Three tap battles on one phone. Tap Duel is a free 2 player game for one phone. Play tug of war, tap race or reaction duel against a friend, up to four players, or a CPU.
How to play
Tap Duel is a 2 player game made for one phone lying flat on a table. Pick Tug of war, Tap race or Reaction duel on the setup screen, choose how many people are playing (2 to 4), and tap Start.
With two players the screen is split in half and the top half is turned upside down, so each of you sees everything the right way up. With three or four players the screen becomes four corners, one each, and the spare corner stays grey. Every zone shows its player’s colour, name and shape. Several fingers can tap at once, so everyone plays at the same time.
On a computer, use the keys on the zone: A for Red, L for Blue, Q for Yellow and P for Green. Tap a seat on the setup screen to give it to the CPU if you want to play alone.
Every round starts with a 3, 2, 1 countdown.
The three mini games
- Tug of war. Each tap pulls the marker one notch toward your side. With two players it is a rope across the middle of the screen, and you win when it reaches your goal line. With three or four players a puck in the centre is pulled toward each player’s corner, and you win by dragging it into your goal ring. Taps from different players cancel each other out, so keep up the pace.
- Tap race. The first player to reach 60 taps wins. A progress bar and a big counter show how far along everyone is.
- Reaction duel. Wait for a random time between 1.5 and 5 seconds. When the zones flash and say TAP!, the first tap wins the round. Tap too early and it’s a foul: you lose that round. With three or four players a foul only knocks you out of that round. It is best of five, so the first to win three rounds takes the match.
Tips
- Tug of war: use two fingers, one after the other. Alternating thumbs is usually faster than one finger.
- Tap race: a steady rhythm beats frantic bursts, because you don’t lose count.
- Reaction duel: don’t guess the timing. Watch the screen and wait for the change. A foul hands the round to your opponent.
- The CPU taps at a human-like speed, with a little randomness, so it’s a fair warm-up opponent.
Why it’s fun
Rounds last under a minute, there are no menus between them, and you can switch games in a couple of taps. Pass the phone around the table, play a quick best-of-three of each mini game, and see who really has the fastest thumbs.