RoadMaster Complete Guide — Controls, Hearts and Time, 12 Characters, 19 Road Sections and 26 Items Explained

This is the RoadMaster guide, start to finish: the controls and the screen, three hearts and the time limit, levels on an endless road, scoring, combos and Fever, the 12 characters, 19 kinds of road sections, the cars, people and Giants that move on them, weather, night and 35 landscapes, the 20 free items and 6 H items, and finally the bonus round and goals. Every number and every on-screen line comes straight from the real game, and every picture is a real screenshot from a running build. It is long on purpose — take your time. If you are new, jump to Six things for first-time crossers at the bottom first.

RoadMaster is an endless top-down road game in portrait view. You pick a character and cross cars, trains, rivers and storms, always heading up the screen. Change the character and the way you move, the ground you can stand on and even the shape of the road change with it.

There is no level clear in this game. The road keeps going, and after a set distance “LEVEL N” bursts across the middle of the screen while the difficulty steps up on the same road. Dying does not throw a result screen at you either — you have three hearts, and you get up on the spot and run again.

Behind the home screen the road for your next level is already standing, with traffic flowing. Press the start button and a stampede of cars covers the screen; when it clears you are already running.

The screen is tall. The top is “status”, the middle is “the road”, the bottom is “where your thumb goes”.

The four white arrows around your character are a guide shown only for the first few rounds, and the line below it is the control hint for that character.

There is no direction pad in RoadMaster. Tap anywhere on the screen and, measured from your character, the side you tapped decides which way you take one step. Only four directions exist — up, down, left, right, no diagonals — so a thumb that lands slightly off never sends you to a wrong tile: the game rounds to the nearer side.

The tutorial shows once, on level 1, in this order: MOVE → WATCH THE TRAFFIC → CROSS! → COLLECT → KEEP GOING. The control-hint line under it depends on how the character moves.

Three hearts — get up where you fell

You have 3 hearts. Get hit by a car or fall in the water and you lose one; after 1.15 seconds of lying there you stand up again at the last safe spot and keep running. No result screen. For 1.8 seconds after you get up you are invincible (SUPER!), so the same car cannot hit you twice. Hearts refill only when you start or retry a game.

The free heart

Only when you have 1 or 2 hearts: once 50 seconds (with 1 heart) or 80 seconds (with 2 hearts) have passed since the last one, every 6 seconds there is a 40% chance that a heart glows on an empty tile of a resting strip ahead (A heart glows ahead!). Take it for FREE HEART! — +1 life. It only appears on resting strips, never between cars, so you will never die going for it.

The time limit — crossing sections refills it

The clock at the top counts down. At the start of a level you get just enough to walk to the first traffic section and cross it (about 14 seconds on level 1), and every time you cross a traffic section and come out the top you get the time to reach the next one. The clock is capped at 99 seconds, and level-up adds that level’s starting time once more. At zero it is TIME UP and you lose a heart — but then you come back with at least 20 seconds so you do not time out again instantly. Standing around admiring the view costs time; steady crossings earn it.

When the hearts run out — One More Try

At 0 hearts the result window opens. ONE MORE TRY lets you watch an ad or pay H-Coins and come back with one heart (2.5 seconds of invincibility, at least 20 seconds on the clock). It works once per level, and the coin price climbs with your level: 360 H on level 1, capped at 1,050 H. RETRY restarts from the starting point of your current level. Fail twice in a row and you get the same stretch both times; from the third time on you get a slightly easier one (mercy).

A level is one stretch of the road

Level 1 is 99 m long, and each level adds 7.5 m (2.5 rows), stopping at level 25 (279 m). One row is 3 m and the screen is 9 tiles wide. Reach the end and, with no result window, LEVEL UP! bursts in the middle and stars are awarded — fireworks, coins, and then you keep running on the road, now with that level’s weather and hour.

Score

The combo is how many sections you have crossed in a row. It multiplies your points by (1 + 0.25 × (combo − 1)), capped at 2×. Get hit once (killed or shielded) and the combo breaks. Reach a combo of 6 and it is FEVER! — score ×1.5 for 8 seconds (Score ×1.5 while it lasts), and every section you cross during Fever adds 1.5 seconds, up to 12. A hit ends Fever too. From level 2, a CLOSE CALL! also slows time by 0.16 s once every 3 seconds.

One more thing — your best record has a golden line drawn on the road (BEST 000m). Pass it and NEW BEST! pops up.

