Fox Game

Fox Game is a one-touch forest foraging game where a cartoon fox trots through spring, summer, autumn and winter, pouncing across streams, onto logs and stumps and into rustling grass, leaf piles and deep snow to dig out food. Stash what you find in the den before winter and keep your three lives. You can play Fox Game online free in your browser with no download, on a keyboard, a mouse or a phone’s touch screen.

How to play

The fox walks forward on its own. You control it with one input: hold Space (or Up or W), the mouse button, or a finger on the game.

• Charge: while you hold, the fox crouches and the pounce charges, reaching full power after one second.
• Aim with the arc: a dotted arc and a yellow ring show exactly where the fox will land with the power you have so far. It uses the same physics as the real leap. A red arc means the pounce ends in the water or in thorns.
• Pounce: let go to leap in a high arc like a real fox’s snow pounce. More charge means a longer, higher leap.
• Land: you can land on any ground, on floating logs and on top of tree stumps. The fox will not walk off a ledge into a stream and waits in front of stumps, so you always get time to aim.

Food, dens and winter

Food in plain sight is picked up as the fox walks or leaps through it. The rest is hidden: watch for small rustling marks above tall grass, leaf piles and snow drifts. Walking past finds nothing, but a pounce that lands on the spot digs the food out.

Food you pick up is carried, not saved. At the end of every season there is a den with a flag, and walking past it stashes everything you are carrying. Fall into a stream or touch a thorny bramble and you lose a life and drop everything you carry.

Winter is the test. When you reach the den at the end of winter, the fox eats from its stash: 6 food after the first winter in Endless, 2 more each year after that, and 4 in the level courses. If the stash is short, you have a hungry winter and lose a life.

The four seasons

• Spring: muddy patches halve your walking speed, and a pounce from mud only gets 70 percent of its power, so walk onto firm grass before a big jump.
• Summer: tall grass slows the fox a little and hides mushrooms. Thorny brambles grow along the path, and you must pounce clear over them.
• Autumn: leaf piles hide acorns. Brambles and streams keep coming.
• Winter: the ground is packed snow, but deep drifts stop the fox completely. The only way through is to pounce, either onto a buried pine nut inside the drift or out the far side.

Each season lasts a few in-game days. In Endless the seasons keep cycling and the streams get wider each year.

Levels, score and fox furs

Levels mode has 12 courses, from a short first spring to a full year. Each asks you to reach the last den with a set amount of food stashed, counted after winter’s meal. Clearing a level unlocks the next.

In Endless your score is the distance you travel in meters, plus 10 points for every food you stash and 5 points for every food you dig out. Progress is saved in your browser. Collect fox furs as you go: the red fox is the starter, the arctic fox unlocks after stashing 40 food in total, a desert fox with big ears after clearing 6 levels, and a silver fox after stashing 150.

Tips

• Trust the ring, not your eye. Release as soon as the landing ring sits on solid ground. A full pounce can carry you past a narrow log.
• Hit the rustle. The food is dug out only if you land close to the rustling mark, so slide the ring right under it before you let go.
• Get off the mud first. A spring pounce from mud falls short. Walk onto grass before a wide stream.

FAQ

Is Fox Game free?

Yes. It is free to play with no account and nothing to install.

Does the fox hunt animals?

No. The fox only forages for berries, acorns, mushrooms and pine nuts.

Does it work on phones and Chromebooks?

Yes. On a phone or tablet, hold a finger anywhere on the game to charge and lift it to pounce. The game area won’t scroll the page while you play.

Can I pause?

Press P or Esc, or use the Pause button. The game also pauses when you switch tabs.

Want another runner? Try Dino Run to jump obstacles and dodge pterodactyls, or Pixel Quest for 15 handcrafted platform levels.