Light Trails
Steer your trail. Make them crash first. First to 5.
Light Trails is a two-player arena game in which each player steers a glowing rider that never stops, tapping Left or Right to turn and leaving a trail behind. Crash into a wall, block or trail and your rival scores.
Two glowing lines race across a dark grid, growing longer every moment. One tap to turn left, one to turn right, and suddenly somebody has nowhere left to go.
Also known as Light cycles, Tron-style light cycle game, Snake duel.
- How you hold it
- Face-off
- Match
- First to 5
- Length
- About 1 to 2 minutes
- Play
- Friend or bot
How to play Light Trails: quick rules
About 1 to 2 minutes at first to 5. Full rules, options and bot levels are further down.
- 1You are a glowing rider who never stops moving.
- 2Tap Left or Right to turn from the way you are heading.
- 3Your trail stays; hit a wall, block or trail and you crash.
- 4If both crash together, nobody scores and you replay.
- 5New obstacles come every point, and first to 5 wins.
Light Trails rules
Setup
- Red starts near the bottom heading up and Blue near the top heading down, from mirror-image spots. Both riders start in the same places every point.
- Each point uses a new arena: an obstacle layout drawn at random, or the Open arena with no obstacles. Every layout is the same from both ends, and the same layout never comes up twice in a row.
- You can read the arena during the countdown. Your pads work from GO, so a turn pressed straight away is used on the first move.
Riding and turning
- Riders never stop and never reverse. Both move one square at the same instant, at a steady speed that never ramps up.
- Left and Right turn you a quarter turn from the way you're heading, not toward a fixed side of the screen.
- A turn counts the moment you touch the pad, and is used on your next move. You can line up two turns ahead, so tapping the same pad twice makes a tight U-turn.
- There are no power-ups, no boosts, and trails never fade.
Crashes and points
- Your trail stays put for the whole point. Ride into a wall, an obstacle block or any trail, yours or theirs, and you crash.
- If one rider crashes, the other wins the point at once.
- If both crash on the same move, including riding head-on into the same square, nobody scores: “Both crashed - replay”, and the point is replayed on a new arena.
- After two double crashes in a row, the next point is played on the Open arena. If that also ends in a double crash, a coin toss decides the point.
- A point can't go on forever: the trails fill the arena, so it always ends.
Winning
- First to the target wins: 3, 5 or 7 points. There is no draw and no win-by-two.
- Nobody moves first: both riders always move together, so there is no starter to swap on a rematch.
Speeds
- Slow
- More time to see a wall coming, for new players.
- Normal
- The default speed.
- Fast
- Less time to react, and points end sooner.
Tips to win at Light Trails
- 1Turns are relative to the way you're heading, not the screen. Say "my left" in your head until it feels natural.
- 2Look for space, not just the next square. Steer toward the biggest open area and away from pockets with one way out.
- 3Cut across your rival's path to box them in. A trail laid in front of them shrinks their space faster than one laid behind.
- 4Use the countdown to read the arena, and plan your first two turns before GO.
- 5Tap the same pad twice to U-turn in a tight spot, but check there's room for the second turn first.
Controls
Phone flat between you. Each player owns a half, and the far half faces the far player.
- Two round pads sit at the bottom of your half, one at each end: Left and Right.
- Tap a pad to turn. The turn is taken as your finger lands, and holding doesn't repeat it.
- Use two thumbs, or one thumb moving between the pads. Either hand works, since the pads sit at both ends of the row.
- Both players can press at the same time; neither blocks the other.
Options
Every option is free. Defaults are marked.
| Option | Choices | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Points to win | 35 (default)7 | The score that wins the match. |
| Speed | SlowNormal (default)Fast | How fast both riders move for the whole match. |
Play Light Trails against the bot
The bot rides Blue by the same moves, turns and crash rules as you, and can double crash too. It reads only what is on screen: walls, obstacles, trails and both riders. It never sees the pads you've pressed, and it can only turn on a move after its reaction time.
Easy
Checks only a short way ahead, picks any safe way at random, rides into dead-end pockets and turns late near walls.
Normal
Heads for the move that leaves it the most open space and survives well, but doesn't try to cut you off and can be out-read in a long chase.
Hard
Looks far ahead and works to cut you off and box you in. Its weak spot is a dash for a gap it thinks it can reach first, which can end in a double crash.
Online, tournaments and hints
- Online
- One phone onlyLight Trails is real time, and internet delay would decide who turned first, so it stays on one phone.
- Tournament
- Can be drawn in a tournamentIn a tournament it is always first to 5 at Normal speed, whatever your saved options.
- Hints
- No hints here: it's all about your own reactions.
Coming soon
- One-handed steering. Turn by tapping the left or right half of your own area instead of using the two pads.
How it feels
- A soft blip on every turn, lower for Left and higher for Right, and a light tick under your thumb.
- A low engine hum that rises as you ride, with a glowing trail in your colour.
- A whoosh and a spark flicker when you slip past a trail by one square.
- A burst and a glass crack in the loser's colour on a crash, and a double thump for a double crash.
Accessibility
- Colour is never the only cue: Red's rider has a dot and Blue's a diamond, and Red's trail is solid while Blue's is notched.
- Slow speed gives more time to react, for anyone who wants it.
- The pads are large and don't shrink at any text size.
- With Reduce flashing on, there is no glow pulse, the crash burst is a flat ring and a double crash doesn't flash the screen.
Light Trails questions
Each player steers a rider that never stops, tapping Left or Right to turn and leaving a trail behind. Hit a wall, a block or any trail and you crash, and your rival scores. First to 5 points wins.
If both riders crash on the same move, nobody scores and the point is replayed. A match never ends drawn.
Keep to open space and use your trail to cut your rival off. The player left with more room usually outlasts the other.
Yes. Light Trails in Duo Clash is built for two players on the same phone. Phone flat between you. Each player owns a half, and the far half faces the far player.
Yes. The bot rides Blue by the same moves, turns and crash rules as you, and can double crash too. Choose Easy, Normal or Hard.
No. Light Trails is real time, and internet delay would decide who turned first, so it stays on one phone.
Play Light Trails on one phone
Free on Android. Sit face to face, or take on the bot on Easy, Normal or Hard.
