G-Switch Multiplayer: Keys, Rounds and Scoring Explained
Published · Updated · 3 min read
Picking the number of players
The title screen has a Multiplayer bar under Play and Endless. On a computer it has five buttons, 2 to 6. On a phone or tablet the 5 and 6 buttons are not there, so touch play goes up to four. Pick a number and the game drops you straight onto the start line. There is no setup screen.
The keys are fixed
You cannot change the keys in this version. Each runner has a different colour, and at the start of a round its key is drawn on top of it. A small keyboard map in the bottom-left corner shows which keys are in use:
| Runner | Key |
|---|---|
| Player 1 | X |
| Player 2 | M |
| Player 3 | Right arrow |
| Player 4 | A |
| Player 5 | Shift |
| Player 6 | 3 (top row or number pad) |
The keys are spread out so that six people can share one keyboard. Players 1 and 4 are on the left of the letter rows, Player 2 is in the middle, and Players 3 and 6 are on the right side. Sit everyone in that order and nobody has to reach across anyone else. Starting positions on the line are shuffled every round.
The screen shows "Press SPACE to start", and Enter works too. Space and Enter belong to nobody, so whoever is nearest starts the round.
Touch screens
On a phone the screen is split into four quarters, one per player: Player 1 bottom-left, Player 2 bottom-right, Player 3 top-right and Player 4 top-left. Each quarter shows a "Tap Here" marker until its player taps it, and the round starts once everyone has tapped. After that, a tap in your own quarter flips your runner.
What happens in a race
All runners start at the same speed, and the speed keeps rising while anyone is still in. Runners are solid, so they bump into each other and can land on top of one another. A runner who drops well behind the middle of the screen gets a forward push to help them catch up, but anyone who goes off the left edge, the top or the bottom is out.
How points work
A round ends when every runner is out. The ranking screen then lists the runners in order of how far they got. Each runner earns place points plus a distance score between 0 and about 1, based on how much of the track they covered.
| Players | Place points, 1st to last |
|---|---|
| 2 | 2, 1 |
| 3 | 4, 2, 1 |
| 4 | 6, 4, 2, 1 |
| 5 | 8, 5, 3, 2, 1 |
| 6 | 10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 |
Points carry over between rounds. The tournament has six rounds on three tracks: rounds 1 and 4 use the first track, 2 and 5 the second, and 3 and 6 the third. The header shows "Round 2 of 6" and so on, and after the final round the leader is marked as the winner. Press Space for the next round, or Esc to go back to the main menu.
Because the distance score is small, finishing order matters most. In a six-player race, first place is worth as much as second and third together. Rounds 4 to 6 use the same tracks as rounds 1 to 3, so it pays to remember where people fell the first time.
More from the blog
- G-Switch Timing Guide: When to Flip and Why Runs End
How the flip works in the G-Switch code: you can only flip from a surface, early presses are held for a moment, and the three ways a run ends.
- G-Switch 1, 2 and 3: What Each Game Adds and Which to Play
All three G-Switch games are on this site. What the game files show each one adds: checkpoints, levels, secret orbs, CPU racers and up to eight players.