Subway SurfersRunning·Free to play
ZigZag
Tap to turn the rolling ball 90 degrees and stay on the zigzag path forever.
Independent browser adaptation · Not an official releaseSign in to save your scores and play history, or keep playing as a guest. Recent game activity and scores appear on the homepage with a masked email or IP address.
ZigZagScore0
Your best0
Time0:00
Keyboard & touch controls
Tap / Space / ClickTurn the ballPPause
How to play ZigZag
Tap to turn
Tap the screen, click, or press Space to flip the ball 90 degrees between its two diagonal directions. There is no steering wheel - The tap is your only move.
Stay on the diamonds
The path is a chain of diamond tiles over empty space. Keep the ball on tile and you live; roll one tile past a corner and the run ends in a long, quiet fall.
Turn at the corners
Every time the path bends, you must tap. Watch where the tiles stop ahead of you - That edge is your deadline, and the ball reaches it sooner than it looks.
Collect the gems
Gems on the tiles add bonus points on top of your distance score. Most sit on the natural line; treat the ones near edges as optional, not mandatory.
Hold on through the speed-up
The ball accelerates the longer you survive. The path never gets narrower - You just get less time per corner, until every tap is a reflex instead of a decision.
This independent browser adaptation uses the original game’s established title. It is not an official publisher release or an original ROM. Its artwork, tuning and controls may differ from other games with similar rules. Guest personal bests stay in this browser. Signed-in players can also save scores and play history to their private dashboard; there is no global leaderboard. Read about controls and local storage.
Choose a related challenge
One tap makes a right-angle turn here. Night Driver uses steering and braking on a winding course, so you can compare discrete turns with continuous corrections.
What ZigZag is like to play
ZigZag hands you a rolling ball, a ribbon of diamond tiles floating over the void, and exactly one power: a tap that flips your direction between two diagonals. That is the entire game, and somehow it is enough to eat an afternoon. The path zigzags left and right with no warning pattern, the ball never slows down, and every corner you survive nudges the speed up another notch. Gems sit on the tiles like little dares - Most are on the safe line, some are parked one tile from the edge. Miss a turn by half a beat and the ball sails off into the abyss with your streak attached. Our version keeps the clean, minimal look the genre made famous and adds what the mobile classics never had: a path that zigzags somewhere new on every restart, a saved personal best, and controls that feel equally sharp on a spacebar, a mouse, or a phone screen.
ZigZag at a glance
| Genre | Running Games |
|---|---|
| Challenge | Two directions, total focus |
| Pace | Ball accelerates the longer you live |
| Original era | 2015 (one-tap era) |
| Players | Single player |
| Controls | Tap / Space / Click |
| Cost | Free, with no account and no download |
Where ZigZag came from
In 2015 the French publisher Ketchapp - Already famous for turning the browser hit 2048 into a mobile phenomenon - Released ZigZag, a game so minimal it barely had a tutorial: a ball rolls diagonally across floating tiles, and tapping flips it to the other diagonal. It was free, instant, and merciless, and it climbed the app charts on the strength of one perfectly tuned input.
ZigZag arrived at the peak of the one-tap minimalism wave, when studios like Ketchapp and Voodoo were proving that a mobile game could be built from a single verb. Timberman chopped, Stack dropped, Flappy Bird flapped - And ZigZag turned. These games traded depth for purity and made thirty-second runs feel like a sport, complete with shareable high scores and instant restarts.
The formula never really left; it just moved. Hyper-casual studios still ship two-direction runners every year, and the browser has become the natural home for the genre's originals: no install, no store page, just the path and the tap. Our ZigZag builds a new path every run and saves your longest roll, so the thirty-second sport finally has something to beat.
Ways people play ZigZag
- Ketchapp classic
- The 2015 original: pastel tiles, a trailing camera, and gems on the line. Its one-hand portrait play defined the genre's feel.
- Crumbling trail
- A popular twist where tiles fall away behind the ball. Nothing changes mechanically, but watching the path collapse doubles the panic.
- Dancing Line
- The 2016 rhythm take: the same two-direction turning, but corners land on musical beats, so you play the level by ear as much as by eye.
- Stack and the tap family
- Ketchapp's Stack, Timberman and their kin - Sibling one-input games from the same minimalism wave, each built on a different single verb.
ZigZag questions and answers
What is the goal of ZigZag?
Roll as far along the diamond path as you can. Your score is distance plus gem bonuses, and the run ends the moment the ball rolls off the tiles.
Why can I only turn in two directions?
The ball always moves diagonally, and a tap flips it between the two diagonals. Two directions is the whole puzzle - Every corner is a single yes-or-no decision under time pressure.
Do the gems matter?
They add bonus points on top of distance, and they are laid along the path as it is generated. Gem discipline is often what separates a personal best from an ordinary roll.
Does the ball keep getting faster?
Yes. Speed ramps up gradually with distance, with noticeable steps along the way. There is no cap you will ever reach comfortably - The ramp is the difficulty curve.
Is there a pattern to the path?
The zigzag is generated, so there is no repeating layout to memorize - but segment lengths stay within fair limits, so every turn is always reactable at your current speed.
What game is ZigZag based on?
It is our take on the one-tap classic ZigZag, published by Ketchapp in 2015 during the mobile minimalism wave - Same two-direction idea, rebuilt for the browser.
Is the path the same every run?
No. Every roll builds a new path and a new gem layout, so the corners arrive without warning. Only the speed ramp is the same each time.
How does ZigZag play on mobile?
Beautifully - This genre was born on phones. Tap anywhere on the screen to turn; no buttons, no swipes, no difference from the spacebar except which finger gets tired.
If you like ZigZag, try these next
Four games from the same shelf, each with its own pace. The one-line summaries are how their own pages describe them.
| Game | What it is like | Pace | Play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subway Surfers | Three tracks, one runner, endless trains. | The rails only get faster | Play |
| QWOP | Running: harder than it looks. Much harder. | Two steps forward, one dignity back | Play |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | Speed is a religion. The hills are its church. | Downhill theology | Play |
| Temple Run | Turn, jump, slide, and never let the monkeys catch up. | Longer paths, tighter windows | Play |
Running games: find your rhythm.
A jump, a flap, a lane change and a corner tap solve four different movement problems.
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