Idle clicker games online: Drum Up and what to play next
Updated · 4 min read
Idle games, also called clicker or incremental games, are built on a simple promise: every click makes a number go up, and soon the number goes up on its own. You click to earn, spend what you earn on things that earn for you, and before long you are buying upgrades that multiply the things that multiply your income. It sounds like nothing. It is one of the most quietly addictive kinds of game ever made.
To be straight with you: Knockout has exactly one idle game, Drum Up. We would rather tell you that up front than pad a list. This guide explains how it works, how to play it well, and which of our other games give a similar feeling of slow, steady growth.
What makes an idle game good
- A first minute that hooks you: something to click, and a first purchase within seconds.
- Growth you can feel. Each new thing you buy should visibly speed you up.
- Surprises. A rare bonus to catch keeps you watching the screen instead of just waiting.
- A reason to start over. The best idle games let you reset for a permanent bonus, so the second run is faster than the first.
- Progress while you are away. Coming back to a pile of earnings is half the appeal.
Drum Up: how it works
In Drum Up you tap a big drum to make notes. Notes buy acts, and acts play for you every second: it starts with a metronome on the windowsill, then a busker, a garage band, and on up the ladder to a choir of stars. Each act costs more than the last and earns far more.
As your band grows, new upgrades open: doublings for each act, better sticks that make your own taps worth more, and crowd upgrades that lift everything at once. Milestones earn trophies, and every trophy adds one percent to everything you make, for good.
Gold records
Every few minutes a gold record spins onto the stage. Catch it before it goes and you get one of three bonuses: a Hit single that multiplies everything by six for a while, a Crowd surge that drops a pile of notes on you at once, or a Drum solo that makes your taps worth three hundred times as much for a few seconds. The Drum solo is where clicking still matters late in the game: tap as fast as you can while it lasts.
Encores: starting over on purpose
Once you have made enough notes, you can take an encore. The show starts over from an empty stage, but you earn fame from every note you ever made, and each point of fame adds two percent to everything, forever. That is the core of the long game. The first encore feels like a loss; the second run, racing past where you were in a fraction of the time, shows why it is worth it.
Playing while you are away
Your band keeps playing while the game is closed, for up to eight hours at half speed. The game saves every few seconds in your browser, and to your account when you are signed in, so you can pick it up on another device.
On a keyboard, Space taps the drum, the number keys buy acts, U buys every upgrade you can afford and G catches a gold record. On a phone, everything is a tap.
Strategy tips
- Buy the cheapest act that pays back fastest. Early on, that usually means a few more of the lower acts before the next one up.
- Never ignore upgrades. A doubling for an act you own fifty of beats a new act almost every time.
- Keep the game in view for a few minutes at a time so you catch the gold records. A Hit single makes six times as much while it lasts, which gets you to the next big purchase much sooner.
- Take your first encore earlier than feels right. Fame compounds, so a small boost early beats a bigger one later.
- Check in before bed. Away earnings stop after eight hours, so a last visit before you sleep makes the most of them.
How long does it take?
As long as you like. A first session of ten or fifteen minutes gets you a small band and your first few upgrades. After that, most of the play is short visits: open it, spend what built up, catch a gold record if one is spinning, and close it again. A first encore comes after a few days of that, and every run after it goes faster than the last.
If you like Drum Up, try these
None of these is an idle game, but each has the same pleasure of building something up a little at a time:
- Fresh Squeeze: a lemonade stand that grows from $25 into a business with upgrades and better spots. Endless mode runs as long as you like.
- Loop Park: a theme park that grows ride by ride. Its sandbox lets you build freely, with no goals to meet.
- Shard Tanks: a tank that levels from 1 to 45 in a single round, with a stat point to spend at every level.
- Skewer Street: a food stall with ranks, new stock and upgrades bought with tips.
For more on the two business games, see Free restaurant and cooking games to play online. If you want something you can finish in a short break instead, Quick games for a five-minute work break is the place to start.