Objective

You are the last warm water on a lake that is freezing over. Rafts of ice converge on your lantern out of the dark, and if one touches you the run ends.

The flare

Tap anywhere — or Space, Enter, an arrow key or WASD — to flare the lantern. Every floe inside the pale arc, 5.4 units out, shatters for 2 points. The lantern then recharges, and its own brightness is the gauge: dim while charging, bright when ready.

The price

Gold floats drift in and are worth 8 each when they reach you, but a flare destroys any float that has already crossed the small gold arc. So the instant you tap is a decision rather than a reflex.

The squeeze

Nothing tightens for the first 1.2 seconds. After that the ice builds from 2.1 to 3.6 units per second, waves close from every 1.9 seconds to every 0.95 and arrive in ones, then twos, then threes, and the recharge stretches from 0.55 seconds to 1.05. Everything is fully wound by 30 seconds, and what is left of your margin by then is two tenths of a second.