When we named Fall Guys as our favorite game of PAX East earlier this year, I had no idea how much I would sink into the game. Apart from a summer addiction to Fortnite a couple years back, I’ve largely stayed out of the Battle Royale genre but within a week of its launch, I had already reached the max level 40 for the first season of Fall Guys and racked up somewhere in the ballpark of 30 overall wins. The game has really sunk its teeth in me so I thought ranking the mini games might be a bit of fun. I don’t know that I have any specific criteria fueling this highly scientific list other than my own personal preferences but who cares? Time for another list! Here are all of the mini games (as of August 15, 2020), ranked from worst to best, alongside a series of “Trevor Tips” for possible strategies.
25. Perfect Match (Logic)
In the game’s only mini game with the Logic label at the moment, Perfect Match asks you to survive three rounds of a memory game. The level’s 16 tiles are assigned two different images of fruit in the first round (increasing to four and six in the second and third rounds, respectively) and spends about fifteen seconds showing the players partial glimpses of the board before identifying one fruit icon as safe. Players then have a couple seconds to move to a tile with the matching fruit before all of the other tiles disappear, dropping any players to the elimination slime below. Survive all three rounds and you proceed to the next round.
Trevor’s Tip: The reason this game is at the bottom of list is because it’s just so easy to survive. Even if you don’t have a great mind for memory puzzles, you almost always have enough time to just follow the pack and hop on the platforms that everyone else is clumped together on. Very rarely have I seen the hive mind converge around the wrong panel, sending a lot of people to the slime below (though it is quite hilarious when it does happen).
24. Hoarders (Team)
So begins the “Team” game section of the list. In Hoarders, players are divided into three teams, each trying to get seven giant inflatable balls into their section and avoid having the lowest score when time runs out. Simple in concept but incredibly maddening in execution since a combination of latency and the game’s physics make controlling the ball less than intuitive. And even with a party of friends trying to coordinate and target specific balls, the chaos from other players here can throw a monkey wrench into even the best laid plans and make it nearly impossible to win with any sort of regularity.
Trevor’s Tip: As with many of the Team games, the best strategy is to target the weakest team (hoping it isn’t your team of course) and keep them weak. There isn’t really a benefit for winning so you just don’t want to lose.
23. Jinxed (Team)
In my experience, one of the rarer mini games, Jinxed splits roughly 40 players into two teams with one player one each team starting “jinxed,” with a little pink cloud floating around the middle of their avatar. The jinx spreads when a jinxed player grabs a non-jinxed one and the goal is to get all of the players on the other team jinxed before your own team.
Trevor’s Tip: This is one of those real crapshoots depending on how competent your team is at avoiding others. If you’re really good at grabbing, it might be a smart choice to actively get jinxed early on and go on the offensive against the other team.
22. Team Tail Tag (Team)
Another team game, Team Tail Tag divides players into four teams with a few members on each team starting the round with a tail. Players can grab tails from either their own teammates or opponents and the goal is to finish the round with more tails on your team than the other teams. The team with the lowest number of tails at the time limit is eliminated.
Trevor’s Tip: My biggest gripe with this game (apart from the recurring team theme of relying on other people) is that if your team is losing but you already have a tail, there’s virtually nothing you can do to help your team out. I would personally love to see the developers alter the rules on this one that you advance if you have a tail even if you’re on the last place team but they love chaos so I don’t expect that to actually happen. If you don’t have a tail though, the strategy as above is to target the team with the smallest number of tails to keep them on the defensive.
21. Roll Out (Survival)
Roll Out puts all of the players on a series of five rotating platforms with a simple enough objective: avoid falling off the platform into the slime below and outlast a handful of other players. Each platform has a variety of obstacles including walls and gaps that will require steady moving between platforms to survive long enough to advance.
