Why ducklings?

Road-crossing games give you one small hero and one job: get to the other side. We wanted something extra to look after. Newly hatched ducklings follow the first moving thing they see, usually their mother, and they learn it within a few hours of hatching. That is why they walk in a neat line behind her.

So in Duckling Crossing you play Mama Duck. Each duckling you reach falls in one hop behind you and copies your path exactly. That changes how you cross. A gap in the traffic that is big enough for you may be too small for a line of five. You have to think about the tail as well as the head.

A bit of real road-crossing history

The road-crossing game began in the arcade. Konami made Frogger, and it came out in Japan in August 1981. Sega built the machines, and Sega/Gremlin sold it in North America from that September. You guided a frog across a road busy with race cars, trucks and bulldozers, rested on a median strip, then hopped over a river on floating logs and turtles. Some turtles dived, and a frog standing on one went under with it. Five little homes waited at the top.

It became one of the top-earning arcade games in North America that year. By 2005 the home versions had sold about 20 million copies.

In November 2014 an Australian studio called Hipster Whale released Crossy Road for phones. It turned the idea into an endless game where the road never runs out.

Ducklings have their own crossing story. In Robert McCloskey’s picture book Make Way for Ducklings, published in 1941, Mrs. Mallard leads her eight ducklings across busy Boston streets while a policeman named Michael holds up the traffic. The book won the Caldecott Medal in 1942. A bronze statue of the family by Nancy Schön has stood in the Boston Public Garden since 1987.

The three neighborhoods

• Village lane (levels 1 to 10): slow bikes and carts, then a gentle stream with long logs.
• Market street (levels 11 to 20): more lanes, buses and quick three-wheeled carts, shorter logs and drifting lily pads.
• Riverside (levels 21 to 30): a wide river with short logs and turtles that dip, and up to five ducklings to bring home.

How to play

• Hop with the arrow keys or WASD, swipe, tap near Mama Duck, or use the arrow buttons under the game.
• Ducklings wait on the grass. Hop onto one and it joins your line, one hop behind you.
• Every duck in the line has to stay clear of the traffic, not only Mama Duck.
• Cross the river on logs, lily pads and turtles. A turtle that turns pale is about to dip under.
• If anyone gets bumped or lands in the water, the family gets a fright and runs back to the start. You lose one of your 3 hearts, but you keep every duckling you found.
• Bring every duckling to the pond at the top to finish the level.
• Stars: one for getting home, one for no frights, and one for beating the par time.
• Sound is on to start. Tap 🔊 to mute, or 🎵 for music.
• Earn 3 stickers in this game for your QuickBOP sticker book.

Tips

Step sideways to tidy the line. Ducklings only move when you hop. If you stop on the grass with the line still in the road, hop left or right along the grass. Each hop pulls the line one tile closer, out of the traffic.

Wait for a long gap when the line is long. With one duckling you need room for two ducks. With five you need room for six, or a quick run of hops one after another.

A fright never costs a duckling. Once one joins, it stays in your line for the rest of the level, even after everyone runs back to the start.

Watch the edges on the river. Logs and turtles carry the whole line sideways. Keep moving so nobody drifts off the side.

Your turn

Mama Duck is waiting on her nest at the top of this page. Start on Village lane and see if you can bring five ducklings home along the Riverside.