How to Play the Asteroid Game: Rules and Controls
In an asteroid game you fly a small ship that can turn, fly forward and fire, and you shoot the rocks drifting across the screen. Each hit splits a rock in two: big → medium → small, and small rocks break up for good. Clear every rock to finish the wave, watch out for saucers that shoot back, and remember that everything wraps around the edges. The game ends when your last ship is hit.
The goal
You score points by breaking rocks and shooting saucers, and you try to stay alive as long as you can. There's no final level: each wave brings more rocks, a little faster, until a rock or a saucer finally gets you. Your score is the thing to beat, whether it's your own best, a friend's, or today's Daily.
On GameLake the game is called Space Rocks. Hop the frog flies a lily-pad spaceship through a starry night sky, the rocks are friendly lumps in lavender, grey and sand, and the saucers have little smiling faces. The rules are the classic arcade ones.
Controls: turn, fly and fire
Your ship can only do three things, and every other skill comes from mixing them:
| Action | Keyboard | Phone: Pad | Phone: Aim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turn | ← → or A D | ↺ and ↻ buttons | Touch the sky: the ship turns to your finger |
| Fly forward | ↑ or W | ▲ button | Hold the Fly button |
| Fire | Space (hold to keep firing) | Fire button | Fires on its own while you touch the sky |
| Pause | P or Esc | ❚❚ under the sky | ❚❚ under the sky |
On a phone, pick Aim or Pad under the sky. Easy starts on Aim, the other modes on Pad, and the game remembers your choice.
The ship turns a full circle in about a second and a half, so it's quicker to turn toward a rock than to fly around it. Holding Fire keeps shooting, about six or seven shots a second, but only four of your shots can be on screen at once (five on Easy). Each shot travels a little over half the sky before it fades.
Momentum: the ship keeps drifting
There's no brake. When you let go of Fly, the ship keeps sliding in the same direction and only slows down gently, the way things move in space. To stop, turn round to face the other way and give a short burst of Fly. To change direction, turn first and then fly; the new push adds to the old movement.
Short taps on Fly are easier to control than holding it down. A ship that goes too fast is the most common way to lose a life.
Screen wrap: there are no walls
The sky has no edges. Fly off the right side and you reappear on the left at the same height; leave through the top and you come back at the bottom. Rocks, saucers and your shots all wrap the same way, so a rock can hit you from behind after crossing an edge, and a shot fired off one side can still hit something on the other.
Rocks split: big, medium, small
Every rock you hit breaks. A big rock splits into two medium ones, a medium rock splits into two small ones, and a small rock just crumbles. The pieces fly off in new directions, and smaller pieces move faster, so a sky that started with four slow rocks can quickly hold a dozen quick ones.
| Target | Points | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Big rock | 20 | Splits into 2 medium rocks |
| Medium rock | 50 | Splits into 2 small rocks |
| Small rock | 100 | Breaks up for good |
| Big saucer | 200 | Gone |
| Small saucer | 1,000 | Gone |
Points are the same in every mode. Bumping into a rock also breaks it and scores it, but costs you a ship.
Saucers
Now and then a saucer glides in from the left or right side, wobbles up and down, and leaves through the other side if you don't get it. The big saucer fires in random directions. The small saucer is worth five times as much because it aims at your ship, only a little off. On Medium the small saucer starts showing up from wave 3, on Hard from wave 2, and on Easy never.
Saucer shots break rocks they hit, and a saucer that flies into a rock is destroyed along with it, but neither of those scores anything for you. Saucers also arrive sooner when only a few rocks are left, so a wave can't be stretched out forever.
Waves, lives and extra ships
- Waves: wave 1 starts with 4 big rocks on Medium (3 on Easy, 5 on Hard) coming in from the edges. Each new wave adds two more, up to 9 (7 on Easy, 10 on Hard), and the rocks get a bit faster every wave.
- Clearing a wave: break every rock. After a short pause the next wave arrives. Your ship keeps its place and speed.
- Ships: you start with 3 (5 on Easy). When you're hit, the next ship appears in the middle as soon as no rock is too close, and it can't be hit for a couple of seconds.
- Extra ships: one every 10,000 points (every 5,000 on Easy), up to 9 at once.
- Game over: when your last ship is hit. Clearing 1, 3 or 5 waves earns one, two or three stars.
Modes: Easy, Medium, Hard, Daily and Race
| Mode | What's different |
|---|---|
| Easy | 5 ships, slower rocks, gentle big saucers only, a smaller hit area and a longer safe time after each new ship |
| Medium | The classic arcade feel: 3 ships, 4 big rocks to start, small saucers from wave 3 |
| Hard | Faster rocks, 5 big rocks to start, sharp-shooting small saucers from wave 2 |
| Daily | Medium rules with the same rocks in every wave for everyone today |
| Race | Play someone online: the same Medium game for both of you, best score after 3 minutes wins |
In a race, the table server replays every move you make to check your score, so the scores you see are real. If your last ship is lost early your score still counts, and the other player keeps going until the clock stops.
Classic look and Teach me
Space Rocks is GameLake's own take on the 1979 arcade classic Asteroids. Switch on Classic look under the game to swap the night lake for white glowing lines on a black screen, with a vector-style score in the corner, much like an old vector monitor. The rules don't change.
Turn on Teach me and the game slows down a little while Hop coaches you: he rings the rock that's about to reach you, draws a dotted line to the spot where your shot will meet it, and tells you when you're flying too fast. Coached games are practice, so they don't set a best score. For strategy beyond the rules, read our tips for a high score.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play the asteroid game?
Turn your ship, fly forward and fire at the rocks. Each hit splits a rock (big into two medium, medium into two small, small ones break up). Clear every rock to finish the wave, avoid saucers and their shots, and keep going until your last ship is hit.
What are the controls on a computer?
Left and right arrows (or A and D) turn, the up arrow (or W) flies forward, Space fires, and P pauses.
Can you play it on a phone?
Yes. Choose Aim to touch the sky where you want to shoot (the ship turns and fires by itself, and a Fly button moves you), or Pad for turn and fly buttons on the left and a Fire button on the right.
How many points are the rocks worth?
Big rocks 20, medium 50 and small 100. A big saucer is worth 200 and a small saucer 1,000. A whole big rock broken down to nothing is worth 520.
How do you get extra lives?
You get an extra ship every 10,000 points (every 5,000 on Easy), up to 9 ships at once.
Is there a hyperspace button?
No. Space Rocks keeps to turn, fly and fire. A new ship can't be hit for a couple of seconds, and Easy gives you a smaller hit area and more ships instead.