Deep Digger: Endless Digging Game

What is Deep Digger?

Deep Digger is a free endless digging game you can play right here in your browser. You are a small mole in a hard hat with a drill, the ground goes down forever, and lava is pouring into the shaft behind you. Dig down, grab the gems and do not stand still for long.

The heart of the game is the cave-in. Dig the dirt out from under a rock and it wobbles, then drops. Time it so the rock lands on a creature and you score big. Set off several rocks at once and the points multiply into a chain reaction.

Every dig is different. There is nothing to download and no account to make, and it plays just as well on a phone as on a keyboard. A new Daily dig gives every player the same ground for one day.

How to play Deep Digger

1. 

   1Press Dig! to start

   Pick Endless or the Daily dig at the top of the title card, then press the big Dig! button or hit Enter. You start on the grass with the whole underground below you, and the lava waits for your first move.

2. 

   2Hold a direction to dig

   Hold an arrow key or swipe and hold to tunnel that way. Dirt gives way at once and gems are collected as you pass through them. The gauge at the top counts the metres between you and the lava.

3. 

   3Drop rocks with a cave-in

   Dig the square out from under a rock, then step aside. The rock wobbles and a red lane with arrows shows where it will fall. Anything in that lane gets crushed, so make sure it is a creature and not you.

4. 

   4Blast your way out

   Boxed in by hard rock, or with a creature right beside you? Press Space or tap the bomb button. A blast charge clears every square around you and cannot hurt you. Spark geodes do the same job, but those you must back away from.

5. 

   5Stay ahead of the lava

   The lava speeds up the deeper you go. When the gauge turns red, stop collecting and dig straight down. A coolant pick-up freezes the lava for six seconds, and every 50 metre marker makes it crawl for a breath.

6. 

   6Dig up relics and rarer gems

   Treasure chests hold relics, and every new one is kept in your collection for good. Deeper layers hide rarer relics and richer gems.

The rules in full

1. Press Dig! on the title card, or hit Enter. The lava does not move until you make your first move, so take a moment to look around.
2. Hold an arrow key, or W, A, S or D, to dig in that direction. On a touch screen, swipe and keep your finger down to keep digging, or tap beside the mole for a single step.
3. Soft dirt digs at once. Hard rock and cracked rock take a moment to drill. Round boulders cannot be drilled, and bedrock slabs have to be walked around or blasted.
4. Dig out the square under a boulder or a cracked rock and it wobbles for three quarters of a second, then falls. A red lane shows exactly where it will drop.
5. Step out of the lane and let the rock land on a creature to crush it for 250 points. Each extra creature in the same chain is worth more.
6. Dig through gems to collect them. Pick them up one after another to build a streak worth up to double.
7. Press Space or X, or tap the bomb button, to use a blast charge. It clears the eight squares around you, takes out any creature there and never hurts you.
8. Bump a spark geode to light its fuse, then back away. It blows a three by three hole a moment later and sets off any geode next to it.
9. Watch the lava gauge at the top. It shows how many metres behind you the lava is. If the lava reaches you, the dig is over.
10. Rocks and creatures cost one of your three hearts each time they hit you. Lose all three and the dig ends too.

Deep Digger tips and strategy

• Come at rocks from the side. A rock only falls when the square directly under it is empty, so a sideways approach lets you choose the moment.
• Rocks stacked on top of each other come down together. A stack above a tunnel full of creatures makes the biggest chains.
• Creatures sleep until you are within six rows of them. Read the screen below you before you wake anything up.
• The lava crawls for two seconds each time you pass a 50 metre marker. Use that pause for the detour you were not sure about.
• With the lava under five metres away, dig straight down through soft dirt and leave anything that sits behind hard rock.
• A drill boost goes through boulders and bowls creatures over. Spend those six seconds going down, not sideways.

What kind of game is Deep Digger?

Deep Digger is an arcade digging game played on a grid 13 squares wide and endlessly deep. One square is one metre. You tunnel in four directions, the view follows you down, and your score climbs with every metre, gem and squashed creature.

It is an original game made for Rocket Games, with its own hero, creatures, layers and rules, all drawn in code. There are no levels to unlock and nothing to buy.

