how to play rocket bot royale

How to Play Rocket Bot Royale: Controls & Friend Lobbies

Full Rocket Bot Royale guide: PC and mobile controls, rocket jumping, every game mode, and the exact steps to play with friends via friend codes and custom matches.

Published 2026-06-12 · Updated 2026-06-12

How to Play Rocket Bot Royale: Controls, Friend Lobbies & Game Modes

If you're trying to figure out how to play Rocket Bot Royale, the controls take about thirty seconds to learn and roughly thirty matches to actually master. The part nobody documents (anywhere, I checked) is how to get your friends into the same lobby. The wiki buries it somewhere in a giant FAQ. Game portals copy-paste the same two-sentence control blurb at each other. YouTube? Skips it entirely. So that's what this guide is for: controls on PC and mobile, the recoil trick the whole game hangs on, every mode, and the exact friend-code flow, step by step.

What Is Rocket Bot Royale?

Rocket Bot Royale is Winterpixel Games' 2D tank battle royale, released in April 2022 on Steam, Android, and iOS after an earlier web beta. The pitch is simple and a little evil: your tank has no jump button, water rises from the bottom of the map, and every rocket you fire shoves your tank in the opposite direction. Last tank above the waterline wins.

It's free in the browser and on mobile. The Steam version costs money. Worth knowing before you click Add to Cart, since it's the same game. Winterpixel built it in Godot with a custom physics module, and per their own FAQ, it actually runs best on Steam.

Rocket Bot Royale Controls (PC and Mobile)

PC first, since that's where most people find it:

One quirk that trips up everyone: movement is relative to your tank's orientation, not the screen. When you're driving up a steep slope or hanging off a ledge, "left" means the tank's left. You'll drive the wrong way a few times. Everyone does.

On mobile, there's a "slingshot aiming" toggle buried in settings that reverses the drag direction: pull back to aim, like Angry Birds. Some people swear by it. I couldn't get used to it, but try both before a ranked match decides for you.

That's genuinely the whole control scheme. No jump key, no boost key. Which brings us to the actual game.

Your Cannon Is Your Engine

Here's the mechanic everything else hangs on: recoil. Fire a rocket and your tank kicks backward. Shoot the ground directly beneath you and the blast launches you straight up. Shoot behind you and you lunge forward. Want to clear a gap? Fire down-and-back mid-roll.

This is why there's no jump button. Your ammunition IS your movement, which means every shot is a decision. Spend this rocket on damage, or save it to escape the water later? New players burn everything on offense and then drown, broke, a tank-length from dry land. Happens to everyone at least once. It stings.

There's a tutorial under Settings → "How to Play" that drops you on a practice island (the bots there are named after the game's actual beta testers, which is a nice touch). Spend five minutes just rocket-jumping before you queue. Seriously. The players wrecking you in your first lobby aren't aiming better — they're moving better. Once you've got the basics down, the tips guide covers jump-chaining and the endgame water meta in proper depth.

How to Play Rocket Bot Royale With Friends

Nobody had written this section when I first went looking for it, which is exactly why it's here. The flow isn't obvious, and one requirement blindsides nearly everybody:

1. Register an account and log in. Mandatory. Guests can't add friends, full stop. Browser, Steam, and mobile all support registration.
2. Add your friends via friend code. Each registered player has a code. Swap them, send requests. Friendships go both ways, and there's no cap.
3. Then pick: Squads or Custom Match. Inviting friends into a Squads game means you matchmake together against other teams. A Custom Match is the other route: a private lobby where you share the invite and only your people get in.
4. Know the custom-match catch before you spend an evening in one: private lobbies award nothing. No coins, no XP, no kill stats. Per the official FAQ, custom matches don't count toward anything. Messing around, yes; progression, no.

You'll see people search for a Rocket Bot Royale "lobby code." That's not the official term, but it's what step 3 amounts to in practice: a private Custom Match your friends join via invite.

