Red Flag Run
Red Flag Run is a free, mobile-first arcade game with a point: it is a dating-satire endless runner that also teaches real dating-app literacy. You guide a little heart down a neon lane, dodge the labelled “red flag” obstacles (Love Bombs, Ghosts Back, Crypto Coach…), and collect the “green flags” (Texts Back, Plans Dates, Clear Intent…). Every flag you meet mirrors a pattern you will actually run into on the apps — so the more you play, the faster you spot the real thing.
How to play
- Swipe left/right (or use the arrow keys) to change lanes and dodge red flags.
- Swipe up to jump a low hurdle; swipe down to duck an overhead beam.
- Collect green flags to build a combo multiplier and score.
- One red-flag hit ends the run — then read the field note on what that pattern looks like in real life.
- Earn Green Flags (♥) to unlock cosmetic skins or a Second Chance revive.
What’s inside
- The Daily Quiz: five dating-IQ questions a day — green flags, slang, myths, and scam tells — the same five for everyone, with a spoiler-free result grid to share and a 🔥 streak for showing up tomorrow.
- Daily Challenge: one seeded run per day, identical for every player. Same lane, same flags, one shot at the leaderboard-of-you.
- Missions: three small goals per day that pay ♥ for playing with intent.
- Seasons and events: the run re-themes through the year — from Wedding Season to Cuffing Season — with event flags to match.
- The Style Shop: cosmetic skins bought with earned ♥. No purchases, no wallet — the only currency is playing.
- Installable: add it to your home screen and it launches like an app, offline runs included.
The advice layer
Underneath the jokes is a genuinely useful layer of dating advice. Most of it is everyday literacy — reading effort, pacing, and communication patterns, spotting healthy behaviour and matching it — and at the serious end the game drills manipulation, personal-safety, and romance-scam tells until they register on sight. The whole curriculum is public in the Field Guide — every scam script and safety tell, what to do if you’re caught in one right now, the green flags worth keeping, plus the Profile Clinic and Chat Playbook for better matches and better first messages.
The universal rules, if you read nothing else: never send money, gift cards, or crypto to someone you have not met in person; get on a live video call early; keep chatting inside the app until you have actually met; and reverse-image search photos that look too perfect.
Who makes this
Red Flag Run is made by Cosmin, an independent developer and writer working alone — design, code, art direction, the written guides, and unfortunately also the jokes. It is free to play and built mobile-first for the phone in your hand. Found a bug, have a flag idea, or want to say hi? Email hello@playredflagrun.com — feedback genuinely shapes the roadmap.
The written guides follow the same editorial rules as the game: name behaviours and scripts, never a gender, an age, or a group; keep the advice actionable; and when a claim rests on research or agency data — Gottman’s lab, the FTC’s scam reports — say so and link the source. Anything that can’t be grounded gets cut or clearly filed under opinion. The full version of those rules, who writes the guides, what this site is emphatically not qualified to tell you, and how to report a mistake are all set out in the editorial standards.
A note on the advice
Red Flag Run is entertainment with a helpful streak, not professional counselling or a safety guarantee. The guidance here is general and light-hearted; it describes behaviours and scam patterns, never a gender or group. Trust your instincts, and if a situation feels unsafe, step back.