Start Your Engines! Angry Birds Go is Out Now | Gameplay Guide

After soft-launching in a few countries south of the equator, Rovio’s newest kart racer, Angry Birds Go! is now available worldwide. The app is completely free to download and will be available for iOS, Android, Windows 8 Phone, and Blackberry 10. As of yet, we have no heard any official statement from Rovio whether it will be released for PC or Mac.

Note, Angry Birds Go is over 90 MBs and requires a healthy amount of RAM. On iOS, it’s a universal app requiring iOS 6.0 or later, and compatible with iPhone 4+, iPod Touch 5g+, and all iPads. Also, the app comes equipped with Rovio Accounts, allowing you to sync your data to the Cloud and continue playing on another device!

Oh, and there’s more Angry Birds news from today alone. Stay tuned…

Table of Contents:

Gameplay Basics

You start the game with Red as the only available racer and Seedway as the only track. You must purchase (or TELEPOD-in) a Seedway-permissible cart to start racing.

Carts have four categories: Top Speed, Acceleration, Handling, and Strength. Use Bird Coins to improve these aspects of your cart, which will likewise increase the “CC” of your engine. (CC stands for Cubic Centimeters, which is commonly used to measure the size of an engine.)

Important Note: Once you increase all four cart attributes to their max, your cart automatically upgrades to allow for even more power! The third time you fully upgrade, the cart will be maxed to the limit.

To control your cart, you can either use “touch” controls (pressing the left or right side of the screen will turn) or “tilt” controls (physically tilting the device laterally). There is no gas or break control, though drifting too hard or taking damage will slow you down.

Your drivers can only race five times before needing a rest. To recharge fully takes a few hours, which can be a bit annoying when you only have one or two drivers. As your team fills up, playing time increases.

Coins, Gems, and Cash

Coins are the most common in-game currency. Coins are earned by completing (preferably winning) most races and collecting them in-game. You’ll spend coins to buy new carts, upgrade your cart’s attributes, etc.

Gems are a bit more rare, but by no means impossible to find. Gems are earned by completing challenges (mentioned below), beating Champions, or occasionally collected in-game. You’ll spend gems to buy some carts or skip challenges, or you can buy coins using gems if you’re feeling desperate for an upgrade.

Cash is king. You can’t earn cash besides in your real (non-Angry Birds) life. But you can spend cash to buy gems or carts. Yes, the app has IAPs. (Nervous parent worried about Junior running up your bill? Restrict IAPs!)

Get Ready to Race!

There are five types of play in each Champion’s bracket.

Versus: A simple one-on-one sprint. These are good ways to earn coins when needing to upgrade your cart to attempt other races. There is no “minimum CC” to compete, but rather three separate levels of difficulty.

Race Mode: A Grand Prix event in which you compete against 7 other drivers. You must place in the Top 3 to pass. There is a “minimum CC” requirement for each race, and a total of 5 races per bracket. (Once you pass all 5, “Race Challenges” become available, which can help earn both coins and gems fast.)

Time Boom: You alone race the clock, but the track is littered with ice, wood, and stone. Ice will provide the least resistance, wood will hurt your cart a little, and stone is very harmful. Avoid them all if you can to beat the fuse! Again, there is a “minimum CC” requirement, a total of 5 time booms per bracket, and then “Time Challenges” become available.

Fruit Splat: You compete against one or two piggies. The goal is to break enough fruit to clear away the bar at the top of the screen. It’s easiest to do this when you’re in first place, but clearing the bar is all that’s necessary to pass. Once the bar is filled, the remaining fruit will turn to coins! Again, there is a “minimum CC” requirement, a total of 5 fruit splats per bracket, and then “Splat Challenges” become available.

Champion Chase: As you progress, you must beat each additional character three times to unlock access to them. They won’t go down without a fight, so be prepared to retry a few times! There are high “minimum CC” requirements for these races.

Angry Birds Go Race Mode Screenshot

Characters and Abilities

There are 12 total characters to play as or compete against, each with its own special ability. We list the ability that you can use when playing as that characters, but note that each has an additional defensive attack during Champion Chase mode.

