Paper.io 2 in the Browser: Controls, the x5 Start and What the Coins Are For

Three ways to steer

The cube moves on its own; you only choose the direction. On a keyboard the arrows or WASD turn it instantly. With a mouse, hold the button and drag in the direction you want, which suits the free-form loops better than keys because you can bend the trail into a curve. On a phone, touch and drag anywhere on the screen. The game reminds you of this in the first round and then gets out of the way.

The x5 bigger start

Next to the play button is an option to start with a base five times larger. In the original app it played an advert; in the build served here there is nothing to watch, so it is simply a bigger start. It is worth using when the arena is crowded, because a big patch means your first loops are far from any rival.

Coins, skins and the best score

Coins drop during play and count up in the top corner. The paintbrush button on the title screen spends them on cube skins, and the best-score bar keeps your highest percentage between visits. Both live in this browser's storage, so a different browser or a cleared history starts from zero.

Why the opponents are bots

The web build of Paper.io 2 fills the arena with named bots rather than online players. It means there is no matchmaking wait and no lag, and the bots are fair rather than clever: they loop, they cut trails they run into, and they do not hunt you across the map. Treat the leaderboard as a score target rather than a ranking of people.