Invade is a one-button take on the classic marching-alien shooter. Rows of googly-eyed aliens shuffle across the sky, stepping down every time they reach an edge and dropping zig-zag bombs. Your cannon slides back and forth along the ground by itself. Tap to fire a shot straight up. Hold the button and the cannon brakes and parks where it is, so you can line up a column or let a bomb fall in front of you. Four bunkers give cover until the bombs chew through them. You have three hearts, the aliens speed up as their ranks thin, and every wave starts lower than the last.
How to play Invade
- Tap anywhere to fire. Only one shot can be in the air, so make it count.
- Hold to brake: the cannon parks until you let go.
- Shoot every alien to clear the wave. A bomb on the cannon costs a heart.
- If the aliens march down to the red dashed line, the run is over.
Tips to get a high score
- Aim ahead. The formation keeps sliding while your shot climbs, so fire just before a column is overhead.
- Your shots destroy bombs. Parking under a falling bomb and firing is often safer than running.
- The last few aliens move fast. Park near the edge they're heading for and wait for them.
- Hit the gold saucer that flies across the top for bonus coins.
- Hits in a row climb in pitch, and every eighth one in a row drops a coin. A miss resets the streak.
How the waves close in
Each new wave starts a bit lower in the sky, and that stops after the seventh wave. It also marches a little faster than the one before. Within a wave, the speed depends on how many aliens are left. When the last one is alone, it moves more than three times as fast as the full formation did.
Bombs get heavier as the run goes on. Over the first 70 seconds the gap between bombs drops from more than a second to about half a second, and the bombs fall faster. Every wave shortens the gap a little more and allows more bombs on screen at once, up to six.
Armor arrives in stages. From wave 3 the top row of aliens takes two hits, and from wave 5 the second row does too. The first hit only knocks the helmet off and scores nothing.
Scoring and making hearts last
Every alien is worth one point, and so is the saucer. The first saucer flies over about 25 seconds in, and another comes along every 20 to 40 seconds after that. It also drops two coins. Your streak of hits only changes the sound and adds a coin every eighth hit in a row. It doesn't change the score.
Your three hearts don't come back, and the bunkers aren't rebuilt between waves. Every bomb that lands on a bunker digs a small crater, and your own shots chip it too. So a long run is mostly about protecting both. Shoot bombs out of the air when you can, and don't fire up through your own bunker.
When a bomb does hit you, every bomb on screen disappears and you're safe for almost two seconds. Use that time to fire freely at the column right above you.
Why parking beats running
Up to two-thirds of the bombs, late in a run, are aimed. The aliens drop them from the column above where your cannon will be if it keeps sweeping. Parking with a hold throws that aim off, so a bomb meant for you often lands just in front of you.
The opposite is true for your own shots. You can only have one in the air, and it takes almost a second to reach the top row while the formation keeps sliding. The bottom aliens are closer, so they need much less lead. Save your top-row shots for when you're parked and the formation is drifting slowly over you.
Clear out the edge columns early. The formation only steps down when its outer aliens touch a wall. With narrower ranks it travels farther between steps, which gives you more time before it reaches the red line.
Daily levels and ghost races
Today's Invade level is the same for everyone, and you race the ghosts of other players' runs. How daily levels and challenges work.
FAQ
How do I dodge if the cannon moves by itself?
Hold the button to park. The tap that starts the hold still fires, so you can stop, shoot and wait in one motion, then let go to keep sweeping.
What are the grey aliens?
Armored aliens show up from wave 3. They take two hits: the first knocks their helmet off.
Is it free?
Yes. Every Tapamine game is free to play in your browser with no download and no account.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. Tapamine is built for phones first: portrait, one thumb, and it works offline after your first visit. It also works with a mouse or the spacebar on a computer.
How do challenges work?
After a run, tap “Challenge a friend” to send a link. Your friend plays the exact same level and races your ghost — a replay of your run — to see who wins.
Add Invade to your site
Invade is free to embed on your blog, class page or website. Paste this code:
<iframe src="https://tapamine.com/embed/invade/" title="Invade: free one-tap game" width="360" height="640" style="border:0;border-radius:16px;max-width:100%" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; web-share" loading="lazy"></iframe>