Updated 2026-09-01
Fakeout steers a ball with real momentum, not a fixed walking speed: you accelerate into a direction, coast when you let go, bounce off walls, and only stop on purpose with the handbrake.
It's momentum, not a fixed speed
Most top-down games move you at a flat speed the instant you press a direction. Fakeout doesn't — you have acceleration, drag, and a top speed, and the physics model was calibrated against real recorded matches rather than picked by feel. That means letting go of a direction doesn't stop you; you coast and slowly bleed speed to drag.
Diagonals are faster
Holding two directions at once accelerates you harder and raises your effective top speed compared to a straight line. It's the first habit worth building — a diagonal approach or a diagonal juke consistently outruns someone moving in a straight line.
You will bounce off walls
Hit a wall at speed and you rebound rather than stopping dead. Good players use this on purpose — banking a turn off a wall is often faster than steering around the corner cleanly, and it's a real way to redirect momentum mid-chase.
The handbrake is your only real stop
Hold Shift to bleed your velocity fast — the stop that plain drag never gives you on its own. Without it, turning around from full speed costs real distance and real time, because you're fighting your own momentum the whole way, not just re-aiming.
- Brake before a turn you actually need to make, not after you've overshot it.
- Braking on approach to the flag stand keeps you from sliding past it.
- Braking mid-chase can bait an overconfident attacker into overshooting you.
Boost timing
Space fires a single mini-boost in the direction you're already travelling, on a flat cooldown. Since it launches you along your current heading rather than a fixed direction, the read-before-press matters: line up the direction you want before you commit the charge, the same way you'd line up before a speed pad.
- Save it for a clean escape rather than burning it the moment it's ready.
- A boost through a turn you've already lined up with a diagonal hold covers more ground than one fired straight.
- A flag carrier can boost too — carrier bursts are core to how a run gets home, not an exploit.
Juke and stutter
J instantly reverses your velocity — same speed, opposite direction — which is a hard counter to someone who has already committed to chasing your line. F triggers a brief left-right wiggle that's harder to predict than a straight line, useful for closing the last stretch to a flag under pressure. Both run on their own cooldowns, so neither is spammable. [Full keymap →](/guides/controls)
FAQ
Why does my ball keep sliding in Fakeout?
Movement is momentum-based, not a fixed walking speed — letting go of a direction coasts you forward under drag rather than stopping instantly. Hold Shift to brake actively.
Is diagonal movement faster in Fakeout?
Yes. Holding two directions at once accelerates harder and reaches a higher effective top speed than a straight line.
How does boost work in Fakeout?
Space fires a single burst of speed in the direction you're already moving, on a flat cooldown. It launches along your current heading, not a fixed direction, so line up your approach first.