How long does it take to learn?

Most players are comfortable with the core loop within 10 minutes and reach the later stages within an hour of play. Mastery — clearing a full run on hard difficulty without saturation overload — takes longer.

The first stage is a soft tutorial: low contact density, generous decay timers, no stage modifier. The HUD includes inline hints on the first run that disappear once you've engaged with them.

Yes. The escape key pauses the dish; the page can be backgrounded and the sweep halts. Pausing doesn't penalise score.

Mouse, touch, or keyboard?

All three. Mouse and touch commit on click/tap. Keyboard mode moves a cursor with arrow keys and commits with space. The audio engine treats every input identically.

How to Play Signal//Lock — Radar Puzzle Guide

1 · The radar

A green sweep rotates around a circular CRT display. Signals materialize when the sweep crosses their position and slowly decay. Tap or click them before they fade — that's a lock.

2 · Match pairs

Most stages aren't single-target. You need to lock two related signals — same icon, same letter, same biological class — within a short window. The matched pair detonates with a trail streak between them and adds to your score.

3 · Combos & Salvo Strikes

Trail Streak — every successful match draws a glowing line between the two signals. Higher combo = brighter, longer trails.
Salvo Strike — three matches in a row triggers a 3+ combo bonus: the radar shakes, a white shockwave ring expands from the center, and every active signal on screen is auto-intercepted with bonus points.

4 · Stage mechanics

Nine distinct stages each introduce a new wrinkle: rocket vectors, traffic flow, biological signatures with viral parasites, hexagonal hive scans, drop zones, letter echoes, typewriter signals, and more. The stage list walks through each one.

5 · Tips for new operators

Headphones help — the audio cues telegraph signal type and decay timing.
Don't chase late signals; missed decays cost more than skipped locks.
Chain three quick matches to trigger a Salvo Strike whenever the screen is overloaded.
On bio and hive stages, learn to ignore red parasites — locking them costs points.

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The 30-second mental model

Signal//Lock is a commit-and-resolve game. The sweep gives you information, decay puts a clock on it, and the saturation meter records the cost of every wrong or late decision. Everything else — salvos, stage modifiers, audio cues — is layered on top of that three-part loop. New players who internalise this in their first run reach stage 5 within a session; players who treat it as a reflex shooter tend to plateau around stage 3.

The corollary is that not locking is a real choice. A questionable pair that costs more saturation to miss than to mis-lock is worth committing; a clean single contact at low saturation might be worth waiting for a better pair on the next sweep. The game rewards the operator who decides, not the operator who clicks.

Reading the HUD

Four elements carry almost all the game state. The sweep line tells you when information arrives. The saturation ring at the dish edge tells you how close to overload you are; its colour shifts from green through amber to red as the meter rises. The salvo chargeindicator (top of the dish) tells you how many simultaneous locks your next commit will resolve. The stage modifier badge tells you which radar mode is active.

Stage modifiers change one or two rules without changing the loop: Parachute Drift adds wind to contact motion, Classified Intercept flips the dish 180° at unpredictable intervals, Fever Streak accelerates the sweep, Vector Overflow disables the sweep entirely and renders contacts as persistent vector lines. The HUD always shows which modifier is active so you never have to guess.

Common early mistakes

Three recurring patterns hold new players back. First, over-locking — committing to every visible contact and watching the salvo charge dump on low-value pairs. Second, ignoring the saturation curve — the meter doesn't penalise you in real time, so it's easy to ignore until it crosses 80% and the overload becomes unavoidable. Third, tunnel vision on the sweep line — contacts in the freshly-illuminated arc are psychologically loud, but contacts about to decay (in the dimmest part of the trail) are usually the higher-value targets.

Frequently asked

How long does it take to learn?: Most players are comfortable with the core loop within 10 minutes and reach the later stages within an hour of play. Mastery — clearing a full run on hard difficulty without saturation overload — takes longer.
Is there a tutorial?: The first stage is a soft tutorial: low contact density, generous decay timers, no stage modifier. The HUD includes inline hints on the first run that disappear once you've engaged with them.
Can I pause?: Yes. The escape key pauses the dish; the page can be backgrounded and the sweep halts. Pausing doesn't penalise score.
Mouse, touch, or keyboard?: All three. Mouse and touch commit on click/tap. Keyboard mode moves a cursor with arrow keys and commits with space. The audio engine treats every input identically.