Lob

What it is

Lob is daily side-view golf: nine short holes, the same for everyone until midnight UTC, with walls, bumpers, sand and water on the way to the cup. You aim with a slingshot drag that previews the exact flight, and once per stroke a mid-flight lob kicks the ball up and takes a quarter off its forward speed.

How to play

Nine tiny side-view holes a day, one slingshot flick per stroke, and one mid-flight lob you can spend to bend a shot when the geometry says no. Every stroke is a bet you make with your thumb, and everyone plays the same nine until midnight.

1. 1Drag anywhere and release: the ball fires opposite your drag, and drag length is power.
2. 2A short pull is a tap-in: 4% just past the cancel radius, about 30% at a thumb's length, 65% at half a full pull.
3. 3Read the dots before you let go — the bright arc is the exact flight to the first bounce, the faint dotted tail is where it rolls to, and both turn red when this power ends wet.
4. 4Spend your one lob mid-flight: it kicks the ball up and takes a quarter off its forward speed. The faint yellow arc while the ball moves is where pressing now would land it.
5. 5Clear the walls, bumpers and sand; the cup takes a slow ball and shrugs off a fast one, so its mouth glows green when the ball will drop.
6. 6Water is the only blue on the hole. It costs a stroke, and you replay from your last spot.
7. 7The total is the holes you have finished. The hole you are on counts its own strokes against its own par.
8. 8Play all nine, then read the card. Everyone gets the same nine until midnight.