Hammer Throw — free browser game

Hammer Throw is a two-tap minimalist arcade take on the Olympic hammer event: an athlete stands at the left edge of the field, the steel ball at the end of the chain ready to wind up. On the first SPACE press (first tap on mobile) the hammer begins spinning clockwise at a starting angular velocity; as you wait passively, ω rises a little every second, the arms tense, and your power bar climbs toward the green. On the second SPACE press you release the hammer — the velocity vector tangent to its position at that instant slings the ball, and the higher ω is, the more force you launch with. Here is the game's core trick: if you release while the ball is in the upper-left arc of its orbit (highlighted in green), the vector hits close to a perfect 45° upper-right launch and you catch maximum range; release at any other point — say at the very top, or at the bottom — and the vector is either horizontal or downward, the ball falls short or even backward, and the distance counts as 0. The power bar wants you to wait, but waiting too long and missing the angle gives you a strong but mis-aimed throw; the ideal is to fill ω enough, then release as the ball sweeps past the green star. After every throw a golden × lands on the ground and you can see where your previous throws fell. After 5 throws your total metres become your score and are compared against your best in the browser.