Neon trail duels for up to four riders. Light Cycles is a free 2 player game on one phone. Steer a neon bike, leave a glowing wall behind you and trap your rivals. Up to 4 players, or CPU riders.
How to play
Light Cycles is a 2 player game made for one phone lying on a table. Every rider glides forward on its own, one square at a time, and leaves a solid glowing trail behind it. Run into a wall, a trail or another rider and you crash. The last rider still moving wins the round.
Each player owns two big buttons at the edge of the screen: one turns your rider left, the other turns it right. The turns are relative to your rider, like a steering wheel, so a left turn always goes left for the rider, whichever way it is heading. Red sits at the bottom edge and Blue at the top edge, with the buttons turned around so Blue can read them. With three or four players the bottom and top edges are shared: Red and Yellow at the bottom, Blue and Green at the top. Everyone plays at the same time, and several fingers can press at once.
On a computer, use the keyboard: A and D for Red, J and L (or the left and right arrow keys) for Blue, Z and C for Yellow, B and M for Green. The key hints appear on the buttons until you touch the screen.
Pick 2, 3 or 4 players on the setup screen. Tap a seat to hand it to a CPU rider, and choose how smart the computer is: Easy, Normal or Hard.
Rules
- Every round starts with a 3, 2, 1 countdown. Arrows show which way each rider starts.
- A rider crashes when it enters a wall, any trail, or the same square as another rider at the same moment.
- The trails stay until the round is over, and the bikes speed up the longer the round lasts.
- The last rider alive scores a point. If everyone crashes together, nobody scores and the round is played again.
- The first player to win 3 rounds takes the match. The round score is shown at the top of the screen.
Tips
- Tap the same button twice quickly to queue two turns in a row. That makes a U-turn.
- Don’t just chase. Cut across in front of a rival and let them run into your trail.
- Keep a wall of your own behind you when the arena gets crowded, and leave yourself a way out.
- A big empty area is worth more than a tight spiral. The CPU riders count open space before every turn, so don’t expect them to drive into a dead end for free.
- In a three or four player match, let the others crash into each other first, then pick off the last rival.
Why it’s fun
Rounds take under a minute, the neon trails look great, and one mistake ends it. Pass the phone around, play first to three, and see who has the cool nerves for the final corner.