Crown Crew is an endless runner built for Apple Watch, and a full game on iPhone too. You run the train tracks of a city with three lanes, a lot of trains and one station guard on a kick-scooter who has had enough of you. His patrol drone helps him. Neither of them stops.
How a run plays on Apple Watch
Swipe left or right to change lanes, or turn the Digital Crown. Swipe up to jump, down to roll under a barrier. Run up a ramp and you are on the train roofs, where zip lines carry you from one roof to the next and the express can be surfed when it pulls out. Double tap to drop onto a glide board: it takes one hit for you, then it is gone.
Clip something and you stumble. The guard closes in. Stumble again before he backs off and he has you.
Three runs a day
The day splits into three: a morning run from 05:00, an afternoon run from 12:00 and an evening run from 18:00, on your own clock. The first run of each is a set track, the same for every player in the world, with a rival ghost running next to you. Each of the three has its own Game Center leaderboard, so you get three shots a day at a board, and nobody gets an easier track.
Play all three on your watch and the iPhone gets a bonus run that day. The watch can send it a notification when the bonus is ready.
Seven runners, ten districts
The crew is Kai, Ren, Yuzu, Sora, Jin, Riku and Tetsu. Each has a perk, unlocked by finishing five of their daily dares: Kai holds a combo longer, Sora scores 10% more, Jin starts every run on a free board. Kai runs from the start, Yuzu joins after a seven-day streak and Riku at level 8.
The city has ten districts: Sunset Yard, Sakura Line, Neon Market, Harbour, Maple Shrine, Rain Quarter, Surf Coast, Rust Works, Snow Hill and Star Heights. A new one starts every few hundred metres, through a tunnel, a station hall or a glasshouse.
Tricks, combos and heat
Tricks and close calls chain into a combo, and its bonus grows with every link you add. Tricks and running on the roofs also fill a heat meter. Every heat star, up to three, raises the score rate and the pace and brings out more police drones. A covered gate cools you down by one star. Golden trains turn up now and then, and courier parcels wait to be delivered.
Boards, power-ups and pets
There are 12 glide boards: Classic, Hopper, Zip, Drift, Phase, Koi, Nigiri, Dragon, Cloud, Mixtape, Shark and Grid. The Dragon has gold horns and a spiked tail. The Nigiri has a nori belt. Four power-ups show up on the track: the Jet Randoseru, a rocket school bag that flies you over everything, Spring Kicks for big jumps, the Lucky Cat coin magnet and Double Score. Three pets, Lucky the cat, Mochi the shiba and Kuro the crow, run in the next lane and grab the coins you cannot reach.
Levels, goals and the sticker book
Every run earns XP and every level pays out: coins every time, keys, sticker packs and board charges along the way. Missions come in sets of three, and every finished set raises your score multiplier for good. There are daily dares for each runner, spray cans hidden on the roofs for the day’s tag, a weekly metro card to stamp in every district, a three-page sticker book, login rewards and a weekly event. Watch face complications show the logo, or your next run with your runner in its district and a countdown until it opens.
Free runs, Royal Pass extras
Three runs a day are free, along with every leaderboard, XP and levels. The Crown Games Royal Pass adds unlimited runs, the Crew, Shop and Goals screens, every runner and board you unlock ready to use, and a free revive in every run. One subscription also covers Shut The Box, Crown Jack, Crown Heist, Soar, Crown Five, Crown Climb, Crown Roulette and Crown Farkle.