Trevor’s Tip: This was the first round I found myself actively cursing early on because I was just having the hardest time staying on longer than all of the other players amidst the chaos. But when I finally realized that it’s actually pretty easy if you just head straight for two of the outer platforms and just carefully cross back and forth between the blue and purple rings as needed, the level is actually pretty easy to manage. The problem is that more and more people are starting to understand this strategy meaning the rounds get longer and longer while waiting for the platforms to slowly increase speed and have enough players make a mistake and get eliminated for the round to end.
20. Egg Scramble (Team)
Egg Scramble is another team game so it inherently stinks a bit because you have to luck into a team with some good players but it’s also the one where even an individual can possibly make enough of a difference to overcome a weak team. This match basically starts as a three-team game of Hungry Hungry Hippos with teams vying for a series of eggs in the middle of the maps, grabbing them and taking them to their respective sides. Each egg is worth points with the exception of three highly coveted golden eggs that are worth five points apiece. After the initial flurry, the next minute and a half of the game usually devolved into stealing eggs from the opposing teams to take their points and bolster yours. As always, only the losing team is eliminated when the time runs out.
Trevor’s Tip: Target the lowest scoring team and hope it’s not yours because when everyone is employing this strategy and your team gets off to a slow enough start, it becomes really easy to be fruitlessly trying to grow your 3 points from the other teams having 20 each.
19. Royal Fumble (Final)
Royal Fumble is essentially a reverse game of tag around a small arena with a handful of obstacles. In this final round, one player has a tail and everyone else is trying to grab it and be the one holding the tail when time runs out. Straightforward enough so your mileage with this one ultimately comes down to how good you are at grabbing tails and avoiding being grabbed. Side note: Royal Fumble also lost points in my highly scientific ranking formula because it took roughly 8 hours of playing Fall Guys with the primary purpose being to grab the above loading screen screenshot and I just kept getting every other possible final game instead.
Trevor’s Tip: If it’s not part of your normal process, turning on Player IDs can be really helpful on this one, allowing you to easily spot the other players if you get turned around or lose track of them. Other than that, consider spending the first minute or so watching more than worrying about getting the tail. If you can figure out the kinds of paths people take, you might be a bit more effective at cutting them off when it matters as the time ticks down. Or if you’re really good at maneuvering across the spinning platforms, grab the tail and just keep moving.
18. Hex-A-Gone (Final)
I’ll admit that Hex-A-Gone was originally a few spots higher on the list here but while working on this list a goddamn game of Hex-A-Gone kept me from getting that goddamn fifth straight win for that goddamn last trophy I need for the Platinum. So screw it, I dropped it a few spots out of spite. When it’s not being a pain in the ass, this game can be a fine, incredibly tense final round where players walk across a series of disappearing platforms and aim to be the last to fall into the slime at the bottom of them all.
Trevor’s Tip: The best tip to slow traversal is to jump to each platform, rather than run across them all. This of course only really works if you’re not interrupted by other players though so the best strategy might be to drop down a few rows early on and run around to cordon off a section all to yourself and hope nobody falls on your turf from above. Aside from that, try and stay mindful of the level below you in case you suddenly fall and need to readjust on the fly. Lastly, if you fall off the bottom level, it can’t hurt to dive. The extra split-second has got me the win a couple times when me and the other final player fell at the same time.
17. Jump Club (Survival)
Jump Club is one of the simpler survival games in Fall Guys. Players on a circular platform just need to occasionally hop over a spinning bar trying to trip players up. A second, higher pair of bars occasionally obstructs the view or makes it harder to jump over the lower bar but if you have a good grasp of timing the jumps, you should be fine.
Trevor’s Tip: Don’t really have anything specific on this one but one thing I have noticed is that most players seem to run around the platform clockwise in the same direction of the bars. I tend to run counter-clockwise so I can leap toward the bar as it comes at me to jump over it.
