Slipstack

What is Slipstack?

Slipstack is a fast, original one-button stacking game you play right in the browser. A frame slides back and forth above the stack; tap to drop it. Whatever overhangs the frame below is sliced clean off, so the stack gets narrower with every imperfect drop until nothing catches the next frame. It's a pure-precision, “one more try” arcade game with a developer-flavoured skin — you're pushing frames onto a call stack, and a bad drop is a stack overflow.

How to play

• Watch the frame slide left and right. Tap — space, any key, or anywhere on the stage — to drop it onto the stack.
• Land it dead-centre for a flush: no width is lost, the stack stays wide, and your flush streak climbs.
• Miss the centre and the overhang is sliced off — the next frame inherits the narrower width, so the game gets harder the sloppier you are.
• The frame starts from a random side and speeds up every floor, so you can't fall into a rhythm — you have to read each slide.

Refactor floors — the twist

Every tenth floor is a refactor floor, marked and highlighted as the frame slides in. Land it cleanly — you don't need a perfect flush, just close — and the stack is widened backtoward its full width. Refactor floors are your way to recover from a run of sloppy drops and keep climbing, so they're worth slowing down for.

The goal — how to score and “win”

There's no finish line: Slipstack is a high-score chase. Your score is the number of frames you push before the stack overflows, and a great run is about three things:

• Survive — never miss the stack; one overflow ends it.
• Stay wide — chain flush drops so the surface never shrinks.
• Refactor — use the tenth-floor refactors to claw width back.

Your best score, tallest stack, and longest flush streak are saved on this device — the only real win condition is beating them.

Tips

• Use the faint centre guide line — line the frame up with it, don't just tap.
• A flush keeps full width, so a streak of them resets the difficulty.
• Ease off on refactor floors: landing one clean is worth more than rushing it.