A timing game about sharing space
aa asks for one input, a tap, and one judgement: when. The wheel spins, and each tap sticks the next pin onto it. Every pin needs a small slice of the circle to itself, about ten degrees, and the round ends the moment two pins crowd each other. Red obstacle pins are already on the wheel when the round starts, and they follow the same rule.
The pin lands the instant you tap. There's no flight time to allow for: the spot at the bottom of the wheel when you tap is where the pin goes. That makes aa a game of reading the wheel, not of leading a moving target.
Spread the pins, don't race them
The best way to think about a round is as sharing a fixed amount of room. Count the pins in your queue and add the obstacles. That's how many pins the circle must hold by the end.
- Easy has 6 pins and 1 obstacle: 7 in all, about 51 degrees apart if spaced perfectly.
- Medium has 9 pins and 2 obstacles: 11 in all, about 33 degrees apart.
- Hard has 12 pins and 3 obstacles: 15 in all, about 24 degrees apart.
- Expert has 16 pins and 4 obstacles: 20 in all, 18 degrees apart against a ten-degree limit.
On Easy you have plenty of slack. On Expert, a pin placed carelessly early can leave a gap too small for any pin later.
The rule that works at every level is simple: fire into the middle of the largest open gap. Each time, watch for the widest stretch of bare wheel to reach the bottom, and tap when its centre arrives. This keeps the gaps even as they shrink. The last pins are the hardest, so the aim of the early taps is to leave room for them.
Here's an Easy round played that way. The single red obstacle starts somewhere on the wheel. The biggest gap is the far side of the wheel from it, so tap when the obstacle is at the top. Now the obstacle and your pin sit opposite each other, with two equal gaps between them. Fire into the middle of each, and you have four pins spaced evenly. The remaining pins each go into the middle of whichever gap is now biggest. By the last pin, every gap is roughly the same size, with room to spare.
When the wheel turns back
On Hard and Expert, the wheel reverses direction on a steady beat: about every four seconds on Hard and every three on Expert. A gap you were waiting for can stop short and swing back the other way.
- Learn the beat. Because the flips are regular, you can count them. Fire right after a flip, when you know the wheel will hold its direction for a few seconds.
- Don't wait through a flip for a perfect gap. If the gap you want is about to arrive just as the wheel reverses, take the next good gap instead.
- Watch the bottom of the wheel, not the pins. Direction doesn't matter if you only fire when the right spot is at the bottom.
Mistakes that end rounds
- Tapping on rhythm alone. A steady tap rhythm spaces pins evenly only if the wheel never changes. Obstacles and reversals break the pattern.
- Splitting a gap unevenly. A pin placed near one edge of a gap leaves a sliver too thin for anything. Aim for the centre every time.
- Forgetting the obstacles. The red pins count, and they're spread around the wheel with a little randomness, so the gaps you start with are never quite equal.
- Rushing the final pin. By then there's often only one safe gap. Wait for it to come all the way round.
Rounds and practice
Each round you clear makes the wheel spin a little faster, while the pin and obstacle counts stay tied to the difficulty. Retry rebuilds the same round with a fresh layout, so a tricky set of obstacles won't be the same twice.
A good plan is to clear several rounds in a row on Easy using only the largest-gap rule, then move up a level. On Medium, focus on hitting the exact centre of each gap. On Hard, practise firing in the quiet stretch just after a reversal. Expert rewards the same habits, with less room for error.