16. Block Party (Survival)
Block Party pits all of the players on a narrow platform with a series of blocks that rise out of the slime below and move across the platform in an effort to knock players off. There are a few variations that add extra little challenges like a low connecting platform between block walls that will need to be hopped over or occasionally an extra wall will rise up and create a U-shape that is pretty inescapable if you wind up trapped by it.
Trevor’s Tip: I tend to stay near the front of the platform to avoid the possibility of getting caught up among the throng of other players since they’re more likely to trip me up than the platforms themselves. Also be sure to tilt the camera down so you can see the blocks coming up and give yourself an extra second to two to adjust accordingly.
15. Tail Tag (Hunt)
The everyone for themselves version of Tail Tag starts the round with half of the players having tails and half not. The goal is to end the round with a tail. Pretty simple.
Trevor’s Tip: I’ve seen a handful of different strategies. Some people hope to hug the big central mallet in the hopes that people won’t be able to get to them to grab their tail but it’s not too hard if you can get the timing right. Others try to run or hide on the bottom level around the center platform but its pretty easy to find them if you turn on User IDs. I guess I tend to try and let the mallets hit me to launch me away from any would be pursuers but this is a risk since they might hit me right into somebody else’s path.
14. Hit Parade (Race)
One of the many early round races, Hit Parade sends players across balancing beams, pushable rotating walls, swinging pendulums, and a final uphill slippery slope with moving bouncy pillars that can knock you back down. Make it across the finish line before the cutoff to advance.
Trevor’s Tip: The opening balance beam section barely gives an advantage compared to those who fall off so don’t stress about it if the beams aren’t your strength. My biggest tip is to hug the sides on the final uphill climb and just run up. Jumping doesn’t really help and the pillars won’t make it all the way to the side walls so it’s a straight shot to the top of the hill across the finish line.
13. Jump Showdown (Final)
As of writing, the newest level added to the game, Jump Showdown is basically Jump Club but with a second lower bar to avoid and a final round twist of the circular platform being divided up into segments that will shake a bit before falling and reducing the available player space. Platforms will fall away until there are only two remaining and then it’s just a war of attrition with any remaining players. Or you can always try a more aggressive tactic by grabbing others and trying to fluster them into falling off to the slime below.
Trevor’s Tip: So far, more often than not, when I try to get aggressive I end up doing myself in instead so my biggest tip would be related to when the platforms are dropping: if a platform wiggles that’s going to split up the field, I always try to end up on the side with more platforms remaining to play the odds. If you choose wrong, a jump and dive is enough to clear the gap of one missing platform so you might be able to rejoin the group with a well-timed attempt but don’t forget to account for the bar that’s trying to knock you off.
12. The Whirlygig (Race)
A race with a lot of spinning bars to hop over and some fan blades that will attempt to block you, or launch you aside. As with the other races, you’re just trying to beat the crowd and reach the end before the cutoff.
Trevor’s Tip: After the early onslaught of spinning bars, there’s a section with a fan blade and a couple small platforms before it that you can hop on to get to the higher level. You can alternatively use the seldom-employed mantle ability built into the Grab mechanic and just jump straight at the wall and hold Grab to climb up. It’s a slower approach but it might be worth it if there are too many other players in the way of the other path. Apart from that, I tend to hug the bottom left “corner” of the fan blades and a well-time dive can avoid them more often than not.
11. Gate Crash (Race)
The Gate Crash sees players running through a series of gates that will move up and down at regular intervals. Pretty straightforward until the end, where you will have to slide down a slippery ramp towards the final set of gates but there’s a gap at the bottom of the ramp so be sure to time your sliding with the gates and a well placed jump in order to clear it and move on to the finish before the cutoff.
Trevor’s Tip: Try to pay attention to the timing of the gates. Approaching a raised gate is usually ideal because if you time it right, it will be down when you reach it. In the fourth set of gates, aim for the two in the middle on either side as they go up and down on the regular rhythm while the outside ones like to trick players by staying raised for longer.
