-second bonus against the simulation.
  • The three rooms begin with 150, 165, 180 seconds. Each room has its own clock.
  • After the first two exits, select Next Vault when ready. The transition uses no run time.
  • Clearing Crown Vault adds another 1,000 points and finishes with You Win!
  • When time or lives run out, Good Game! counts your earned points. Play Again starts a fresh run; Menu returns to the catalogue.

Opening this Visual Guide freezes the field and all active clocks. Closing it restores your previous pause state. A manually paused game waits for Resume; a running game continues. Click the play area before pressing fresh keys.

Play Vault Runner