Evac: get everyone out before the smoke
A hotel is on fire. Smoke is coming along each corridor from the stairwell at the far end, and the only way out is the lobby at the bottom. You run the lift. Every floor has a call button in the shaft: press one and the car goes there by itself and lands level, press several and it answers them in the order you pressed. Six fit in the car, and every door you open lets smoke into it.
How to play
Every floor has a call button in the shaft. Press one and the car goes there by itself and lands level; press several and it answers them in the order you pressed, and pressing a lit one again takes it off the list.
- The verb: press the call button on the floor you want. On a keyboard, the number keys call a floor.
- The clock: how far the smoke has come along a corridor is how long the people in it have. It reaches the far end first, so whoever is standing deepest is on the shortest clock.
- The car holds six. Every door you open lets smoke in, and it stays in, so a stop you did not need costs everyone already aboard.
- The goal: everyone down to the lobby. Anyone you do not reach is left behind, and the card tells you which floor was still waiting.
Why it is clever
Most elevator games are about pressing whichever button is lit. This one is about the order you press them in, and about what a stop costs. The smoke spreads rather than ticking down separately for each person, so a floor you skip gets worse while you are somewhere else, and going low first can make the top unreachable. Six fit in the car, so a full trip is worth more than a quick one — but every door you open lets smoke in, and a stop you did not need is paid for by everyone already aboard.
There are no levels to finish. It is one run: guests keep arriving, faster and faster, and the game tells you each time the rate steps up. You play until five people are overcome, and what you are playing for is how many guests you got out before that.
Tips
- Call one floor at a time. The car answers the queue in the order you pressed it, so a list you set three stops ago will march past whoever has gone wrong since. Press, watch, press again.
- Do not hold out for a full car. Six fit, but every extra pickup is another door open and more smoke on everyone already aboard. Turning for the lobby at about four gets more people out than filling up does.
- The floor just above the fire is the worst one, not the top floor. Smoke thins as it climbs, so the higher you go the more of the queue is still breathing.
- Watch the deepest person on each floor, not the floor. They are the one the smoke reaches first.
Frequently asked questions
Is Evac free? Yes, completely free to play, with no account or download, in any modern browser on phone, tablet or desktop.
Does it work on mobile? Yes. The call buttons run down the shaft on the right-hand side, sized for a thumb, so your hand never covers the corridor you are serving.
How long does a run last? Until five people are overcome. Guests arrive faster the longer you last, so a run ends when you can no longer keep up; your score is how many guests you got out.
Can I finish it? No — it is a run, not a set of levels, and the fire always wins in the end. The score is how many guests you saved on the way.
Does anyone die? No. The fire brigade is on its way; anyone you do not reach in time is reached by them instead, and the card simply tells you how many you got out.
Stuck? Read the Evac strategy guide
Enjoy a good thinking puzzle? Try Bloom or Kaleido, or browse all Zamborin games.