How to play Clankpress

A visual guide · Make your first careful stamp

Your goal

Match the bars. Make your mark.

Keep the workshop rolling. Charge the press to match a plate's bars, then release as its center crosses the green stamping line. A successful stamp turns that plate into a cog.

These are simplified teaching diagrams with enlarged pieces, using the game's original pixel shapes. Your live field has its own spacing.

01Make your first stamp

Select Start. Starting rolls the belt; it does not charge the press. The first plate has one bar.
With the playfield focused, hold Space. You can also hold the playfield or Hold to press with the mouse or touch. Release that same key or pointer to stamp.
Begin holding before the plate reaches the line. Watch the rising pressure cursor enter I, then release as the plate's center reaches the green line. Aim near 350 milliseconds of charge for this first plate.
Use one hold at a time. An extra finger does not take over the charge. After a stamp the press recovers briefly before accepting a fresh hold.

Hold, line up, release

Example: a centered one-bar release at 350ms earns a first PERFECT worth 150 points. Matching the broader bands can earn GOOD instead.

02Read the next plate

One, two or three bars

Match I, II or III on the plate to the same pressure band. Dark gaps between bands do not match any plate. The charge stops rising at 1350ms; holding longer does not make it valid.

Cyan I is light, lilac II is medium, and rose III is thick. Bar counts and notch shapes also identify them, so you do not need to rely on color.
Thick plates need an earlier hold. NEXT shows the earliest unresolved plate you need to stamp, even while another plate follows behind it.
The first two batches use light and medium plates. Thick plates join in batch three. Pressure windows stay the same as batches change.

03Match two windows together

Pressure and alignment both count

A plate inside the green working band may score only with matching pressure. PERFECT needs a release close to the line and to the center of that plate's pressure band.

Release within 230ms before or after the plate center reaches the line, with pressure inside its inclusive band.
For PERFECT, release within 90ms of the line and within 80ms of the correct pressure midpoint. A release can match both broad bands and still earn GOOD.
Follow the plate and pressure cursor together. The stamp animation follows your release; it does not add another timing delay.

04Recover from a mistake

Three ways to use a mistake

Empty stamps, wrong pressure and missed plates each use a mistake. Wrong pressure resolves that plate once; an empty stamp leaves the upcoming plate to be handled.

You start with 3 mistakes. A fault breaks the success streak but keeps earned points. Losing the last mistake finishes the run.
A pressure gap or an overcharged release is wrong pressure. If there is no eligible plate at the line, the release is an empty stamp.
Select Pause or press P for a break. Escape pauses while the field is focused. Leaving the field or tab parks play safely. A canceled hold from pausing costs no mistake.
After an interruption, release any held input first. Select Resume when needed and begin a fresh hold; an old held key cannot make an accidental stamp.

05Keep rolling, or bank your shift

Streaks and endless batches

First three consecutive PERFECT stamps: 150, 160 and 170. A perfect first batch totals 2950. The next batch starts automatically, with no final batch.

GOOD earns 100; PERFECT adds 50. Each previous consecutive success adds 10, up to 100 extra points per plate. No stamp earns fewer points just because the batch changes.
Resolve all 12 plates while still in play to earn 200, plus 300 when that batch has no mistakes. A batch clear gives a short break, then starts the next automatically. Batches continue indefinitely and spacing settles from batch six.
Stop & Bank finishes whenever you want, keeping points already earned. It adds no unfinished-batch bonus. Losing all mistakes also keeps earned points. The result screen offers Play Again for a fresh shift or Menu to browse games.

Opening Visual Guide cancels a hold safely and freezes the field and active timers. Close with Escape or Back to Game. A running game waits for deliberate Resume afterward; a manually paused game stays paused, and a ready game still waits for Start.

Play Clankpress