  • Red: Unlocked by default, Red features a 1-time moderate speed boost.
  • Stella: A defensive gal, Stella can encase herself in a bubble. This will protect from most attacks and on-track debris, and also allows a wider range to collect coins, gems, and fruit.
  • Bomb: True to his being, Bomb can explode to spin-out and severely damage nearby carts. Bomb’s cart will be unaffected by the blast, but make sure you don’t crash into your competitors.
  • The Blues: The energetic trio features three mini speed boosts. These can be activated as completely separate points during the race, or in quick succession. The three boosts combined are approximately equal to Red’s single.
  • King Pig: Lazy to the end, King Pig’s cart features an interesting speed boost. While not super fast, it will raise King Pig off the track for a short while. It’s useful if you’re falling too low in the Air circuit or coming up on a lot of blocks in Race Mode.
  • Terence: Big, bold, and bothered, grumpy Terence can strike nearby competitors with lightning. The effect is similar, but perhaps slightly less damaging than Bomb’s blast.
  • Bubbles: Super excited to be included, Bubbles inflates to a massive size and rolls forward. This is useful for pushing race leaders off the track, or for collecting items in a wider range.
  • Matilda: Whether you love her or hate her, she’s pretty talented here. Matilda can throw her egg bomb ahead to damage carts in front of you! Very useful when playing from behind.
  • Foreman Pig: Angry and mustached, the Foreman Pig carries three bundles of TMT (I’m not sure what it stands for… maybe Tri-mustache-toluene?). He can throw these forward at separate times, or in quick succession. Definitely an upgrade from Matilda.
  • Hal: Tired of getting mocked for his beak, Hal fights back with a whirlwind of power! He can summon a tornado, which goes forward and spins out any racer caught in its path.
  • Corporal Pig: Summons a helmet to revolve around the cart. The helmet protects Corporal Pig and damages anything that would otherwise damage his cart. Can be used up to three times, either simultaneously or sporadically. Lasts for two hits or approximately 15 seconds.
  • Chuck: Perhaps the most difficult character to beat, Chuck features a 1-time extremely big speed boost. To beat him head-to-head, you must attack early or be left in the dust.

Angry Birds Go Family Tree Screenshot

Tricks and Tips

  • Don’t be afraid to play dirty. When competing against a small field, push sideways on their rear tires to spin them out.
  • Damaged carts have lower top speeds. If you need to “repair” your vehicle, totaling it completely will respawn a brand new cart.
  • Don’t get landed on! If a cart lands on your character’s noggin, you might be knocked out of the cart!
  • Defense is good offense. Bomb and Terence are among the best characters to use in Champion Chase. Get a good launch off the slingshot, avoid the first attack, then blast the Champ! Hopefully their cart will be damaged enough that you can escape to the finish line.
  • Drift and draft when you can. Drifting occurs when taking corners and your tires slide a bit sideways. Over short distances, you can maintain high speeds while turning! Drafting occurs when you drive immediately behind another cart. The low pressure behind the opponent’s vehicle means less air resistance on your cart, allowing you an attempt to pass.
  • Don’t restart mid-race! You usually earn coins even when you lose, and coins help make your cart faster.
  • Beware the Air! The Air circuit is extremely difficult. Your cart may be faster on the ground, but you’ll often find the computer is faster in the air. Try to avoid getting too much height off of jumps, but make sure you reach the other side first!
  • Versus and Race Mode are great coin earners. Pick a difficulty level that you can win pretty consistently. Not only will you get the indicated payout, but you’ll also earn any coins you collect in-race!

Comments (244)

Rank: Debriefed with 1360 points
By darth luke (@blue-allen)

I got a tip for air. Launch the cart at 2 not go, also to beat bubbles use Terrance.

Rank: Gold Flinger with 9830 points
By Chris (@chriss)

How can you drift in Air episode?

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

Be turning moderately to the right, then jam really hard back to the left. (Or vice versa)

Rank: Gold Flinger with 9830 points
By Chris (@chriss)

Are you sure that this works, @amslimfordy? I can drift everywhere except in the Air races. There is a challenge where I have to drift 15 times in a race. I try to drift as I did in all the other races, but there is no “drift sound” and the drifts are not counted (so I connote complete the challenge).
Anybody else having this problem?

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

It’s very hard but that’s the only way I’ve been able to.

By brad

Dont expect to win the race, but you can rack up drifts by flying off the course in either direction which will force you to respawn…the trick is to continue steering to the left or right as you respawn and you will get a short drift every time.

