Lava Surf

Controls

Swipe left or right to carve between lanes and to pick a branch at a fork, swipe up to jump lava falls and swipe down to duck under rock arches. Extra swipes in the air pull tricks. Dragging with the mouse works the same way. On a keyboard, the Left and Right arrows or A and D carve, the Up arrow, W or Space jumps, and the Down arrow or S ducks. P or Esc pauses.

How to play Lava Surf

You surf a heat-proof board down a roaring lava channel. The board runs forward on its own, and the channel has three lanes. Boulders sit in a lane, and geysers burst up through the crust, so carve to an open one. Duck under the rock arches that span the whole channel, and jump the lava falls. Hit a boulder, a geyser, an arch or the lava itself and the run is over.

The channel splits at forks. The middle of a fork is solid rock, so you have to carve left or right before you reach it. Miss the turn and you smash into the wall. Your score is the meters you surf plus five points for every coin.

Tricks, power-ups and the board shop

Hit a glowing ramp and you fly. While you are in the air, extra swipes pull tricks: a backflip, a board grab or a 360 spin. Land them clean and you earn bonus coins, and a string of tricks in one jump pays more. A messy landing drops the combo.

Two power-ups float above the lanes. The obsidian shield soaks one hit, even a fall into the lava. The cooling wave freezes the lava ahead of you and clears rocks for a few seconds. Coins from every run go into your bank. After a run you can spend them in the board shop on Shield and Cooling wave upgrades, up to level 4 each, and each level makes that power-up last longer. Missions such as Collect 40 coins in one run or Land 5 tricks in one run add bonus coins too.

Tips and tricks

• At a fork, carve early. The middle is rock, so waiting until the split is on screen is usually too late.
• Swipe down in the air to drop into a duck, handy when an arch follows a jump.
• Save a shield for a crowded stretch. It breaks on a hit, but it also bounces you out of a lava fall.
• After a crash you can watch a short ad once per run to revive on the board with a moment of protection. You can also watch one to double the coins from that run. If you skip the ad you get nothing, but the button stays so you can try again.