How cave-ins and chain reactions work

Two kinds of rock can fall: round boulders and cracked rock. Both stay put while anything is underneath them. Take that support away and the rock wobbles for about three quarters of a second, then drops straight down until it hits something.

While it wobbles, a red lane with arrows marks every square it will pass through. If you are in it, move. If a creature is in it, you are about to score.

A crushed creature is worth 250 points. Every rock that smashes and every creature that falls within 1.8 seconds of the last one adds to a chain, and each extra creature multiplies the reward: 250, then 500, then 750.

Staying ahead of the lava

The lava starts seven metres above you and waits for your first move. After that it never stops. It begins at a gentle half a metre per second and gets faster the deeper you go, up to about 2.8 metres per second far below the 1,000 metre mark.

The gauge always shows the gap in metres and turns red when the lava is close. Each 50 metre marker slows it to a crawl for two seconds, and a coolant pick-up freezes it for six.

You cannot leave it behind for good, though. Get more than 13 metres ahead and the lava surges to close the gap. It also swallows everything it passes, so a gem you skip is gone.

Seven layers and seven kinds of gem

The ground changes as you go down. Topsoil gives way to the Clay Hollows at 40 metres, the Crystal Caverns at 100, Glowcap Deep at 180, Ember Veins at 280, the Starglass Core at 400 and The Abyss at 550. Each layer has its own colours, more hard rock and more caves than the one above.

Gems get richer with depth. Quartz is worth 10 points, Amber 25, Emerald 50, Sapphire 100, Ruby 200, Diamond 400 and Starstone 800. Collecting gems in quick succession builds a streak that adds 10 percent per gem, up to double.

Four creatures live down there. Grubbles crawl along open tunnels. Gnawls, from the Clay Hollows on, chew slowly through dirt to reach you. Cinderkin are quick, and Glowmaws in the deepest layers dig fast. All of them sleep until you come within six rows.

Relics and your collection

Now and then a treasure chest is buried in the dirt. Dig into it and you find a relic: one of 24 one-off objects such as a Rusty Lunchbox, a Dragonfly in Quartz or the Heart of the Mountain.

Relics come in four grades. Common ones are worth 600 points, Rare 1,500, Epic 3,000 and Legendary 6,000, and the better grades turn up far less often. Each of the first six layers has four relics of its own.

A relic is saved the moment you pick it up, even if the lava gets you a second later. Open Relics on the title card to see what you have found and which layers still have gaps. There are 14 feats to earn as well, for things like a chain of ten or reaching 500 metres.

Power-ups buried in the dirt

Six kinds of pick-up are hidden underground. A drill boost lasts six seconds: you dig fast through anything, boulders included, falling rocks cannot hurt you and creatures are bowled over. A gem magnet pulls in gems from the dirt around you for ten seconds.

A shield soaks up one hit. A heart gives back one lost heart, or 300 points if you already have all three.

Coolant freezes the lava for six seconds. A blast charge adds one to your stock. You start with two and can hold five.

Endless mode and the Daily dig

Endless is the main mode. Every time you press Dig! the game builds a brand-new underground, and there is one best score to beat.

The Daily dig uses a single layout per day, the same for every player, and it changes at midnight UTC. Everything sits in the same place on each attempt, so you can learn a route and compare scores fairly. Your best for the day is kept apart from your Endless best.

Controls on keyboard, phone and tablet

On a keyboard, hold the arrow keys or W, A, S and D to dig, press Space or X to blast, P or Esc to pause and M to mute. Enter starts a dig, and starts the next one when a dig ends.

On a phone or tablet, swipe in a direction and keep your finger down. Slide it another way to turn without lifting. A tap beside the mole takes one step, and the bomb button in the corner sets off a blast charge.

If you prefer buttons, the cross icon at the top switches on a direction pad. The game also pauses by itself when you change tabs or scroll it off the screen, so a notification never costs you a dig.

How the score adds up

Every new metre of depth is worth 10 points, and each 50 metre marker pays a growing bonus: 250 at 50 metres, 500 at 100, 750 at 150 and so on.

Gems pay their value plus any streak bonus. Creatures pay 250 when crushed by a rock, 150 when caught in a blast and 100 when run over with a drill boost. Rock and blast scores are multiplied by the chain.

Deep Digger FAQ