How to play pogo (and how to stay out from under the blocks)
pogo is a free physics survival game you play in the browser. A rider in an orange helmet bounces on a pogo stick across a pile of blocks while four-cell pieces keep falling from the top. Hop out from under every drop, grab coins, and outlast the arena clock.
No download, no account, no app. It runs on a phone and keeps working with the network switched off.
Content note: pogo shows cartoon blood when a rider is flattened. One toggle, blood on / blood off, on the start screen and under the board, swaps it for a confetti burst and is remembered on your device.
The goal, in one sentence
Stay out from under the falling pieces until the arena clock runs out, three riders at most.
Controls
- On a phone or tablet, hold ◀ or ▶ on the pad under the board to move and hold JUMP to charge a big bounce. The board itself is a control too: hold the left third to go left, the right third to go right and the middle to charge. Use two fingers to move and charge at the same time.
- On a keyboard, use the arrow keys or A and D to move, and hold Space, W or the up arrow to charge. Escape pauses and R starts again from the result screen.
- On a gamepad, the d-pad or left stick moves and A charges. Start pauses.
The game pauses on its own when you switch tabs. Tap or press any control to carry on.
Bouncing and charging
The stick bounces on its own every time its tip lands on a block, about one cell high. Hold jump and a ring fills above the rider’s head over a little more than half a second. The next landing uses whatever charge you have, up to a bounce of about four and a half cells, and then the charge starts again from zero.
Big bounces are how you climb: a column two or more cells higher than yours needs a charge to get on top of. Landing on a piece that is still falling works too, but it gives a lower bounce. If the stick hits the side of a block, it pushes the rider back out.
Warnings and falling pieces
Every piece warns before it drops: a red glow over its columns, a ▼ at the top and a bar that fills as the drop gets close. When the bar is full the piece falls, lands and locks into the pile. Pieces come in seven four-cell shapes, turned any way, in a new colour every drop.
Some pieces are aimed at you, and the share goes up with the difficulty. On medium and hard two pieces can drop at the same moment, nearly always at least four columns apart.
Getting flattened
A falling piece that lands on the rider’s head, chest or hips flattens them. Pieces that only touch the stick or the legs are harmless. The rider stays in the arena as a ragdoll, and up to five bodies pile up on the blocks. They are not solid, so you bounce straight through them.
Riders and respawns
You start with three riders. After a second and a half, the next rider appears in the free column nearest the middle, with nothing warned or falling over it. New riders blink for 2.2 seconds, and nothing can hurt them while they blink. The first rider of each arena gets one second. When the third rider goes, the game is over.
Line clears
Fill a row from wall to wall and it clears with a white flash. The grey blocks that make up each arena never clear, and the coloured blocks above a cleared row drop down one row, stopping on any grey block underneath.
| Rows at once | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 100 |
| 2 | 300 |
| 3 | 600 |
| 4 | 1000 |
If a piece locks with any cell in the top four rows, every coloured block in the top seven rows is blown away: TOP BLOWN OFF. It does not cost you a rider.
Coins and combos
A spinning gold coin appears every three to five and a half seconds, a little above the pile. It lasts nine seconds and blinks for its last two. Touch it with the rider’s head, body, hips or the stick’s footpegs to take it.
A coin pays 50 times your combo. Take the next coin within 4.5 seconds and the combo goes up by one, so the third quick coin in a row pays 150. Losing a rider resets the combo.
The shield
Every 16 to 26 seconds a blue bubble with a cross appears above the pile. Take it and a blue ring surrounds the rider. The next piece that would flatten you shatters instead, SHIELD SAVED YOU, and you get a second where nothing can hurt you.
Close calls and scoring
You score:
- 10 a second while a rider is alive.
- 4 for every piece that locks.
- 25 for a close call: a piece that locks within a cell and a quarter of the rider’s head, chest or hips.
- Line clears and coins as above.
- 500 plus 100 for each arena already cleared when you clear an arena.
Nothing scores while you are waiting for the next rider.
Arenas
Survive the arena clock to clear it. The next arena has a new layout, faster pieces and spawns, and a few more seconds on the clock: two more seconds each arena, up to fifteen. The six layouts come round in order, then repeat:
- the pile, a floor with rubble on top.
- the tower, a tall wall on the left.
- the cliff, a wall on the right.
