About Web Crawler
Web Crawler is a free endless runner set on the one website we know best: this one. A little pixel spider crawls down an endless, procedurally generated page of NoInternet Arcade, past header bars, hero blocks, game cards with real game art, paragraphs of text, leaderboard tables, blog posts, buttons, daily quests and footers. Everything its feet touch lights up in neon, because the spider is a crawler and it is indexing the page as it goes.
The catch: something is eating the internet. THE 404, a void of missing page, devours the page from the top and keeps speeding up. The deeper you crawl, the faster it comes, the wider the gaps between elements grow, and the more the page fights back. You have one life, so a run lasts as long as you stay ahead.
How to play
- Crawl over page elements. The spider's eight jointed legs grip only real elements: text lines, buttons, cards, table rows. The dark page between them is empty, and you cannot walk there.
- Shoot a web line to cross a gap. With no direction it aims straight down the page; steer to aim it anywhere else. A reticle marks the spot it will hit, and the spider zips across on the silk. The line needs an element in reach: fire at empty page and it misses and you stumble.
- Mind your silk. Every web line costs silk (the bar at the top left, longer lines cost more). You spin it back while your feet are on the page and from every bug and pickup. Zips in a row without crawling cool down longer each time, and lines get shorter as the speed rises, so crawl where you can and web where you must.
- Keep moving down. THE 404 follows from the top, and it hurries after a spider that only zips. If it catches you, or you fall too far into the empty page, the run is over.
- Light up everything you touch and eat the glitch bugs for points, and build chains for a multiplier of up to x8.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Phone / tablet | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crawl | ← → ↑ ↓ or W A S D | Analog stick on the left (further = faster) | Left stick or D-pad |
| Web line (aims where you steer, else straight down) | Space, Enter, J, K or X | WEB button, or tap the page where you want to go | A, X, RB or RT |
| Pause | P / Esc | Pause button | Start |
| Mute | M | Sound button | – |
In the menus a phone shows the usual round D-pad with OK; the stick and the WEB button appear when the run starts. Left-handed players can swap the sides in Options.
Scoring
| What | Points |
|---|---|
| Depth | 1 point per 2 pixels crawled down the page (half that when zipping or falling) |
| Element lit up | 4 × multiplier |
| Glitch bug | 50 × multiplier (golden bug 300 ×) |
| Near miss (a cursor click or scan beam that just misses) | 75 × multiplier |
| Webbed cursor | 150 × multiplier |
| Portal pickup | 150 × multiplier (Maze Muncher dots less) |
| CAPTCHA solved | 200 |
| Cookie banner rejected | 150 × multiplier |
| Back from a portal | +500 |
Bugs, near misses, webbed cursors, pickups and every few elements lit while crawling build a CHAIN. It lasts 4.5 seconds after the last link, and every 3 links raise the multiplier: x2, x3 and on up to x8. Getting stunned breaks the chain. The results card shows your score and best, pages crawled, bugs eaten, best chain, elements indexed, portals visited and the time, and signed-in players' scores go on the Endless and Endless Hardcore leaderboards.
Hazards
The page does not like being crawled. Every hazard below stuns you for about a second and breaks your chain; only THE 404 or a fall ends the run.
- The cursor hunts you around the page. A red ring closes around it before it clicks, so move before the ring does. Hit it with a web line to tie it up for 2–3 seconds and collect bonus points.
- Pop-up windows announce themselves with a blinking red dashed outline, then slam open. Once one is open you can walk on it until it closes.
- The AV SCAN beam of the antivirus sweeps across text blocks. Time your crossing between passes.
- CAPTCHA walls ("I'M NOT A ROBOT") block the page until you web the checkbox or touch it with a leg.
- Glitch bugs sit on elements and corrupt them. They do not hurt you: eat them for points (and silk) and the element is clean again.
Further down the page new obstacles join in one by one, each announced the first time you meet it:
- Broken links are red with a dashed underline. You can walk on them, but a web line stuck to one snaps after a moment and drops you.
- Lazy-loading blocks are grey skeletons. They are not solid until they load in view, so wait a beat or go around.
- Spam mail flies along a row of text after a "!" warning. Step out of its row.
- Infinite scroll feeds start crumbling row by row from the top the moment you touch them. Keep crawling down.
- The cookie banner slides up from the bottom of the screen and walls off the page until you web its REJECT ALL box.
Difficulty ramps up the whole run: THE 404 gets faster, the gaps get bigger, text lines and table rows break into islands, and the hazards come more often and move faster.
Portal worlds
Every 15 to 25 seconds or so a game card glows (sometimes two, so you can pick). Crawl into its picture to warp into a short bonus world drawn in that game's look, each with its own hazard and its own collectible, then take the "BACK TO NOINTERNET.SPACE" bar home for +500:
- Pixel Snake: steal apples while snakes roam the LCD screens.
- Pixel Raptor: grab hearts on the sand ledges, dodging cacti and the charging dino.
