Read what is approaching
Coins and stones move towards the rover through the scene. The original game gives you forty-five seconds and three shields. The task is to collect coins while leaving enough room to avoid the stones that would shorten the run.
Look above the rover’s immediate position. An approaching stone is easier to deal with before it reaches the collection area. A late sideways move can avoid one object while carrying the rover into another, so read the next gap as a whole.
A coin and a shield are different resources
Every collected coin adds ten points. A stone removes a shield, and the third lost shield ends the run even if time remains. There is no separate bonus for a risky manoeuvre and no replacement system of lives or upgrades.
Passing a coin can therefore be a sensible choice when the route around it is crowded. The game does not ask you to collect everything on screen. It asks you to make the best use of the time and shields in the current run.
Move with a destination in mind
The arrow keys and on-screen direction buttons move the rover. Pointer movement in the scene provides another way to choose a horizontal position. Let the rover reach a useful gap instead of changing direction each time a new object appears.
The original pause control stops the round and offers Resume. Use restart when you want a fresh attempt. Reading the control panel before beginning helps distinguish those two actions.
Compare the shape of two runs
A longer run with a moderate coin count and a short run with an early collision tell different stories. Notice when shields were lost and whether a coin chase caused a change in position.
On a replay, keep one simple priority such as maintaining an open escape route. Personal bests can be saved locally, but a useful observation does not have to produce a record immediately.