You start as the Human, and each character opens for free once the level you have reached hits its unlock level. If you want one sooner you can buy it with H-Coins, but at three times the list price. Each character card in the shop has three bars: Speed, Agility and Tough.

The “list price” is one third of the price you actually pay before the unlock level — buying early costs three times this number.

Every character gets its own road

The road is built and verified separately for each character. The same level is a different road for the Human and for the Car, and sections a character cannot enter never appear (for example the Turtle has neither stairs nor footbridges, so no highway sections come up for it). The Ghost’s road has more trains, lamp-light and rivers in place of the cars it passes through — “ignoring cars” must not make every level free.

Three ways to move

• Walking (Human, Turtle, Robot, Ghost, Cat) — tile by tile on the grid. The easiest to read.
• Jumping (Frog, Kangaroo) — a tap hops near, hold and release jumps far. While you are in the air you clear cars and obstacles lower than your jump height. The Frog’s tap (height 0.55) cannot clear a car, its hold (1.25) clears a sedan. The Kangaroo’s tap is 1.15 and hold 1.9, so it hops across highways — but not trucks or buses (height 2.0 and up).
• Vehicles (Car, Motorcycle, Bicycle, Scooter, Truck) — they have speed and inertia. A tap means go one lane and stop, a hold means drive; let go and you slide the braking distance. Swipe sideways to change lanes, tap below to reverse. There is no diagonal movement.

Strengths and weaknesses

• Truck — when a small car (under height 1.9) hits it, it pushes the car away and loses no speed. Big cars, trains and planes beat it. It also smashes breakable obstacles.
• Turtle — its shell blocks one hit and recharges after 15 seconds (SHELL!) — but not against trains. It swims, and ignores bad items like Slow and Heavy.
• Robot — smashes soft obstacles like cones and fences as it walks (SMASH!). It cannot smash trees, lamp posts or containers. It slows in the rain.
• Ghost — passes through cars. It cannot pass trains, lamp-light or running water.
• Motorcycle — also uses alleys, fields and mud. But if it hits an obstacle hard it falls over (LOST CONTROL).
• Bicycle and Scooter — can ride sidewalks and alleys, but cannot enter the highway.
• Abilities (Power Mode pushes them to the maximum) — Human and Cat: a short sprint; Frog: jumps farther; Car: a burst of acceleration; Motorcycle: sharp turns; Truck: plowing through; Bicycle: sidewalk dash; Scooter: instant direction change; Turtle: shell invincibility; Kangaroo: very high jumps; Robot: smashing obstacles; Ghost: floating faster.

Switching characters mid-run

Tap the CHARACTER button at the bottom left and a CHANGE CHARACTER window with all 12 opens; pick one you have already unlocked and it changes on the spot. While the window is open the game is paused (simulation, clock and input), so you cannot be hit while looking. After the switch the road from your feet to the end of the level is laid again to suit the new character — the remaining distance and the level bar stay the same. Retry and your next round continue with that character too.

The road is built from sections. Between sections with traffic sit safe resting strips (grass, sidewalk, pier …), and each environment has a first level where it can appear — so the early game is plain roads, the middle brings signals and railways, and the late game adds highways and weather. When you approach an environment you have never met, a one-line notice (NEW · …) appears once.

(Count Branch and Merge as one and that makes 19 kinds. Below is how to read each.)

Roads — plain, multi-lane, intersection, parking

• Intersections have signals. Cars stop and you may walk when the cars’ light is red. But some cars run the red (more of them as difficulty rises), and late on some signals are broken. Trust the light, then check with your eyes.
• Parking lots have cars slowly backing out from between parked cars.

Promenade and Giant — things you must not bump

• Promenade (level 3+) — a man, a woman, a kid, a grandma, a grandpa, a dog walker and a runner flow along the sidewalk like a conveyor, whole lines at a time. They are 1.9 tall so even the Truck cannot push them, and wheeled characters never meet this section. Hit one and it is YOU BUMPED A PERSON.
• Giant (level 8+, one per level) — a robot walks or runs across a 5-row road. In the forest, ruins and Halloween landscapes a monster comes instead of a robot. It is 3 × 3 tiles, so its whole body is dangerous, not just its feet, and every step shakes the screen and kicks up dust. Get stepped on and it is STOMPED BY A GIANT. Do what the notice says: wait for it to pass.

