Games Like the Chrome Dino Game: Runners Where You Jump
Updated
The Chrome dino game is a one-button runner: the dinosaur runs by itself, you jump the cacti and duck the flyers, and the speed keeps rising until the first hit. The game lives inside Chrome, but the same idea drives the runners below, made by independent studios, from T-Rexes jumping rocks to a rider on a rhino and a cat running to a beat.
What makes a game like the Chrome dino game
According to Wikipedia's article on the Dinosaur Game, members of the Chrome UX team made it in 2014. Pterosaurs joined the cacti as obstacles in 2015, and the colors alternate as a run goes on. A game plays like it when it shares these traits:
- Your runner moves on its own, so you only time the jumps.
- One or two inputs: jump, and sometimes duck or slide.
- Obstacles on the ground, and often a few in the air.
- The speed rises, so the score is really how long you last.
- One hit ends the run, and you start again from zero.
How to play the original and how to open it in Chrome are in dinosaur games, which also covers dinosaur hunts, fossil digs and parks.
Dinosaur runners
- Run Dino takes a T-Rex across the North American plains. Jump over rocks, steer clear of shrubs, duck under palm trees and dodge flying pterodactyls, all with a click. Eggs you collect let you respawn after a crash or buy powerups.
- TRex Running Color is the closest in spirit: click to jump the cacti and pterodactyls while the T-Rex runs faster and faster.
- DinoHop jumps on a left click and ducks on a right click, so you get the duck as well as the jump. You collect candies for points, and every 10 points the game speeds up.
- Dino Rush stars a light-blue dinosaur that jumps with Space or a touch, and the run gets faster the longer you play.
- Dino Run Game is an endless dinosaur runner where you jump barriers, dodge objects and collect coins, with the mouse for its buttons.
Same idea, a different runner
The dinosaur is optional. These runners keep the jump-and-survive loop and change who is running.
| Game | Who runs | Jump with | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boots n Bounds | A rider on a rampaging rhino | A click | A nonstop stream of obstacles and bonuses to collect |
| Run Panda Run | A panda | A tap | Penguins, snowmen and rocks in the way, and coins to grab |
| Autumn Endless Runner | You, chased by a pumpkin ghost | A tap | A double tap gives a double jump over animals and obstacles |
| Horse Run Adventure | Your horse | The up arrow | Space speeds you up, and the obstacles get tougher as you go faster |
| Pixel Amphibian | A pixel toad | A click | The speed rises steadily and the gaps get tighter |
| Vovan Velocity | Vovan | A click | A loop of spikes, traps and surprise patterns |
More runners of every kind are in running games, and timing-only games are collected in one button games.
Runners with a slide key or a twist
The Chrome game's second key is the duck. These runners add a second move of their own.
- Run Cat Run is the nearest match: X jumps and Z slides, through pixel landscapes with flying enemies to watch and obstacles to slide under.
- Ghost Shift jumps with Space, the up arrow or a click, and switches between human and ghost with S or the down arrow. As a human, red blocks kill you and blue barriers are safe; as a ghost, it is the other way round.
- sodacat is a rhythm runner: tap, click or press Space to jump, and tap again in mid-air for a double jump. The obstacles arrive on the beat of the music.
- Nullpulse Runner swaps the dinosaur for a glowing orb in a neon world: Space, a left click or a tap jumps, and Esc pauses.
Dinosaur jumpers that are not runners
If you want the dinosaur but not the endless run, these two keep the jumping.
- Dino Jump Game sends a dinosaur from platform to platform. Every jump scores a point, and touching a frog ends the game unless you have the shield; a bomb clears every enemy on the screen.
- Little Dino Returns 2023 is a 2D platformer with 6 levels. Collect the golden eggs in each stage to earn three stars, with the arrow keys or touch buttons.
More dinosaurs are in the dinosaur games collection.
Tips for longer runs
- Look ahead of your runner, not at it. The obstacle you need to plan for is the next one coming, not the one under your feet.
- Keep the double jump in reserve. In Autumn Endless Runner and sodacat the second tap works in mid-air, so it can rescue a jump you started too early.
- Listen in rhythm runners. In sodacat every obstacle arrives on the beat, so the music tells you when to jump.
- Learn what each color means. In Ghost Shift the safe color depends on your mode, so switch before the gate, not at it.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Chrome dino game on this site?
No. The Chrome dino game is built into Chrome. The runners here are separate games by independent studios that play in a similar way, free in the browser, with no install and no registration.
Are there dino games with a duck button?
Yes. DinoHop ducks on a right click, and Run Dino has palm trees to duck under. Run Cat Run has a slide key, Z, that does the same job.
Can I play these runners on a phone?
Several name touch in their instructions: Dino Rush jumps with a touch, Run Panda Run and Autumn Endless Runner with a tap, and sodacat and Nullpulse Runner with a tap on the screen.
Why does the game keep getting faster?
That is the challenge in this kind of runner. The Chrome game speeds up until you hit an obstacle, and DinoHop, TRex Running Color and Pixel Amphibian say the same about themselves.
Pick a runner, time the first jump, and see how long you last.
