Guide
Paper Drift Beginner's Guide: How to Play
How to play Paper Drift: three control schemes, flat is fast and bank to brake, walls and beams, thermals, coins, figures, stamps, the four modes and energy.
To play Paper Drift, hold the left or right half of the screen to steer a folded paper plane down an endless shaft. Fly level to dive faster, bank to slow your fall, and keep clear of the beams: walls only scuff you, but a beam ends the run. You score a point for every beam you pass.
That is the whole game in three sentences. This guide covers everything else a new pilot needs: the controls, how the plane really flies, what to collect, the four modes, energy and what to do first.
How to play Paper Drift: your first run
Tap PLAY on the title screen and you start an Endless run. The first one is a short tutorial in the Classic paper factory, with three prompts: STEER, FLAT IS FAST and MIND THE BEAMS. You can skip it, and replay it later from Settings.
When you crash, the results card shows your score. Retry restarts the run in place, so you are falling again in a moment. Your first few runs also open with a short tip card.
Controls: three ways to steer
Paper Drift has three control schemes. Pick one in Settings → Controls:
| Scheme | How it works |
|---|---|
| Halves (default) | Hold either side of the screen to steer. |
| Steer Pad | Two arrow keys on the screen. You place and size them yourself, and the rest of the shaft stays clear. |
| Tilt | Tilt the phone left or right. Calibrate it holding the phone the way you play. |
Settings also has a left-handed layout, a switch for control hints and a Replay tutorial button. If your phone has no tilt sensor, Tilt falls back to the screen halves.
How the plane flies
Flat is fast, bank to brake
A level plane falls fastest. Banking slows your fall and buys time, at the cost of speed. Good runs come from mixing the two: flat through open air, banked before a tight gap.
Walls scuff, beams end the run
The shaft’s side walls are safe to touch. A scrape locks your steering for a moment and resets your clean streak, and hugging a wall even makes you dive faster. Bank away from a wall and you leave it without a scrape. The girders across the shaft are different: touch one and the run is over.
Breathers
Every few beams the shaft opens up into a quiet stretch, a breather. Use it to settle and set your line for what comes next.
Thermals
Fly through a thermal and you are invincible for 8 seconds, and every point counts double in the first second. A golden frame shows the shield is on.
Everything else in the shaft
- Gust vents push you sideways. Lean into the air to hold your line.
- Streamers are paper ribbons. They can’t hurt you.
- Chutes leave no room to bank: fall flat, then slow down for the exit.
- Pistons, shutters and blades move, but they never close the shaft. There is always a gap, and every stretch of the shaft needs steering.
The speed ramps up with your score and reaches its top around 70 points. If a run ends too soon, you can revive up to twice per run.
Worlds and the things that hunt you
Every 100 points the shaft changes its scenery, and every 400 points the run moves on to a new world. A new save has three: Classic, the Depot and the Aliens. The others unlock the first time a run flies into them, and from then on any run can start there.
Each world has obstacles of its own. The first time you meet them, a banner names them with a short hint, such as “CRANES! Time the swing of the crates” or “ICE FLOES! Follow the gap as it drifts”; after that, the shaft rumbles as they arrive. Six worlds also send something after you, from the Depot’s parcel drone to the Glacier’s ice wizard. Meet them in every boss in Paper Drift, and see every world on the worlds page.
What to collect
Paper coins
Coins hang in trails through the shaft in Endless and Daily Drift runs. Now and then a trail hides a big coin worth five. Coins are banked when the run ends: quit from the pause screen and you keep none. Spend them in the Hangar on new colours for your planes and trails.
Window figures
Figures appear in the windows of the shaft. Tap one to take it: you get 10 coins and the figure goes on its shelf in the Showcase. Tapping never steers the plane. There are 67, from common to ultra rare, and the rarer ones only turn up deeper into a run.
Stamps
A stamp flying through the shaft is worth 5 points, or 10 while a thermal’s double points are on. Each one is also a jigsaw piece: you drag the pieces into place on the Showcase’s STAMPS view. Complete all 13 stamps in the album to unlock the Philatelist plane.
Every plane and trail is cosmetic: all 18 planes fly exactly the same.
The four modes
PLAY on the title screen starts Endless; OTHER MODES opens the rest.
| Mode | What it is | Energy |
|---|---|---|
| Endless | The endless run through the worlds. One point per beam. | 3 |
| Time Attack | 8 hand-built courses with checkpoints, a ghost of your best run and 4 medals each. Medals open later courses and pay coins. | 1 |
| Daily Drift | One course a day, the same for everyone. One run, plus an extra run. | Free |
| Race | Two players face to face on one phone, split screen. You respawn instead of dying, and you pick the map. | Free |
Time Attack has no stamps or window figures: it is all about the clock. The first course, Fold Line, is girders only with wide gaps, a gentle place to earn your first bronze.
Energy
- The tank holds 30 and refills one point every four minutes. A brand-new save starts with a bonus tank of 50.
- Endless costs 3, Time Attack costs 1. Daily Drift and Race are always free.
- Once a day you can take +5 energy for free from the energy button.
- The shop sells a one-hour unlimited-energy pass, and some rewards, such as extra energy, wait in the Storage until you tap USE.
What to do first
- Finish the tutorial run in Classic.
- Try all three control schemes for a few runs each and keep the one that feels natural.
- Fly Endless until you reach a new world. Every world you reach can start later runs.
- Check your four daily quests before you play, so your runs count towards them.
- Fly today’s Daily Drift. It’s free.
- Earn a bronze medal on Fold Line in Time Attack.
- Tap every figure you see in a window. It’s 10 coins and a new piece for your Showcase.
- Turn on Slow Mode if the speed is too much. It still counts for your personal bests and unlocks, though not for the leaderboards.
Once the basics click, these Paper Drift tips and tricks will add points to every run. And if you want to know why a paper plane handles the way it does, see what makes a great paper plane game.
Questions
How do you steer in Paper Drift?
By default you hold the left or right half of the screen. In Settings you can switch to the Steer Pad, two on-screen arrow keys you place and size yourself, or to Tilt, which steers by tilting the phone. There is also a left-handed layout.
What ends a run in Paper Drift?
Hitting a beam. Walls only scuff you: a scrape locks your steering for a moment and resets your clean streak, but the run goes on.
Does Paper Drift need an internet connection?
No. Every mode plays offline. Only ads, the shop and the leaderboards need a connection.
How does energy work in Paper Drift?
The tank holds 30 and refills one point every four minutes. An Endless run costs 3 and a Time Attack attempt costs 1. Daily Drift and Race are always free.
