About Squiggle Racers
Race five bots on a brand-new course every time, at the level you choose. Draw your wheels, redraw them for every hill, stair and tunnel, and beat the bots to the flag.
Squiggle Racers is a free racing game where you never steer. Your little toy car drives itself; the only thing you control is the shape of its wheels, which you draw yourself. Draw a circle and both wheels become circles. Draw a star and you have star wheels. Draw a line and your car pole-vaults along on two sticks. The course keeps changing under you, with steep grassy ramps, wooden stairs, sticky mud, low tunnels, rock gardens, gaps and potholes, so the best wheel keeps changing too. Redraw at the right moment and you leave the bots behind. Race five bots on a fresh course, take on the daily course that everyone gets, or race up to seven friends online.
Also called: draw wheels game, drawing racing game, draw car game.
How to play Squiggle Racers
- Press Race!. After the 3-2-1-GO countdown your car sets off on its own, starting on medium round wheels.
- Draw a wheel shape on the drawing pad: the sticky note in the corner on a computer (or anywhere on the track with your mouse), or the strip at the bottom of the screen on a phone. Let go, and both wheels instantly become your drawing, with a puff of ink.
- A closed loop becomes a solid wheel; an open line becomes a stick. The size of your drawing sets the size of the wheels, from small to very big. A scribble that is too tiny is ignored and you keep your old wheels.
- Watch the road signs and the strip at the top of the screen: they show what is coming, and where every racer is.
- Redraw whenever the road changes. There is a short cooldown (under a second) between drawings; if you draw during it, your new wheels arrive the moment it ends.
- Cross the checked flag first. If your car ends up stuck or on its roof for a couple of seconds it gets a little hop to set it going again, but the real fix is usually a better shape.
Rules
- Every car is the same: a toy chassis on two sprung axles with a motor that turns both wheels. Only the wheel shape changes, and it always changes on both wheels together.
- Shapes are simplified to at most 24 points and centred on their middle. Wheels are between about 0.3 and 0.95 metres across the middle at their widest; bigger wheels are heavier.
- Wheel changes need about 0.8 seconds between them.
- Cars pass through each other like ghosts, so nobody can bump you off the track: the race is purely about your wheels.
- A race against bots has five bots at the level you choose. The daily course is the same for everyone each UTC day, with the same five bots, and you can race it as often as you like.
- On the daily board your best time of the day counts. The score server checks every time by driving your car round the course again with exactly the wheels you drew, when you drew them, and uses the time it gets itself.
- Online, the race ends 25 seconds after the first car crosses the line (or as soon as every person has finished). A race won against at least one other person goes on this week's wins board.
Squiggle Racers tips and strategy
- Circles are fastest on flat ground and hills. A neat, round circle rolls smoothly; a lumpy one bounces and loses speed. Switch back to a circle as soon as an obstacle is behind you.
- Spiky shapes for slopes and mud. Stars, cogs and jagged shapes dig their points into soft grass and mud, where a round wheel just spins. Squares grip mud well too.
- A long stick for stairs and gaps. A straight line turns into a pole that vaults the car up steps and over chasms. It is slow and clumsy on the flat, so draw a circle again at the top.
- A big wheel rolls over potholes and rock gardens that swallow smaller wheels, and it is strong on steep ramps. It is heavy in mud, though, and far too tall for tunnels.
- Small wheels for low tunnels. Tall wheels jam under the roof. A small circle zips through.
- Draw just before an obstacle, not in the middle of it: the road signs come a few metres early for exactly that reason.
- Watch the race strip at the top: if the bots pull away on a section, you probably have the wrong wheels for it.
- At the end, look at your shape strip: it shows every wheel you drew and where. Share it and see who drew the wildest wheels.
Squiggle Racers questions
Do I steer the car?
No. The car drives itself at full throttle the whole race. Your only control is drawing its wheels, which is what makes it different from every other racing game.
What is the best wheel shape?
There isn't one, and that is the point. Circles win on the flat, spiky stars and cogs win on steep grass and in mud, sticks win on stairs and gaps, big wheels win over potholes, and small wheels win in low tunnels. Every course mixes these up, so the best shape changes several times a race.
Why does my drawing look different on the wheel?
Your stroke is tidied up: it is smoothed to at most 24 points, centred, and sized between the smallest and biggest wheel. Its shape stays yours, wobbles and all.
What happens if I get stuck?
If your car is upside down for about two seconds it flips back over, and if it hasn't moved forward for a few seconds it gets a hop. That only buys you time, though: drawing a better shape for the obstacle is much faster.
How do the bots choose their wheels?
Exactly like you: they draw shapes from a library of circles, squares, stars, sticks and more. Hard bots read the road ahead and redraw just in time; normal bots react a little late; easy bots are slow and often pick the wrong shape.
How does the daily leaderboard stop cheating?
Your browser sends only the list of wheels you drew and the moment you drew each one. The server rebuilds the day's course, drives your car again with those wheels, and records the time it gets itself. Impossible runs, such as drawings faster than the cooldown or shapes that aren't shapes, are turned away.
How do I race my friends?
Open the Online tab and press Make a room. Share the link, the QR code or the six-letter code; up to eight people can race, and the host can fill the empty spots with easy, normal or hard bots. Quick play puts you in a public race straight away.
Does it work on phones?
Yes. On a phone the race goes full screen and the drawing pad sits under the track, so your finger never covers your car. It works in any modern browser and in the Kultured Arcade app.
Is Squiggle Racers free to play?
Yes. Squiggle Racers on Kultured Arcade is completely free: no download, no account and nothing to buy. It runs in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer.