How to play
- Goal
- Bat the rune orb past your rival's ward seven times before they get it past yours.
- How it ends
- The first to seven points wins the duel; there is no draw.
- Record
- For each rival, the fastest win and the fewest points given away in a win; the site replays every duel before it keeps a place.
- You are the mage on the left (at the bottom when the court stands upright); your rival is across the court. Bat the rune orb past their ward seven times before they get it past yours.
- Move your ward with ↑ ↓ (or W S), or hold a finger or the mouse on the court and your ward slides to it. Where the orb strikes your ward sets its return: the middle sends it straight across, the ends send it off at a steep angle. The orb bounces off the side walls and gets faster with every return.
- Each return lights a rune, up to three. Cast (Space, or the Cast button in your end of the court) spends them all: one rune is Curve, your next return bends away from your rival; two are Haste, your next return flies half again as fast; three are Bulwark, your ward stands twice as tall for three seconds.
- Restart starts a ladder duel over as the same duel. Pause during a rally waits for the point to end; press it twice to pause at once, which makes the duel practice. Two players: the left mage plays W S and D to cast, the right mage ↑ ↓ and ← to cast.
Controls
| ↑ ↓ · W S | Move your ward (← → too when the court stands upright) |
|---|---|
| Hold on the court | Your ward slides to your finger or the mouse |
| Space · Enter · X | Cast the spell your runes make |
| Two players | Left: W S, cast D · Right: ↑ ↓, cast ← |
| P · Escape | Pause |
| Shift+R | Restart |
The rivals' portraits and halls are paintings from the Morass warehouse; the court floor was drawn for this game and placed in the warehouse; the sounds are warehouse recordings. A duel is sent as your moves alone, and the records worker plays the whole duel again, the rival's play included, before it ranks it. Your progress stays in this browser under morass.rune-volley.v1. No ads or analytics run inside the game.
About Rune Volley
The paddle duel of Pong, played in the volley yards of the Westmark Academy. Two mages face each other across a slate court inlaid with rune-light, each holding a ward of light, and bat a glowing rune orb between them. Where the orb strikes your ward sets the return, from straight across to a steep angle off the walls, and every return is a little faster than the last.
Every return also lights a rune, up to three, and one key spends them all on the spell their number makes: one rune bends your next return away from your rival, two send it half again as fast, three make your ward twice as tall for three seconds. Cast early for a little, or hold on for more.
Eight rivals wait on the ladder, from Wren Ashbroom, a first-year who sweeps the yard, to Aurel of the Bench. They see only what you see, look at the orb a few times a second, misjudge it as people do (more when it is fast or bent) and cast the same spells, each with a habit of their own. Their strength is measured against human-paced players, so every rung is harder than the last and every rival can be beaten. Two players can share one keyboard or one screen. Each rival keeps a Top 10 for the fastest win and one for the fewest points given away, and the site replays the whole duel, the rival's play included, before it keeps a place.
