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How to play Splash Landing

A duck that flaps too hard overshoots the pond, and one that flaps too little drops like a stone. Splash Landing is a game about finding the gentle middle: you hold a flap button, steer sideways against the wind, and try to touch down feet first on open water beside a wooden dock.

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What a good touchdown looks like

Every pond is one flight, ending on the water in front of a dock. A landing is safe when the duck sinks slowly, moves slowly along the surface and sits level. Too fast and it cartwheels. Too slow through the air and the wings stop holding, so it belly-flops. Leaning so far that a wingtip catches the water also ruins it.

The ring under the duck is your gauge. It turns solid green when a touchdown right now would be good, dashed amber when it is getting fast, and a doubled red outline when it would not be.

Holding Flap, leaning and stamina

Holding Flap lifts the duck and pushes it the way it is leaning. Letting go lets it glide and sink. The steering buttons lean the duck left or right, and when you release them it levels out by itself. Flapping uses stamina, and what is left at touchdown becomes points.

  • Phone: hold Flap with one thumb and the arrow buttons with the other. A setting swaps sides.
  • The menu has a tilt option that steers by leaning the phone, where the phone allows it.
  • Keyboard: Space or the up arrow flaps, the side arrows steer, P or Escape pauses. A game pad also works.

Reading the wind before you commit

A wind sock, the bending reeds, the ripples and a chip near the top with a few bars and a one-word label all show the wind. Landing into the wind slows you down, which is the easy way to a soft touchdown. A wind at your back carries you along and makes the landing harder.

The six kinds of pond

  • Calm morning: still air and the widest lane.
  • Gusty afternoon: a steady wind with gusts on top. The reeds bend just before a gust hits.
  • Lily pond: pads cover most of the surface, so find the open water.
  • The canal: a narrow channel between two docks, with posts to keep clear of.
  • Winter edge: ice up to the lane, and cold air that tires you sooner.
  • Evening flock: other ducks are already settled on the water. Landing on one is a miss.

Touching down on the bank, dock, pads or ice is also a miss. Some ponds have fish that leap from the water; fly through one to snap it up.

What each landing earns

  • Landing safely: 100.
  • Soft touchdown: up to 100.
  • Touching down in the gold lane: 150.
  • Stopping close to the dock: up to 100, and nothing if you bump it.
  • Stamina left: up to 100.
  • Each fish: 50, kept even if the landing fails. A failed landing scores nothing else.

A gold-lane landing that is also very soft and close to the dock is a star landing; any other lane landing is a splash landing. The ways to fail are a cartwheel, a belly-flop and missing the water.

Today's three ponds, and Classic

The daily has three ponds, three different kinds out of the six, the same for everyone that day. They get windier as you go. Your total is the three landings added up, and higher is better. Only the first flight of the day counts; after that it is practice. You can share a card with one small mark per landing.

Classic goes pond after pond with wilder wind and a narrower lane. You have three feathers; a failed landing costs one and every 2,000 points earns one back, up to five. When they run out you can keep flying once per run, with one more feather.

Flying the daily on consecutive days builds a streak. Seven days in a row earns a streak freeze, up to two.

First flight and common slips

Your very first flight is a coached practice pond that counts for nothing. After that, build these habits:

  • Come in level, with no hard lean at touchdown.
  • Do not hold Flap all the way down. Short taps near the surface soften the sink without wasting stamina.
  • Aim for the gold lane first and the dock second; the lane pays more.

Splash Landing questions answered

Why did I cartwheel when I was falling slowly?

Too much speed along the water, or leaning so far that a wingtip hits, also causes one. The message after the landing tells you which.

What is the dock for if I cannot land on it?

It is the target. Stopping near it adds points, but bumping it takes them away.

Does a failed landing end my day?

No. The daily always gives you all three ponds. In Classic a failure costs a feather.

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