In this guide What Threadline is Controls Scoring What snaps the thread How the climb changes Re-thread and Hyper Tips Questions and answers
What Threadline is
Threadline is a one-tap game about drawing a line. You are a glowing bead trailing a golden thread through a plum-colored void, rising forever. Needle gates cross the screen above you, and each has an eye, a narrow opening. Pass the bead through the eye of every gate and the thread follows.
There is no gravity and no jumping. The bead never travels straight. It is always bending left or bending right, and the path it leaves behind is a chain of smooth S-curves.
Controls
One tap anywhere reverses the direction of the curve. If the bead was bending left it starts bending right, and the next tap bends it left again. That is the entire control scheme. Tap once to begin, and tap after a snap to rethread at once.
Scoring
- Each eye you pass is worth 10 points.
- Slipping through near the center is a PERFECT, worth 5 more for each perfect in your current streak, counted up to eight. Any off-center pass resets the streak, and the thread glows brighter while a streak is alive.
- Shaving the rim of an eye without touching it adds a small edge bonus of 2.
- Gold rings floating between gates are worth 15 each.
- Thread three golden needle eyes in a row for a 60 point bonus and a slow-motion flourish.
What snaps the thread
Touching the solid part of a gate snaps the thread instantly. So do the void walls at the left and right edges of the screen. Some eyes sway sideways as you approach, and some gates offer a pair of eyes where either one will do. The first three eyes of a run never move.
How the climb changes
Eyes shrink to about half their starting width over a run, the rise gets faster, and the bead's own curve gets sharper, which gives you more control but less room. From the fiftieth gate, wind zones appear. Drifting particles mark air that bends your curve tighter or looser than normal until you leave the zone.
The generator keeps every gate reachable: the sideways distance a gate demands is always less than the bead can cover in the time available, and paired gates guarantee that for at least one eye.
Re-thread and Hyper
One time per run, a quick tap after a snap knots the thread back together and gives you a short shield. On the title screen, HYPER raises the speed by a quarter and the points by half. A marker sounds every 25 eyes, and your high score and best eye count are saved on the device.
Tips
- Tap early and often. Many small bends are far easier to place than one wide swooping arc.
- Sideways speed builds the longer you curve one way. A quick double tap bleeds it off before a tight eye.
- Stay away from the screen edges. The void ends a run just as surely as a needle.
- Aim for where a swaying eye will be when you arrive, not where it is now.
- On a paired gate, choose the eye that needs the smaller change of direction.
- In a wind zone, watch your first bend to see how the curve has changed before you line up the next eye.
Questions and answers
Can the bead fly straight?
No. It is always curving one way or the other, and a tap only switches the side.
What is a golden needle?
A gate with a gold eye. Threading three of them in a row pays a 60 point bonus.
Do the side walls matter?
Yes. Touching the void at either edge of the screen snaps the thread.
Is every gate possible?
Yes. Gates are generated so the bead can always reach at least one eye in time.