What kind of game is Gold Runner?
A small explorer runs through a cave built from brick floors, wooden ladders and metal bars, picks up every gold nugget and escapes through the top of the screen. One to four round robot guards patrol each level and chase the explorer, who has no weapon but can dig a hole in the brick beside their feet. The rules follow the ladder-and-dig arcade classics that ran on home computers for decades, while every picture and sound here is drawn and synthesized fresh in code.
The board is 20 cells wide and 12 tall. You walk on bricks, climb ladders, hang from bars to cross gaps, and fall whenever there is nothing under your feet. Falling is always safe, no matter the height. Once the last nugget is taken, the level's hidden ladder lights up and appears; climb it to the top row and the level is done.
How does digging work and when do holes close?
Z digs the brick down and to the left, X digs down and to the right. A hole stays open for about five seconds, then the brick grows back. Digging takes 0.4 seconds, during which the explorer stands still.
| Situation | Result |
|---|---|
| A guard falls into a hole | Stuck for about 2.6 seconds, then climbs out sideways. You can walk over its head while it is stuck |
| The hole closes with a guard inside | The guard is buried for 250 points and reappears on the top row a moment later |
| The hole closes with the explorer inside | You lose a life |
| Grey rock | Cannot be dug. Only red bricks can |
| The cell beside you is brick, a ladder, or holds a guard | You cannot dig on that side |
| Hanging from a bar | No digging. Dig from a floor or a ladder only |
A hole is a trap, but it is also a doorway. Dig through a floor that is only one brick thick and drop into the hole to reach the level below. Rooms without ladders and nuggets hidden under bricks can only be reached this way. If the cell under the hole is also brick, though, you will sit in the hole until it closes on you, so check what is below before you jump.
How do the guards move?
Each guard finds the shortest route to the cell you are standing in: it walks straight at you on the same floor and takes the nearest ladder up or down when you are on another one. It cannot see holes at all, so a hole on its path swallows it.
- Speed: slower than you. About 60% of your speed on level 1, rising a little each level to around 80% on level 20. A straight run always escapes; ladders and dead ends get you caught.
- Distraction: about one cell in five, a guard keeps walking the way it was going instead of rethinking its route, so it sometimes overshoots a ladder. That is your chance to slip away.
- Respawn: a buried guard drops back in from an empty cell on the top row 1.6 seconds later, never right next to you.
- Ready time: guards stand still for the first second of every level so you can pick a direction.
How do score and lives work?
Each nugget is 100 points, burying a guard is 250 and finishing a level adds 500. You start with five lives. Losing one restarts the current level from scratch, nuggets included, while your score stays. Lose all five and the run ends with the score you had.
| Event | Points |
|---|---|
| Pick up a nugget | 100 |
| Hole closes on a guard | 250 |
| Level clear | 500 |
| Lose a life | Level restarts, score kept |
Cleared levels are saved in this browser, marked with a star on the level select screen, and the level after your last clear is unlocked. The Continue button on the title screen starts from the first level you have not cleared yet.
How are the 20 levels built?
All 20 levels are laid out by hand, with more guards and twistier routes as you go. Every board was checked at design time for an order in which all the gold can be collected and the top reached, using the four moves available: walk, climb, fall and dig through.
- Levels 1 to 3: one or two guards. Ladders, bars, hidden ladders and rock are introduced one at a time.
- Levels 4 to 9: nuggets in pockets under the floor, gold set into a floor that drops you when you step on it, and rock vaults. You have to find the dig-through routes.
- Levels 10 to 14: a chute that drops three floors at once, a deep pit crossed only on bars, and rooms split by rock pillars. Three guards.
- Levels 15 to 20: three or four guards closing in from both sides, a deep mine with a single ladder, stacked slides you cannot climb back up, and a clockwork board made almost entirely of rock.
How do I avoid getting caught?
- Dig first when a guard shares your floor. With the guard two or three cells away, dig on its side and it walks straight in. One cell away is too late: the 0.4 second dig gets you caught.
- Walk over trapped guards. A guard in a hole is a floor tile. It climbs out after 2.6 seconds, so do not linger on its head.
- Late arrivals get buried. Holes close after five seconds and a guard needs 2.6 to climb out. One that falls in right after you dig escapes; one that falls in during the last two seconds is buried. Wait beside the hole and lure them in late.
- Look down before digging through. The cell under the hole must be empty to pass. If it is brick, you sit in the hole and get buried.
- Plan the nugget order. Gold set into a floor drops you the moment you touch it, and ladderless rooms are one way. Taking the upper floors first is usually right.
- Press down on a bar to drop. Nuggets under a bar are collected on the way down.
Controls
- Keyboard: arrow keys or WASD walk and climb. Press down while hanging from a bar to drop. Z digs the brick down-left and X digs down-right; comma and period do the same. Space or Enter starts and moves to the next level.
- Mouse: hold and drag to move in the dragged direction; a short click without dragging digs on the side you clicked.
- Phone and tablet: the round joystick at the bottom left moves, and the two buttons at the bottom right dig left or right.
- Buttons: the speaker at the top right toggles sound, the three-line button opens level select and the house button returns to the title screen.
Cleared levels, your best score and the sound setting are stored only in this browser and never sent to a server. Every picture and sound is drawn and synthesized in code, so nothing is downloaded.