Online Digger Game

Run status

{{ started ? (paused ? 'Paused' : 'Live') : (gameOver ? 'Run complete' : 'Ready') }}

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Score {{ formatNumber(score) }} Emeralds {{ collectedEmeralds }}/{{ totalEmeralds }} Threat {{ threatStatus }}

Digger

Carve tunnels through the earth, collect emeralds, and use gold bags or a recharging shot to stop the patrols.

Mode:

Choose the pacing and scoring focus for the next tunnel run.

Dig under a bag, then move away. A falling bag crushes anything below and breaks into bonus gold after a longer drop.

Controls

←↑↓→

dig and move

WASD

move alternate

Space

fire drill shot

PRF

pause, restart, fullscreen

Paused

Press P or tap Resume to keep digging.

Final Score {{ endScoreValue }}

{{ row.label }}{{ row.value }}

Grid Guide Sound

{{ header.label }}	Copy
{{ row[header.key] }}

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Tunnel-chase games turn every move into a small map decision. Digging through dirt opens a route to treasure, but it also changes how quickly a patrol can reach the same cell. The player is not only collecting items. Each new passage reshapes the mine, creates possible escapes, and sometimes removes the wall that was keeping danger away.

Digger-style play sits between an action maze and a timing puzzle. The classic 1983 instructions framed the goal around emeralds, gold, pursuing enemies, falling bags, and a recharging defensive shot. Modern browser versions often simplify names, scoring, and level flow, but the main tension remains the same: treasure is valuable only if the route back out is still alive.

Four ideas explain most runs before the first move:

Treasure route: Emerald clusters reward direct movement, but a direct tunnel can become the easiest path for a patrol.
Bag column: A gold bag needs an open shaft below it before it can fall, so the escape path has to exist before the drop starts.
Patrol access: Enemies become dangerous when an open tunnel connects them to the player with only a few cells between.
Shot timing: A straight defensive shot can stop a patrol, but the recharge delay means it cannot replace route planning.

Tunnel grid with emeralds, gold bags, patrols, a shot path, and a planned escape turn

The most common mistake is treating cleared dirt as harmless empty space. In a tunnel chase, empty space has direction. A horizontal passage can help gather a row of emeralds, but it can also let a patrol cross the mine without needing to dig. A vertical shaft below a bag can create a strong trap, but it becomes dangerous if the player waits below the bag or forgets where the landing cell is.

Score alone rarely tells the whole story. A run with fewer points can be cleaner if it clears all emeralds with fewer steps, fewer lives lost, and fewer emergency shots. A bigger score may simply mean more gold pickups or more patrol stops. Good comparison keeps the setup fixed and reads the score beside completion, route pace, and the kind of danger that ended the run.

How to Use This Tool:

Set up one run, play until it ends, then use the finished-run tables to compare route quality and scoring choices.

Choose Easy, Normal, or Hard. Pick Normal for a repeatable baseline, Easy for learning bag timing, or Hard when faster patrols and a longer shot recharge are wanted.
Select Classic, Rush, or Practice from Mode. Classic keeps base scoring, Rush raises both score value and enemy pressure, and Practice lowers both.
Use Grid when you want exact bag columns, keep Guide on for shot lanes and nearby patrol paths, and turn Sound off if the run needs to stay quiet.
Press Start Digging. The status bar should show Score, Best, Lives, Level, Threat, Shot, Time, and emerald progress.
Move with arrow keys, WASD, or the touch direction pad. Use Space or Fire for the drill shot, P to pause, R to restart, and F for fullscreen.
If Shot shows seconds instead of Ready, do not rely on it for the next patrol. Turn away, use a bag column, or keep enough tunnel distance until the cooldown ends.
After the run ends, start with Run Metrics, then check Score Ledger and Event Log to see which emeralds, gold pickups, shots, bag drops, and life losses shaped the attempt.

Interpreting Results:

Final score is useful only beside Difficulty and Mode. A Rush score is inflated by the mode multiplier and earned under higher pressure, while a Practice score is discounted and should be used for route study rather than personal-best comparison.

Emeralds shows how close the run came to clearing the mine. Emerald pace explains whether that progress took a direct route or too many extra steps. Gold collected, Enemies stopped, Shot accuracy, and Bag drops explain the scoring style, but they should not hide a run that ended early.

Mine clear means all 16 emeralds were collected.
Caught usually points to tunnel shape, patrol spacing, or a missed turn.
Crushed points to bag timing or a missing escape cell.
No shots in Shot accuracy means no shot was fired, not that every shot missed.

A high Setup best does not prove a cleaner route. Verify it against Lives lost, Route work, and the Score Ledger. If the score came mostly from patrol stops while emerald progress stayed low, the run was probably risk-heavy rather than efficient.

Technical Details:

The mine is a 15-column by 11-row grid. Movement, tunnel creation, emerald collection, bag falling, patrol pursuit, and shot travel resolve on grid cells, so a one-cell turn can change both safety and score. The run starts with 16 emeralds, 4 gold bags, and a patrol count determined by difficulty and mode.

Patrols move through open tunnel cells. When a connected route to the player exists, they follow the shortest available path. If no connected path exists, they move among available open neighboring cells, so sealed-off sections can still become dangerous later when new tunnels connect them.

Formula Core

Score events use a base point value and the selected mode multiplier. Shot accuracy is a percentage only after at least one shot has been fired.

\begin{array}{lcl} P_{event} & = & round (B \times M) \\ A_{shot} & = & \frac{H_{shots}}{F_{shots}} \times 100 % \end{array}

Digger score variables and event values
Symbol or event	Meaning	Value
`B`	Base points before mode scaling.	250 for an emerald or shot stop, 500 for gold or a bag crush.
`M`	Mode multiplier.	0.85 for Practice, 1.00 for Classic, 1.25 for Rush.
`H`	Shots that hit a patrol.	Shown in `Shot accuracy`.
`F`	Shots fired.	If this is zero, `Shot accuracy` reads `No shots`.

