How to play Air Mail
Air Mail is a retro biplane game inspired by the DOS classic Sopwith. Take off, fly loops over the hills and drop parcels onto every mailbox in the village.
Then bring the plane home and land on the runway in one piece.
Rules
- Speed up along the runway and pull up to take off. Watch your speed: below stall speed the nose drops and the plane sinks.
- You carry up to 5 parcels. Parcels keep the plane’s momentum as they fall, so lead your drops.
- Delivering a parcel scores 100 × level, and a bullseye adds 50 × level. Popping balloons along the way scores bonus points.
- Running out of fuel cuts your engine. Stop on the runway to refuel and reload parcels.
- Hitting the ground, a house or a flock of birds, or landing too fast or too steep, costs one of your 3 planes.
- Deliver to every mailbox and land safely to complete the route and move on.
Controls
- ↑ / W
- Nose up (hold to take off or loop)
- ↓ / S
- Nose down
- → / D
- More throttle
- ← / A
- Less throttle
- Space / B
- Drop a parcel
- Touch
- On-screen nose, throttle and drop buttons
- P / Esc
- Pause
Tips
- Fly low and slow over the village for accurate drops.
- Use the radar strip at the bottom to find the mailboxes you haven’t reached yet.
- To land, cut the throttle, come in level and touch down gently. Too fast or too steep and you crash.
- If you stall, dive to gain speed instead of pulling up.
About Air Mail
Air Mail is an original game inspired by Sopwith, the 1984 side-scrolling biplane game written by David L. Clark for BMB Compuscience. Sopwith was one of the first games many office PCs ever ran, famous for its loop-the-loop physics, a stall that caught you every time and a PC-speaker engine drone. It was built to show off the company’s networking and ended up a cult classic.
Our take swaps the dogfighting for a delivery route: take off, loop over the hills, drop parcels on mailboxes, dodge the birds, refuel on the runway and land in one piece. The flight model keeps the stall.
Questions
Is Air Mail the same as Sopwith?
No. It is an original game inspired by the 1984 DOS classic Sopwith, with a delivery route instead of a dogfight. Free in your browser, nothing to download.
How do I take off and land?
Throttle up along the runway and pull the nose up once you have speed. To land, cut the throttle, come in level and touch down gently; too fast or too steep and you lose a plane.
How is the score calculated?
Each parcel delivered scores 100 × the level and a bullseye adds 50 × the level. Popping balloons adds bonus points. Deliver to every mailbox and land safely to finish the route.
How do I play Air Mail on a phone?
On-screen buttons appear on touch devices for nose up and down, throttle and dropping parcels. On a keyboard use the arrows or WASD, with Space to drop.