Scores, Stars, Tokens and Lives: How Progress Works in Dumb Ways to Die 2: The Games
Published · 2 min read
Score and lives
A run is a chain of events. Each one you clear is worth up to 100 points — the tally screen between events shows the number, and it is lower the longer you took — and each one you fail crosses out one of the three lives shown as little heads on that screen. The bar at the top of an event is the timer, not a health bar: when it empties the event counts as failed whether or not you were mid-swipe. Three failures and the run is over.
Best score and stars
Every zone sign shows 'Your Best' and three empty stars. Game over adds a Safety Bonus to the run, updates the best score if you beat it, and the stars fill at fixed score thresholds for that zone. Because the event list per zone is short, the stars are less about luck and more about having seen every event enough times to react to the verb rather than the picture.
Tokens
Tokens are the red tickets counted at the top-left of the map. The Daily Gift pops up on the map when there is one to claim — two tokens on the first visit — and the only thing that spends them is the Dumbest of the Dumb tournament, at one per run. There is nothing to buy in this site's build, so the tokens are simply a pacing device: play the free zones as much as you like, and take the tournament when you are ready.
Character unlocks
The tournament sign shows the roster as silhouettes with a score next to each. Reach that score in a tournament run and the character is yours to pick; the first unlock, Dunce, needs 200. Progress is saved in the browser's storage, so it survives closing the tab but not clearing site data.
Why runs end early
Speed. The timer for each event gets shorter as the run goes on, and the events are shuffled, so the tenth event may be one you have not seen for a while. The fix is not faster hands but fewer decisions: know what every verb means before the run gets fast.
More from the blog
- Dumb Ways to Die 2: The Games — Every Zone on the Map and What Its Mini-Games Ask of You
A tour of the browser build's map: the four Adrenaland events, the Freezerville winter set, the Drown Town water park, the token-fed Dumbest of the Dumb tournament and the one screen still under construction.
- After Dumb Ways to Die: The Trick Puzzles, Rage Platformers and Reflex Games on This Site
What sits next to the hero and why: games that lie to you on purpose, games that punish a slow thumb, and a few quieter picks for when you have died enough.