Crumb Run — player's guide
You lead a flock of Crumblings — living dough sprites — down the garden path to the Pantry before the Rustbug Horde steals the Midsummer Feast. Steer with a drag (or A/D · ←/→), grow the flock through gates, and deliver as many as you can. The bigger your flock at the door, the higher the Pantry Shelf (×1–×5) your score multiplies by.
Choose your kitchen — difficulty
The same 25 stages, three sets of rules. Change it any time from the menu or the pre-stage card; stars are graded the same on every setting, so playing gently never locks you out of a later zone.
| Setting | What changes |
|---|---|
| 🍰 Home Baker | Slower, softer knocks, two Rescue Batches, and no Feast quota — you always finish what you start. |
| 🧑🍳 Sous Chef | The intended run: one Rescue Batch, and you must reach the door with enough to feed the Feast. |
| 🔥 Head Chef | No Rescue at all, a full-face hit can wipe the batch outright, a hungry Feast — and every score ×1.3. |
Crumb Streak 🔥 — the thing that decides your score
Every clean play chains a streak: a good gate, a dodged trap, an on-beat pass, a perfect squeeze, a boss swipe you stepped out of. The streak drives a multiplier, and whatever multiplier you are holding when you reach the Pantry door multiplies your entire delivery — up to ×4.
Getting hit wipes the streak. Taking a bad gate only halves it — a paired gate can be all-bad, and a forced choice is not a mistake. Your best streak of the run also pays a bonus of its own, so a great middle stretch still counts even if the last stretch goes wrong. This is why two players who both arrive with a full flock can score three times apart.
A big flock is a slow flock
The more Crumblings you are herding, the heavier they are to steer — a starter batch darts across the lane, a thousand-strong mob turns like a bus. Growing is still how you score, but hoarding early costs you the agility to thread late hazards. Banking, or deliberately staying lean through a nasty stretch, is a real tactic. A Dash restores full agility while it lasts.
Feed the Feast 🍽️
Reaching the Pantry is no longer enough. Each stage shows the number you must bring to the door — arrive short and the Feast goes hungry and the run is lost. The first three teaching stages have no quota.
Bosses: read the swipe 👑
The Snatcher lights up the strip of floor it is about to smash, about a beat before it lands, and rears the matching claw. Step off that stripe: a clean dodge costs nothing, pays ✦, and builds your streak, while standing in it can cost up to 14% of the flock. It swipes faster as its health drops, and you can move freely throughout — the boss is a dance, not a staring contest.
Gates
| Sign | What it does |
|---|---|
| ×2 · +15 (blue trim) | Grows the flock — only the Crumblings that pass through count, so commit fully. |
| −20 · ÷2 (rust trim) | Shrinks it. Paired gates split the flock: each side applies to whoever passes it. |
| ♪ beat gate (gold) | Dances to the music — worth ×3 while it glows gold on the beat, ×2 otherwise. |
| ✨ narrow gold arch | Golden Squeeze: thread the whole flock dead-centre for +40%. Big flocks can't fit! |
| ? gate | Hides its value until you're close. React fast. |
| 🏦 Bank Gate | Deposits HALF the flock: banked Crumblings are safe at a flat ×2, the rest risk on for the shelf. Greed or safety — your call. |
Hazards
Rolling pins, snap traps and brooms all move on the music — watch one cycle and you know its rhythm. Honey slows and drips a few away; grater walls only let you through the gaps; Rustbombs burst on touch (brushing past one cleanly pays ✦ — brave lines are rewarded); night wind shoves you sideways, so lean against it. A hazard can never take your whole flock, and once per run a Rescue Batch parachutes in if you hit zero.
Ambushes, elites, and the Chaser
- Rustbug packs hold the middle of the road. Fight through (outnumber them and you win a ✦ bounty) or squeeze past the edge with a small graze — fight-or-flee every time. ⚔ elite beetles hit harder and shrug off ranged fire.
- The Chaser hunts you from behind in later zones. Battles, honey and boss fights let it close — keep your pace, or DASH to throw it back.
- Bosses block the road and swipe faster as they weaken. Arrive big, bring your ability charged, and grab the ⭐ Guest Envoy beforehand.
The five Envoys
| Envoy | Fights | Ability |
|---|---|---|
| 🦊 Vixen | fast pellets | Dash — untouchable surge (also outruns the Chaser) |
| 🐢 Bastion | tough shell (−20% hazard losses) | Shell Shield — absorbs one whole hit |
| 🦉 Athene | slow-bolts, +10% gates | Golden Hour — the world slows |
| 🦌 Stagheart | the flock slowly regrows | Rally — regrow +18% at once |
| 🦡 Bruiser | mortar crumbs, battles +25% | Smash — clears the next trap |
Abilities charge as you pass gates — the paw button (or SPACE) fires them.
Recipes (pick before you run)
The 🧾 chip on the menu and map cycles your loadout: a bigger starting batch, tougher crust, harder-hitting battles, richer sprinkles, Turbo Yeast (faster + quicker ability charge). Match the recipe to the stage — battle stages love War Butter; hazard gauntlets love Iron Crust., or Light Dough — a smaller starting batch that steers 20% quicker at any size, the counter-play to a heavy herd
Your ghost
After you win a stage, your best run races alongside next time as a translucent 👻 ghost with its own count — the HUD shows whether you're ahead. Beat it and the new run becomes the ghost.
Math Road ➗
A quick-maths trainer in three tiers — quick arithmetic, high school (powers, roots, percents), and university flavour (factorials, C(n,k), integrals, log₂, dot products). Most gates come in pairs where both are good: read fast and take the larger expression. Your results screen shows how often you picked the better gate.
Tips for three stars
- Star targets reward score: shelf tier matters more than raw survival — arrive BIG.
- ×2 beats +N once your flock is over the N — paired-gate choices flip as you grow.
- Bank when a boss or a bomb field is coming; carry when the road ahead looks kind.
- Cross beat gates on the gold flash — it's the difference between ×2 and ×3.
- Fleeing a pack you could beat costs you the bounty — count before you commit.
- A flawless run (zero losses) earns a Legendary video Moment you can share.
Zone 5 runs at night. Wind, elites and the Chaser all at once — bring Turbo Yeast or Iron Crust, and use the Bank Gates.