How to play

Draw a track on grid paper, then race it one move at a time.

Paperacers is the pen-and-paper game Racetrack (also called Vector Rally), played in the browser. Your car only ever stands where grid lines cross, and every move keeps the speed and direction of the one before it. Fewest turns wins. The quickest way to learn is the Tutorial button on the title page: six short lessons, then a practice lap.

Moving

Each turn, your car repeats its last move: the same distance in the same direction. That lands it on a ringed point. You then pick one of the 8 dots around that point:

• a dot further on goes faster,
• a dot behind it goes slower,
• a dot to the side turns.

You can't stay on the ringed point itself, so every move changes course a little. There's no top speed.

Braking

You can only slow down by one square a turn, on each axis. Brake well before a bend by picking the dots behind the ring.

Crashing

If a move would leave the road, even just touching the edge, you crash: the car stops at the last point still on the road, loses all its speed and misses a turn. Going too fast into a bend turns every dot red.

On the road

• Boost (orange arrows): +1 speed, and your next move can't be slower.
• Bump (yellow studs): your next move can't be faster.
• Oil: your car turns 45° to one side. Steer it back.

Dots you can't pick after a boost or a bump turn grey.

Laps and scores

A lap counts once you've gone all the way round in the race direction and crossed the start line. Your score is the number of turns, with a missed turn counting as one more, and the last turn counted to where you crossed the line (22.4, say).

Ways to race

Race on the title page opens your lobby. Pick a track there (one of yours, a sample, or one from the Marketplace) or start a New track.

Solo

Start the race with nobody else in the lobby and you race alone, for your best score. Your best run comes back as a ghost car to race against.

With friends

+ invite copies your lobby's link: up to 6 players can join. As the host, you pick the track, the laps and the mode:

• Turns: everyone moves in turn, with 30 seconds a turn. Fewest turns wins.
• Live: no turns, everyone moves as fast as they can. A crash freezes the car for 2 seconds. Fastest time wins.

Daily challenge

One new track a day, the same for everyone, from midnight to midnight UTC. It stays hidden until you start, and you get one attempt: one lap, fewest turns. Each move has an 8-second clock; every 8 seconds over adds a turn. Signed in, your attempt goes on the leaderboard and builds a streak. Either way you can share your result.

Marketplace

Tracks other players have published, free to race, in the lobby's Marketplace tab. Finish a lap on one to like or dislike it. Signed in, you can publish your own tracks once you've finished a lap on them.

Drawing a track

New track in the lobby opens the editor. Pick a paper size, then paint the road with a brush (3 to 9 squares wide). Roads can loop, cross and branch. Put down the start line and pick the race direction. A road that isn't one simple loop needs checkpoint flags to set the route. Add oil, bumps and boosts if you like, then race it. Tracks save in your browser, and in your account once you sign in.

Play Paperacers →