Railway and river — where one mistake ends it

• Railway (level 7+) — the train is very fast and 14 tiles long. Bells ring and lights flash 2.4 seconds before it arrives. Do not step into that row once the warning starts. Get hit and it is HIT BY A TRAIN — neither the Turtle’s shell nor the Ghost’s ghostliness stops a train.
• River (level 2+) — step into water and it is FELL INTO WATER. Logs, turtle rafts and ferries are things you ride, and lily pads are tiles you can stand on. Where there is a current even a swimmer is carried along (SWEPT AWAY). Frogs and Turtles can swim, so rivers come up more often for them.

Highway, bridge, tunnel, curve

• Highway (level 12+) — four to six lanes with a one-row median, and the cars are very fast. Walkers cannot enter the highway; they cross by footbridge (with stairs at both ends). The footbridge is above the cars, so nothing hits you up there. The Kangaroo jumps across. The line HIGHWAY AHEAD shows at the start of the level.
• Bridge (level 8+) — a road laid over water. Cars and people both use it.
• Tunnel (level 6+) — the roof is translucent so cars underneath show through. Nobody can walk on the roof, so you cross through the open tiles.
• Curve (level 9+) — it bends, so oncoming cars are hidden.

Construction, roundabout, branch, merge

• Construction (level 11+) — a lane is closed and cars squeeze into the rest. Slow rollers also appear.
• Roundabout (level 16+) — cars circle. You can rest on the island in the middle.
• Branch · Merge (level 20+) — one road splits in two, or two merge into one. You have to watch both.

Port, airport, collapsing road — the late specials

• Port (level 24+) — forklifts and carts, and ferries on the water. Watch the docks.
• Airport (level 28+) — planes are big and slow, but their wings cover three lanes. Get hit and it is HIT BY A PLANE.
• Collapsing road (level 32+) — cracked road drops away and comes back in waves. You get a warning 0.9 seconds before a tile drops. Be on a dropped tile and it is THE ROAD COLLAPSED.

There are 9 kinds of road vehicles, and the mix widens as levels go up. Sedans are the most common, ambulances are rare. Cars keep a gap to the one in front, and they change lanes.

• The Taxi changes lanes suddenly. The Sports car is very fast and the Truck is slow but takes a long time to stop. The Bus stops at bus stops and then goes.
• The Self-driving car (level 8+) keeps its distance from you — it stops if you are ahead.
• The Police car (level 10+) moves into your lane when it is close. The Ambulance (level 12+) runs a siren and the cars ahead make way.
• Height 1.9 and up (trucks and buses) is shown separately as HIT BY A TRUCK. It is a height even jumping characters cannot clear.

Besides these there are trains, planes, forklifts, carts, rollers and boats, plus the things you ride: logs, turtle rafts and ferries. Traffic in a section is decided by that section’s clock alone, so signals, trains and logs follow rules you can learn by watching. The only unpredictable things are those that react to you — police cars, self-driving cars and cars you have knocked away.

Levels 1–3 are always sunny daytime. After that weather mixes in, and the hour moves 1.5 hours per level (levels 1–5 are always day). The weather is fixed before the road is finished and the proof uses that weather, so rain or snow still leaves a gap to cross.

A short notice shows the first time you meet each weather and the first night. The Robot slows in the rain, and the Turtle barely feels the weather’s slipperiness. At the start of a level one line may fill the middle of the screen — CAN YOU CROSS THIS? · HIGHWAY AHEAD · TRAIN COMING · STORM WARNING · NIGHT DRIVE · and with 40 or more cars, N CARS. ONE CHANCE.

A landscape (theme) is the art set that decides ground colors, the decorations on resting strips and the trees. Every five levels the next landscape arrives and its name shows as you enter. And the order is reshuffled every time you launch the app. The rules for what you can stand on come from six bases — city, suburb, country, harbor, airfield and ruins — and the 35 landscapes look different on top of them. The decorations on resting strips are also obstacles, so a landscape is part of the road. There are 52 obstacle kinds in all (15 basic + 37 landscape decorations) and their height decides whether you can clear them.

