Helix is a one-button tower-drop game. Your blob bounces in place on a tall spiral tower of round platforms, each with one gap. Hold anywhere and the tower spins; let go and it stops. Swing a gap under the ball and it drops to the next floor. Land on a red slice and the run is over. Drop through three floors in a row without bouncing and you turn into a fireball that smashes straight through the next platform, red or not. Every floor is a point. Further down, the platforms start turning on their own, and a new tower drops every day for you and your friends' ghosts.
How to play Helix
- Your ball bounces on its own. Hold anywhere to spin the tower, and let go to stop it.
- Turn the gap under the ball to drop to the next floor. Every floor is a point.
- Never land on a red slice: let go so it stays clear while the ball comes down.
- Fall through three floors without bouncing to become a fireball and smash the next platform.
Tips to get a high score
- Spin while the ball is high in the air, then let go before it lands. That gives you the most time to line things up.
- Watch the next platform, not the one you're on. If the gap is far away, take it in two bounces.
- Lower platforms turn by themselves. Time your landing so their red slices are moving away from the ball.
- Coins hover over some gaps. Drop through the middle of the gap to grab one.
- Fireballs come from quick drops. Chain gaps that line up and let the ball fall.
What changes as you go down
Most of Helix's difficulty depends on how deep you are, not on time. Over the first 70 floors the gap in each platform shrinks to about half its starting width, and past floor 70 it keeps narrowing slowly. The tower also turns about a quarter faster under your thumb over the first 70 seconds.
Red slices arrive in steps. The first platform has one, the second has none, and every platform after that has at least one. From around floor 20 a platform can carry two, and from around floor 40 up to three, and they get wider the deeper you go. One mercy: there's always a strip of safe platform on both sides of a gap before any red begins.
From the ninth platform, some platforms turn on their own. About a quarter do at first, rising to every platform by floor 30, and the deeper you go the faster they drift.
Floors, fireballs and your spin budget
Every platform you get past is a point, whether you drop through its gap or smash it as a fireball. Coins over some gaps are for hats, and the level counter every ten floors is just a marker.
The fireball rule is exact. Once you've dropped through three floors without bouncing, the next platform you'd land on breaks, red or not. That smash scores a floor but uses up the fireball, and you pop up a little and fall towards the next platform as a normal ball again.
Plan around your spin budget. A bounce lasts about 0.6 seconds, and holding through a whole bounce turns the tower roughly 160 degrees at the start, a bit more later. If the next gap is more than about half a turn away, spin part of the way, land on a safe spot and finish on the next bounce.
Reading spin and drift
The tower only turns one way, so a gap that has just slid past the ball is the farthest one away: nearly a full turn. Don't chase it in one bounce. Count on two.
On drifting platforms, the platform's own turn adds to yours or works against it. If it drifts the way you spin, the gap reaches the ball sooner, so let go earlier. If it drifts the other way, hold longer. Either way it keeps moving after you let go, so a red slice can creep under the ball on its own.
What counts is what's under the ball at the instant it touches the platform. Letting go just as the gap arrives is cutting it fine. Let go a touch early and give yourself room on both sides.
Daily levels and ghost races
Today's Helix level is the same for everyone, and you race the ghosts of other players' runs. How daily levels and challenges work.
FAQ
Does the tower only spin one way?
Yes. Holding always spins it the same direction, so the skill is in when you hold and when you let go.
What happens if I don't touch anything?
The first platform turns slowly on its own and brings a red slice round under the ball, so standing still loses. Hold to bring the gap round first.
Is it free?
Yes. Every Tapamine game is free to play in your browser with no download and no account.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. Tapamine is built for phones first: portrait, one thumb, and it works offline after your first visit. It also works with a mouse or the spacebar on a computer.
How do challenges work?
After a run, tap “Challenge a friend” to send a link. Your friend plays the exact same level and races your ghost — a replay of your run — to see who wins.
Add Helix to your site
Helix is free to embed on your blog, class page or website. Paste this code:
<iframe src="https://tapamine.com/embed/helix/" title="Helix: free one-tap game" width="360" height="640" style="border:0;border-radius:16px;max-width:100%" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; web-share" loading="lazy"></iframe>