Underground Dig is an original browser maze-chase game. The whole screen is a cross-section: open sky along the top, four bands of soil getting colder and darker as they go down, and a bottom row of bedrock you cannot dig. You start from the shaft at the surface and cut soil in any direction; an opened cell reads a shade brighter than the soil around it, and it is both your escape route and a route the creatures can walk. Every level has three rocks embedded in the soil: dig out the cell directly beneath one and it shakes for a moment before falling down its column, paying by how many it catches in that one fall. Rocks never regenerate and cannot be pushed, so when a level's three are spent they are gone — which is why holding out until the creatures line up is the whole game. The harpoon is the side weapon: hold the pump key and it travels tunnels only, three cells at most, inflating stage by stage until it bursts. The cost is that you stand still the entire time.

The arcade by the school gate after class, with a ring of people around the cabinet: whoever had the controls cut the route under the rock while everyone else watched where the creatures were, all of them waiting out the shake together. The good moment was never the narrow escape — it was holding out twenty seconds and then catching three at once. Underground Dig keeps that rhythm of a whole group deciding around one rock, while the strata, the two creature silhouettes, the levels and the scoring are all original to this site.

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【街】 The coin arcade · 1988–2000 →

1. 01

   Tap the pit to start. You begin under the surface shaft with unopened soil directly below you, so holding down starts the digging straight away.

2. 02

   On a phone, hold the plate at the bottom left towards where you want to go — slide across to turn without lifting, slide back to the centre to stop. On a desktop use the arrow keys or WASD. Opening a cell scores, and walking a tunnel you cut is twice the digging speed.

3. 03

   Find the rocks. Dig out the cell directly beneath one and it shakes before it drops; that moment is long enough to walk one whole cell sideways, but not long enough to dig another — whether you clear it is decided by that arithmetic, nothing else.

4. 04

   For a high score, lure a creature into the column under a rock, dig into the support cell from the side, and reverse back into the tunnel the instant it opens. The more a single fall catches, the higher the tier it pays.

5. 05

   Deal with anything up close using the harpoon: hold the pump key or Space, it travels three cells of tunnel at most, hooks, and inflates stage by stage until it bursts. You cannot move while it charges; change direction on the plate and it cancels at once, with no cooldown.

Scoring: one fall that catches several pays far more than popping them one at a time, so the real game is arranging the board rather than out-fighting it. Open the column under a rock first, retreat out of that column, wait for a creature to walk in, then cut into the support from the side. Luring: the creatures never read the state of a rock — each follows its own rule — so you can predict which tunnel one will take. Standing where the only way to reach you crosses that column beats chasing it around. Staying alive: in a tunnel you are faster than they are; while digging you are slower. When something closes in, retreat into tunnel you already cut before deciding anything. That trade is the design, not an imbalance. Harpoon timing: you cannot move while it charges, so check how far the second creature is before you hook the first. The flint species needs more stages, stands you still for longer, and therefore needs more room. The burrowing one: it can never catch you, not even while you are digging. Its job is to make you change route — when it breaks surface, take a different way home instead of fighting it.

How do you play a digging game like this on a phone and on a desktop?

The whole control is holding one direction: push into unopened soil and you dig, push into a tunnel you already cut and you walk. On a phone, hold the plate at the bottom left — slide across to turn without lifting, slide back to the centre to stop. On a desktop use the arrow keys or WASD. The pump key is the bottom-right button on a phone, Space or J on a desktop, and Esc or P pauses at any time.

How do you drop a rock on the creatures, and why does catching several matter?

Dig out the cell directly beneath a rock and it shakes before falling down its column, crushing whatever is in the way. One fall pays by how many it catches, and the tier climbs steeply — several times what popping them individually pays with the harpoon. So the correct play is to open the column under the rock first, retreat out of it, and wait for them to walk in before pulling the support.

I keep getting crushed by my own rock — how do you actually dodge it?

There is one criterion: a full cell of lateral distance. During the shake, walking an opened tunnel covers a whole cell, while digging covers only a little over half — so you have to retreat into tunnel, never dig your way clear. Check that the cell beside you is already open before you pull the support; that check is the one the whole trap turns on.

How many creature behaviours are there, and what do you do about the one in the soil?

Four. One follows the tunnels straight at you; one runs for the third cell behind you, so turning around walks you into it; one tunnels through the soil in a straight line, slowly, and surfaces the moment it touches a tunnel; and the last one left runs for the nearest surface. The burrowing one can never catch you, not even while you dig — its job is to make you change route, so take a different way home when it breaks surface.

How does the harpoon work, and how many pumps does it take to pop one?

Hold the pump key to fire. The harpoon travels opened tunnel only and 3 cells at most, so a rock embedded in soil blocks it outright. Once it hooks, each stage inflates the creature further — a mud sack bursts in four, a flint shell needs six — and the burst pays 100 for every layer down it was standing. The cost is that you stand still the whole time, so check where the second creature is before you hook the first. Changing direction on the plate cancels the pump at once with no cooldown, and a miss only costs a short cooldown you can keep moving through.

How does scoring work in Underground Dig — what is a dig worth, and a rock?

Opening a cell of soil pays 5. A falling rock pays by how many creatures that single fall catches, in five tiers: 500, 1200, 2200, 3500 and 5000 — two rocks falling separately never merge into one tier. A harpoon burst pays 100 per layer down. Clearing a level with nothing left alive adds 500, and every life still in hand adds 150. The one that escapes to the surface pays nothing and does not count towards the clean sweep.

How many levels are there, and does it just keep getting harder?

Speed tops out at level five, the count and the species mix at level six, and the burrow threshold and the amount of pre-dug tunnel tighten until level seven. From level seven on nothing escalates at all, so there is no fake infinite ramp. The rock count stays at three on purpose, because it is your resource rather than a difficulty dial, and the level number tops out at ninety-nine.