• Green Suburbs
• Blossom Town
• Autumn Town
• Snow Village
• Tropical Island
• Christmas Town
• Candy Land
• Downtown
• Neon City
• Old Alleys
• Chinatown
• City Plaza
• Factory District
• Farm
• Lavender Fields
• Sunflower Fields
• Pine Forest
• Bamboo Grove
• Mushroom Woods
• Campground
• Wild West Town
• Fishing Village
• Beach Town
• Ice Harbor
• Airport
• Space Port
• Moon Base
• Ancient Ruins
• Jungle Ruins
• Desert
• Red Canyon
• Volcano
• Crystal Cave
• Halloween Town
• Mars Colony

The road holds coins (3 H each) and items. A level places 6 + level ÷ 4 coins (up to 16) and 2 + level ÷ 6 items (2 to 6). Items glow big on the road (an outer glow, orbiting sparkles and an inner glow, visible at night too). Touch one and its effect starts at once, with a card in the middle of the screen: ○○ acquired (bad ones read ○○ activated) and the effect text. An item is worth 15 points.

Bad items are placed only on resting strips, and only where you can walk around them. You are never forced to touch one, so picking one up is always your choice. Dying and getting back up clears every bad effect.

H items are bought with H-Coins and used while you run. Six slots are always visible along the bottom (name on top, how many you own below), and tapping a slot is handled in this order:

1. If it is already on, the slot just shakes — you must wait for it to end (stacking the same one only wastes time).
2. If you own one, it is used at once.
3. If you own none, it is bought with coins and used right away.
4. If you are short on coins it asks Not enough H-Coins. Watch an ad to get this item? and, if you watch, buys it and uses it at once.

H-Coins — a triple economy

One coin on the road is 3 H, and level-up coins, the bonus round, ad refills, the One More Try price, H items and characters all follow the same triple rule. An ad refill is 300 H at the base rate (multiplied by your level rate) and you can claim 10 a day (when the limit is used up: No more ad coins today. Come back tomorrow!). You earn them by picking them up, from level-ups, milestones and lucky chests, and from goals, the daily challenge and the bonus round.

RoadMaster does not just say “GAME OVER” — it shows what got you, big. Here are the fourteen reasons and what to do about each.

The bonus round — a 10-second coin rush

Every fifth time you start or retry a game (level-ups are not counted) a 10-second bonus round opens. Cars pass on eight lanes, and tapping a car that carries a coin pays 6 H (2 × 3) per car (Tap the cars carrying coins!). About 62% of cars carry one. What you earn goes into the wallet as you tap, and at the end you get Claim or a button to watch an ad and receive the same amount once more.

Distance goals per character

Every character has ten steps of distance to reach in one run (three hearts in a row): 150 · 400 · 800 · 1,500 · 2,500 · 4,000 · 6,000 · 9,000 · 13,000 · 18,000 m. Hit one and you get Complete! and coins — the reward grows with each step: (20 + 15 × step) × 3 H (60 H for the first). It gives you a reason to try characters you have not used.

The daily challenge

Run the target distance (120 + 30 × the level you have reached, between 150 and 1,500 m) with today’s character (one of your unlocked characters, picked by date) and you get (40 + 2 × level reached) × 3 H. Each consecutive day adds +10% (up to +50%). The goals card at the top of the ITEM page shows today’s challenge and your next goal together, and starting a round with today’s character shows a notice once.

The bottom bar has HOME · MISSION · ACHIEVE · ITEM · SETUP · MORE. Of the nine Today’s Missions, “3 rounds with weather” only shows once you have reached level 4, because weather starts at level 4.

• Do not hurry — look from the resting strip. Nothing hits you while you stand on grass or sidewalk. The clock refills every time you cross a section, so just read one section at a time and cross it.
• Wide in front, narrow behind. Tap anywhere in the upper screen and you go forward. Going back takes a deliberate tap below your character, so you rarely reverse by accident.
• Dying gets you back on the spot. You have three hearts and 1.8 seconds of invincibility after you get up, so treat one mistake as a lesson. When you are down to one heart a free heart may show up (A heart glows ahead!).
• If the road looks blocked, wait. Sections you cannot cross never come out. Signals, trains and logs run on the section’s clock, so watching once or twice shows you the rhythm.
• Coins go into H items — Shield and Time first. Shield (240 H) blocks two hits and Time (150 H) adds 10 seconds. The item slots buy and use on the spot when you have the coins, so there is no need to stock up first.
• Characters open with your level. The Frog opens for free at level 3, and the rest follow one by one. When a new character opens you see a NEW · … notice — try it: the same level becomes a completely different road.

RoadMaster supports 10 languages — English, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish. Like the other Master games it is made to be played in short bursts with one hand. In the next posts we will look at sections, items and characters one at a time in depth.