The bet

You are three balls from a full tail and the bank is a long way down. There is a gold one, off to the left, worth more than the rest put together. It is also the one that rots first, and there is a jet between you and it. You know what you are going to do. THE TRADE Every ball on your tail makes you heavier. A short tail turns on a coin. A full one swings wide and takes the corner you meant to cut. The haul that pays for the level is the haul you can barely drive. So every trip is the same argument with yourself. Go home now with enough. Or go up one more time and come back rich, if you come back. WHAT IT COSTS WHEN YOU GET IT WRONG Clip a jet with your tail and it snaps. Everything past the cut scatters across the field behind you, still yours to pick up, if you dare turn round with a jet on you. Take one nose first and it is worse. That is a life, and the entire haul, and the walk back down with nothing. Three of those and the run is over. Every coin upgrade you bought goes with it. WHAT YOU KEEP Cores. You earn them for how deep you got, they survive the run that killed you, and the track you spend them on has no end. Come back stronger, meet a level that does not care, and go again. THE FIELD FIGHTS TOO Loot rots in your hands. Stand still and a plague eats the top of the screen, taking the loot with it. Every level past the second rolls a twist: more jets, faster jets, fog, a rush, a lull. One thumb, portrait, no tutorial. Small download, runs on old phones. Go up. Come back heavy.