Original, Space or Dinosaurs: What Changes Between Crossy Road's Three Worlds

The version of Crossy Road served on this site is Hipster Whale's own web build, and it does something the original phone game did not: it lets you switch between three complete worlds with the picture buttons on the right edge of the game. It also opens in Space rather than on the classic road, which confuses people who came here for the chicken and the trucks. The chicken is one click away.

Original

The classic layout. Grass rows with trees you have to walk around, two-to-four lane roads with cars and trucks at fixed speeds per lane, railway crossings with a red light and a bell, and rivers with logs and lily pads. The eagle takes you if you stand still. Starting cast: the Chicken, plus the Rusty Robot, Lucky Cat, Mallard and Swift Snail from the prize machine. This is the easiest world to score in because every hazard gives a visible warning — the light, the log direction, the car already on screen.

Space

The same rows re-skinned onto a grey moonscape, with real rule changes. Traffic lanes become asteroid fields: the rocks tumble as they cross, and their hit box is a little bigger than a car's, so leave an extra half-square. Rivers become gaps you cross on drifting platforms. The eagle is a UFO, and it feels quicker. Cast: Space Chicken, Astronaut, Astronomer, Rover and Space Dog. A good world to grind coins in, because the asteroid lanes are slightly more spaced than the road lanes.

Dinosaurs

Jungle rows and a red-dirt palette. Traffic is replaced by stampeding dinosaurs, which come in herds with longer gaps between them than cars have, but the herds are wide — if the first one is level with you, the last one is too. Logs become crocodiles: stand on the back and you are fine, stand on the head and it opens. The pterodactyl replaces the eagle and it is the fastest of the three, so the idle rule is stricter here. Cast: Dinosaur Chicken, Dilophosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Stegosaurus and T-Rex.

Switching, scores and coins

Switching worlds restarts the run but keeps your coins, and each world tracks its own top score. The prize machine pulls from the world you are standing in, so if you want the T-Rex, spend your coins in Dinosaurs, not on the road. On a Chromebook the switch takes a second or two the first time because the new world's models load then — the buttons dim while it happens — and it is instant after that.

Which world to play

Learn on Original: every hazard telegraphs. Move to Space when you can pass 100 on the road, because the tumbling asteroids teach you to leave margin. Dinosaurs is the score-attack world — the herd rhythm is the most forgiving once you can read it, and the pterodactyl makes sure you never learn to wait.