Pelli - The Paper Plane Game

Pelli is a paper plane game about one long fall. A folded paper airplane drops down an abandoned tower: hold the left or right side of the screen to lean it, slip past the crumbling shelves that jut from the walls, and see how deep you get.

That is the whole game. It opens in two taps, there is nothing to read and nothing to sign up for — but the shaft does not get easier, the shelves start coming in pairs, and the tightest gap in it leaves you about five pixels of daylight.

WHAT YOU CAN FLY

- Endless. One shaft, no bottom, one number at the end of it: how far your paper plane fell.
- Beat a Friend. Put your best in front of somebody by invite code. When they answer it, whoever came up short finds out.
- Race. Two to eight pilots down the same shaft at once, everyone on the same seed, to a finish line. A crash costs you the segment, not the race — you go back to the last checkpoint and keep flying.
- Cups. A series of races with a running total. The top three each take a medal home.
- Time trials. One course, one clock, and your own best flying beside you as a ghost.

THREE WAYS TO STEER

Hold a side of the screen, swipe your thumb the way you want to lean, or tilt the phone. Pick one on the first launch and change it whenever you like. One thumb is all a paper airplane needs.

CLIMB THE BOARDS

Every pilot who flies is on the world and time-trial boards, with a name and a face. Climb the ranks — every rank you reach stays yours — and find players flying near your depth to race or to add as friends.

MADE OF PAPER

Every wall, every shelf and the plane itself are cut paper. The tower runs through three colours as you fall, and the deeper you get the less the paper likes it. For Halloween, Christmas, New Year and Easter it dresses up for the season.

NO ACCOUNT, NO SIGN-UP

You are somebody the moment you open it — a name, a face and a place on the board, with nothing to fill in. Link your Google account and your progress is safe if you lose your phone. Friends come from a code you send or from the find players list, never from your contacts.

Twenty-nine languages. Plays with no connection; your runs go up when you have one again.

If you ever folded a paper airplane in class and watched it glide, this is that glide — down a tower with no floor.