10. Door Dash (Race)
Door Dash cracks the top ten and is probably the race that most epitomizes what I think of when I think of the game shows Fall Guys is inspired by. Players race through a series of doors but not all doors are passable. The real doors will break away allowing players to move forward while the fakes will stop you in your tracks like a brick wall.
Trevor’s Tip: Always try to use a jump and dive combination as you pass through the final set of three doors to the fall below. This will hopefully help separate you from the rest of the swarm enough to avoid getting tripped up or trampled by other falling players.
9. See Saw (Race)
See Saw has all players heading across a string of, you guessed it, see saws on the way to victory. As players convene on one side of a see saw, it will slant at a greater angle, possibly to the point that you can’t even walk up it and will fall off and respawn at the latest checkpoint. Having patience and an understanding of physics will hopefully get you through to the end. Don’t worry about rushing though as See Saw rounds are often some of the longest in the game because it takes a while for qualifying players to reach the cutoff limit.
Trevor’s Tip: Minimize jumping down on steeply-angled platforms if you can because your more likely to stumble from a jump and you will roll off the platform before you can recover. Walking steadily uphill is pretty much always preferential to jumping because of this. And if you get hung up at the first checkpoint on the left hand side because the first flurry of players go right and tilt the purple see saw out of your reach, you will almost always be able to progress quicker if you double back to the previous see saw, cross to the other side, and try to tackle that purple one from the right. You’ll lose a lot of time waiting for enough people to progress through and get across it from the left naturally.
8. Fruit Chute (Race)
A race to the top of a treadmill hill when you are constantly having giant fruit shot at you, Fruit Chute can very easily and very quickly go wrong. You recover from being knocked down a lot quicker here than in most rounds but being knocked down combined with the treadmill pushing you back combined with more fruit being shot at you every couple seconds can make even a flawless run go incredibly south real quick.
Trevor’s Tip: Try to hug the edges of the path as best as you can. The fruit might be a bit more plentiful on the sides but avoiding the center keeps you out of the rolling logs/cinnamon sticks/whatever you want to call them that will quickly and merciless fly down the middle of the map. Additionally, the sides have a few bumpers throughout that can keep you from getting knocked too far back even if you get hit. Lastly, keep hugging the sides even past the treadmill because those log beams will get launched with no warning and can easily send you flying back into the treadmill part.
7. Hoopsie Daisy (Team)
Hoopsie Daisy introduces a series of floating rings into a small map. Diving through the rings will earn your team points. Simple enough really.
Trevor’s Tip: This is another one of those games where you can easily be completely screwed over if your team isn’t great at this one but I still usually have a fun time running and diving through the rings, hence it’s higher placement on the list. Keep an eye out for Gold rings and try to be the first to dive through them as they are worth 5 points each and can help you rack up points for your team pretty quickly. Other than that, just always keep moving and keep your camera angles moving to try and identify the new rings near you as soon as they drop in.
6. Tip Toe (Race)
Tip Toe is basically like the second trial in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indy has to spell out Jehova but in Fall Guys all of the letters have faded away so you just have to guess at the correct path. Incorrect blocks will disappear and if you fall, you’ll just have to restart and try to make it to the end of the route before the cutoff.
Trevor’s Tip: Keep an eye out for tiles that shake: they will always disappear so you know they aren’t the true path. Additionally, the last two rows will always be a straight shot so if the group you find yourself clumped together with at the end slowly trickles onto the penultimate row and it doesn’t fall away, just keep going straight – and remember to jump across the final gap at the end.
5. Rock ‘N’ Roll (Team)
Rock ‘N’ Roll divides players into three teams with each team having to push their ball down an isolated track across a series of obstacles until about the midpoint where the three tracks all converge into a final clear ramp to the finish. The team has to work together to get the ball across the finish line but players can also try to player blocker against the other teams.
