How to play & controls One-Button Dash
One-Button Dash is an auto-runner with a single input. The runner moves on its own at 7 m/s and gains 1 m/s every 140 m until it hits 14 m/s at 980 m; the ⚡ figure at the top left is that speed over the starting speed. A press starts a jump, and holding keeps gravity weak for up to a quarter of a second, so each jump's height depends on how long you hold. Distance is the score, kept to 10 cm.
Spikes, saws (low, high and moving), pits, walls, stairs and one-way platforms are generated from a seed, so a course never runs out and a seed always builds the same course. Today's Course takes its seed from the UTC date, so everyone gets the same layout that day. After 150 m the current rules group obstacles into themed zones that end in a short rest, with stars where a higher or more exact jump is needed.
Goal
Your runner runs on its own — jump over obstacles with one button and get as far as you can. Distance is your score.
How it works
- Pick 'Practice Run' to start without an account. Retry the same course or challenge a friend’s ghost.
- When you see 'Press to start!', press Space, ↑ or W, or tap the screen.
- Use the same button to jump. Hold for a higher jump; give a quick tap to pass under saws.
- You speed up as you go. Touching spikes, saws or the side of a wall, or falling, ends the run.
- After a run, press Space, R or Enter to retry the same course. Friend challenges need no account; saving a world ranking on Today’s Course requires GameNow sign-in.
Modes
Today's Course
One course per UTC day, the same for everyone, with a world ranking and a reset countdown. The #1 run, if someone else holds it, races you as a gold ghost and your own best as a sky-blue one.
Practice Run
A random seed each start. 'Same course again' keeps it, 'New course' rolls another, and your best on that course runs as a ghost. Not ranked.
Friend challenge
A finished run sent as a link. Your friend runs the same course against your pink ghost and a pink line at your distance; no account needed, valid for 7 days.
Ranking challenge (⚔)
The ⚔ beside a ranking entry, or the link shared after saving, loads that record as a ghost. On today's course your run is still ranked; older days are not.
Practice last section
Offered after a crash: after a 3-second count you restart on ground before that obstacle, from a near or earlier point. It never changes records, rankings or goals.
Controls
| Action | Mouse & keyboard | Touch | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low jump | Tap Space, ↑ or W, or click the game screen | Quick tap on the game screen | Tap A/× or RT/R2 |
| Higher jump | Hold the key or mouse button (up to 0.25 s counts) | Keep your finger down | Hold A/× or RT/R2 |
| Start a run | Any jump input | Tap the screen | A/× or RT/R2 |
| Pause | Esc, or leave the tab | Quit button (asks first), or leave the app | START |
| Resume (3-2-1 count) | Any jump input | Tap the screen, or 'Keep running' | START or A/× |
| Same course again | Space, R or Enter on the results | 'Same course again' button | D-pad/stick, then A/× |
| New course (Practice Run) | N on the results | '🎲 New course' button | D-pad/stick, then A/× |
| Menus and results | Mouse, or Tab and Enter | Tap | D-pad/stick to move, A/× or START to press |
Tips
- Today's Course is the same worldwide each UTC day; ghosts of the #1 player and your own best run with you.
- Retrying a practice run keeps the same course. Starting a new practice run from the menu creates a new course. Practice scores do not enter the world ranking.
- The run pauses by itself when you switch windows or open this controls window.
- A/× or RT/R2: jump (hold for height); START: pause/resume.
Strategy tips
Hold time sets the height
One tile is one metre. A bare tap peaks at 1.7 tiles, a 0.1 s hold at 2.5, 0.2 s at 3.2 and 0.25 s or more at 3.4; longer holds add nothing. A tap cannot reach the top of a two-tile block, so hold there. A full hold stays airborne 0.67 s against a tap's 0.43 s.
Sort saws by height
Low saws sit near the ground: jump over them. A high saw hangs over one spike, tuned so presses of 0.1 to 0.2 s clear the spike and pass under while a full hold hits it. Moving saws slide between 0.75 and 3.35 tiles on a 1.25 to 2.2 s cycle. Hitboxes are smaller than the art: 85% of a saw's radius, 0.55 of a spike's 0.8-tile height.
Press early, release between jumps
A press up to 0.1 s before landing fires on touchdown, and you can still jump for about 0.08 s after running off an edge. Holding never repeats a jump, so release after each one.
Read the zone gate
Each gate names the next zone. Rhythm Hills favours spikes, spike rhythms, pillars and blocks; Saw Forest saws; Pit Bridges gaps, platforms and pit-then-spike; Block Fort blocks, stairs and spiked blocks. Theme obstacles get triple weight and the rest under half, flat breaks thin out toward the zone's end, and a theme never repeats back to back.
Keep the beat in rhythm sets
Spike rhythms, pillar runs and saw pairs are spaced by about 0.8 s of running plus a couple of tiles, so the press interval barely changes as you speed up. In pit-then-spike, a long jump over the pit lands nearer the spike and shortens the next beat.
Stars cost timing
Stars never change distance. Over a pit they hang 3.2 tiles up, beyond a bare tap; under a high saw they sit on the line of a correct short press. The three-star arcs on flat ground look free, but jumping for them delays your landing and shifts your timing for the next obstacle.
Practise with the readout
In Practice Run the bottom-left box shows your current or last press to 0.01 s and whether you are rising, falling or grounded. Section practice compares the first hold of your last failure and your first success, in milliseconds.
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