Turnkeep
One button turns the whole room. Gravity does the rest — read the line, pick a side, and fall through every monster before your heat runs out.
Controls
- Touch — tap the left pad
- The whole room swings 90 degrees anticlockwise the instant your finger lands, and one of your three torque diamonds is spent. Keeping the pad held down does not turn a second time.
- Touch — tap the right pad
- The same turn, clockwise. The narrow strip between the two pads carries no control at all, so a thumb that lands on the seam turns nothing and costs nothing.
- Touch — swipe sideways across the room
- Swipe right for clockwise or left for anticlockwise. The gesture counts once it travels about 32 pixels, provided it has moved farther sideways than vertically. A mostly vertical gesture at that distance will not turn the room; lift your finger and start again. Each swipe turns only once.
- Keyboard — Left arrow or A, Right arrow or D
- Turn the room anticlockwise and clockwise. A held key turns once and then waits; release it and press again for a second turn.
- Keyboard — Tab, Enter or Space, Escape
- Tab moves between the buttons of a menu or panel, Enter or Space presses the focused one, and Escape closes whichever panel is open. The one exception is the Still here panel you get when you come back to the tab, which has a single Resume button and no shortcut out.
- Mouse — left button on a pad, or dragged across the room
- Press a pad with the left mouse button to turn immediately, or hold the left button and drag sideways across the room to swipe. Right and middle mouse buttons do not turn the room or spend torque.
- Pause button, top right of the play area
- Opens on release, so sliding off it before you lift cancels the press. Pausing freezes the heat drain, torque regeneration, the chain ring and every spike that was growing, and any turns you already paid for stay queued.
- A second finger while the first one is still down
- A second finger can press either pad for another turn if torque and queue space are available. Lifting one finger does not cancel the other finger's gesture. After pausing, opening a panel, rotating the phone or leaving the tab, lift your fingers and press again.
How to play
ObjectiveYou never walk or jump. You turn the whole room 90 degrees and fall toward whatever is now the floor, smashing the side of each monster that ends up facing up. Smash every monster in a room to light its gate, drop through it, and reach the final gate of your chosen shaft before the heat bar empties.
Getting started
- Press Play, choose Short Shaft and press Descend to begin an eight-room run. Deep has twelve rooms; Daily has six and starts with Run today's shaft on its own screen. Warden unlocks at six sigils.
- Find your spinning blade, the Coil, and check the monsters' armour. A Husk has one plated side; a Warden has three and one glowing weak side. Picture which side will face upward after your next turn.
- Tap either pad. The room swings 90 degrees in about a tenth of a second and then gravity takes over and your Coil falls to the new bottom of the screen. In room 1 that first turn smashes two monsters whichever pad you press.
- Follow the line your fall will take. You break the side of a monster that ends up facing up and keep falling straight through it, but an armour plate facing up stops you dead, costs 12 heat and 20 points, and breaks the chain.
- Chain your kills. Smash the next monster before the 1.4-second ring beside your score empties and the multiplier climbs to x1.6, x2.2, x2.8, x3.4 and then x4.0, where it stays for the rest of the chain.
- Clear the room and the gate lights up. Turn to guide your fall into it for 80 points, up to 90 speed points, 120 more if you took no damage in that room, and 22 heat back.
- Watch the heat bar the whole time. It never stops draining, it drains twice as fast once four seconds pass without you reaching a new tile or smashing something, and smashing refills it: 9 heat for a Husk, 18 for a Warden.
- A run ends when you drop through the last gate of the shaft, or when heat reaches zero, a charged Warden catches you, or spikes close off every route. The result panel names the reason and Try again starts a fresh run at once.
Tips
- Picture the whole falling line after the next turn, not just the nearest monster. You pass through everything you smash, but an upward-facing armour plate in that future line stops you and breaks the chain.
- Turn a Warden's glowing seam upward before falling onto it. For a Husk, choose any of its three unarmoured sides. Judge the sides after the planned rotation: a plate facing down now can face toward you after a turn.
- Two turns in the same direction reverse gravity relative to the room, but you fall between those turns. Reserve two torque diamonds and check the intermediate landing as well as the final route, especially after a Warden bounce.
- Torque caps at three, so a diamond earned while you are already full is thrown away. When a safe kill is one turn away, spend a turn first: a Husk hands back one diamond and a Warden two, and they only land if there is room for them.
- From room 5 onward the fourth kill of a chain and every kill after it grows a permanent spike in one of the floor sockets. If your route to the gate runs across the last open sockets, stop the chain one kill early — the multiplier you give up is worth less than a sealed exit.
- A socket flashes red for half a second before its spike matures, and the spike is never planted on the tile you are standing on. Use that half second to judge whether you will need that tile later, not only whether you can get off it now.
- After a Warden bounce, avoid that Warden's armoured sides while its red ring is lit. Smash another reachable monster to clear the charge, or wait for the three-second ring to fade while watching your heat. Check the escape route before turning back toward it.
- Once the last monster is gone, aim for the glowing gate. Speed points start at 90 and fall by 6 per second, reaching zero after fifteen seconds. Extra turns in an empty room cannot extend your chain and only spend time and torque.
