Is Skyline Stack free to play?

Yes. Skyline Stack is completely free and runs in your browser with no download, no account and no purchases.

Does it work on my phone?

Yes. It is designed for portrait play on phones and tablets, and the whole game works with a single tap. It also plays on desktop with the mouse, Space or Enter.

Does the game save my progress?

Yes. Your best scores, tenants, unlocked styles, upgrades, missions, badges and your city are saved automatically in your browser on the device you play on.

What counts as a perfect drop?

A floor that overlaps the one below it by 94 percent or more. It snaps into place, lights its windows, widens a little and adds to your combo. The Precision daily modifier raises the bar to 97 percent.

What are the different game modes?

Endless is the classic three-lives run with a leaderboard. Rush is sixty seconds with no lives. Zen has no lives and no wind. The Daily Challenge is one seeded run per day with modifiers and three counted attempts, the Weekly Challenge runs for a whole week, and friend challenges replay the exact seed of someone else's run.

How do I unlock new buildings and cranes?

Every floor you place houses tenants, and completed missions pay extra. Spend tenants in the shop on building styles, crane skins and permanent crane upgrades. Building styles also level up as you use them, unlocking extra colour palettes and a new roof.

Why did my tower fall over?

Every off-centre landing adds sway, and taller towers wobble more. Once the sway passes the limit, or a floor becomes too thin to support the next one, the tower topples. Perfect drops calm the sway down.

Skyline Stack

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About the Game

Skyline Stack is a free crane tower-stacking arcade game you play in your browser. A crane swings a new floor back and forth above your building; tap or press Space at the right moment to drop it onto the floor below. Land it dead centre for a perfect drop that snaps into place, lights up the windows and builds a combo worth up to ten times the points. Land it off-centre and the overhang is sliced off and tumbles away, the floor you are left with is narrower, and the whole tower starts to sway. Miss by too much and you lose the floor and one of your three lives. Climb past the city skyline, through a band of clouds and on to the edge of space, with wind gusts, power-up floors and a tower that physically topples when it leans too far. There is a mode for every kind of session. Endless is the classic high-score run with a rival ghost that marks where your best run was at the same moment. Rush gives you sixty seconds and no lives. Zen removes lives and wind so you can simply build. The Daily Challenge gives everyone the same seed and one or two modifiers each day, with three counted attempts and a daily leaderboard, and the Weekly Challenge runs the same idea over a whole week. You can also send a friend a challenge code so they play the exact same crane and wind that you did. Every floor you place houses tenants, and tenants are the currency for the shop: five building styles from concrete and brick to glass, neon and a tiered pagoda, four crane skins, and permanent crane upgrades. Styles level up the more you build with them, unlocking new palettes and roof props. Three missions rotate every day, fifteen badges track your milestones, a login calendar rewards you for coming back, and every finished run adds a building to your own growing city map. Skyline Stack is pixel art drawn in code, with procedural sound, and runs on desktop and mobile with no download, no account and no purchases.

How to Play Skyline Stack

The crane swings a floor left and right above your tower. Tap, click or press Space to release it, and it falls onto the floor below.
Line it up with the floor underneath. A near-perfect overlap snaps the floor into place, widens it slightly, lights the windows and starts a combo that multiplies your score up to ten times.
If the floor lands off-centre, the overhanging part is cut off and falls away. The floor you keep is only as wide as the overlap, so the tower gets narrower with every sloppy drop.
Every off-centre landing pushes the tower sideways and makes it sway. If it sways too far, or a floor gets too thin to stand on, the whole tower topples and the run is over.
Land less than a third of the floor on the tower and you lose that floor and one of your three lives. From floor twelve the wind blows in gusts and pushes falling floors, so watch the arrow in the display.
Some floors carry a power-up: the magnet snaps a loose drop into place, the wide load restores a narrow floor, slow-mo halves the crane speed for a few drops and the shield absorbs one miss.
Every ten floors is a bonus milestone. Floors 25, 50 and 100 are landmarks that change the sky. Tenants you house pay for new building styles, crane skins and upgrades in the shop.
Play the Daily or Weekly Challenge for a seeded run that is the same for everyone, or share a challenge code from an Endless run so a friend can play the exact same crane.

Controls

🕹️Tap, click, Space or Enter to drop a floor. Esc or P to pause. In the city view, drag or use the arrow keys to scroll.

Tips & Strategy

Drop a fraction before the floor is directly above the tower when the crane is moving fast. The floor keeps some of the crane's sideways momentum, so leading the swing lands it closer to centre.
Perfect drops widen your floor by a little each time. If the tower has become narrow, a run of perfects slowly repairs it, and a Wide Load power-up repairs it in one go.
Two off-centre landings on the same side add their sway together. If the tower is leaning, aim your next drop slightly toward the other side to cancel it out.
From combo five a single slip only halves your multiplier instead of ending it, so keep going after one bad drop rather than playing it safe.
Wind comes in gusts with calm spells between them. If the wind indicator is showing, wait a second or two for a calm spell before releasing a floor on a narrow tower.
Shield floors are worth saving. Drop them carefully, then you can take one risky drop later without losing a life.
Use the Daily Challenge's three attempts on the modifiers you find easiest, and practise the harder ones in unlimited practice runs afterwards.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Skyline Stack free to play?: Yes. Skyline Stack is completely free and runs in your browser with no download, no account and no purchases.
Does it work on my phone?: Yes. It is designed for portrait play on phones and tablets, and the whole game works with a single tap. It also plays on desktop with the mouse, Space or Enter.
Does the game save my progress?: Yes. Your best scores, tenants, unlocked styles, upgrades, missions, badges and your city are saved automatically in your browser on the device you play on.
What counts as a perfect drop?: A floor that overlaps the one below it by 94 percent or more. It snaps into place, lights its windows, widens a little and adds to your combo. The Precision daily modifier raises the bar to 97 percent.
What are the different game modes?: Endless is the classic three-lives run with a leaderboard. Rush is sixty seconds with no lives. Zen has no lives and no wind. The Daily Challenge is one seeded run per day with modifiers and three counted attempts, the Weekly Challenge runs for a whole week, and friend challenges replay the exact seed of someone else's run.
How do I unlock new buildings and cranes?: Every floor you place houses tenants, and completed missions pay extra. Spend tenants in the shop on building styles, crane skins and permanent crane upgrades. Building styles also level up as you use them, unlocking extra colour palettes and a new roof.
Why did my tower fall over?: Every off-centre landing adds sway, and taller towers wobble more. Once the sway passes the limit, or a floor becomes too thin to support the next one, the tower topples. Perfect drops calm the sway down.