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How to play Ripple Press
A ripple grows from the middle of the board toward a double ring, the rim. Press the moment it meets the rim.
Controls
- Press: click or tap the board or the Press button, or hit Space or Enter (Tab to the board first). A press counts when it goes down, and a held key counts once.
- Start: the first press starts the clock and uses no ripple. A round begun from the result (Play again, Free play or Replay as practice) starts by itself.
- Pause: there is no pause button. Switching browser tabs pauses the round and winds the clock back 0.6 s. Your next press resumes it.
- Sound: off by default. Ripples and X marks make no sound, so it gives no early warning.
What each ripple does
- A small ripple grows from the middle. A dotted ring marks a line on its way to the rim.
- When the ripple crosses the dotted ring, 250 to 358 ms before the moment, the rim thickens, four X marks appear on it and the board says GET READY.
- From 200 ms before the moment to 200 ms after it, the rim thickens further and the board says PRESS. Press once.
- The board names your press: Exact impression, Clean impression, Too early or Too late. A ripple you leave alone reads Next ripple.
Scoring
A press in the window scores 100 base points plus two parts:
- Precision: up to 100 points,
round(100 × (1 − error ÷ 200 ms)), with error counted early or late. - Chain: 10 points per hit in a row before this one, up to 50. The sixth hit in a row is the first to earn 50.
Within 35 ms the label is Exact, otherwise Clean.
| Your press | Label | No chain | After 5+ in a row |
|---|---|---|---|
| On the moment | Exact | 200 | 250 |
| 35 ms off | Exact | 183 | 233 |
| 100 ms off | Clean | 150 | 200 |
| 200 ms off | Clean | 100 | 150 |
| Over 200 ms early | Too early | 0 | 0 |
Too early scores 0, resets your chain and uses up that ripple. A ripple left alone reads Next ripple 200 ms after its moment, and one press in the next 250 ms makes it Too late. Neither loses points. A perfect round is 5,100: 21 ripples at 200 plus 900 of chain bonus.
Tips for higher scores
- Use the X marks for a clean hit, the rim for an exact one. They appear 50 to 158 ms before the window opens, so an instant press is Too early. Our X-wait script pressed 300 ms after them and hit all 105,000 ripples, yet scored 5,100 in none of its 5,000 rounds. The marks’ lead changes with ripple speed, so, computed rather than tested, an ideal 300 ms wait can land from 58 ms early to 50 ms late.
- Do not test the timing. A press 100 ms off still scores 150 to 200, while an early guess scores 0. When unsure, press as the ripple reaches the rim.
- Guard the chain. A full chain bonus of 50 equals the cost of being 100 ms off. By the scoring rule, missing one ripple from the 6th to the 16th in an otherwise perfect round costs 400 points: 250 for that ripple and 150 while the chain rebuilds.
- Re-read the speed from 15 s. Before then a ripple takes 1.04 s to grow, or as little as 0.84 s after a short gap. After that each has its own speed, 0.78 to 1.12 s. Gaps of 1.05 to 1.70 s mean you cannot count a steady beat.
Our numbers
These come from our own code, test suite and simulated players, not from visitors. We describe the method on How we test.
No levels: what a seed sets
Ripple Press has no levels, sizes or settings. Free play and the Daily share the rules and scoring, and only the seed differs.
| Per round | Value |
|---|---|
| Ripples | 21 |
| First and last moment | 1.4 s and 28.9 s |
| Gap between moments | 1.05 to 1.70 s (mean 1.375 s) |
| Travel time | 0.84 to 1.04 s before 15 s, then 0.78 to 1.12 s |
page-example-12, not a Daily or Free play seed). Pressing on all 21 moments through the 120 Hz clock scored 5,100 (replayed 2 November 2026).Test results
Recorded in our QA notes of 18 October 2026. A rerun on 29 October 2026 gave the same hit counts and medians.
- Fairness bot: it saw the X marks at 60 Hz, reacted after 200 to 280 ms plus up to 25 ms of delay, and hit all 105,000 ripples in 5,000 rounds.
- Variety: across 1,000 seeds, ripple moments sat 0.370 s from a reference seed’s on average.
Five simulated profiles played 5,000 rounds each on the 120 Hz clock. They are models, not people.
| Profile | How it presses | Median score | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro | random error up to ±25 ms | 4,971 | 4,909–5,028 |
| Good | up to ±40 ms | 4,888 | 4,781–4,975 |
| Casual | up to ±70 ms | 4,731 | 4,563–4,873 |
| Late | 100 ms late, ±100 ms | 4,099 | 3,637–4,526 |
| X-wait | 300 ms after seeing the X marks | 4,860 | 4,760–4,966 |
Each profile hit 105,000 of 105,000 ripples, and none reached 5,100. Our engine tests (no date on record) scored 5,100 with exact presses on each of 1,000 seeds, and on each of 100 seeds through the 120 Hz clock.
What is still open
- Speed: we have no input-to-screen delay number. The check needs an idle computer; on 29 October 2026 ours ran at 86 to 88% CPU against a 40% limit, so it ended “not judged”.
- Browsers and people: tests ran in desktop Chromium (touch emulated) and WebKit. Firefox was not judged, no real phone was used, and we have no data from people.
Daily round and records
- Set by your date: the 21 ripples are built from your device’s date alone, so everyone on that date gets the same round. A new Daily starts at midnight, your time.
- One run a day: your start press begins the clock and uses the Daily; before that, nothing is used. After it, leaving the page, reloading or changing mode ends the run and records your score so far once, even a 0. Switching browser tabs only pauses it.
- Afterward: the page opens in Free play. The Daily tab shows your result and Replay as practice, which changes no record.
- Recorded: Played, Best (top score), Streak and Longest, kept separate from Free play’s Played and Best. A Daily that ends early counts as finished. A streak grows each day you finish and restarts at 1 after a missed day.
- Sharing: Copy result sends text, and the share image is a text-only card by design. Our shared check accepted it on 2 November 2026.
Shared Daily rules are on the Daily page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the highest score in Ripple Press?
5,100, which needs all 21 presses right on their moments. Our five simulated profiles did not reach it in 25,000 rounds; their best was 5,028.
Can all 21 ripples be hit?
In our tests, yes: the fairness bot above hit all 105,000 ripples in 5,000 rounds. We have no results from people, and your device adds its own delay.
Why won’t the board start a new round right after my score appears?
For 750 ms after the round ends, the board ignores presses, so a late tap cannot skip your result. After that, press and release the board; a press that began inside the 750 ms does not count. In our browser tests of 29 October 2026, 749 ms was refused and 750 ms accepted. The Play again button has no such wait.
Last updated: November 2, 2026.