Rank: Explosive with 2470 points
By Les Toreadors (@les-toreadors)

The key to those “drift many times in a race” is to just hit the left and right directional buttons really fast. Every tiny bit of wheel-slip is counted as a ‘drift’ in this game.

So anytime you’re running on wheels, just mash the buttons left/right/left/right really quick.

Rank: Boss Hog with 12515 points
By Rowdypup (@rowdypup)

@chris the easiest way to drift in Air is probally to bump the walls, since when you drift, your kart does a really wid turn, so you’ll need something to “stop” you

Rank: DaBomb with 340 points
By ani (@ani22)

Currently, I completed about 420 challenges and wanna share some tips to you. Hope it s useful.

– Dont upgrade all your karts if not necessary. In some challenges, they require you to use 5 different karts to complete. I assume that you guys like me, don’t want to use the real money to buy the kart, so don’t upgrade your kart to maximum. The same kart before and after upgrade counts as different one!!

– Each kart has its own characters. Like in the stunt mode, Wall magnet is suit for maximising the high score due to its low stability on handling (drifting makes higher scores). So it s very useful when you need to beat your own scores. So my advice is to use Point Breaker on the earlier challenges to set not to high record scores. This kart is highly precise, easy to use on splat fruits.

– ‘Dont splat any fruits’ challenges, my tips is that I’ll let the opponent go earlier and let him splat the fruits as many as he does. Then I have a clear path to run. It can suit for take no coin, you don’t want to beat or hit any opponents when driving, so let em finish the line!!

– Trash on the opponent. The easiest way is on the beginning when you use the sling shot, try to fly over your opponent, if it s the right time, you ll get it. Or on the tracks, try to run over it.

– In stunt mode, keep your kart undamaged at the end of the line will get you higher scores.

– ‘Splat XX fruits in one drifting’ in some challenges, these are very tough. My tips is to use Bubbles to inflates and roll over while drifting, you’ll easily spat more fruits.

Rank: Sling God with 37915 points
By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

Thanks for useful tips @ani22

By Louisa

I just downloaded the Angry Birds Go app for my son but it won’t actually start up. When I open the app, it goes to the Rovio screen for a 1/2 of a second then goes to a black screen with an image of a globe and 5 stars in front of the globe that says “calculating download”. After about 1 minute the screen goes to the intro screen of Angry Birds Go but only for a minute then the app closes automatically and I’m back on my phone’s home page. I have a Droid Charge. Please let me know if you have a solution to this issue or any suggestions. Thank you!!

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

It would be a good idea to restart your device before trying to open the app. This will clear up some much-needed RAM.

By John

I have the same problem with the “download failed” error happening after the “Calculating Download” message during startup. I’ve reflashed my Nexus 4 and uninstalled and reinstalled the app multiple times since it started happening. A bit annoying since I actually spent a little bit on the in game purchases!!!

Rank: Slinger with 1150 points
By facundo (@david1001)

Why it’s not compatible on my android tablet? I almost have 717 MBs! It says “your device isn’t compatible with this version?”

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

@david1001 You would have to ask Rovio about device compatibility. But the amount of space available has absolutely no effect on compatibility.

Rank: Boss Hog with 14280 points
By Josm (@josm)

‘Chuck: Perhaps the most difficult character to beat, Chuck features a 1-time extremely big speed boost. To beat him head-to-head, you must attack early or be left in the dust. ‘

Am i the only one who find this very easy to beat? it costs many vs races to get the coins for the required cc but the other races were easy

Rank: Fling King with 4730 points
By LuKaZzZ (@lukazzz)

Nope, it was very easy for me too. Chuck finished way behind me all 3 times.

Rank: Pig Leader with 10655 points
By burpie (@burpie)

Chuck was easy – two or three attempts tops, same as all the other championship races. I mostly found Time Boom races the hardest, except in Stunt where the Fruit Splat races were tricky.

The hardest part of all was completing the game for free while preserving my sanity… it took 12 days total: 5 days of waiting for birds to recharge, 5 days of replaying races to mine gold, and only two days of actual game play.

Rank: Well Traveled with 1990 points
By Sandeep (@sandeep-kamath)

In Champion Chase, Chuck throws things which speed up your cart when collected. In the 2nd race, I was using Terrence and I was some way behind him. I collected the things which Chuck threw and my cart started to speed up! I call Chuck really helpful!

