Flippy Knife tips and tricks - How to sharpen your high score

Flippy Knife is an arcade high scorer with mechanics vaguely reminiscent of 2016's swiping sensation, Bottle Flip 2k16. Unlike that title's extremely simple, flip-'til-you-drop gameplay, however, Flippy Knife offers players four different modes and a large collection of blades to test their knife-wielding skills.

The main activity in every mode essentially breaks down to flinging a knife and trying to get it to land in a specific location. But the obstacles, rewards, and optimal approaches all vary slightly depending on whether you're aiming for a bullseye or flipping over a stuffed duck.

Combo is the first mode you're introduced to in Flippy Knife. The goal of Combo is to throw your knife straight up in the air—high enough that it flips in a full circle at least once—and then have it land pointed down, into the wooden block.

You'll earn one point for each flip plus another point for a successful landing. Each consecutive landing you pull off will add a yellow block to your combo meter. When this meter is filled, every flip and landing will award double points for a few seconds, and then the combo meter resets.

If your knife flies off the block or lands on its side, your points and combo meter will both reset to zero and you'll have to start over. Any points you've earned up until that point will be turned into coins.

If you take too long between flips, your current score will be converted to coins and reset to zero. So, to earn high scores, you have to consistently fling without pausing for too long. The score starts to shake if you're flipping too slowly.

You can fling your knife high enough to do two flips in one throw or make a shorter swipe to aim for just one flip. While two flips will add twice as many points, they do not fill the combo meter any faster. It's really up to what height you're comfortable with and can consistently nail landings from.

We recommend using the drag and release method on Combo: instead of flick-swiping quickly, drag your finger on the screen so you can actually see the knife's trajectory. Aim for the right distance and then let go, but keep a steady rhythm so you don't lose your current score.

For two flips, aim the top of your trajectory at the same height as the score (just below the combo meter). For one flip, aim for just slightly lower than the tallest blade of grass (on the right side of the screen). Your ideal height will vary depending on the type of knife you're using and its weight, but these targets work for many of the smaller starting blades.

If your knife lands at an angle, adjust your next trajectory so it's slightly angled in the opposite direction. Don't shift left or right too much: even a minor adjustment will greatly impact your knife's positioning.

Arcade mode presents an endless room of wooden shelves and tables for your knife to traverse as it flips ever-onward toward the right side of the screen.

Unlike Combo, Arcade does not require you to make successful flips consecutively. You can fall or miss as much as you like without resetting your score.

The only goal is to see how far you can get in total. If you leave Arcade to play a different mode, or exit the app, you will begin Arcade at the same place and amount of points from when you last left.

There's no definitive "best" trajectory or flipping style in Arcade. You'll have to fling your knife up, down, and sometimes wildly to make it to the next platform. You do still need to land with your knife's point in the wooden platform, so landing on a platform on your side does not count.

However, you can jump over platforms and land one or two shelves past your next destination. If you successfully land multiple platforms ahead, the game will scroll to your new position and award you points for the platforms you skipped.

If you're trying to skip platforms, hold the eyeball icon in the bottom right corner while your knife is in the air to watch how it lands. This will give you an idea of whether you need to throw faster or slower, etc.

The only platforms we recommend not skipping are the ones with a glowing red box on them. These award 30 coins if you land on their platform, and you will not receive the coins if you skip over the shelf the box is sitting on. You'll know one of these is coming up when the "Prize" meter at the top of the screen is almost full (it earns one notch for each platform you make it through, including any skipped).

Climb mode traps your knife between two tree trunks with a treasure-toting drone taunting from just out of reach. You have to fling your knife back and forth between the trunks to slowly move up, earning points for height milestones and coins for reaching the drone.

Although Climb gives the appearance of a speedy chase, the drone will not "escape" even if you take your time lining up each throw. It slows down as you move up, eventually becoming easily reachable at high enough levels.

Because of this, there's no reason to rush more than you're comfortable with. You can use the drag-and-aim method recommended for Combo to get a sense of how your knife will move horizontally.

When really aiming for high scores in this mode, however, we like to switch to the flick-throw method. Place your finger on the far left (or right, wherever your knife is currently) side of the screen and quickly swipe with great force. It should feel like you're really chucking the knife into a tree trunk.

We like to use both thumbs in this mode, sending the knife right with our right thumb and left with our left. It helps create a good back-and-forth rhythm.

While you should aim up and over as much as possible, don't be afraid to swipe at the same height to get out of a tricky spot. Avoid aiming at bends in branches or too high in a single swipe: both actions will usually result in your knife flipping too far and hitting on its side.

The final mode is Target, which pits your knife-throwing skills against a bullseye that changes height after each throw. You earn between one and four points based on where you hit the target: one for the outer white ring, two for the outer red ring, three for inner white and four for bullseye.

However, unlike the other modes, the only way to earn coins here is by hitting the target eight times in a row. Doing so awards the golden chest dangling from the trees which contains 45 coins. Where you hit the target does not matter for consecutive landings, but if you miss a single time the chest meter and your points will reset.

Target can be good practice for Climb, as the same up-and-over, fast flicking motion works well in both modes. For Target, we usually do a fast swipe in the direction of the target and let go just as our finger passes over the campfire.

When really aiming for high scores, however, we recommend using the trajectory. If you drag just to the left of the target at its center, you'll usually hit it spot on. When it's closer to the ground you'll need to aim slightly higher to prevent falling short.

Once you reach 30+ points, you'll have to hit the target while it's moving. We still use the trajectory in this case: first watch where the target travels, drag to a spot within that movement, and wait to release until just before it returns to that location.

Regardless of the mode you're playing, we recommend trying out different knives and seeing which feels best to you. Each knife has its own weight and handling that will appeal to different players.

Personally, we have been gravitating towards the smaller, lighter knives like the Swiss and Bushcrafter. They're easy to flip with their short handles and light weight, and what counts as their "point" is very clear. Some of the larger blades, like the Butcher or Axe, are a bit more difficult to discern while moving, but they can be fun to use on specific modes like Arcade.