Color Pencil Run — Play Free Online

Color Pencil Run is a 3D runner in which you steer a pencil down a track and try to make it bigger before the finish line. Despite sitting on the racing shelf here, it is not a driving game: nobody is chasing you and there are no opponents' lap times to beat. The contest is between your pencil and the obstacles on the course.

The core idea is colour matching. As you move along the track you collect colours that match your pencil, and doing so makes it grow. Obstacles are scattered along the way, so every run is a mix of picking a good line to gather what you need and steering clear of what would cut you down. The graphics are deliberately simple and bright, which keeps the track easy to read at speed.

If you came to Doodle Jump for quick, one-more-try games, this fits well. A run is short, the goal is obvious within seconds, and there is nothing to set up. It runs in the browser with nothing to install.

How to play

On a keyboard, use the arrow keys or WASD to move your pencil, and use the mouse to aim and to pick menu options. On a phone or tablet, tap and swipe instead. Press Play, line up on the track and start collecting the colours that match your pencil while you dodge the hazards.

The loop is the same each time: read what is coming, move to the lane or side that has the colour you want, avoid the obstacle, and repeat until the track ends. Growing your pencil is the whole progress system within a run, so each good pickup matters.

Tips

• Look ahead of the pencil rather than at it. The track ahead shows both the colours worth taking and the obstacles to avoid, and you need a moment to change your line.
• Make small corrections. Large swings tend to carry you into the very thing you were trying to miss.
• Do not chase a distant pickup if an obstacle sits in the path to it. A missed colour costs less than a hit.
• On a touch screen, use short swipes and keep your thumb clear of the part of the track you are watching.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

For another game about steady forward progress, try Helix Jump, which is about guiding a ball downward through gaps rather than along a track. Bird Jumper and Hoppenhelm are closer to the site's namesake, built around timing your jumps. If you want something with a partner, Fireboy and Watergirl is a puzzle platformer for two, and it plays much more slowly than this runner.