Arcade guide
Propeller Game Tips: 40 Runs, and Only 7 Scored
Key takeaways
- Nothing moves until the first tap: in one idle run the cap stayed still for 25 seconds.
- Tapping on a fixed timer (every 0.25, 0.4 or 0.6 seconds) ended all 15 runs in under 2 seconds with no points.
- Of 24 runs by a script that keeps the cap near the middle, 7 scored: four with 1 point and three with 2.
- The first pair of mines arrives about 1.6 seconds after the start and ended 17 of the 24 scripted runs.
The first propeller game tip is to stay near the middle: in Whirlcap only 7 of 40 runs scored a point, and every one of them came from a script that kept the cap within a few pixels of the center. Tapping on a fixed timer ended all 15 runs in under 2 seconds.
How the game works
Whirlcap is a one-tap swinging game in pixel art. A round creature with an orange cap and a golden propeller rises through a night sky. Each tap flips the direction it swings, and it speeds up sideways in that direction. Steel girders cross the screen with spiked mines on chains, and each girder you pass adds a point. A mine or a wall ends the run and shows a Game Over card with your score and your highest score.
What we measured
We played the game in a test browser at 1280 by 800 pixels with software rendering and read the game’s own numbers: the cap’s position and speed, the score and whether the Game Over card was up. We tried tapping on a timer, and we tried a small script that reads the cap’s position and speed and taps when the cap is about to leave a band around the middle. A script is not a person, so the numbers show what a very steady tapper could do, not what a human does.
| Method | Runs | Result |
|---|---|---|
| No taps | 1 | the cap stayed still for the full 25 seconds |
| Tap every 0.25 s | 5 | ended at 1.4 to 1.6 seconds, 0 points |
| Tap every 0.4 s | 5 | ended at 0.43 to 0.44 seconds, 0 points |
| Tap every 0.6 s | 5 | ended at 0.45 seconds, 0 points |
| Script, wide band (42 to 118 px) | 6 | ended at 1.67 to 1.8 seconds, 0 points |
| Script, narrow bands (three of them) | 18 | 11 ended at about 1.6 seconds; 7 scored (four with 1 point, three with 2); longest 5.4 seconds |
Forty runs in one test browser with slow software rendering, from timers and small scripts, not from people. The screen is 160 pixels wide, so the positions are in game pixels. The game’s speeds and the 1.6 second mark are what we measured, not what the game promises.
Why the first row ends most runs
The cap starts at the bottom of the screen and the girders scroll down toward it. The first pair of mines reaches the cap about 1.6 seconds after the start, and 17 of the 24 scripted runs ended there or earlier. The gap between the two mines is narrow, so a wide swing runs into one of them. When we kept the cap within a few pixels of the middle, 7 of 18 runs got through the first row.
How fast the cap moves sideways
The cap accelerates quickly. From the middle of the screen, one tap sent it into the side wall in about 0.45 seconds, so a second tap has to come almost at once. Taps on a fixed timer cannot follow the cap, which is why none of the 15 timer runs got past the first row.
4 tips that follow from the numbers
- Take your time at the start. Nothing moves until the first tap.
- Tap back almost at once. One tap from the middle reached a wall in about 0.45 seconds.
- Do not tap on a rhythm. Timers every 0.25, 0.4 and 0.6 seconds all failed in under 2 seconds.
- Stay near the middle. The only runs that scored kept the cap within a few pixels of it.
Where to try it
Try it yourself in Whirlcap. For another tap game, Hoplane has you jump between lanes.
Frequently asked questions
How do you start Whirlcap?
Press play, then tap once. The cap stays still until that first tap.
What do the taps do?
Each tap flips the direction the cap swings, so one button steers left and right.
How fast does the cap hit a wall?
In our runs, one tap from the middle ended the run in about 0.45 seconds.
Does tapping on a timer work?
No: all 15 runs with taps every 0.25, 0.4 or 0.6 seconds ended in under 2 seconds.
What is the longest run you saw?
5.4 seconds with 2 points, from a script that kept the cap within a few pixels of the middle.
Does the game remember your score?
Yes. The highest score is kept in your browser and shown on the Game Over card.