🚁 Helicopter Cave

The classic helicopter game, rebuilt

Helicopter Cave is our take on the famous one-button helicopter game that kids and grown-ups have played in browsers for more than twenty years. A small helicopter flies through a long, dark cave. Hold the button and the rotor bites: it climbs. Let go and gravity takes over: it drops. That is the whole game, and it is just as tricky as you remember. The cave walls wiggle up and down, floating rocks block half the tunnel, and the further you get, the narrower and faster it becomes.

We kept the simple controls that made the original a classic and added the things players always wanted: smooth controls that feel the same on every screen, coins to collect, power-ups, five different caves, a set of missions with a real finish line, unlockable helicopters, and an easy mode so younger children can join in.

How to fly

Your helicopter always moves forward on its own. Your job is the height. Holding the button pushes it up, and the longer you hold, the faster it climbs. Letting go makes it fall, faster and faster. The trick is to never hold or release for too long: short taps keep you level, a longer hold takes you up a slope, and a longer release brings you down. Watch the cave ahead of you, not your helicopter, so you are already climbing before the wall gets there.

Three ways to play

Classic is the original endless flight. The cave never ends, it slowly gets narrower, and your helicopter slowly gets faster. Every 1,000 metres you fly into a new cave: stone, ice, jungle, lava and crystal. Shields and coin magnets appear now and then. Your best distance is saved, and flying 500, 1,000 and 2,000 metres in one go each earns a star.

Cave Missions are 12 hand-made caves, from the gentle First Flight to the twisting Dragon's Throat. Each one is the same every time you play, so you can learn it, and each ends at a checkered finish gate. Finishing earns a star, collecting 60% of the coins earns a second, and 90% earns the third. Clearing a cave opens the next one.

Easy Cave is for little pilots. The tunnel is wide, the helicopter is slower and floatier, and you have three hearts, so a bump just bounces you back into the middle of the cave.

Helicopters to unlock

Every star counts towards new helicopters: the Yellow Scout, the Police Copter, the Jungle Ranger and the shiny Golden Gyro. There are 39 stars in all: three for each of the 12 caves and three for Classic distances.

Tips for longer flights

Stay near the middle of the cave whenever you can, because it gives you the most room in both directions. When you see a floating rock, decide early whether to go over or under it: look for the bigger gap. The coins are always placed on a safe line, so following them is a good habit in Cave Missions. Do not fight the speed in Classic. Make your taps shorter and calmer as it gets faster. If you keep crashing at the same place in a mission, that is normal: each cave is the same every time, so you will get it next time.

Is it good for kids?

Yes. There is no violence: a crash is a cartoon puff of smoke and you fly again straight away. One-button games are great for children because the controls are simple but the timing takes real skill, and Easy Cave gives younger players a gentle start. Missions and stars give older kids goals to chase.

Play on any device

Helicopter Cave runs in any modern browser on computers, Chromebooks, tablets and phones, with no download and no account. On a phone or tablet, just touch and hold the game to climb. Your stars, helicopters and best distances are saved only in your own browser, and there is nothing to buy. See the Parents & Safety page for more.

More helicopter games

Want to fly a real-feeling helicopter? Try Rescue Heli 3D, where you hover over the sea and winch people to safety. Every helicopter game on AnonArcade is on our Helicopter Games page, and more flying games are on the Flight Simulator Games page.

Frequently asked questions