High Noon

About High Noon

High Noon is a quick-draw duel on a dusty street at sunset. Two stickman gunslingers stand facing each other. Somewhere between one and five seconds later a bell rings and the word DRAW flashes. Press to draw. Then a sight sweeps in over your opponent, and you press again to fire. Whoever fires first, and hits, takes the exchange. First to two exchanges wins the duel.

The rules that make it a game are the ones about patience. Draw before the bell and you have fired on an unarmed man — you lose the exchange on the spot. Some outlaws feint: a twitch of the gun hand that means nothing, timed to make you flinch. And your draw is only half of it: the sight starts wide and sweeps inward, so a fast draw with a rushed shot misses, and a slow draw with a careful shot arrives after theirs.

Twelve outlaws wait on the ladder, from Dusty Pete, who is slow and nervous and sometimes draws early himself, to The Marshal, who is retired and undefeated. In between are feinters, a kid with the fastest hands and the wildest aim, and a doctor who never hurries. Their draw times, aim and accuracy were calibrated by simulation so the ladder rises steadily: a player with an ordinary reaction wins the first few easily and the last ones rarely.

Two people can duel on one keyboard, A against L. The daily showdown lines up five outlaws in the same order for everyone, one attempt, scored on wins and draw speed. Your best draw in milliseconds is kept on the front page.

How to play High Noon

Stand still. When the bell rings and DRAW flashes, press Space, tap the screen, or hit the big button.

A sight sweeps across the outlaw. Press again to fire while it is over the body — it turns green when it is.

Do not press before the bell. A twitch of their hand is a feint, not a draw.

First hit wins the exchange; first to two exchanges wins the duel. If you miss, you reload and fire again.

How to play High Noon, from stand-off to last shot

1. On the home screen choose the Outlaw ladder (it shows how many of the twelve you have reached), the Daily showdown, or 2 players. Every outlaw you have reached also has a rematch button.
2. Read the message under the street when a duel opens. It names your opponent and their habit — "never hurries, rarely misses", "feints, then feints again" — which tells you what to expect.
3. Keep still until the bell. The screen flashes white as it rings; only then press Space, Enter, A, a tap on the street or the DRAW / FIRE button.
4. Your first press draws, and the game times it. Your second press fires, and it only hits while the sight is over the outlaw's body.
5. Missed? There is a short reload before you can fire again, and the outlaw keeps shooting meanwhile. If both of you miss, the exchange is replayed.
6. First to two exchanges takes the duel. The end screen shows the exchange score, your average draw time and the points earned, with Next outlaw or Again.

High Noon tips and strategy

• Know who feints. Dusty Pete, Sally Two-Step and Preacher Bill never fake a draw. Widow Crane and The Marshal twitch in about half their exchanges, and Ma Harlow is not far behind, so those are the duels where patience matters most.
• Some outlaws hand you free exchanges. Dusty Pete false-starts in roughly one exchange in seven and The Kid in about one in eight.
• Consistency beats speed in the middle of the ladder. Each outlaw's draw varies around an average. Dusty Pete's swings widely, while Doc Marrow's varies far less and he hits eight times in ten, so he rewards a steady, unhurried shot rather than a lucky fast one.
• A miss is not the end. The reload takes about a third of a second. Against the slow early outlaws you can usually miss once and still fire first, so take the clean window rather than snatching.
• The Marshal sets the bar. He draws in just over 200 milliseconds on average, needs under two-tenths of a second more to aim, hits nine times in ten and never false-starts. Beating him takes a draw near his and a shot taken the first time the sight turns green.
• Two players can share a touchscreen. In two-player mode a tap on the left half of the street counts for player 1 and a tap on the right half for player 2.

The twelve outlaws and the daily showdown

In ladder order the outlaws are Dusty Pete, Sally Two-Step, Lefty Lou, Preacher Bill, Ma Harlow, The Kid, Doc Marrow, Widow Crane, Six-Finger Sam, El Silencio, Iron Jane and The Marshal. Lefty Lou feints with the wrong hand; El Silencio is billed as the man you will not see move; Iron Jane is the fastest gun north of the river. Broadly, draw and aim times shrink and accuracy rises as you climb, though not in a perfectly straight line.

The daily showdown draws its five opponents from a pool that widens as you go, so the later duels can reach further up the ladder. You play all five even if you lose one. A win is worth 20 points plus a speed bonus — one point for every ten milliseconds your average draw comes in under half a second — and a loss still earns 5.

On the ladder, the first win over an outlaw pays 25 points plus 6 per rung, a rematch win 8 plus 2 per rung, and a loss 3. The badges are First notch, Lightning for a draw under 200 ms, Deputy for beating the sixth outlaw, Marshal for all twelve, Ice in the veins, Daily gun, Clean sweep for a 2–0 duel without a miss, and Pistols at dawn for playing a two-player duel.