Daily Challenge: a new arcade challenge every day
One classic game a day, Atari 2600 style, with a single try and one leaderboard for everyone. There are 29 games in the rotation, from Snake and Pac-Man to Boulder Dash and Joust, all written from scratch, and the music is public-domain pieces turned into chiptune.
Today's challenge: GALAGA
Galaga (Namco, 1981) · Music: Vals op. 64 n.º 1 («Vals del minuto»), Frédéric Chopin, 1847
The formation comes from the day's map: enemies worth 10, 20 and 30 points and the yellow bosses, plus rows of shields that wear down. Bosses take two shots (turning orange after the first) and fire three times while diving. From wave 3 everything that dives shoots twice, and from wave 5 there can be two dives at the same time. The formation sinks a little on every sweep (and with every dive once four or fewer are left): if it reaches your height, the run is over. When you lose a ship, the next one blinks for a moment and nothing can touch it.
Sometimes a boss comes down to capture: it stops halfway down and lowers its tractor beam. Caught inside it, you lose that ship and the boss takes it back to the formation. Shoot it down while it dives carrying your ship and you get it back: you play with a dual fighter, two bullets at once and twice as wide, and a hit only costs the half it lands on. And every four waves, from wave 3, there is a challenging stage: five groups of eight fly past in patterns, without shooting.
Full GALAGA guide: controls, scoring and tips
How it works
Every day brings a different game, with the same map, the same seed and the same music for everyone. Nobody gets an edge: what you get is what everyone else gets.
You have a single run that counts. You can practise any game as often as you like in practice mode, but the daily challenge is played once.
Scores are not taken on trust: the server replays your run keystroke by keystroke with the same game code and only accepts it if it reaches the same result. That is why the leaderboard cannot be faked.
At midnight the day closes and the top 10 is published. First place becomes champion and can leave a line that everyone sees the next day.
Recent challenges
- Monday, October 19 · BATTLE CITY
- Sunday, October 18 · MISSILE CMD
- Saturday, October 17 · TETRIS
- Friday, October 16 · QIX
- Thursday, October 15 · SPACE IMPACT
- Wednesday, October 14 · PIPE MANIA
Every past challenge, with its podium
The games
SNAKE · BREAKOUT · PAC-MAN · NIBBLER · TETRIS · JEWELS · GALAGA · INVADERS · FROGGER · ASTEROIDS · PANG · DIG DUG · CENTIPEDE · MISSILE CMD · KABOOM! · BATTLE CITY · BASKET · SPACE IMPACT · RAPID ROLL · LUNAR LANDER · JOUST · BOULDER · PIPE MANIA · QIX · Q*BERT · MR. DO! · RALLY-X · BURGERTIME · MAPPY