Starlob: a free quick browser game of artillery battles

Bored right now? Starlob is built for the gap you are in: open the page, press play and you are aiming a starstick shot seconds later. No download, no install, and no account needed to play.

The story

Once a year a star falls onto the Starlob Tour. Eight rival performers chase it across 25 stages, lobbing shots through wind, rain, snow, fog and thunderstorms. Whoever is last standing on the final stage catches the star and headlines the sky.

What Starlob is

Starlob is a free turn-based artillery battle game for players 13 and over that runs in your browser. It stands in the arcade tradition of the two-players-one-keyboard duel games, played out on concert stages instead: eight characters take one stage at a time, each with a starstick, a signature prop and a patch of ground to hold. You aim, you fire, and the weather decides how much of your plan survives. Nothing to install, nothing to buy.

Every round is a free-for-all. One to 4 players share this device and rival stars join the stage as the tour climbs. Wind, rain, snow, fog and thunderstorms bend a shot in flight, so the same angle never lands the same way twice. Crack a glowing mystery note and it pays out one to three weapons or perks to whoever broke it: twelve weapons from the Starstick to the Nuke, plus Forcefield, Deflector, Encore and Stage Dash. The tour runs 25 stages and the aim guide shrinks as you go.

Bored? A quick game for a short break

One round is a few minutes of aiming, firing and watching the arc land, and you can walk away after any round without losing anything. That makes Starlob as good in a five-minute gap as it is on a free evening: the 25-stage tour is the long version, and free play is the endless encore: stages keep coming until your stars are down. Neither asks for a sign-in to start.

Free browser games, nothing to install

Everything happens in the browser window: the physics, the weather, the rival stars. It plays on a laptop, a desktop, a tablet or a phone, and one account follows you between them. Nothing is installed and nothing is bought — every character, weapon, perk and stage is unlocked from the first round.

Up to 4 players can pass one device around and take turns, which is the closest thing to a crowd around an arcade cabinet without the cabinet.

How to play in four steps

1. Choose one to 4 players and a character for each. Every performer fights for itself.
2. Set the launch angle and power — drag anywhere on the stage, use the sliders, or the arrow keys.
3. Fire and watch the arc. The dotted preview line shows your shot before the wind takes it.
4. Last performer standing takes the round. Clear all 25 stages to win the tour, then try Free play.

Tips for your first tour

• Aim into the wind, not at the target — the wind bar in the HUD is what moves your shot.
• Your last angle and power stay put for the rest of the round, so adjust from what just happened.
• Keep the tracer of your previous shot in mind: it is the cheapest aiming guide on the stage.
• Weapons carry down the tour until you spend them. A saved Nuke is worth more in a crowded round.
• Stage Dash moves you onto fresh ground when a rival has your range locked in.

The eight characters

Each character is drawn with a bold silhouette, its own hair colour and a signature prop.

• Tempo — mint hair in a tall triangular metronome quiff with a small swinging pendulum clip, holding a conductor baton with a ribbon trail. Sets the tempo for the whole stage, one measured shot at a time.
• Treble — coral hair with one big spiral curl on the side, swirled like a treble clef, holding a tambourine. Loud, bright, and always in at the first chorus.
• Bassline — big round cloud-puff hair in deep blue with chunky round speaker-cone earmuffs, holding a small keytar. Holds the low end and hits hardest from deep in the mix.
• Crescendo — orange hair swept into a wide wedge that fans out behind like a growing sound wave, holding a megaphone. Builds every round louder than the last one.
• Loop — lime green blocky square bob under a looping-arrow hairband, holding a glowing cube. Never leaves a stage until the loop has finished.
• Fermata — golden-brown hair in a tall dome bun with an arch-and-dot hair clip, holding a paper parasol. Knows exactly when to hold a note, and when to let it go.
• Duet — split two-tone hair, half cyan and half magenta, in one long braid, holding a twin maracas. Two voices, one aim, and never out of tune.
• Remix — lavender hair with a long asymmetric sweep over one eye, holding a vinyl-record shield. Takes an old track apart and sends it back louder.

Modes, difficulty and scoring

25-round tour: The full concert tour: 25 stages, up to 4 players on this device. Your best tour score lands on the stage board.

Free play: Solo and endless: stages randomize forever, you get 2 spare lives, your health never resets between rounds, and clearing a stage sends out a second shooter for 3 turns. Ranks on the free play highest-score board.

Points run all tour: 25 for a direct hit, 150 plus up to 120 more for a knockout the quicker you finish it, and 250 for clearing a round with a human player left standing. Chaos mode makes every rival lock in and fire as one synchronized volley.

Frequently asked questions