Neck Lander

About Neck Lander

Neck Lander is a physics game about patience. You pilot a lunar module down to a landing pad using head tilt to rotate and a head lift to fire the main engine, and you have a finite amount of fuel. A landing counts only if you touch down within all four tolerances at once: under 28 units per second horizontally, under 38 vertically, within 10 degrees of upright, and with an angular speed under 0.72.

Four simultaneous tolerances is a lot to satisfy, and that is the game. Most failures are not crashes but near-misses — level and slow but drifting sideways, or perfectly placed and still rotating. The main engine gives 158 units of thrust at 7.2 fuel per second while the fine thrusters give 82 at 3.25, so the cheap correction is also the weak one, and deciding which to use as the pad approaches is the real decision.

Head tilt has a 0.012 dead zone before rotation begins and reaches full input at 0.052, giving you a genuinely proportional control band rather than an on-off switch. It is the slowest-paced game here and the one that rewards doing nothing at the right moment.

How to play

• Tilt your head left or right — rotate the lander proportionally
• Lift your head — fire the main engine
• Arrow keys — rotation and thrust on the keyboard
• Land under 28 horizontal speed, 38 vertical, within 10 degrees of upright, and nearly stopped rotating
• Fuel is finite; the main engine burns more than twice as fast as the fine thrusters

Tips & tricks

• Kill your rotation first, then your speed. The angular tolerance is the one people forget, and you cannot fix it in the last second because rotation has to be actively damped.
• Burn early and hard, coast late. Fuel spent high up buys you a slow, controllable descent; fuel spent in the last hundred units is usually panic and rarely saves the landing.
• Use the fine thrusters for the final approach. At 82 thrust and 3.25 fuel per second they let you make small corrections without launching yourself back upward.
• Come in vertical. Horizontal drift under 28 is tighter than it sounds, so arrive above the pad and descend, rather than gliding toward it at an angle.
• The 0.012 dead zone means small head movements do nothing at all — if the lander is not responding, tilt further rather than assuming the tracker has lost you.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a successful landing?

You must touch down under 28 units per second horizontally and 38 vertically, within 10 degrees of upright, and with your rotation almost stopped — all four at once.

Is Neck Lander free?

Yes, free in the browser, no download or account.

Can I run out of fuel?

Yes. The main engine burns 7.2 per second and the fine thrusters 3.25, so how you spend it is most of the game.

Can I play without a webcam?

Yes, the arrow keys handle rotation and thrust.

Does the game upload my camera feed?

No. Tracking is done locally on your device.