Skyduel

You ride a winged mount that only stays up if you keep flapping. Charge into enemy riders to joust: when two riders collide, the one whose lance is higher knocks the other down. Defeated foes drop eggs, sweep them up before they hatch into a new rider.

• Tap to flap and gain altitude; gravity pulls you down between flaps.
• Approach enemies from above so your lance wins the clash.
• Collect dropped eggs quickly to stop them hatching back into threats.

• Desktop: flap and steer with the keyboard.
• Phone & tablet: tap the playfield to flap, fully touch-supported.

• Single player, clear waves of rider enemies solo.
• 2-player hot-seat, duel a friend on the same screen.

• Manage your altitude constantly, never let yourself drift too low to climb above a charging foe.
• Hover just above an enemy's flight path and dive into the joust for a guaranteed-higher lance.
• Grab eggs the instant they drop; a delay lets the rider respawn and re-arm.

Sky Duel recreates Joust, released by Williams in 1982, in which you ride a flying ostrich and gain height by flapping — there is no thrust, only repeated presses, so flight is always slightly out of control.

Contests are decided by a single rule: when two riders collide, whoever is higher wins. That makes every encounter a race for altitude in the last half-second, and it makes the flapping mechanic the whole game rather than a control scheme. Two players share the field and can help or hunt each other, the lava at the bottom grows a hand that grabs the careless, and a pterodactyl eventually arrives to punish anyone stalling.

Skyduel is an original take on the aerial-jousting arcade genre, free to play in your browser solo or head-to-head.

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