Spikes

Spikes are Wall-X's most unforgiving obstacle. The ball only has to touch a spiked area: it pops, the stage restarts and everything you drew is erased.

The rule

The physics engine lets the ball overlap a spiked area by 2 centimetres at most; any more and it pops. Speed, angle or how lightly it touches make no difference. Because your drawings are wiped too, every failed shot on a spiked stage sends you back to zero, so it's worth checking your drawing carefully before you shoot.

Spikes are introduced in the first half of Level 1 and show up in every Level after that. Cacti in the desert follow the same rule: touching the trunk or arms pops the ball.

Where spikes appear

• A thin strip on the floor: the ball can't roll across. You have to get it over through the air.
• Hanging from the ceiling: punishes high shots. Keep the flight low.
• On the edges of the hole: spikes on the top or bottom edge shrink the usable opening. The ball has to go through dead centre.
• On the wall face: if the wall above the hole is spiked, there's no sliding down the wall into the hole.

Getting through spiked stages

Spikes on the floor

Draw a short, upturned ramp or a tilted spring just before the spikes. Think about where the ball lands afterwards, too: a ball that lands right behind the spikes and bounces back can roll into them. Landing it well beyond is safer.

Spikes on the edges of the hole

What matters here is the angle the ball enters at. A ball arriving flat, close to horizontal, fits through even a narrow gap. One that dives from above or climbs from below clips the edges. Make the top of the ball's arc come before the wall so it's travelling almost level as it reaches the hole.

Spikes on the ceiling

To keep the flight low, draw the ramp's tip flatter and shoot harder. A fast, flat shot slips under ceiling spikes where a high arc wouldn't.

Some obstacles lose the ball without restarting the stage: see Pits and Sticky floors.

More in this section

• PitsA ball that falls in is lost. Jump it, or cross it at speed.
• PipesTakes a slow ball from the floor and drops it from the ceiling. Speed is everything.
• GatesSlides up and down in front of the hole. When you shoot matters as much as what you draw.
• Wall behind the ballThe target is behind you. Send the ball forward, then bring it back.
• TrianglesTheir slope carries the ball upward. Used well, a free ramp.
• No-draw zonesYou can't draw in the hatched area. The solution has to live outside it.
• Rubber blocksBounces the ball without losing speed. Think of it as a spring you can't move.
• Magnetic floorsSlows a touching ball by 18 m/s every second. Cross fast or don't touch it.
• Sticky floorsThe ball sticks and the shot ends. Your drawings stay, though.
• PistonsExtends from the floor or ceiling and pulls back. You get past by choosing your moment.
• Ceiling targetThe hole is in the ceiling, not the wall. You have to send the ball up through it.
• Black holesPulls in a passing ball and swallows one that gets too close. A slingshot at the right distance.