When it comes to computer or mobile games, I am hardly ever an early adopter. I almost always never jump on the bandwagon no matter how popular a game gets. It’s just not my thing. Recently, however, came one exception: Tiao yi tiao, a platform-jumping mini game rolled out by WeChat exactly a month ago.
For popular games, a month can feel like a year or longer. It takes days or even hours for a game to go viral. Given a month, the best players could play their way up to the unreachable heights. Two weeks after the launch of Tiao yi tiao, over 100 million Wechat users, or one in five gamers, had already tried their hand at it daily. Hundreds of points was the record when the game was first out; now 1,000 fails to impress.
I have no ambition whatsoever to hit four digits. My personal best stalls at 340. I earned this the hard way. I put in about a dozen hours and was briefly coached by an acquaintance who has doubled my record. It was she who informed me of the four types of stands that are worth more points if you wait for seconds upon landing: manhole (5), Rubik’s cube (10), convenience store (15), and vinyl recorder (30). According to her, if you could jump to the center of the platforms consecutively, you may earn an enviably large number of points.
Gradually I felt I had gotten the hang of the game, and breaking my personal record seems only a matter of practice. Here are some tips to share with you if you keep getting stuck at around 200 points.
First, concentration counts. Of course, some gamers don't take the game seriously; it's a game after all. But if you enjoy nudging ahead on the leaderboard, it helps if you play undistracted. The more focused you are, the longer you last, and the more points you score.
Tactics matter too. Each jump is not merely springing from one cube to another, but also a chance of mental calibration. The best strategy is always to try to perch at the very center, not least because a center-landing hop doubles the points. The center is the bullseye. Every shooter, archer, or darts player aims at the bullseye. In basketball, this is known as a swish—a shot that goes through the basket without touching the backboard or rim.
This reminds me of A Sense of Where You Are, a The New Yorker profile by John McPhee that was later published as a book. A description of Bill Bradley, a former US basketball player, sticks in my mind:
Last summer, the floor of the Princeton gym was being resurfaced, so Bradley had to put in several practice sessions at the Lawrenceville School. His first afternoon at Lawrenceville, he began by shooting fourteen-foot jump shots from the right side. He got off to a bad start, and he kept missing them. Six in a row hit the back rim of the basket and bounced out. He stopped, looking discomfited, and seemed to be making an adjustment in his mind. Then he went up for another jump shot from the same spot and hit it cleanly. Four more shots went in without a miss, and then he paused and said, 「You want to know something? That basket is about an inch and a half low.」 Some weeks later, I went back to Lawrenceville with a steel tape, borrowed a stepladder, and measured the height of the basket. It was nine feet ten and seven-eighths inches above the floor, or one and one-eighth inches too low.
This is the same sense required for high scores in Tiao yi tiao. To be a pro is to be relentlessly accurate in the mind, to know how to calibrate throughout a game. It's all about a sense of where you are, or where your hopping block is. So the more you are center-focused, the more accurate you become.
Placing the block in the center also makes the next jump easier no matter the next cube is a medicine bottle or a coffee cup, or if the next cube is inconveniently placed. If the block is on the edge of the platform, you may mildly tap the screen to adjust it to get a better shot.
Indeed, manholes, Rubik’s cubes, convenience stores, and vinyl recorders are a boon, but they could be a curse too. They may simply be traps in disguise. The sound effects and the pause can affect your control of the game, foiling your next attempt. So from a strategic point of view, it makes sense to skip some bonus-awarding platforms.
I am no expert. I just noted down some thoughts I had while playing the game. If you have more to say about the tactics, feel free to leave a comment.
Enjoy Tiao yi tiao!
孟慶偉 Justin
bilingual blogging
Banner：WeChat Tiao Yi Tiao.
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