Rule Core

Digger run mechanics and practical effects
Mechanic	Rule	Practical effect
Emerald target	16 emeralds	Collecting all 16 ends the run as `Mine clear`.
Gold bag release	Open tunnel below a bag, then wait roughly 0.36 seconds.	The bag starts falling if the cell below remains open and unblocked.
Bag break	Fall distance must be greater than 1 row.	The bag becomes collectible gold after landing; shorter drops can still crush but do not create gold.
Drill shot	Travels straight in the facing direction through open tunnel cells.	Stops at dirt, a bag, the board edge, a patrol hit, or the short travel timer.
Threat label	`Safe`, `Near`, `Close`, `Bag!`, or `Hidden`.	Uses falling-bag status and nearest connected patrol path to warn about immediate danger.
Life loss	Patrol contact or falling-bag contact.	The player returns to the start when lives remain; the run ends when lives reach zero.

Setup Effects

Digger difficulty and mode effects
Choice	Run effect	Comparison note
Easy	5 lives, 3 base patrols, slower movement pressure, 2.1-second shot cooldown.	Best for learning bag drops and escape turns.
Normal	3 lives, 4 base patrols, medium movement pressure, 2.8-second shot cooldown.	Best baseline for repeat runs.
Hard	3 lives, 5 base patrols, faster movement pressure, 3.4-second shot cooldown.	Higher danger without changing base points by itself.
Classic	1.00x score value and 1.00x enemy pressure.	Use this when comparing basic route improvement.
Rush	1.25x score value and 1.15x enemy pressure.	Higher scores should be read beside the higher danger.
Practice	0.85x score value and 0.78x enemy pressure.	Good for route study, not score comparison with Classic.

A fair comparison keeps difficulty and mode unchanged. The formulas make the score auditable, but the route metrics explain why the score happened: steps taken, fresh tunnels, shots fired, hits, bag drops, bag breaks, and life losses all describe the risk profile behind the number.

Advanced Tips:

Use Normal and Classic as the baseline when practicing route changes. That keeps lives, patrol count, score value, enemy pressure, and shot cooldown predictable.
Turn Grid on before testing bag traps. Exact columns matter because a bag can crush or break only after the shaft below it is open.
Read Threat beside the map, not as a full safety guarantee. Hidden means no connected patrol path exists yet, but a new tunnel can connect danger quickly.
Use Score Ledger to separate route quality from score style. Emerald points, broken-bag gold, shot stops, and bag crushes can produce the same total through very different play.
Check Event Log after a Caught or Crushed ending. The final life-loss row usually points to the missed turn, cooldown wait, or bag column that needs a different setup.
Copy or download the finished run before switching devices or clearing browser storage. Setup best and All-mode best stay with the current browser profile.

Worked Examples:

Normal Classic Clear

A Normal Classic run with Result as Mine clear, Emeralds at 16/16, Gold collected at 1, and Shot accuracy at 2/3 has a clean completion signal. If those are the only scoring events, the Score Ledger adds 4,000 points from emeralds, 500 from broken-bag gold, and 500 from shot stops for a Final score of 5,000.

Rush Points With Extra Pressure

In Rush mode, each emerald is round(250 x 1.25), or 313 points, and each bag crush is round(500 x 1.25), or 625 points. A run with 10 emeralds, 1 gold pickup, 1 shot stop, and 2 bag crushes can reach 5,318 points before any other events, but Lives lost and Threat history still decide whether the route was controlled or merely lucky.

Bag Trap Gone Wrong

A run ending with Result as Crushed, Gold collected at 0, and several Bag drops usually means the shaft was opened before the escape turn was ready. On the next attempt, use Grid to line up the column, move out of the landing cell, and wait until the bag breaks before crossing back for gold.

FAQ:

Is this exactly the original Digger scoring?

No. The play style is Digger-inspired, but this version uses its own board size, difficulty choices, modes, point values, and finished-run metrics.

Why did the shot not fire?

The run must be active, not paused, and the shot must be ready. If the Shot chip shows seconds, wait for the cooldown or use a tunnel turn or bag trap instead.

Why did a bag fall without leaving gold?

A bag has to fall more than one row before it breaks into collectible gold. A shorter fall can still crush the player or a patrol, but it may land as a bag instead of a gold pickup.

Are best scores shared between devices?

No. Setup best and All-mode best are kept in the current browser profile, so another device, profile, or cleared browser storage can show different records.

Does exporting a run upload my score?

No leaderboard upload is part of the game. CSV and JSON files are generated from the finished run, and DOCX export may load a document exporter before saving the file.

Do the scores have cash value?

No. Scores, bests, copied rows, downloads, and exported summaries are entertainment and practice records only.

Glossary:

Emerald: The required treasure. Collecting all 16 emeralds clears the mine.
Gold bag: A falling object that can become a hazard, a patrol weapon, or a gold pickup after a long enough drop.
Patrol: The enemy moving through open tunnels toward the player when a connected route exists.
Shot: The recharging straight-line defense fired in the player's facing direction.
Threat: The live danger label based on falling bags and the nearest connected patrol path.
Setup best: The saved personal best for the current difficulty and mode.
Emerald pace: The finished-run ratio of steps taken per collected emerald.

References:

Original Digger Instructions, Windmill Software Inc., 1983.
Digger - Back and Digitally Remastered, Digger.org.
Frequently Asked Questions, Digger.org.