Nudge the base of a pole with your mouse and keep the plate balanced on top of it from falling. Your survival time is measured to a tenth of a second, players take turns, and the longest run wins — the last-place finisher gets flagged automatically, which makes it an easy way to settle a bet.
This is a real inverted pendulum. With the pivot accelerating at a, the pole angle follows θ'' = (g·sinθ − a·cosθ) / L, and it is that −a·cosθ term that produces the counter-intuitive control: you steer into the fall, not away from it. Times climb sharply once that clicks.
Difficulty only changes pole length and damping. A shorter pole has a higher natural frequency of √(g/L) so it topples much faster, and low damping means a wobble you start does not settle down again.
The physics runs on a fixed 240 Hz step, so a 144 Hz monitor is no advantage over 60 Hz, and every player starts from the same tilt — the point is for it to be usable as a bet.
The base stops dead at the wall. That does not end the run, but the sudden stop is transmitted straight to the plate and makes it lurch, so it pays not to get pinned at the edge.
Runs entirely in your browser with nothing to install, and your best times stay on your device.
Move the base under the fall first to reduce the angle, then ease back the other way as it comes upright to kill the momentum. Big sweeps build up momentum you then have to fight, so small and frequent beats large and late.
Yes. Add multiple names and play passes around in turn, with each player ranked by their best time. Set two or more rounds and the order alternates each round instead of one person taking all their tries at once.
That is what it is for. Once everyone has played it names the winner and the last-place finisher. Difficulty, starting tilt and physics step are identical for everyone, so it comes down to skill rather than luck.
Yes — drag left and right with your finger. On a keyboard the arrow keys work too.