A neon light-cycles game against the computer

Light Trails in Games by Zaweba is neon light-cycles in a dark arena, played against the computer. Your rider never stops and leaves a solid wall of light behind it, and you win by boxing the computer riders in so they crash first. It's free, original and offline, drawn in the style of an early-90s EGA or VGA PC.

Matches are short and tense. The first to three rounds wins.

How a round works

Your rider moves on its own, all the time. All you control is when to turn. Use the arrow keys or WASD to turn, or Z and X to turn left and right. Turns are always at right angles.

Behind you, your rider leaves a solid wall of light. The computer riders do the same. Touch any wall, including your own, and you crash. The last rider running wins the round.

Boxing the computer in

The way to win is not just to survive, but to trap the computer. Cut across in front of a computer rider and your wall blocks its path. If it has nowhere to turn, it crashes. The best moves leave the computer with a small space to play in while you keep a big space for yourself.

Be careful when you cut in, though. Turning sharply across a rider's path puts you close to it, and if it turns at the same moment, you could crash first.

Staying alive

Space is your life. As the arena fills with walls, the open areas shrink. Try to stay in the biggest open area, and don't wander into narrow corridors between walls, where one wrong turn ends the round.

Keep away from your own trail. It's easy to box yourself in by turning back on yourself. Long, sweeping lines that use the space well are safer than tight zigzags.

Rounds and matches

The last rider running wins the round, and the first to three rounds wins the match. Your plays, wins and best are kept on the game's tile in Games by Zaweba, in a scores file on your PC.

The computer riders are quick to react, so a cautious game tends to end in a long, slow squeeze where the arena slowly fills. That can work, but you will often do better by taking the initiative early, while the floor is still open. Cut across the front of a rider when you have plenty of room behind you, and you'll often force a crash before the arena gets crowded.

Rounds are short, so a mistake costs one round, not the match, and you can try a bolder plan in the next.

Entering the arena

Light Trails is on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba. Press Ctrl+F and type trails to find it. The title card explains how to play, F1 explains it again, Esc pauses and F11 fills the screen with the arena. The game pauses itself if you switch windows.

The neon look suits the early-90s PC style perfectly, with bright trails against a dark floor. There are no adverts and no accounts, and every glow and hum is made in code. If you enjoy steering something that never stops, Slither on the same shelf is the classic growing snake, with apples instead of opponents.