By ibrahim aman

Yeah chuck is the easiet and corporal pig is the hardest

Rank: Explosive with 2195 points
By waze (@wazemank)

Just “finished” the game, unlocked all characters and done almost 200 challenges (44, 59, 18 and 57 on Seedway, Rocky Road, Air and Stunt) in a free mode game without paying real money.

I will continue trying to overcome new challenges but, at this point, it’s really difficult (how can you drift in Air?) and very often you have to be very lucky to overcome them, depending more on luck than your skill. It starts to be frustrating. Do you have the same impression?

(I’m sorry with my english; it’s not my native language).

By Peter

How to “beat a friend score” ?? i dont know what is this ?

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

When your score tallies up at the end of a run, you’ll see names on the right side of the screen. That’s a small list of your friends.

(I believe this list is grabbed from GameCenter and Facebook, so you must have at least one of those enabled)

By randomperson

What if you don’t have a Facebook account, or cannot get one? (Like some young child playing the game because its fun)

By bhavana

Hav jst finishd first 4 challenges of 1st track and its asking for “play without your cart” challenge. What doesvit mean? What do I suppose to do with it?

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

I think it says to finish without your cart.

Rank: Shooter with 955 points
By Luqman (@luqman335)

Did you know!
Actually, bubbles’ ability can make him boosted a bit!

By tal bekerman

Hello
I do not understand what it means:
1.slingshot close behind any opponent
2.finish race without your kart

How to do it???

By Angry Birds Fan

1. Means when u launch u land exactly behind ur opponent.
2. Means u crash and u roll out of ur cart

Rank: Explosive with 2195 points
By waze (@wazemank)

1. You have to try sometimes and you will get it. You have to be lucky, but you can get it. Be patient.

2. I have done more than 250 challenges and this is one of the most difficult. I use gems to skip these challenges. There are 11 challenges like this one; challenge #4 in Time Bomb, all episodes, all tracks.

By terrell

angry birds go does not work on my samsung galaxy 2 it just shuts off after loading it…

Rank: Master Slinger with 5355 points
By Sir Falcon (@flying-falcon)

Just restart the device

Rank: Hardened with 500 points
By Matt Filson (@orangebird123)

When will Angry Birds Go out for PC?

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

Rovio has stated that they don’t plan to develop the game for computers.

Rank: Gold Flinger with 9345 points
By Jay (@jaythecanadian)

Figured that wasn’t going to happen at all…probably would have been too complicated to have it done and probably no way to not use the coins and 5 lives.

Rank: Gold Flinger with 9345 points
By Jay (@jaythecanadian)

I just got myself a iPhone 4S (had a LG Cellphone and was eligiable for an upgrade). I can now play the game!

I had just put Angry Birds Go! on my iPhone yesterday.

Rank: Sling God with 70925 points
By wrw01 (@wrw01)

I was playing GO on an iPad about a day ago and something happened concerning all the scores listed on the top right of the screen. They all went to zero except my score.
I cleared the browser, shut the iPad down and restarted about three times since.

I then checked GO on the iPhone and the same situation occurred.

Does anyone know what happened?
Has this occurred to anyone else?
Any device?

On both devices I checked to see if I was signed into my account and I was on both devices.

Rank: Sling God with 70925 points
By wrw01 (@wrw01)

Any advice on what to do to get the scores back?

By Duck Banks

Question: How do you finish a race without your cart, and how do u slingshot close behind opponent??

Rank: Explosive with 2195 points
By waze (@wazemank)

I´ve done 370 challenges and I was not able to overcome the “finish a race with my kart” one. There are 11 challenges like this one: all #4 in Time Bomb, all tracks, all episodes. I used gems to skip them.

Regarding to “sligshot lose behind opponent”, it’s possible but you’ve to be very lucky. I overcame all these challenges without spending gems.

Good luck.

By Robert D. Johnson

Stunt-Track1, Race Challenge 15 says “Stay in 1st Place for an Entire Race”. I am having trouble with this one. Using some coins to launch with King Sling helps, but some wise-bird always seems to jump way over me during the race, even though my cart is maxed out. Is there a trick? Or should I waste gems to skip this one?

