Tricks and scoring, explained
Distance keeps your score ticking, but the big numbers come from style: near misses, tricks, stunts and takedowns, all boosted by a combo. Here's every point value in the game and how they add up.
The base: one point per meter
Every meter you drive is a point, so a 3-kilometer run is worth 3,000 before anything else. Each coin you pick up adds 10 points on top of the coin itself.
Points for driving
| Award | Points | How |
|---|---|---|
| Near miss | 100 | Pass close beside a car or truck in the lane right next to yours. Boulders, logs and barriers don't count. |
| Hop over | 50 | Jump clean over a car. |
| Smash | 50 | Plow through something while boosting or invincible. Cones count too. |
| Stomp | 100 (+50 Smash) | Slam down onto a car from above. You bounce back up. |
| Skill box | 100 | Grab a box while your skill slot is already full. |
Points for tricks
| Trick | Points | How |
|---|---|---|
| Barrel roll | 250 | Change lanes while you're in the air (there must be a lane to move into). |
| Kickflip | 400 | Hop again while you're in the air. It also gives you extra lift. |
| Spin | 300 per full turn | Tap in the air with no skill held (or press R). One spin per jump, with as many turns as your air time allows, up to six: "360 Spin", "720 Spin" and so on. |
The landing rule
A jump's tricks only count if every roll, flip and spin has finished by the time you touch down. Land mid-trick and you lose that jump's trick points, but not the run: the car lands safely. A roll or flip takes just under half a second, so don't start one right before you come down.
Mix it up
Repeating a barrel roll or a kickflip in the same jump halves its value each time. You get one spin per jump, but every full turn in it pays the full 300. Mixing different tricks does the opposite of repeating: each extra kind of trick in the same jump adds 25% to the jump's total. A kickflip, a barrel roll and a spin in one jump is worth far more than three kickflips.
Where to get air
- Orange ramps launch you high, but give no points on their own. The points come from what you do in the air.
- Kickflips add lift, so a hop plus a kickflip gives you time for a spin.
- The Sky Highway has low gravity, so every jump lasts longer.
- The Coastal Highway has nearly twice as many ramps.
Stunt sections
Every few hundred meters, in every district, a stunt section appears: a half-pipe or a grind rail in one of the lanes, or a sky lane raised above an outer lane.
| Stunt | Points | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Half-pipe | 150 on entry | Throws the car about 6 meters up with a random kickflip or spin. Land it cleanly to keep the trick points too. |
| Grind rail | 50 every 10 m | A small kicker puts you on a rail. Land on top and grind along it (rails run about 50 to 80 meters); dash off to drop down. |
| Sky lane | 100 every 50 m | On the outer lanes only. A ramp lifts you onto a deck 6 meters up and 120 to 200 meters long. Hop the rooftop blocks on the way. |
Points for the police
| Award | Points |
|---|---|
| Takedown (a cop crashes into traffic, gets hit by an EMP, or you stomp it or ram it while boosting or invincible) | 500 × your stars |
| Repelled (anything flung away by a Shockwave) | 150 |
| Vaporized (anything hit by the Lane Laser) | 100 |
| Lost them! (Smoke while you're spotted) | 250 |
| Boss down! (the Interceptor's third hit) | 3,000 |
Takedowns are the biggest regular award in the game: 2,500 each at five stars. See the police heat guide.
The combo
Every award with a name on it (near misses, smashes, tricks, stunts, takedowns) builds your combo. Coins don't. The combo multiplies each award by 1 + 0.1 for every award already in the chain, up to ×2. The first award in a chain counts once, the second ×1.1, the third ×1.2, and so on.
The chain stays alive for 2.5 seconds after each award. Earn nothing for longer than that and it resets. The trick to big scores is keeping something happening: a near miss, then a hop over, then a stomp, then a barrel roll, each within two and a half seconds of the last.
Your best score
Your best run is saved when a run ends and goes on the all-time and weekly leaderboards. More on that in leaderboards and saves, and for a game plan, read the high score guide.