Trevor’s Tip: If you’re someone who likes to play blocker, good for you but don’t abandon your team too early. Help them get the ball across the big speed bumps before trying to run ahead. And then try to keep the opponents’ ball up against the edges because you might be able to block pretty well even if you’re just one person by keeping them pinned up against the wall.
4. Dizzy Heights (Race)
Dizzy Heights features a lot of platforms that are rotating clockwise or counterclockwise on your path to the finish line with a little mid-race break to avoid an area where giant balls are shot down straight paths at the pack that you can avoid by popping in and out of cover.
Trevor’s Tip: The reason Dizzy Heights rates as highly as it does is because it was one of the earliest courses that I found a fairly reliable path through and can most consistently finish in the top spot or at least the top 10. I tend to stick to the left side of the first set of spinning platforms if I can but always make my way to the right hand side for the elevated platforms in the second half of the race. The rotations of those platforms are more conducive to getting ahead than the left hand side which will have you taking the longer rotation a few times.
3. Slime Climb (Race)
Slime Climb is easily the most efficient mini game at eliminating a lot of players in one round (you can even win here if you’re the sole survivor). The bane of many, Slime Climb is in name a Race to the top but in reality a round about surviving the ever-rising slime that will eliminate you if you can’t outrun it. Unlike other races focused on moving forward through a straightforward obstacle course, Slime Climb employs a lot of switchbacks up a constant slope, challenging players with a wide variety of obstacles in a race against time.
Trevor’s Tip: Patience is the thing I’ve found most important. The first couple switchbacks will be chaotic until the herd starts getting eliminated but if you can be patient and wait for the right timing to push forward through the piston-like platforms, you should be able to buy yourself enough time to focus up before carefully navigating the yellow balance beams at the mid-point. Don’t rush through them if you can avoid it because that’s when the mistakes happen. From then on, most of the pack will be behind you or eliminated so it’s just a matter of maneuvering carefully through the slippery parts on the way to the finish line.
2. Fall Ball (Team)
Fall Ball is one of the common penultimate rounds of Fall Guys, dividing remaining players into two teams for a brief game of soccer featuring two balls at a time. When a goal is scored, another ball spawns at midfield to keep the action flowing. As the game’s launch success seems to be following a trajectory similar to that of Rocket League from a few years back, Fall Ball makes for an apt mini game inclusion and is usually just a lot of fun to boot. The game will occasionally throw in a football to switch up the physics or even a golden egg which, just like in Egg Scramble is worth a whopping 5 points and can easily cement a game one way or another.
Trevor’s Tip: If you’re in need of a quick route back to the middle of the map, you can jump into either goal and respawn near center field. This can be especially handy if you just scored a goal and want to get back in time to try and meet the newly spawning ball with a header toward the goal for some back-to-back points.
1. Fall Mountain (Final)
Fall Mountain is essentially the Aggro Crag from Nickelodeon’s Guts, which I absolutely loved watching as a kid. As one of the final rounds, all remaining players are racing to the top of a mountain littered with spinning walls and hammers and constantly bombarded with giant projectiles that will set you back. Reach the top of the mountain and all you have to do is grab the Crown, but even that will rise and fall so if you jump with the wrong timing (or you forget to actually push the Grab button), you’ll lose your chance at victory and almost certainly not be able to recover before someone else beats you to the win.
Trevor’s Tip: Fall Mountain is by a large margin the final round responsible for most of my Crowns. As shown in the linked tweet below, I have had nearly flawless runs on the level. The tip here is to travel more or less the path I do below. Going right at the start almost always has a ball hit the spinning wall and staying on the left of that might even get the wall to shove you forward a bit. Avoid the balls as best as possible until you reach the hammers and move between the second and third hammers from the right. Their respective rotations mean that even if they do hit you, they’re more likely to send you forward instead of back. From there, just keep jumping up the little stairs and making your way up the right-hand side to the crown and do your best to time the jump and grab for the win.