- Brick Tanks: collect stars on brick walls while the tanks' shells smash the bricks.
- Nib's Flight: crystals on the pillar tops while the bat swoops across.
- Jump Up: bolts on moving and crumbling platforms.
- Sky Stack: coins on the floors while the crane swings a floor block.
- Pixel Racer: nitro cans on the road while cars race up toward you.
- Maze Muncher: eat the dots and the energizer while spooks patrol the corridors; after the energizer they turn edible.
- Invoker Trainer: Quas, Wex and Exort orbs, with an INVOKE bonus for all three in a row, while creep waves march across.
- Pixel Summer Games: gold medals on the track lanes, between hurdles and flying javelins.
- Pixel Winter Games: biathlon targets on the snow while skiers zoom by.
- Pixel Pitch: footballs to collect while defenders slide across.
Tips and tricks
Web early, not late
The web line is your way across every gap, and it is also your escape. Do not wait at the very edge of an element with THE 404 behind you: aim at the next solid element as soon as you see it, and keep the reticle on something your legs can grip.
Crawl to refill
Spamming the web button is the fastest way to run dry. A grey reticle means not enough silk or the line is still cooling down; walk along the elements for a moment (eating a bug on the way) and the bar fills up again. Crawled depth also scores twice as much.
Mind what is under your feet
Text lines and table rows break into islands as the page gets harder, and pop-ups close. When the surface under you can vanish, have the next element picked out before it does.
Use near misses
A cursor click or a scan beam that just misses you is worth 75 × multiplier and keeps the chain alive. Letting a hazard come close on purpose pays well, but a stun breaks the chain and costs you a second you might not have.
Take the portals
The +500 for coming back and the pickups inside make portals one of the best sources of points in a run, and the pickups feed your chain.
Read the full Web Crawler guide for more. Want another endless run? Try Pixel Raptor, climb in Jump Up, or dodge the spooks in Maze Muncher.
Web Crawler FAQ
Is Web Crawler free?
Yes. Every run is free in your browser, with no download and no account. Signing in is optional and only used for the online leaderboards, daily quests and cosmetic spider skins.
Can I play it offline?
Yes. Open the page once while you are online and your browser keeps the game. After that the spider crawls with no internet at all, which suits a game about a page the internet is eating.
What ends a run?
Only two things: THE 404 catching you, or a long fall into the empty page. You have one life. A short drop is fine and a longer one knocks you out for a moment, and you can always web a surface to catch yourself. The cursor, pop-ups, antivirus beams, spam mail and the rest only stun you for about a second and break your chain, but a stun next to THE 404 can be just as deadly.
How do I play on a phone or tablet?
In the menus you get the same round D-pad with an OK button as in every other NoInternet game. When the run starts it turns into an analog stick on the left, so you can crawl in any direction (push further to crawl faster), and a round WEB button on the right. You can also tap the page to shoot a web line at that exact spot. Left-handed players can swap the sides in Options.
How does the chain multiplier work?
Eating bugs, near misses, tying up the cursor and grabbing portal pickups in quick succession builds a CHAIN. It lasts 4.5 seconds after the last link, and every 3 links raise the multiplier: x2, x3 and so on up to x8. Getting stunned breaks the chain and the multiplier drops back.
What are the portals?
Every 15 to 25 seconds or so one of the game cards on the page starts to glow, and sometimes two glow side by side so you can pick. Crawl into its picture and you warp into a short bonus world drawn in the look of that game, with its own hazard and its own collectible. A "BACK TO NOINTERNET.SPACE" bar brings you back to the page for 500 bonus points. There are twelve portal worlds, one for each of the twelve games that came before it, and you see all twelve before any comes round again.
What changes on Hardcore?
Switch Difficulty to Hardcore in Options. THE 404 starts faster and the difficulty ramps up quicker, and stuns last longer. Hardcore runs have their own Web Crawler leaderboard, separate from the Endless board.
Can I change how my spider looks?
Yes. Signed-in players can spend the stars from daily quests and the login streak on six cosmetic spider skins in Rewards: White & Red, Neon Crawler, Ghost, Toxic, Glitch and Gold Spider. Skins never change how the game plays.
Related guides
- Web Crawler Guide: Web Lines, Chains, Hazards and PortalsHow to crawl, web and score in Web Crawler: controls, chains and the x8 multiplier, every hazard, how to outrun THE 404 and all twelve portal worlds.
- Endless Runner Games You Can Play in Your BrowserWhat makes an endless runner tick, four kinds you can play free in a browser (side, flying, climbing and falling), and tips that raise your score in all of them.
- Chrome Dino Game Alternatives You Can Play AnywhereLove the Chrome dinosaur game? Here is how to open it on purpose, what to look for in a dino runner alternative, and free runners that work offline in any browser.
- Games to Play When the Internet Is Down (No Wi-Fi Needed)What you can actually play when the Wi-Fi drops: games built into your browser, offline-ready web games, and how to prepare so the next outage isn't boring.
Last updated: · NoInternet Arcade
