Perfect Crack · Game Guide

How to play Perfect Crack

Everything you need to crack eggs like a Grand Master: timing, stars, twists, rare eggs, the Hatchery and the Guild.

The basics

The Perfect Crack bar with the pointer reaching the gold zone as the mallet is raised over an egg by the Jungle River — The pointer sweeps across the bar: tap on the gold

Every egg in Perfect Crack has a heartbeat, and its shell only cracks in time with it. A pointer sweeps back and forth across the bar at the top of the screen. The gold zone on the bar is the heartbeat. Tap anywhere on the screen (or press Space or click on a computer) when the pointer is inside it.

Each egg needs three cracks' worth of hits to break open. Free the baby inside and it moves into its habitat in the Hatchery for good.

Good, Great and PERFECT

Perfect Crack gameplay: a mallet strikes an egg on the gold peak of the heartbeat bar and the words PERFECT CRACK! appear — A PERFECT CRACK: one tap on the gold heartbeat

How close you are to the centre of the heartbeat decides how hard you hit:

GOOD cracks the shell once. Three Goods free the baby.
GREAT cracks it twice.
PERFECT CRACK breaks the egg open in a single hit.
MISS doesn't crack anything and costs you a mallet.

After each tap the game shows EARLY or LATE, so you can see which way you're drifting and correct it on the next egg.

Mallets and the fuse

Your mallets, shown at the top left, are your lives. A miss breaks one, and when they're all gone the run is over. You start with five on Easy, three on Normal and Hard, and two on Insane.

On Normal and harder difficulties, eggs have a fuse under the bar (Easy has none). Tap before it burns out, or the egg counts as too slow and breaks a mallet. The harder the difficulty, the shorter the fuse.

Stars and kingdoms

The Perfect Crack World map, an island with the Farmyard, Jungle River, Dinosaur Valley, Frozen Coast and the Mythical Isles above the clouds — The World map: five kingdoms to explore

Every egg earns up to three stars. Crack it with Perfects only for ★★★, and fewer stars for messier cracks. Each kingdom has five eggs, the last being a boss egg. Clear a kingdom with enough stars and the next one opens:

Farmyard: chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese and ostriches.
Jungle River: turtles, chameleons, toucans, pythons and crocodiles.
Dinosaur Valley: velociraptors, stegosauruses, pterodactyls, triceratops and the T-Rex.
Frozen Coast: puffins, snowy owls, leatherback turtles, albatrosses and emperor penguins.
Mythical Isles: the phoenix, basilisk, sea serpent, griffin and dragon.

Stars are kept separately for each difficulty, so every level of challenge has its own map to complete.

Your form, aim and hot streaks

Form is the size of the gold target. Perfect hits make it grow, sloppy hits make it shrink, and it carries over from egg to egg, so good timing makes the next egg a little easier.

The aim ring at the top shows how accurate your last ten taps were. Green ▲ means you're sharper than usual, orange ▼ means you're drifting.

String Perfects together and you'll hit a HOT STREAK. The game moves you on, with a tighter target and a slightly faster pointer, and pays more points for every hit.

Twists

A red dragon egg on a pile of gold in the Mythical Isles, with a false purple target on the bar — The dragon's boss egg, with a purple illusion on the bar

As you travel further, eggs fight back. The first time you meet a twist, the game stops and shows you how it works.

Wobbly speed: the pointer speeds up and slows down. Watch it, don't count it.
Moving target: restless babies wriggle, so the target slides about. Hit it where it is now.
Vanishing target: a faint heartbeat, so the target fades away. Remember where it was.
Bouncy pointer: the pointer can turn back without warning.
Shrinking target: a shy heartbeat grows quieter while you wait. Tap early for a bigger target.
Armoured eggs: a double shell. Good hits just go CLANG, so you need a Great or a Perfect.
Icy pointer: the pointer races through the middle and lingers at the ends. It's the same every time, so learn the rhythm.
Illusions: magical eggs fake a purple heartbeat. Only the real gold target cracks the egg.

