Is Signal//Lock free?
Yes. Signal//Lock is completely free to play in your browser. There are no ads, no microtransactions, no premium tier, and no paywalled stages. The full game is available the moment the page loads.
Do I need to sign up or install anything?
No. Signal//Lock runs in the browser tab. There is no installer, no app store version, and no required account. You can choose to sign in to save a profile and appear on leaderboards, but every gameplay feature works without it.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes. The radar is touch-first and scales to phones, tablets, and desktops. Headphones are recommended on mobile because the audio engine plays positional tones and lock-on cues.
What kind of game is it?
Signal//Lock is a radar reflex arcade game with puzzle-matching mechanics. You watch a sweeping CRT, lock matched pairs of contacts before they decay, and chain combos into salvo strikes. It is closer to an air traffic control reflex game than to a shooter.
How long is a run?
A typical run is two to five minutes. The game is designed for short sessions — long enough to feel a real arc, short enough that you can play between meetings.
How many stages are there?
There are nine public stage modes, each with a distinct rule set: standard sweep, fever streaks, vector overflow, parachute drift, classified intercept, and several others. Stages rotate as you progress, so consecutive runs rarely feel the same.
What is the saturation meter?
Saturation is the loss condition on dense stages like Vector Overflow. Every contact you fail to lock pushes the meter higher. At 100%, the dish overloads and you lose a life. The meter is the most important thing on screen during overflow stages.
What does locking 'in priority order' mean?
On certain stages, pairs spawn with priority markers. Locking them out of order incurs a wrong-order penalty — extra saturation. Read the marker before tapping; if you can't see it clearly, skip the pair.
Can I play offline?
After the first load the static assets are cached, but Signal//Lock is intended as an online browser experience. There is no dedicated offline mode.
Why does the audio matter?
The audio engine isn't decoration. Lock-on beeps, alert tones, and the low orbital hum carry real gameplay information — you can play partially by ear during dense stages. Headphones help.
Does it collect data on me?
Signal//Lock keeps optional profile and leaderboard data only when you choose to sign in. There are no tracking pixels, no third-party ads, and no telemetry pop-ups during gameplay.
Still curious?
- How to play — every overlay and HUD element explained.
- All stages — rule sets per stage.
- Vector Overflow strategy — how to survive Stage 20.
- Open the radar — start a run.
Extended FAQ
Frequently asked
- Is Signal//Lock open source?
- The engine isn't open source today. Some of the audio synthesis primitives and the polar-coordinate rendering helpers have been published as standalone libraries; see the credits page for links when available.
- Can I record gameplay videos?
- Yes — the game is freely streamable and recordable. No special permission required. Crediting the game in the description is appreciated but not mandatory.
- Is the audio licensed for streaming?
- All audio is procedurally generated in-browser from oscillators; there are no licensed tracks. This means DMCA strikes on gameplay audio are not a risk.
- Why is the colour scheme green?
- It's a deliberate reference to long-persistence P39 phosphor — the green compound that gave 1960s-80s radar and oscilloscope CRTs their characteristic glow. The colour scheme is configurable in settings (amber, white, blue available).
- Does the game send data anywhere?
- Anonymous gameplay telemetry — stage reached, saturation curve, run length — is collected to balance difficulty. No personal data, no advertising IDs, no third-party analytics.
- Can I play with friends?
- Not in real-time today. Shared-seed daily challenges (everyone plays the same contact sequence) are on the roadmap and would let two players compare runs directly.
- What's the difference between this and the games on Poki/CrazyGames?
- Signal//Lock is hosted on its own domain, has no ads or interstitials, and is built around a deeper loop than most portal-hosted radar games. Portal versions of similar games typically truncate the stage count or require a login to save progress.
- How do I report a bug?
- The credits page lists a contact path. Bug reports with the stage name, the modifier active, and a screenshot of the saturation curve get fastest fixes.