First steps

Wall-X's first stages teach the basic moves: draw, pull, adjust. This page covers what you'll meet in the first 15 stages and the habits that will help you for the rest of the game.

Anatomy of a shot

1. Draw: pick one of the tool buttons and draw in the play area. Only the ramp is available in the first stages.
2. Pull: grab the ball and pull it back to the left. The further you pull, the faster it leaves. The ball always heads right, rolling along the floor; what you draw decides where it goes, not your aim.
3. Release and watch: if the ball goes through the hole, the stage is cleared. If not, its trail stays on screen; use it to correct the next shot.

Stages 1–5: the ramp

In the first stage all you do is draw a ramp rising from the floor in the ball's path. The next four teach the same tool in different situations: a low ceiling means the ball mustn't fly too high, a low hole needs just a small hop, and a high window needs a steeper tip or a harder shot. In stage five ink is very tight: a short, steep ramp and a fast shot beat a long, gentle ramp. That lesson holds for the whole game. More on ramps: Ramp.

Stages 6–10: the spring

The spring arrives in stage six. A short, tilted spring throws the ball upward. The next stages bring a close wall, a hole barely wider than the ball and a block across the path. In stage ten there's so little ink that only a short spring at the foot of the wall will do. The lesson: sometimes the cheapest route is not to aim the ball at the hole but to bounce it in at the last moment. Details: Spring.

Stages 11–15: the booster

The booster speeds the ball up in the direction you draw it. These stages teach you to rush through a low tunnel, gain height on a short runway and reach a hole high up the wall. Always make sure you draw the booster in the direction the ball should travel. Details: Booster.

After that, a new obstacle arrives every five stages: spikes, pits, pipes, gates, wind and the wall behind the ball. Each has its own page in the Wall-X guides.

Habits worth building from day one

• Change one thing at a time. If a shot misses, change either the drawing or the power, not both. You can repeat the same power and nudge it with the plus and minus buttons.
• Read the trail. If the ball hit above the hole, the power is too high or the ramp too steep; below it, the opposite.
• Clear first, then chase stars. The first goal is to clear the stage. Afterwards you can shorten your drawing to earn more stars. See Stars and ink.
• Erasing is easy. Tap anything you drew to erase it; Undo removes the last drawing, Clear removes them all.

More in this section

• Stars and ink3 stars for at most 45% of the ink. Techniques for saving ink.
• The Wall-X physics engineThe game in numbers: dimensions, speeds, materials and how shots are verified on the server.
• Levels and progress10 Levels, 500 stages. Levels unlock with stars; here's how many you need.