Home / How to Play Doodle Jump: Controls, Bouncing and Hazards

How to Play Doodle Jump: Controls, Bouncing and Hazards

Choosing Your Version

This site provides two browser editions of the vertical climbing game created by Lima Sky for mobile phones in 2009. The full game on the home page runs on Phaser with full graphics, audio, shooting, power-ups, monsters, and saved records. The alternative HTML5 version is a compact canvas edition that loads quickly on low-powered computers, focusing strictly on platform navigation without combat or inventory items. Start with the full version on any computer, Chromebook or phone. If it runs slowly or you want pure jumping practice, pick the HTML5 edition.

Starting a Game

When the full game loads on the home page, select the play button to begin. Your character, the green four-legged Doodler, drops onto a starting platform at the bottom of the display and immediately launches upward on its own. You do not need to press a jump key. Every bounce happens automatically whenever the Doodler lands on a platform while descending.

Steering and Screen Display

Your goal is to guide the Doodler upward from platform to platform. The screen shows your live score, which measures how high you have climbed during the run. At the side of the screen, score marks labeled with player names show the heights of your top ten local runs stored in your browser. These marks let you know when you are close to beating a personal best.

To steer left and right on a physical keyboard, hold the ← and → arrow keys. On phones or tablets, steer by tilting your device or by tapping the on-screen < and > arrow buttons at the bottom. When you need to cross wide gaps, use screen wrapping: exiting past the left edge wraps the Doodler to the right edge, and crossing the right boundary brings you out on the left.

Meeting Platform Types

As you climb higher, the game generates different platforms to test your positioning:

• Static green platforms: Reliable surfaces that stay still and provide a regular rebound.
• Moving blue platforms: Surfaces that slide back and forth across the screen. Their movement speed increases as your score climbs.
• Cracked brown platforms: Fragile structures that shatter and drop when touched. They give zero bounce, so treat them as empty air.
• White vanishing platforms: Surfaces that provide a single normal bounce and immediately vanish.

Dealing with Hazards and Enemies

Above 5000 points, obstacles begin to appear along your path. You will encounter roaming monsters, hovering UFOs, and stationary black holes. A warning sound plays whenever a monster or UFO enters the active area.

Touching any monster from below or the side ends your run instantly. However, if you land directly on top of a monster or UFO while falling, the Doodler stomps the creature, dropping it off the screen and launching you upward with a full jump. You can also eliminate monsters from a distance by shooting. Press Space, the ↑ arrow key, or tap the screen to fire pellets from the snout. Black holes cannot be destroyed or bounced upon, so steer completely around them.

Power-Ups on the Climb

To accelerate your climb, pick up bonuses resting on solid platforms:

• Springs: Coiled springs that launch you much higher than a normal bounce.
• Propeller hats: Flying caps that lift you upward for roughly three seconds, slicing through monsters in your path.
• Jetpacks: Fast rocket packs that carry you up a long way. Jetpacks appear at most three times during a single run.

How Runs End and What to Try Next

A first run almost always concludes in one of two ways: missing a platform landing and plunging off the bottom edge, or bumping into a monster from below. When you fall or take damage, the game-over screen appears with your final score.

Click the high score name field to enter your player name, which is recorded in the local top ten list alongside your score. Then click play again to restart. For your next attempt, look higher up the display rather than staring at your character so you can plan landings ahead of time. Check out our items and monsters guide and our climbing tips for more advice.