Play Paintpot Lane

How to play Paintpot Lane

A cozy rolling ball game on a country lane at a painters' fair. Steer a paint-dipped marble over drops of its own color, around the others, and under paint-pot arches that dip it in a new one.

1. Pick a difficulty and press Play. Your marble waits at the start line, dipped in one paint; the badge at the top right shows its shape.
2. Drag to start rolling, or press Start rolling. The marble rolls forward on its own and speeds up a little as the lane goes on.
3. Steer over the drops shaped like your paint. Each is worth a point, ten in a row in a streak doubles the points, and twenty-five in a row triples them.
4. Keep clear of drops in other shapes. Touching one muddies the marble, ends your streak and, on Classic and Brisk, costs a heart. A drop of your paint that you miss also ends the streak.
5. Roll under a paint-pot arch to take its paint, then collect that shape. Under a split arch, the side you take is your next paint. Roll through the fence gap flagged with your shape, and catch the pails of your paint while slipping past the others.
6. Reach the finish to earn stars: one for finishing, two for collecting at least 80 percent of your paint's drops, and three for every one of them with no muddy touch. Finishing a level opens the next.

Controls

• Touch or mouse: drag anywhere on the lane to steer. The marble moves with your finger, not to it, so you can start a drag anywhere and pick up again from where the marble is.
• Keyboard: Left and Right or A and D steer, quickly reaching full speed, so a tap is a small nudge. Space or Enter starts rolling, and Escape opens the menu.
• The menu pauses the run and has Settings for difficulty, steering sensitivity and the level 1 tips. The toolbar above the game pauses, restarts the lane, turns the optional sound on or off and goes fullscreen.