- the steps, a staircase climbing to the right.
- twin pillars, walls on both sides.
- the ledge, a wide low shelf on the left and a tall wall on the right.
Easy, medium and hard
| easy | medium | hard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warning | 1.3 s | 1.0 s | 0.75 s |
| Fall speed | 2.6 cells/s | 3.4 cells/s | 4.4 cells/s |
| A new piece every | 2.0 s | 1.5 s | 1.1 s |
| Aimed at you | 15% | 30% | 45% |
| Two at once | never | 15% | 30% |
| First arena clock | 25 s | 30 s | 35 s |
Every arena adds to the fall speed and shortens the time between pieces, down to a floor of 1.1, 0.8 and 0.55 seconds. Your best score is kept separately for each difficulty.
The daily run
The daily run has the same arenas and the same drops for everyone that UTC day and difficulty, so you can compare scores with friends. Your first attempt each day is the scored one and goes on the daily leaderboard. Play it again and the run is marked as practice.
Tips for surviving
- Move early. You can read a warning long before it drops. Step out of the red columns as soon as they light up rather than at the last moment.
- Stay low. A rider sitting on a high column has nowhere to go. Keep to the lower parts of the pile and charge only when you need to climb.
- Clear rows on purpose. A flat pile is safer than a jagged one, and a cleared row is worth more than a minute of coins.
- Grab coins in runs. Three coins inside 4.5 seconds pay 50, 100 and 150. Only chase one when no red column is near it.
- Save the shield. It only matters on the drop you did not see coming, so keep dodging as if you did not have it.
Frequently asked
How do I play pogo on a phone? Hold ◀ or ▶ on the pad to move and hold JUMP to charge. You can also hold the left or right third of the board to move and the middle to charge, with several fingers at once.
What are the keyboard and gamepad controls? Arrow keys or A and D move, and Space, W or the up arrow charge. Escape pauses and R restarts from the result screen. On a gamepad the d-pad or left stick moves and A charges.
How does bouncing and charging work? The stick bounces on its own about one cell high. Hold jump to fill the ring over the head, and the next bounce goes up to about four and a half cells. The charge then resets.
What do the red columns mean? A piece is about to drop there. The glow, the down arrow and the filling bar show where and when. Get out from under it before the bar fills.
What flattens the rider? A falling piece landing on the head, chest or hips. Pieces that touch only the stick or the legs are harmless.
How many lives do I have, and how do respawns work? Three riders. The next one appears a second and a half later in the free column nearest the middle and cannot be hurt for 2.2 seconds.
How do line clears work? A full row clears and drops the coloured blocks above it by one row. One row pays 100, two 300, three 600 and four 1000. Grey arena blocks never clear.
How do coins and combos work? A coin pays 50 times your combo, and the combo grows when coins come less than 4.5 seconds apart. Losing a rider resets it.
What does the shield do? It saves you from one crush. The piece shatters and you get a second where nothing can hurt you.
What is a close call? A piece that locks within a cell and a quarter of the rider’s head, chest or hips. It is worth 25 points.
How do arenas work? Survive the clock to clear an arena for 500 points plus 100 for each arena already cleared. The next arena has a new layout, faster pieces and a slightly longer clock.
What is the difference between easy, medium and hard? Easy warns for 1.3 seconds and drops slowly. Medium warns for one second and sometimes drops two at once. Hard warns for three quarters of a second and aims almost half its pieces at you.
Is the daily run the same for everyone? Yes. It uses the same drops for everyone that UTC day and difficulty. Your first attempt is scored and later ones are practice.
Can I turn the blood off? Yes. The blood on and blood off button on the start screen and under the board swaps the cartoon blood and lost limbs for a confetti burst, and the setting is remembered.
Where pogo sits
pogo is the action survival game of the portfolio. If you like reading a threat and getting out of the way in time, try the other games: graze pays you for near misses, updraft is a one-button cave flight, wreck is an endless run-and-gun, claim.io is a multiplayer land grab, deadband is a test of steady hands, outbound clears a board of arrows, cornered is a turn-based escape, ricochet is a bank-shot puzzle, blast is a block puzzle, pour is a colour sort, recall is a shape memory test, tint mixes colours, filter is a face deduction game, bridge is a hex connection game, closure is a line-drawing duel against a bot, and overload is a grid duel against a bot.