- Standing still is never free. Heat drains the whole time and doubles after four idle seconds, while torque returns only one diamond every 1.6 seconds, so waiting for a third diamond costs several heat in the deeper rooms. Plan two-turn moves with both meters in view.
FAQ
How do I start playing Turnkeep?
Press Play, choose Short Shaft and press Descend to start an eight-room run in your browser. The first turn in room 1 smashes two monsters whichever pad you press. Follow the hints below the pads; they remain through room 1. For Daily, choose Daily Shaft and then Run today's shaft.
What do the two pads at the bottom of the screen do?
The left pad turns the room 90 degrees anticlockwise; the right pad turns it clockwise. Each pad responds when pressed, and holding it does not repeat the turn. You can also swipe sideways across the room or press Left arrow/A and Right arrow/D. Your Coil cannot walk or jump: it falls after each turn.
Why did I bounce off a monster instead of smashing it?
You struck an armoured side rather than a weak side. Armour rotates with the room, so check which side will face upward after your next turn. A Husk has one plate; a Warden has three plates and one glowing weak seam. A normal armour bounce costs 12 heat and 20 points and breaks the chain. The first Husk bounce in room 2 is a free warning.
What is torque, and why will the room not turn?
Each turn needs one torque diamond and space in the waiting queue. You can hold three diamonds, and one returns every 1.6 seconds; smashing a Husk restores one and a Warden restores two. If you run out or already have three turns waiting, another press is refused without charge. Wait briefly before pressing again. If a panel is open, use Continue or Resume to return to play.
How does scoring work in Turnkeep?
A Husk scores 20 points and a Warden 50 before the chain multiplier. The first kill is x1; another within 1.4 seconds raises it to x1.6, then x2.2, x2.8, x3.4 and x4.0. Entering a cleared gate adds 80, up to 90 speed points, and 120 if you took no damage. The final gate adds another 400 plus twice your remaining heat. Armour and fresh spikes each deduct 20 points.
How do I get a higher score in Turnkeep?
Plan falls through several weak sides to build a chain, and avoid damage to keep the 120-point flawless bonus. A Warden is worth 50 points before the multiplier, compared with 20 for a Husk, so reaching one later in a safe chain pays more. Once every monster is gone, head for the gate: its speed bonus falls by 6 points per second and reaches zero after fifteen seconds.
Why did my run end?
A run ends when you clear the final gate, run out of heat, hit a charged Warden's armour, or have no route left. Heat drains during play and drains twice as fast after four seconds without changing tiles or smashing a monster. A Warden's red ring warns that another hit on that Warden's armoured sides is fatal. No route left means no sequence of turns can reach a monster or an open gate.
Where do the spikes come from, and can I avoid them?
Some rooms begin with spikes; your chains can add more from room 5 onward. The fourth kill in a chain and each later kill can grow one in a free socket, with a half-second red warning. Let the chain ring empty before another kill to avoid triggering more growth. This does not cancel warnings or remove existing spikes. A fresh spike costs 25 heat and 20 points on contact; afterward it still blocks the route.
How do I restart a run or choose another shaft?
Press Try again on the result panel to begin another run in the same shaft. To choose a different shaft, use Home, then Play. Retrying starts from room 1 with full heat; it does not continue from the room where the previous run ended.
What is the difference between the Short, Deep, Warden and Daily shafts?
Short has eight rooms; Deep and Warden have twelve; Daily has six. Warden unlocks after six sigils and uses Wardens from room 2 onward. Daily uses the date on your device to select the run and keeps a daily record locally. Choose Short for fewer rooms, or Warden to focus on lining up a single weak side.
Can I play Turnkeep on a phone?
Yes. Turnkeep is designed for a phone held upright, with two turn pads below the room. In phone landscape, the pads move to the left and right sides. On a computer you use the same narrow layout, with the left mouse button or arrow keys to turn. A gamepad is not supported.
Do I need to download anything or create an account?
No download or account is required: Turnkeep is free to play in your browser. Connect to the internet when opening or reloading the page so the game can load. There is no advertisement before your first run. The result panel lets you share using your device's share options or copy the game link.
Is my progress saved, and can I continue on another device?
Records and unlocks are saved in this browser on this device; they do not sync to another browser or phone. Your best score, room and chain records, level, sigils, looks and settings are kept, but an unfinished run is not. Clearing site data removes these records. If saving is unavailable, Settings warns that progress will last only for this visit.
What should I do if the game does not load or has no sound?
For loading trouble, check your connection and reload the page, or use Try again on the error panel. For sound, press Play first, then open Pause, choose Settings and turn Mute sound off; also check device volume. Vibration and Reduce motion are in Settings too. After switching apps, press Resume and make a fresh press on a pad.
Is Turnkeep suitable for children?
Turnkeep is suggested for ages 7 and up, with abstract monsters and no blood, chat or user-submitted content. The opening room introduces turning through play, but later rooms require planning under a draining heat bar. Use Pause for a break, choose Short Shaft for fewer rooms, and open Settings to enable Reduce motion if preferred.
About the game
One button turns the whole room. Gravity does the rest — read the line, pick a side, and fall through every monster before your heat runs out.
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