Rank: Explosive with 2195 points
By waze (@wazemank)

I had many problems with this challenge #15. I used King Sling and Boost… and at the first intersection, choose to go left, up the ramp.
Be patient and you’ll get it. It took ten attempts for me, more or less.

Next two challenges are easy but #18 is more difficult for me: collect 2 or less coins in a race.

Good luck.

Rank: Gold Flinger with 9830 points
By Chris (@chriss)

Use a kart that has more speed.

Rank: DaBomb with 340 points
By ani (@ani22)

My suggestion is to use Red, add up the special power to max. Spend all the special power in the first half of the race. Later you will hv challenge like Stay in 1st place for 2 races.

@Waze, there will be collect no coin for this track as well.

Good luck for both of you.

Rank: Explosive with 2195 points
By waze (@wazemank)

@ani22 Thanks. 2 coins or no coins, it’s almost the same… Did you skip them or did you fly and fly and fly to overcome these challenges? And how many gems do you need to skip the next challenge?

Rank: DaBomb with 340 points
By ani (@ani22)

for these two, I race myself. currently i need to use 202 gems to skip. But thing is I didn’t use as much as it shows. There’s a time back to the old version when u got the gems equal to the challenge minus one, i.e. you win the challenge 22, you get 21 gems. The number of gems get higher even though u not use to skip it. Most of the challenges I skipped is on the AIR.

Rank: Explosive with 2195 points
By waze (@wazemank)

@ani22 It sounds very interesting. So, you’re playing with this old version, aren’t you? It’s the first time I hear that there is an old version in which this happens with the number of gems.

The next question is obvious: Is it possible to get this old version?

Rank: DaBomb with 340 points
By ani (@ani22)

mine is the current one. I’d love to get back to that either.

Rank: Master Slinger with 7315 points
By rjohnson_8ball (@rjohnson_8ball)

I finally did it. I used the Blue birds, cart with medium speed but max control and strength. I did not use any King Sling or Repair or Boost. I got out in front then used each of my 3 special power boosts just before I expected to get overtaken. (Sorry, pushed “Reply” before this, but it did a general reply, not a reply to my post.)

By Stephen

How the heck do you “beat a friend’s score”? Just wondering unless there are literally no other players out there I cannot seem to get any friends on there. Is it linked to FB? When I try to search for the AP on FB it just shows a video, but does not allow game play nor a way to send requests for friends on the game.

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

Connect to GameCenter (iOS only) or Facebook to see your friends’ scores.

By DaveM

I can’t see any way of linking my Facebook account. It always says “Playing as: Guest” at the start. How do you log in? I’m using WP8.

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

There should be a button bottom-center on the front screen.

By Nayeli

I have the same problem. I go to settings and click the facebook icon and all it does is send me to fb page. What do u mean button in front screen? Theres one that says register asking for my birthdate. Is that it?

Rank: Sling God with 32120 points
By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

What device are you playing on?

By Alexey

use only 1 boost pad in a game…. What should i do?

Rank: Gold Flinger with 9830 points
By Chris (@chriss)

I would try to use King Pig anf fly over the other boosts (if you can’t avoid them).

Rank: Sling God with 28590 points
By MVNLA2 (@mvnla2)

Haven’t read all the pages, sorry, but it would be nice if there were a list of where characters were available and how many tracks in each course. Haven’t played this for a while, so am not very far along.

By nturavrgchic

Doing challenge rounds in rocky road track one and noticed other racers dropping down, literally out of nowhere, toward the end of the last cave right before the finish line. I managed to turn my cart around to look behind me and it also looks like there are coins up above the regular track. Looks like some shortcut or hidden track but I have looked and looked and can not find it. Anyone else notice this? Can’t tell if it’s an actual track or just an illusion, but I swear I swear there’s another track. Thanks!

By nturavrgchic

Ok, there is definitely another route to get through that last cave. I saw where it comes out at-right as you exit the cave. Is there a map of the course anywhere? I can’t for the life of me find it and it’s driving me crazy! Lol

By Sunshine84

I have tried several times to connect to Facebook but it never does. I am playing on an iPad? What is the problem? Any advice please

By Jessica

Sorry for the error. I was saying I logged into my Facebook on the game now I want to disconnect my Facebook account with angry birds go.

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