So the real flow is: account → friend codes → Squads for progress, Custom Match for chaos. Takes a few minutes of setup the first time, and the registration step is the toll booth.

Every Game Mode Explained

Per the community wiki's mode list, here's what's in rotation:

• Battle Royale: the default. Up to 35 players, rising water, free-for-all.
• Anonymous Ranked Royale: 4 to 25 players, names hidden, trophies on the line. The sweat mode.
• Ranked Duos: 12 teams of 2.
• Squads / Ranked Squads / Squad Deathmatch: 6 teams of 4. Squads is where friend invites shine.
• Red vs Blue: straightforward team battle.
• Rotating modes: as of the wiki's season-47 snapshot, Laser Tag, License To Kill, Speed Shot, Zero Gravity, and Mine Mayhem cycle in and out.
• Custom Match: the private lobby from the friends section above.

Don't read too much into the rotating-mode list; it changes between seasons. The ranked modes are where trophies (and season rewards) live.

Your First Match: 5 Things to Do

1. Run the tutorial. Settings → "How to Play." Five minutes, free practice island.
2. Practice the rocket jump until shooting the ground feels like pressing a jump button.
3. Grab coins as you roll past them. They bank even if you die mid-match.
4. Watch the water line. It kills instantly, with no warning shot and no half-second of grace. Most beginner deaths are drownings, mine included.
5. Take high ground early and hold it. Endgames go to whoever's standing highest when the map runs out.

And don't sweat your first ten placements. The game seeds lobbies with bots while you learn, at least in the matches I hit as a fresh account.

If your school or office network blocks the usual game sites, the unblocked guide covers which official URLs work where.

Want the Same Recoil Feel Without the Account?

One honest aside. The thing that hooked me on Rocket Bot Royale (shot-equals-movement) is the same idea TANKBLAST is built on, with a different shape. Every shot kicks your tank, but there are 6 classes that each handle recoil differently (the GYRO flies, the BORER tunnels straight through terrain), 32 arena families with fully destructible ground, and wall-and-ceiling driving. The friend flow is the part worth mentioning in this guide: TANKBLAST party codes are 4 letters, fit up to 6 humans plus bots, and need no account and no download. Ten seconds from "wanna play?" to same lobby. There's a class breakdown if you want the details, or a live DPS table at /classes.

And if you want more games in this vein generally, we've rounded up the best of the genre in games like Rocket Bot Royale.

FAQ

How do you play Rocket Bot Royale with friends?

You need a registered account. Log in, add friends via friend code, then either invite them into a Squads-mode game or create a Custom Match private lobby. Heads up: custom matches don't count any stats, coins, or XP.

What are the controls for Rocket Bot Royale on PC?

Move with A and D or the arrow keys (left and right are relative to your tank's orientation, not the screen). The cursor aims, left click fires. Weapon switching is oddly generous: 1-4, E, Q, Tab, spacebar, or the scroll wheel all work.

How do you play Rocket Bot Royale on mobile?

The on-screen arrows (bottom-left by default) drive the tank. Aiming is hold-and-release: hold a finger where you want to shoot, let go to fire. Weapon icons sit bottom-right. There's also a "slingshot aiming" option in settings that reverses the drag direction.

How do you jump in Rocket Bot Royale?

There's no jump button. Shoot the ground directly beneath your tank and the recoil launches you upward. The closer the blast to your tank, the higher you go. Angled shots trade height for horizontal distance.

Is Rocket Bot Royale free?

Free in the browser (Winterpixel's official sites and CrazyGames) and on iOS and Android. The Steam version is paid.

Do custom matches count toward stats?

No. Games played, kills, coins, and gems are all uncounted in custom matches, per the official FAQ. Use public or ranked modes to progress.

Got the controls down? Queue up a match — and when you're ready for recoil physics with classes that actually play differently, no account required, play TANKBLAST free in your browser.