Moon Hop Guide: How to Play, Tips, and Tricks for the Cozy Jumping Game
Moon Hop is a cozy endless jumping game, in the spirit of classic vertical
jumpers like Doodle Jump and Icy Tower. A sleepy cat sits on the flower box outside its
window and dreams of the moon. Every time it lands, it hops again on its own. Your job is to
steer it left and right so it keeps landing on things, climbing past the rooftops, through
the clouds and up into the stars, until it reaches the moon 1000 m above the city.
There are no enemies and nothing to shoot. Moon Hop is about the rhythm of the hops, a little
tune that plays as you climb, and the view changing around you: a morning that turns into a
golden hour in the light theme, and a starry night in the dark theme.
How to Play Moon Hop
- The cat hops automatically every time it lands. You only choose where it goes.
- Hold the left and right arrows, or A and D, to run. On a
phone or a tablet, hold a finger on the screen and the cat runs to it, or
turn on tilt controls in the Settings tab of the menu before a climb, and
tilt the device.
- The sides of the screen wrap around: run off the left side and the cat comes back on the
right.
- Platforms only work from above. The cat jumps through them on the way up and lands on them
on the way down.
- The cat has three lives, under the cat heads at the top. Falling off the
bottom of the screen, or losing your three hearts, costs one of them. The cat comes back at
the same height, on a stack of books, with its hearts back, and waits for you: press a key or
tap the screen to hop. It blinks for two seconds after that, and nothing can hurt it.
- With no lives left, the climb is over. Your score is the highest point you reached, in
meters.
What You Find on the Way Up
- Stacks of books are the everyday platforms. Above the clouds they become
fluffy clouds, and near the moon they become moon rocks, but they all work the same.
- Vinyl records slide from side to side. Time your landing, or wait for the
record to come back.
- Paper notes hold a single hop and then tear in half. Use them as a step,
never as a place to rest.
- Trampolines sit on some stacks of books. Land right on one and it launches
the cat about 25 m up.
- Umbrellas float here and there. Grab one and the cat hangs from it,
falling slowly for a few seconds, plenty of time to steer to a safe spot. It blinks faster and
faster before it closes.
- Jetpacks are rare too. One stands on a stack of books now and then: grab it
and the cat flies straight up for a few seconds, about 95 m, through everything in its way.
When it runs out, the empty jetpack drops away and you're back to hopping.
- Golden pillows are rare. One shows up now and then and flies across the
screen like a shooting star, from high up on one side to lower on the other. Catch it and it
glides under the cat, following it at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds: miss a
platform and it throws you back up. It blinks before it flies away.
- Music notes come in little arcs. Every note you collect counts toward new
coats for the cat: Pink, Lavender, Mint, Moonlight and Midnight.
Crows and Birds
Above the rooftops, the sky isn't empty.
- Crows fly straight across the screen, and around its sides, keeping their
height. Watch out when you jump up under one.
- From the clouds up, birds join them: the bird from Flappy Birdie, falling and
flapping back up as it flies across.
- Bumping into a crow or a bird costs a heart, but landing on its back knocks it down in a puff
of feathers and bounces the cat up.
Past the Moon: Space
The moon is 1000 m up, and the climb doesn't stop there. The sky slowly turns to the black of
space, the stars become tiny dots, and planets, far away suns, black holes, comets and
galaxies drift by in the distance. The crows and birds stay behind, and new dangers take their
place.
- UFOs come down from above and hover near the top of the screen, swaying from
side to side. Every few seconds one glows and throws a ball straight at the cat. Land on a
UFO to knock it out of the sky and get a big bounce. Jumping up through one is safe.
- Asteroids fall straight down or diagonally. Bumping into one costs a heart,
but landing on top of it breaks it and bounces the cat up.
- Every ball, asteroid, crow or bird that hits the cat takes a heart. The cat
blinks for three seconds after a hit, and nothing can hurt it while it blinks. A golden pillow
keeps them off too.
- Hearts to collect show up once the first crow has, and only while you're
missing one. Each gives a heart back, up to three. Lose all three and the cat tumbles off the
screen, and loses a life.
Difficulties
Once the last life is gone, your height goes to the daily leaderboard of the difficulty you
picked. Easy keeps the platforms close and wide, Normal spreads them out as you climb, and Hard is a real challenge: the whole game
runs faster, platforms are narrower and farther apart from the very first meters, records slide
quicker, paper notes are everywhere, and trampolines are rare. Easy sends few crows, birds, UFOs
and asteroids, slower ones, and plenty of hearts, while Hard sends them often, faster, and very
few hearts. On every difficulty they come more and more often the higher you climb, but Easy
never sends more than one at a time, Normal two, and Hard four.
Tips to Climb Higher
- Look up, not at the cat. Pick your next landing spot while you're still rising, and start
moving early.
- Small taps are often better than holding a direction: the cat speeds up fast, and it's
easy to overshoot a small stack of books.
- Use the wrap around. If the next platform is on the far right and you're on the far left,
running left is the shortest way.
- Don't count on paper notes or moving records when a stack of books is in reach. The books
are always there for the next hop.
- Save umbrellas for later. They last a few seconds, so open one when you have time to look
around, not right before a trampoline.
- In space, watch the UFO glow before it throws, then step aside. The balls fly in a
straight line toward where the cat was.
- A UFO can't keep up with a big jump. Hop up past it and come down on its dome.
- The dashed line marks your best height. Use it as a goal, and practice on Easy before you
take on Hard.
A Bit of History
Vertical jumping games have been around since the arcade days, but they became hugely popular
on phones in 2009 with Doodle Jump, where tilting the phone steered a little creature up an
endless sheet of graph paper. Games like Icy Tower, Mega Jump and Papi Jump explored the same
idea of climbing as high as you can with a single direction to control. Moon Hop keeps that
simple loop and gives it a slower, lofi mood, with a cat, a soundtrack and a moon to reach.
Is Moon Hop Free?
Yes. Moon Hop is free to play in your browser, on desktop and on mobile, with no download and
no account needed. Sign in only if you want your height on the leaderboards. Your climb is
saved when you leave the page, so you can come back and keep hopping later: a 3, 2, 1
countdown gives you a moment to get ready, after a pause too.
Sound Effects Credits
The sound effects used on the game come from multiple parties. The credits and
respective licenses are listed below:
Disclaimer
This game is a property of Lofi and Games. All code and assets are protected and must
not be redistributed or used without prior permission.