Rubout
Every enemy is a number. Every shot is an operation. Take a number to exactly zero and it's erased.
Field notes
- 48
Plain numbers. Halve them again and again, then finish with − or +.
- 7
Primes wear a blue ring. Division bounces off. Subtract or add instead.
- −9
Negatives are red. Subtracting digs them deeper. Add to climb back to zero.
- 5
Runners are as fast as you are. Shoot them before they arrive.
- 4!
Factorials keep growing. Hit one once to freeze it into a plain number.
You have 3 lives. Touching a number costs one, and every 5th page gives one back.
Controls
- Move
- W A S D or arrow keys
- Aim and fire
- Mouse. Hold the button to keep firing
- Operation
- 1–9, Q / E, mouse wheel, or tap the toolbelt
- Pause
- P or Esc
- Touch
- Left thumb moves. Right thumb aims and fires
Draw Your Character
Create your own hero. Your drawing will become your character in the game.
Tip: Draw anything you like. Use the eraser to fix mistakes.
Page cleared
Pick one thing for the next page.
Rubbed out.
Paused
Take a breath. The numbers will wait.
About Rubout
Rubout is a twin-stick shooter drawn on graph paper. The enemies are numbers with arms and legs, and they have no health bars. The only way to remove one is to bring it to exactly zero with the operations on your toolbelt.
How a run works
- Clear the page. Every page sends a group of numbers after you. Erase them all to finish it.
- Pick a tool. Between pages you choose one new operation or one upgrade. The toolbelt holds up to 9 operations.
- Stay alive. You have 3 lives, shown at the top. Touching a number costs one life and knocks nearby numbers back. Every 5th page gives one life back.
- Go deeper. Later pages bring more numbers, bigger numbers and new kinds of enemies. The run ends when your last life is gone.
Meet the cast
A stickman with a highlighter-yellow head and a pencil for a gun. Scribble walks, aims and fires in any direction. A shot stops at the first number it hits, unless you have Sharp Lead.
Divide while you can, then finish with − or +.
24 → ÷2 → 12 → ÷2 → 6 → ÷2 → 3 → −1 three times → 0A blue ring means only 1 and the number itself divide it, so ÷ bounces off. Subtract or add to change it into something divisible.
7 → −1 → 6 → ÷2 → 3 → −1 → 2 → ÷2 → 1 → −1 → 0Small numbers (2 to 8) that run as fast as you do, so you cannot outrun them. Shoot them early.
6 → ÷2 → 3 → −1 three times → 0Drawn in red. Subtracting pushes them deeper, so add instead. A ×−1 shot flips the sign so you can shoot the number down.
−3 → +1 three times → 0n! means 1 × 2 × … × n, so 4! is 24. Each time the dashed ring fills, the number grows one step, up to 5! = 120. Any hit freezes it into a plain number.
4! → ÷2 → 12 → ÷2 → 6 → ÷2 → 3 → −1 three times → 0Slow, huge and marked in yellow. They are always a power of 2, so halving works. Touching one costs a life but does not erase it.
64 → ÷2 six times → 1 → −1 → 0Your toolbelt
Every shot applies one operation to the number it hits. ÷ only works when the result is a whole number, and √ only works on perfect squares. A shot that does not work shows “no go”. Subtracting past zero is allowed, but the number turns negative. Yellow tiles are the three operations you start with.
Upgrades
- Quick Hand. Fire 20% faster. Up to 3 levels.
- Light Feet. Move 12% faster. Up to 3 levels.
- Sharp Lead. Shots pass through one more number. Up to 3 levels.
- Spare Eraser. Gain one life, up to a total of 5.
Scoring
Every erase scores 10 points plus the number's starting size, with the size bonus capped at 60. Erase numbers within about two seconds of each other to build a combo that multiplies your points, up to ×5. Taking a hit resets the combo.
Tips
- Check divisibility first. Even numbers take ÷2, numbers whose digits add up to a multiple of 3 take ÷3, and numbers ending in 0 or 5 take ÷5.
- Dividing is the fast way down. Subtracting and adding finish the job.
- Enemies sway as they walk. Keep moving in wide circles and shoot across their path.
- A hit knocks nearby numbers away. Treat that breathing room as a last resort.
Controls
- Move
- W A S D or arrow keys
- Aim and fire
- Mouse. Hold the button to keep firing
- Operation
- 1–9, Q / E, mouse wheel, or tap the toolbelt
- Pause
- P or Esc
- This screen
- I, or the Info button at the top
- Touch
- Left thumb moves. Right thumb aims and fires