Bonus rounds and the Golden Hammer

After every boss egg comes a bonus round: move the basket to catch falling eggs for points. Golden eggs are worth more, a mallet egg gives you a spare mallet, and hammer pieces build a Golden Hammer. Avoid the bad eggs! You can't lose a mallet in a bonus round.

The Golden Hammer (bottom left) gives you one guaranteed Perfect hit, but that egg can earn ★★ at most. You get one each run, and three hammer pieces make another.

Rare eggs

A shimmering Rainbow egg on a pebble nest on the Frozen Coast — An ultra-rare Rainbow egg on the Frozen Coast

Sparkly eggs: about one egg in twelve sparkles. Crack it cleanly, with no Good hits or misses, and the baby hatches in a rare colour: Frost, Shadow or, once you're a Junior Keeper, Golden. A Golden Hammer is fine.
Rainbow eggs: ultra rare, from Jungle River onwards, once you're a Hatchery Keeper. Only a PERFECT CRACK frees a Rainbow baby. A clean crack still wins a rare colour, but a Golden Hammer makes the rainbow fade.
Champion eggs: one a day, only in your scored Daily Challenge try. Crack it cleanly and a Champion baby wins its place in your Hatchery, with a rosette to prove it.
Mystery eggs: every kingdom hides one secret creature. The clues are in Rare finds, in the Collection Book.

There are 155 Hatchery Babies in all: every species in its normal colour, four rare colours and as a Champion, plus the five secret creatures. The Collection Book keeps count.

Daily Challenge and Endless

A Champion egg with a laurel and rosette on a velvet cushion, under spotlights on a theatre stage — The Champion egg at the daily Hatchery Show

The Daily Challenge gives everyone the same ten eggs and the same rule of the day. Your first try each day is the one that counts: it's scored, can hold a Champion egg and goes on the daily leaderboard. Any replays are practice. Play on consecutive days to build a streak.

Endless keeps the eggs coming until your mallets run out, getting faster and trickier as you go. Your best runs on each difficulty are kept, and you can join the Endless leaderboard. Leaderboard names come from our own word lists, so no one can type in personal details.

The Hatchery

Dozens of Hatchery Babies wandering around the Farmyard habitat by the red barn — Your Farmyard habitat, full of Hatchery Babies

Every baby you free moves into its kingdom's habitat. Visit the Hatchery to watch them play, chat and nap, and tap any baby to see its card.

Field Guide: every Hatchery Baby has a name, a personality, a story and a note from Madam Hatchwell. Tap the same baby on three different days to become friends and learn its secret (five days for the secret creatures).
Team photos: press Photo and everyone climbs onto the risers for a group shot, saved in your Album with a frame of your choice.
Love and Party: unlocked at 10 and 25 babies. Shower your habitat with hearts, or turn on the disco.
Album: habitat photos, your scrapbook and class photos, including the Ultimate team photo of every baby you've found.
Awards: achievements unlock new mallets and habitat decorations.

The Hatchery Guild

Every Hatchery Baby gathered in the Great Hatchery Hall as the Keeper's name is carved as Grand Master — Free all 155 to become a Grand Master

The more babies you free, the higher you climb in the Hatchery Guild, run by the Head Keeper, Madam Hatchwell. There are 11 ranks: Novice, Trainee, Apprentice, Junior, Hatchery, Experienced, Skilled, Expert, Senior, Master Hatchery Keeper and finally Grand Master, for the Keeper who frees all 155. Some ranks unlock new things, such as Golden babies, Rainbow eggs and your keeper's hat in team photos. Reach Grand Master to find out what the Hardening really is.

Tips

Watch the pointer, not your thumb. Tap as it reaches the gold, not when it's already there.
Use EARLY and LATE. If you're always early, wait a fraction longer.
Protect your form. A string of Perfects makes the next egg easier, and a few sloppy hits make it harder.
Save the Golden Hammer for a boss egg or a sparkly egg you can't afford to miss.
Try Easy first. Each difficulty has its own map, and Easy is a great place to learn the twists.

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