A one-track runner: the mermaid runs the striped course on her own while you steer across it, and her tail pays for mistakes, with 5 segments at the start, 20 at most, and the run over at 0.
LevelLoop wrote this play brief. The playable file, artwork, and runtime are delivered by an external game service. LevelLoop keeps supporting rights records for the catalog on file.
ShelfRacing
The captured frame
One striped track, a gem counter reading 0, and a tail that starts at 5
The captured frames show two views of the same run. The level-start frame has the mermaid standing on a lit platform with the course behind her, a purple gem counter at the top right reading 0, and a video button and a close button along the bottom. The course frame is a single white and grey striped track running to a yellow gate in the distance, with other runners ahead of her and a left and right arrow control at the bottom. There are no lane markings to choose between: the course is one ribbon of track and everything you do happens across its width.
Observed 2026-10-04 in Chrome at 1280×800: the level-start frame shows the mermaid on a lit platform with the course behind her, the gem counter at the top right reading 0, and the video and close buttons along the bottom.
The tail is the resource
The build gives the mermaid 5 tail segments when a level loads, spaces them 3.3 units apart, and refuses to add a 21st. Touching a collectible adds a segment, and running into a wall, a cylinder or a knife takes one away. When the last segment goes, the run fails, so the tail, not a health bar, is what the level is spending.
Steering and pickups
Drag to steer, and let the collectibles come to you
Steering is the only control. Mouse-down, mouse-move and mouse-up on the stage move the mermaid across the course while the run carries her forward, and she stays glued to the track: the game casts a ray straight down from her, finds the path beneath and tilts her to match the ground angle. The left and right arrows visible at the bottom of the captured frame do that same job on a touchscreen.
What each collision does
Three kinds of object change the run. Gems pay 1 gold each and disappear. Collectible tails add one segment, and the segment count is what the level hangs on. Walls, cylinders and knife props remove one segment each, and the build carries its own sound for eating a tail and for picking up a gem, so the changes are audible as well as visible.
Brush objects recolour the mermaid rather than paying anything: the runner takes the colour of the brush she passes.
Levels and rewards
Speed climbs from 0.2 to 0.72, and level 10 is the last scripted one
The run starts slow and speeds up on its own. The build begins at a speed of 0.2, accelerates toward 0.72 and clamps at 1.0, so the early stretch is the one where the tail is easiest to keep and the late stretch is where the extra segments pay for themselves.
What the win and fail panels carry
A cleared level pays 200 gold and the win panel offers a video button that doubles it to 400; a separate continue button banks the 200 and returns you to the lobby. The saved level counter starts at 1 and steps up on every win, and the levels themselves are separate scene files numbered 1 to 10. Past level 10 the game stops adding new ones and replays a random level between 3 and 10 instead.
Pre-run check
The tail, the timer and the track
These answers stay with the striped course, the arrow control and the numbers the build keeps. The one habit worth forming first is to treat the tail as a budget: 5 segments at the start, and every wall and knife spends one.
How do I steer the mermaid?
Drag across the stage: mouse-down, mouse-move and mouse-up move her across the course while the run carries her forward, and the left and right arrows at the bottom of the screen do the same job on a touchscreen.
What happens when the tail is cut to nothing?
The run fails. The mermaid starts a level with 5 tail segments, and the level ends when the last one is removed, which is why the tail is the resource the whole run is spending.
How long can the tail get?
20 segments. The build stops adding at 20, spaces the segments 3.3 units apart, and starts each level at 5, so collecting tail pieces is what buys room for mistakes.
What does clearing a level pay?
200 gold, with a video button on the win panel that doubles it to 400. A separate continue button banks the 200 gold and takes you back to the lobby.
What happens after level 10?
The game stops adding new levels and replays a random one between 3 and 10, so the later sessions are re-runs of the earlier courses rather than new ones.
