About Tiki Dash
Tiki Dash is a free 3D lane runner with a hundred-level campaign, played in the browser on desktop, phone and tablet. Tiki Island keeps its peace with a hundred Gold Tiki faces set into the gate totems between its villages, until a storm wakes the Tiki Golem in the Sky Temple above the clouds and its roar scatters every face across the island. You are Kai, a young island runner from Coconut Cove, and you win them back one level at a time, through ten areas: sunny beaches, jungle ruins, a shipwreck lagoon, a volcano rim and the dusk, night, storm, cavern, reef and sky versions that follow.
It is not an endless runner. Every level is a fixed course with a finish arch, generated from the same seed each time, so you can learn it, earn up to three stars and beat your best. Ramps lift Kai onto hut rooftops, ruin walls and ship decks, and from up there the camera cranes back so you can see the hazards on the lanes below and choose your line. Each level hides exactly one Gold Tiki, usually on the riskier route, and a light shaft rising through the canopy gives it away. Each enemy tells you what it will do before it does it, whether that is a crab raising its claws, a coconut's shadow growing on your lane or a fire spirit's glow pulsing before it weaves.
The pearls you collect are banked after every level and spent in the Hut Shop on more hearts, a longer Pearl Magnet, higher pearl value, a Dash Start, Shell Charms and outfits with abilities, such as a Frog Mask for higher jumps or a Parrot Cape for gliding. Every tenth level is a chase, and the hundredth is the Tiki Golem. If you want an endless, score-attack runner instead, try Path Runner or browse more arcade games.
How to Play Tiki Dash
- Switch lanes: left and right arrows or A and D on a keyboard, a swipe left or right on a touch screen. Switch away from crates, totems and huts.
- Jump: up arrow, W or Space, or swipe up. Jump over logs and other low hazards. With the Parrot Cape, hold jump (or keep your finger down after the swipe) to glide.
- Duck: down arrow or S, or swipe down, to slide under low palm fronds and other overhead hazards. In the air it drops you quickly.
- Pause: P or Escape, or the pause button. M mutes the sound.
- Ramps and the upper tier: run straight up a ramp in your lane to reach rooftops, walls and decks above the path. Most pink pearls and many Gold Tikis are up there. Switching off the side of a narrow upper section, or running off its end, drops you back to the lower lanes, where hazards are waiting.
- Hearts: each level starts with three hearts, up to five with the Max Hearts upgrade. A hit costs one, makes you stumble and gives a moment of invulnerability. Lose the last one and the run ends, but a retry is instant and a failed run still banks half its pearls. A Shell Charm restores a heart on your last hit, once per level.
- Pearls: white pearls are worth 1, pink pearls 5 and black pearls 25, and the black ones sit on the riskiest lines. A Pearl Magnet power-up draws them in from every lane, and a Coconut Shield power-up absorbs the next hit.
- Stars: every level awards up to three: one for clearing it, one for collecting most of its pearls and one for finishing without a hit. Stars set your rank on the island.
- Gold Tikis and gates: find the level's hidden Gold Tiki and finish the level to keep it. Clear the tenth level of an area, a chase, with at least seven of its ten Gold Tikis to open the gate to the next area. A level you have cleared without its Gold Tiki shows a hint in words about where it is.
- The Hut Shop: spend pearls on upgrades, Shell Charms and outfits. The Frog Mask, Monkey Suit, Turtle Shell, Parrot Cape and Shark Fin each carry an ability and unlock as you reach new areas; the grass-skirt colours are for style only.
- Island Score: the sum of your best score on every level, and the number on the leaderboard. It rises when you clear a new level or beat an old best.
Tips
- Watch the telegraphs. Every enemy and chase hazard warns you first: a crab raises its claws on the beat before it scuttles to the next lane, and a growing shadow on a lane means something is about to land there.
- Follow the light shaft. The Gold Tiki sends a shaft of gold light up through the palms that you can see long before the tiki itself.
- Keep the streak. Twenty-five pearls in a row without a hit doubles your pearl score, and sixty triples it. Missing pearls does not break the streak; a hit does.
- Look down from the roof. The upper tier ends in a drop onto the lower lanes, so check what is waiting below before you leave it.
