Quackoria Play
Egg Drop
An egg is about to tumble from the top of the screen and a duck is waiting by her nest. Draw a few planks, press Drop and guide the egg safely home.
Egg Drop is a physics puzzle. You draw a small number of planks, press drop, and the egg falls, rolls and bounces its way — you hope — into the nest. Rocks crack it, the bottom of the screen loses it, and coming to a standstill ends the attempt too.
The scoring is what makes it a puzzle rather than a fiddle. Clearing a level is worth a hundred points, and every plank you did not use is worth another twenty. With three planks available, a level solved with none is worth sixty per cent more than the same level solved with all three. So the question is never “can I get the egg in”, it is “what is the smallest number of lines that gets the egg in”, which is a considerably better question.
The other thing that keeps a run alive is that winning a level gives you an egg back, up to a maximum of three. A player who is clearing levels cleanly does not slowly bleed out; the run only ends when you start failing faster than you succeed. That turns it into a game you can settle into rather than one that grinds you down.
How to Play
- Press Start. The egg sits at the dotted spawn point at the top of the level.
- Draw up to three straight planks by dragging on the screen, or move the cursor with the arrow keys and press Space at each end.
- Press Drop (or Enter) to release the egg. It rolls along planks and bounces gently off ledges.
- Steer the egg past the grey rocks and into the twig nest next to the duck.
- If the egg cracks you lose one of your three eggs; solving a level gives one back.
- Press Clear (or C) to remove your planks and try a new idea.
Controls
Desktop
- Arrow keysMove the drawing cursor
- SpaceSet the start point, then the end point of a plank
- EnterDrop the egg
- CClear all planks on this level
- EscapeCancel a half-drawn plank
- RRestart from level 1
- MToggle sound
Mobile
- Drag on the canvasDraw a plank from finger down to finger up
- Tap DropRelease the egg
- Tap ClearRemove all planks on this level
Gameplay tips
- Every unused plank is twenty points. Ask what the fewest lines are that solve the level, not just what solves it.
- The first level needs no planks at all. That is the game telling you what it wants.
- Steep planks preserve the egg's speed; shallow ones drain it. Friction is high, so a long gentle ramp is how eggs end up stalling out.
- An egg that stops moving for about a second and a half is lost. Coming to rest is a failure, not a safe outcome.
- Clearing a level gives you an egg back, up to three. A clean run funds itself, so the goal is consistency rather than survival.
- A failed attempt keeps your planks. You can drop again on the same layout without redrawing, which makes small adjustments cheap.
- The walls are solid, so the egg cannot escape sideways. Bouncing off a wall on purpose is a legitimate route.
- Levels repeat every twelfth one with a narrower nest, but the branch beneath it stays the same width. Deep in a run, landing beside the nest is the failure to plan around.
About the game
A hundred points per level cleared, plus twenty for every plank you did not use. Levels allow either two or three planks, so a level solved with none can be worth sixty per cent more than the same level solved with all of them.
You get three eggs, and each clear gives one back up to a maximum of three, so a clean run sustains itself. An egg is lost three ways: hitting a rock, falling off the bottom of the screen, or coming to rest for more than about a second and a half. That last one catches people out — a stalled egg is a failure, not a stalemate.
The physics are deliberately dead. Bounce is very low and small bounces are cancelled entirely, while friction is high, so a shallow plank drains speed and a steep one preserves it. The side walls are solid, so the egg can never leave sideways.
The twelve levels repeat, and each time through the table the nest gets narrower — from 44 units wide, to 34, to 24, then a floor of 22. The branch under the nest never changes width, which means that on later loops the egg increasingly lands beside the nest instead of in it, and dies to the stopped-short timer rather than to a rock.
Frequently asked questions
How do I score?
A hundred points for each level cleared, plus twenty for every plank you had available but did not use.
How many eggs do I get?
Three, and clearing a level gives one back up to a maximum of three. A clean run is genuinely sustainable.
What are all the ways to lose an egg?
Hitting a rock, falling off the bottom of the screen, or coming to rest for more than about a second and a half.
Do the levels ever change?
There are twelve hand-built levels and they repeat. What changes is the nest, which narrows each time through the table — from 44 units to 34, then 24, then a floor of 22.
Why does the egg keep stopping on the branch beside the nest?
Because the branch under the nest stays the same width while the nest itself narrows on later loops. On deep runs that near-miss becomes the most common failure.
Why does the egg barely bounce?
By design. Bounce is very low and small bounces are cancelled entirely, so the egg rolls far more than it hops.
Can I change my planks after dropping?
No. Once you press Drop you are committed. A failed attempt does keep your planks, though, so you can re-drop or adjust before trying again.
Is my best score saved?
Yes, in your own browser.
