How to play Dustup Ranch

What a lasso is

A lasso is a rope with a small fixed eye at one end, called the honda. The other end is passed through the honda to make a loop that slides: thrown over an animal, the loop closes as soon as the rope is pulled. Ranch hands used lassos to catch cattle in open country, and roping is still a working skill on cattle ranches today.

Rodeos turned that work into timed events. In tie-down roping a rider ropes a calf, then runs to tie three of its legs. In breakaway roping the rope is tied to the saddle with a string that snaps once the loop is on, and the clock stops. In team roping a header ropes the steer's horns and a heeler then ropes its hind legs. In all of them, the throw goes where the animal is heading, not where it is.

Playing Dustup Ranch on AllFun

AllFun Dustup Ranch is a cartoon lasso game. From a porch you watch critters cross a dusty street, in as many as four lanes from close to distant. Drag your finger upward to aim: a ring on the ground marks the landing spot, and a longer drag sends it further back while sliding sideways moves it across. Release to throw. With a keyboard, arrows steer the ring and Space lets the loop go.

Thirty levels lead from Dustwater, the gentle first town, through Red Mesa, where Hotheads and a cart appear, to Silver Creek and its fastest herds. It is all cartoon: roped critters are counted, never harmed. The arcade games page has more throwing and catching games.

The rules

• The throw: the loop is in the air for a short time, longer for distant lanes, and only catches what stands under it at the moment it lands. You need a breath to coil the rope before the next throw.
• Cover: a loop that comes down on a barrel, a bale or the cart is wasted.
• The herd: a Calf is worth 10 points, a Longhorn 20, a Billy Goat and a Bruiser 30, a Hothead 60 and the rare Golden Bull 150. A Hothead takes two loops to hold. A Skunk costs 25 points, ends your streak and slows your next loop.
• Lanes: the second lane pays a quarter more, the third half as much again, and the far lane double.
• Streaks: from the third catch in a row points count twice, and from the sixth three times. Any miss resets it. Two critters in a single loop pay a 50% bonus.
• Stars: each round is one minute. Passing the level's target earns the first star, and higher scores the second and third.

Helpers

Big Loop widens your next three throws, Slow-mo runs the herd at half speed for ten seconds, and Magnet steers your next loop to the nearest critter. Two of each are free daily. Playing a level costs 40 play coins, but the level after a win costs nothing.

Six tips for a full corral

1. Lead the runner. Aim roughly a body ahead of a close critter and further ahead of a distant one, since there the loop takes longer to land and the herd moves faster.
2. Wait for the goat to turn. A Billy Goat zig-zags. Throw just after it changes direction, when its path is easiest to read.
3. Throw at a Bruiser when it stops. It paws the ground before it charges, and a standing target is the easiest catch on the street.
4. Build the streak near, cash it far. Three easy catches in the near lanes double your points; then a far-lane catch is worth four times its base.
5. Check the cover. Before you let go, make sure the ring is not on a barrel or a bale. A blocked loop breaks the streak.
6. Keep Slow-mo for the Golden Bull. It only runs in the two distant lanes and it is quick. Half speed turns a hard throw into an easy one.

Lasso game FAQ