- Stuck on a level? Replaying is free, and after a few failures the level card offers a slower Breeze run. Outfits and upgrades help, but no level ever requires them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do Gold Tikis open the next area?
Every level hides exactly one Gold Tiki, usually on the riskier line, such as up on a rooftop or between two hazards. You keep it only by finishing the level you found it in. Each area has ten levels, and its gate totem opens the next area once you have cleared the tenth level, a chase, and set at least seven of the area's ten Gold Tikis into it. The map shows the totem's count, and a cleared level that still hides its Gold Tiki shows a hint in words about where it is.
What does each ability outfit do?
The Frog Mask makes your jumps higher and longer, the Monkey Suit pulls in pearls from the lane on either side, the Turtle Shell absorbs the first hit in every level, the Parrot Cape lets you hold jump to glide over long gaps and drops, and the Shark Fin makes lane switches faster and stops surf and tide pools slowing you. Each unlocks in the Hut Shop when you reach a certain area, wearing one changes how a level is best run, and no level ever requires an outfit. Colour outfits for the grass skirt are just for looks.
How does the Island Score and leaderboard work?
A level's score is the distance you ran, plus your pearls with the Tiki Streak multiplier, plus bonuses for a run with no hits, for collecting the Gold Tiki and for each star. Your Island Score is the sum of your best score on every level, and it is the number the leaderboard ranks. Only each level's best counts, so replaying one easy level cannot farm it: it rises when you clear a new level or beat an old best, and the results screen offers the leaderboard when it does.
What happens when I run out of hearts?
You start every level with three hearts, and buying Max Hearts in the Hut Shop raises that to five. A hit costs one heart, makes you stumble and gives you a moment of invulnerability. Lose the last one and the level ends, but you can retry straight away and the failed run still banks half its pearls. A Shell Charm, bought in the shop, restores one heart automatically when you take your last hit, once per level. After several failures the level card also offers Breeze, a slower run whose scores count a little less.
What is the Tiki Streak?
It is the pearl multiplier. Collect 25 pearls in a row without a hit and your pearl score doubles, and at 60 it triples. Missing a pearl does not break the streak, only a hit does, so it rewards a clean line over a greedy one. The stars are separate: one for clearing the level, one for collecting most of its pearls and one for a run with no hits.
What are the chase levels?
The tenth level of every area is a chase with a pursuer behind you: the Giant Crab in Coconut Cove, a Rolling Stone Head in the Jungle Ruins, a Ghost Ship in the Shipwreck Lagoon, a Lava Flow on the Volcano Rim, and tougher versions in later areas. Each one telegraphs its attacks, for example a claw's shadow showing the lane it will sweep. Level 100 is the final chase against the Tiki Golem in the Sky Temple, which ends the story.
How do I get up onto the rooftops?
Run straight up a ramp in your lane. Ramps lift you onto an upper tier, such as a hut roof, ruin wall or ship deck, where most pink pearls and many Gold Tikis wait. The camera cranes back so you can still see the hazards on the lower lanes below. The upper tier ends in a drop or a gap, and switching off its side drops you back to the path, so you can bail out onto the lower lanes.
Does Tiki Dash save my progress?
Yes. It saves your pearls, every level's best score, stars and Gold Tiki, Hut Shop purchases, outfits and Shell Charms at each results screen and purchase, and when you leave the page, all in your browser. Continue on the title screen shows where you left off. A run in progress is never saved, so leaving mid-level abandons that run, and starting a New Game asks before it replaces your saved island.
How do I play Tiki Dash on a phone or tablet?
Swipe left or right to change lanes, swipe up to jump and swipe down to duck or drop fast out of a jump. With the Parrot Cape, keep your finger down after the up-swipe to glide. The game shows swipe hints on touch screens and key hints on a keyboard, so it follows whichever you used last.
How is Tiki Dash different from an endless runner like Path Runner?
An endless runner such as
Path Runner asks how far you can get in one run. Tiki Dash has finite levels with a finish arch, a fixed layout you can learn, up to three stars each, ramps to a second tier, a pearl economy that carries between levels, and Gold Tiki keys that make you replay a level for its hidden prize.
