Girder Run

A tower of slanted girders linked by ladders rises above you, and a brute at the top keeps rolling barrels and flinging fireballs down the structure. Climb your way to the summit, hopping over the hazards as they tumble toward you and weaving up the ladders to safety.

• Run along the girders and climb the ladders to gain height.
• Jump over barrels and fireballs as they roll and bounce down, a hit costs a life.
• Reach the top of the tower to clear the stage.

• Desktop: Arrow keys or WASD to move and climb, Space or Up to jump.
• Phone & tablet: on-screen movement and jump buttons make it fully playable by touch.

• Jump barrels at the last moment, leap too early and the bounce can still clip you.
• Use ladders to break a barrel's path; climbing mid-girder often dodges a roll entirely.
• Plan your route up before you start climbing so you're never cornered on a girder.

Girder Run harks back to Donkey Kong, released by Nintendo in 1981 and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, which introduced the carpenter later renamed Mario and did much to invent the platform game.

It is built around a single asymmetry: you cannot fight, only climb, jump and occasionally pick up a hammer that lets you smash barrels but not climb while holding it. So the hammer is a trap as often as a weapon — taking it commits you to the floor you are on until it runs out. The barrels are aimed rather than random, and learning which ones will take the ladder down toward you is the whole of the first stage.

Girder Run is an original take on the climbing, barrel-dodging platform arcade genre, free to play instantly in your browser.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.