Target Range

Target Range is an old-fashioned fairground shooting gallery under a red and cream striped tent. A cork popgun sits on the counter, a scoreboard with flipping digits hangs from the canopy, and a barker in a straw boater mimes along with every shot: he claps when your streak climbs, points with his cane when a gold star zips past and covers his face when you hit the cat. Tin ducks bob on painted waves, cans and bottles slide along shelves and everything rides rails at three depths, so the small targets at the back are worth double.

Every gallery is a sixty-second round with its own set of targets. Shoot the bottom can of a stack and the top one tumbles too, pop balloons drifting up past the fence, knock hats off springy jack-in-the-boxes, catch cardboard raccoon bandits and cacti as they pop up in the saloon, lead the zig-zagging UFOs, wait for the friendly ghosts to turn solid and splat pies in mid-air. Paint tins and snowmen take two corks, three galleries end with a big boss target, a brass bell starts a double-score frenzy and the jackpot wheel opens a tunnel that throws out gold tokens. The friendly cat and the teddy are decoys and cost points. Reload is automatic but takes a moment after every six corks, so a steady rhythm beats wild clicking.

Stars come for two score targets and for accuracy, and each gallery you clear unlocks the next, from the duck pond to the grand finale. Quick Draw is an endless run of single targets that pop up faster and faster until you miss once, for a high score that lasts as long as your reflexes do. The daily gallery is a fresh seeded layout every day, the same for everyone. Best scores and stars are kept in your browser. It plays on a phone held upright with a tap on the target, or on a desktop with the mouse or the arrow keys and Space; P pauses and M mutes.