Note Harbor.

How to play Note Harbor

1. Open the song library. Tap a cover to hear the opening bars, search by title, or filter Calm, Classical or Dance.
2. Press Play beside a song, then tap START or press Space. Wait for the three-count before the first tile reaches the tide line.
3. Tap each tile as it reaches the glowing tide line above the pier. On a keyboard, press A, S, K and L for the four lanes from left to right.
4. Gold-edged tiles arriving together are a chord: press both lanes at once. For a long tile, press its head and hold until the golden rope fills, then let go.
5. Aim for the beat: PERFECT scores 3, GREAT 2 and GOOD 1, and each held beat adds 1. Watch the EARLY and LATE hints to correct your timing.
6. Collect three stars through the melody, then keep playing through the faster encore for three crowns. A miss offers one free continuation per run.

Make your move

About Note Harbor

Note Harbor is a free piano rhythm game set on a small harbor at the edge of a town. Four lanes of tiles fall toward a glowing tide line above a wooden pier, and every tile you catch plays a note of the melody. Catch them in time and the song carries on; let one slip off the screen, or tap where there is nothing to catch, and the music stops. It is easy to start and hard to play perfectly, and the harbor responds to how well you play.

There are three kinds of tile. Single tiles want one tap. Chords arrive as two tiles with gold edges, linked by a thin gold bridge, and need two fingers or two keys together. Long tiles are holds: press the head when it reaches the tide line and keep holding while a golden rope fills through the tile. Each bead on the rope is one beat and one extra point. Let go near the end and the hold completes. Let go early and you keep what you earned, but the remaining beads are lost and your combo resets. It does not count as a miss.

Timing decides every judgment, measured from the moment the tile sits on the tide line. Within 75 milliseconds is PERFECT for three points, within 150 is GREAT for two, and any other catch that still lands on the tile is GOOD for one. Small EARLY and LATE labels show which way you drifted, and the combo above the score counts tiles in a row. Stars and crowns depend only on how many tiles you play, so a run of GOOD catches still moves you along the progress bar.

Each song plays twice. The first pass is the melody, with three stars spaced through it, and the tempo rises slightly as it goes. Then the encore begins: the harbor bell chimes, the tempo lifts over four beats, and the second pass speeds up gradually toward the final crown and a long finale hold on the home note. A miss offers one free continuation from a moment before the slip; a second miss ends the run and shows the results.

The harbor follows the music. The hour moves forward through every song, so the sun can rise behind the town or the moon can climb past the lighthouse while you play. Town windows light up at dusk, the lighthouse beam sweeps once every eight beats, and the waves, windows and string lights swell on the beat. Each star brings a sailboat and sky lanterns; each crown brings a festival boat and fireworks. Lantern Rain plays in the rain, After the Storm clears to a rainbow at the first star, and Tidewater Reel begins in a morning mist. The harbor kitten on the pier bobs along and cheers at every milestone.

All twelve songs were written for Note Harbor, from the 84 BPM Harbor Lights to the 168 BPM Midnight Express, in Calm, Classical and Dance moods. Search, genre filters and favorites help you pick one, and tapping a cover plays its opening bars. Each song keeps your best score, best combo and earned medals. Results show PERFECT, GREAT and GOOD counts, best combo, holds held and accuracy, followed by a few songs to try next.

A run uses one heart from a supply of fifteen, and hearts return one every ten minutes. With no hearts left, every song stays open in practice mode, which does not change records. Recorded runs earn one coin for every ten tiles plus experience, and coins buy three more harbor views, each tinting the sky, the sea and the tiles in its own colors. Records, favorites, views and the sound setting stay in this browser. No account is needed.

A little help for your next high score

• Start with First Light, Paper Boats or Harbor Lights. They are slower and give you time to learn holds.
• Watch the tide line, not the tiles at the top. A tile is on the beat when its body sits on the line.
• If you keep seeing EARLY, wait a little longer before tapping; if you see LATE, tap slightly sooner. Small changes turn GREAT into PERFECT.
• Keep one finger or key in each pair of lanes. Chords and holds with taps beside them are easier when your hands are already in place.
• Hold each long tile until its last bead lights. Letting go at the end completes it, but letting go early costs the remaining points and your combo.

Good questions