Fernhawk GamesIn Dog Walk you guide a dog around a field. Each time the dog picks up a treat, a friend joins the line behind it, so the line grows longer with every treat. The walk ends if the dog bumps into its own line, a fence, or a bush. The aim is to make the line as long as you can.
How to play
The dog keeps walking by itself, one square at a time. You only choose when to turn. Nothing moves until you press the first arrow, so you can take a moment to look at the field.
- On a phone or tablet: swipe across the field in the direction you want to go, or tap one of the four big arrow buttons under it.
- On a computer: press the arrow keys or the W, A, S and D keys.
If you press two turns quickly, both are remembered, and the dog makes them one after the other.
Walk onto a treat to pick it up. A new friend joins the end of the line, and a new treat appears somewhere else. The bar shows how many friends are in the line, along with your best for that level. If the line ever fills the whole field, you have completed the walk.
The levels
The level changes the size of the field, the speed, and what is in the way.
- Easy: a 12 by 12 field. It is slow and relaxed, and there is no fence: the edges wrap around, so you walk off one side and come back on the other.
- Medium: a 15 by 15 field with a fence around it, at a normal pace.
- Hard: a 17 by 17 field, faster, with 8 bushes in the way.
- Expert: a 17 by 17 field, fast, with 14 bushes. Treats also hop to a new place if you wait too long, and the last few steps before a hop are marked so it does not catch you by surprise.
Today's game
There is one Medium walk each day, where the treats appear in the same order for everyone. If you leave in the middle, your walk is saved on this device.
Tips
- Leave yourself room to turn. Long, slow loops are safer than tight squeezes against your own line.
- Think about where your tail will be when you get there. The end of the line moves away as you walk, so you can follow it closely, unless you have just picked up a treat.
- Do not chase every treat in a straight line. If a treat is close to a wall or a bush, plan how you will get out again before you go in.
- On Easy, use the wrap-around. You can cross the field the short way by going off the edge.
- Keep to a pattern when the line is long. Walking back and forth in rows, like mowing a lawn, leaves no gaps that can trap you.
- On Hard and Expert, look at the bushes before you commit. They stay in the same place for the whole walk, so you can plan around them.
- On Expert, when a treat is flashing, decide if you can reach it in time. If you cannot, forget it and wait for the next one.
Questions
Why does nothing happen at the start? The game waits until you press your first arrow or swipe.
Can the dog turn straight back? Once it has friends behind it, a sudden U-turn is ignored, because it would run into the line.
Do bushes move? No. They stay where they are for the whole walk.
What does the fence do? It ends the walk if you touch it. On Easy there is no fence, as the edges wrap around.