Laser Dodge is a free online laser dodging game in a dark square room. Emitters round the walls fire laser beams across the room on the beat of a pulse, and every beam is announced first: a thin flickering line shows exactly where it will fire a beat or two before it does. You are the little glowing orb, free to move anywhere in the room, and a beam that touches you costs one of three hearts. Twelve stages bring in slanted beams, grids with lanes between them, sweepers that swing round a pivot on the wall, sliders that march across the room, crosses, pulses that blink on the beat and spinners that turn like the hand of a clock. Every round is checked before you play it: there is always a way through without a single hit. Play with the keys, a mouse or a finger — no download, no sign-up.
How to play Laser Dodge
- Pick a stage and press Start, Space, or tap the room. The 30-second clock starts and the first warning line appears a moment later.
- Move anywhere in the room: hold the arrow keys or W A S D, move the mouse over the room and the orb heads for the spot under it, or put a finger down and drag — the orb moves the way your finger moves, so your finger never covers it. At top speed you cross the whole room in two seconds.
- Watch for warning lines. Each laser is announced by a thin flickering line exactly where it will fire, getting brighter as the beat comes. A sweeper or spinner shows an arrow for the way it will turn, and a slider shows a dotted line where it will stop.
- A beam that touches you costs one of your three hearts, and you blink for a moment while nothing can hit you. Lose all three and the round is over.
- Grab the gold cores that appear on the floor before they fade: each is worth 10 points. Last the 30 seconds and every heart you still have adds 50.
- Lasting the round clears the stage and unlocks the next one. A higher score earns the second and third stars.
- Later stages bring in new beams one at a time: slants, grids, sweepers, sliders, crosses, pulses and spinners, then a quicker beat and shorter warnings. Switching to another tab pauses the round.
Tips
- Move the moment a line appears, and move across it, not along it. The nearest way off a line is straight out to one side, and a beam is never more than a short step wide.
- Stay near the middle when you can. From the middle you have room every way; in a corner two beams at once can leave you nowhere to go.
- Under a grid, find a lane between two bars and stay in the middle of it. The lanes are all the same width, so the one nearest you is as good as any.
- A sweeper turns the way its arrow points. Step to the side it has already passed, behind it, and it can never reach you.
- A pulse is on for a beat and off for a beat. Wait at its edge and cross the moment a flash ends — there is time to get all the way over.
- Keep away from a spinner’s pivot, where the beam turns fastest past you, and walk round with it as it turns.
- Cores are the score, but a heart is worth five of them. Only go for a core when no line is in the way.
FAQ
Is Laser Dodge free to play?
Yes. Laser Dodge is free to play online in your browser, with no download, no account and nothing to buy. All twelve stages are here and unlock in order.
How do I move?
Hold the arrow keys or W A S D; two keys together move diagonally, no faster than straight. With a mouse, just move it over the room and the orb heads for the spot under it. On a phone or tablet, put a finger down anywhere on the room and drag: the orb moves the way your finger moves, so your finger never hides it. Space starts and pauses the round.
How do I know where a laser will fire?
Every laser is announced before it fires. A thin flickering line appears exactly where the beam will be, two or three beats ahead on most stages and one beat on Short Fuse — never less than about three quarters of a second — and it gets brighter as the beat comes. Beams that move show where they are going: an arrow for the way a sweeper or spinner turns, and a dotted line where a slider stops.
How does scoring work?
Each gold core you pick up is worth 10 points. If you last the 30 seconds, every heart you still have adds 50 more. Run out of hearts and the round is lost. Lasting the round earns one star; the second and third stars need a higher score.
Is every round possible without being hit?
Yes, with room to spare. Every round is dealt before it starts and checked step by step against every place you could be: a round is only shown if a careful player moving at three quarters of top speed, keeping extra clear of every beam, can last all 30 seconds without a single hit. The tests then play a route through the game to make sure.
Can I just stand still or hide in a corner?
No. The beams are spread so the corners and edges of the room are crossed about as often as the middle. A player who never moves — in the middle, in any corner, against any wall — lasts the 30 seconds in fewer than 1 round in 10 on every stage, and running about without looking at the lines does no better.
What do the different beams do?
Red bars cross the room level or upright. Orange slants cross it at an angle. Yellow grids fire a row of bars at once with lanes between them. Cyan sweepers swing round a pivot on the wall. Green sliders march across part of the room and stop. Purple crosses fire two beams through one point. Pink pulses blink on and off with the beat. Blue spinners turn round a pivot in the room. Only one sweeper, slider, pulse or spinner is ever out at a time.
How are the star scores set?
They are measured, not guessed. Three simulated players — a casual, a regular and a sharp one, each taking a human reaction time to notice a new warning line and aiming a little off where they mean to go — play every stage 41 times. Two stars is the regular player’s middle score and three stars the sharp player’s.
Is the game the same whatever my screen’s frame rate?
Yes. The round runs on a fixed clock of 120 steps a second, and every key press, mouse move and drag counts from the moment it happened, not from the next frame drawn. A 60 Hz phone and a 144 Hz monitor play exactly the same round.
How is Laser Dodge different from Laser Reflect or Dodge the Blocks?
Laser Reflect is a puzzle: you turn mirrors to steer one laser to its target. Dodge the Blocks is about falling blocks, and you only slide along the floor. In Laser Dodge you move freely round the whole room and read the lasers before they fire, on the beat.
Does Laser Dodge work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. Drag with one finger to move. The square room fits a phone held upright with the score and buttons under it, and it plays sideways too.