Quackoria Play
Duckling Line
A duckling game about the walk to the water: a hen, eight scattered ducklings and a line to gather behind her before the predators thin it out.
Within a day of hatching, a mallard hen leads her brood off the nest and walks them to water. Ducks Unlimited describes it plainly: less than 24 hours after the last egg hatches, the female leads her ducklings to a nearby wetland, and a hen may waddle with her brood for up to a mile to get there. It is the most dangerous walk of a duck’s life. Ducks Unlimited puts duckling survival anywhere between less than 10 percent and as high as 70 percent, with mortality highest in the first two weeks — and the list of what takes them is long: foxes, raccoons and mink on land, northern pike and snapping turtles in the water, hawks, owls, gulls, herons and crows overhead.
Duckling Line is that walk as a duckling game. The hen keeps moving; you steer. Every duckling you reach falls in at the back of the line — the way real ducklings follow the first moving thing they imprint on — and every predator that reaches the line takes one. Rocks stop the hen, water does not, and the gate to the brood-rearing wetland on the far edge opens only when every duckling still on the ground is following. You have sixty seconds a stage — if the clock runs out, so does the run — across four stages from a quiet meadow to a pond at dusk with a hawk overhead, and then it loops harder.
The predators, the timings of the real walk and the survival figures come from Ducks Unlimited’s brood research and the Nobel Prize summary of Lorenz’s imprinting work, quoted in the FAQ below; the Cornell Lab’s mallard life history is there for the species itself. The board, the clock and the points are ours.
Sources: Ducks Unlimited, duckling survival; Ducks Unlimited, mallard annual life cycle; Ducks Unlimited, the secret lives of broods; Nobel Prize 1973 press release, imprinting; Cornell Lab, mallard life history.
How to Play
- Press Waddle. The hen sets off near the bottom-left corner and keeps walking; you only choose her direction.
- Turn with the arrow keys, or swipe on the board. A plain tap turns her toward the side you tapped, relative to where she is.
- Walk onto a duckling and it falls in at the back of the line. Gather every duckling on the ground.
- Rocks stop her; water she swims through. Foxes and raccoons hunt on land, mink on land and in the water, pike hunt in the water and snapping turtles wait in it, and on the dusk stage a hawk's shadow crosses the pond.
- A predator that reaches the line takes one duckling, then needs a moment before it can take another. A lost duckling is gone for good.
- Once every duckling still on the ground is in the line, the WATER gate on the top edge opens. Reach it before the 60-second clock runs out — when it does, the run is over.
Controls
Desktop
- Arrow keysTurn the hen
- SpaceCarry on when paused
- RRestart from stage 1
- MToggle sound
Mobile
- Swipe on the boardTurn the hen in that direction
- Tap the boardTurn toward the side you tapped, relative to the hen
- Tap the board when pausedCarry on
Gameplay tips
- The hen cannot turn straight back into her own line, so think one turn ahead when the brood is long.
- Water is not a wall for a duck. Cutting through a pond is often the shortest path — unless there is a pike in it.
- Predators head for whichever is nearest — the hen or a duckling in the line — so a long line is a long target. If a fox is close to a duckling, come at it from the far side.
- Reeds are cover. On the dusk stage, have every duckling in the reeds when the hawk's shadow crosses; a duckling standing in the open is the one it takes.
- Snapping turtles never move. Note where they are and simply do not walk over them.
- Every second left is worth 2 points and every duckling that arrives 15, so a fast, complete line is the best score there is. A lost duckling costs 5 and its 15 at the gate.
About the game
Duckling Line is a follow-the-leader duckling game about the most dangerous walk of a duck's life. Ducks Unlimited describes ducklings leaving the nest within a day of hatching and following the hen to water — sometimes a mile away — with mortality highest in the first two weeks. The predators in the game are the ones Ducks Unlimited names: foxes, raccoons, mink, northern pike, snapping turtles and hawks. Ducklings follow the first moving thing they see because of imprinting, which is why the line forms behind the hen at all. The stage layouts, timings and points are game design.
Frequently asked questions
Why do the ducklings follow in a line?
Imprinting. The Nobel Prize summary of Konrad Lorenz's work puts it directly: a newborn duckling is imprinted to follow the first moving object it sees — the mother, a cardboard box or a balloon. Our article on duckling imprinting has the detail.
Are these real predators?
Yes. Ducks Unlimited lists fish such as largemouth bass and northern pike, reptiles such as snakes and snapping turtles, mammals such as foxes, raccoons, mink and feral cats, and birds such as hawks, owls, gulls, herons and crows as predators of ducklings.
Do ducklings really walk to water so soon?
Ducks Unlimited says a hen leads her brood to a nearby wetland less than 24 hours after the last egg hatches, and that a hen may waddle with her brood for up to a mile to find suitable water.
How many ducklings survive in real life?
It varies enormously. Ducks Unlimited puts duckling survival anywhere from less than 10 percent to as high as 70 percent, with most losses in the first two weeks.
Why can the hen swim but the fox cannot?
Foxes and raccoons stay on land in the game; mink go in the water too, as they do in life. Pike and snapping turtles stay in the water. The hen and her ducklings cross both.
How is the score worked out?
Ten points for each duckling gathered, minus 5 for each one lost, never below zero. Finishing a stage adds 2 points for every second left on the 60-second clock and 15 for every duckling that arrives.
Does it get harder?
Yes. Stage 1 has a fox; stage 2 a fox and a pike; stage 3 a fox, a raccoon and a mink; stage 4, at dusk, a fox, a pike, a snapping turtle and a hawk overhead. After stage 4 the game loops with one extra predator, then two, and both the hen and the predators move a little faster.
Is my best score saved?
Yes, in your own browser.
