Ghost Gig guide: timing, streaks and an S on every song
To do well in Ghost Gig, calibrate first, then play Easy once per room to learn the song. Watch the hit line, not the top of the lanes, and listen: every note is a note your instrument plays. Keep streaks of 10 for the ×4 multiplier and 25 to scare the trick-or-treaters, and hold long notes to the very end.
What is Ghost Gig?
Ghost Gig is a free Halloween rhythm game. You play the ghost in a haunted mansion's house band, and each of the five rooms is a new track and a new instrument: drums in the Foyer, slap bass in the Cellar, organ in the Library, theremin in the Attic and horns in the Ballroom. It was made for Halloween 2026, which falls on Saturday 31 October. It runs in the browser, in portrait on phones or with a keyboard on a computer.
Controls
| Input | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tap a lane | Hit the note in that lane (keep your finger down for long notes) |
| D F J K | The four lanes on a keyboard |
| Arrow keys, or 1 to 4 | The four lanes too |
| Esc or P | Pause |
On a phone you can tap anywhere in the lower part of the screen: the two outer lanes reach all the way to the edges, so your thumbs can rest at the sides.
How does timing work?
Every note on the highway is a note your instrument really plays in the song, generated from the same notes the band uses, so the music tells you when to hit. Hits are graded Perfect, Great or Good depending on how close you are to the beat; anything later than the Good window is a miss. Easy has the widest windows and Hard the tightest. A small "early" or "late" tag next to Great and Good tells you which way you were off.
Calibrate before you judge yourself. Open Calibrate from the menu, tap along to eight clicks and the game measures your offset. Bluetooth headphones and some TVs add 150 to 250 milliseconds of delay; without calibration that turns Perfects into Goods. You can also set the offset by hand in Settings.
How does scoring work?
- A Perfect is worth 100 points, a Great 70 and a Good 40, times your multiplier.
- The multiplier goes up by one every 10 notes in a row, to a maximum of ×4. A miss resets it.
- Long notes pay extra for every moment you hold them and a bonus when you hold to the end.
- Every 25 in a row, your ghost scares the trick-or-treaters at the door: 250 points per child, and their candy goes into your total.
- Hard multiplies the whole score by 1.45 and Easy by 0.6.
Your grade comes from accuracy: S at 95% or better, then A, B, C and D. A full combo (no misses at all) earns its own line on the results screen.
What is the spirit bar?
The ghost-shaped bar in the corner is your spirit. Good hits fill it and misses drain it (faster on Hard). If it empties, the lights come on, the band falls apart and you are booed out. When it gets low, the screen edges glow red and the trick-or-treaters start laughing at you: that's your cue to play safe and hit the notes you're sure of. If you just want to learn a song, turn on No-fail mode in Settings (those runs aren't saved to the leaderboard).
Tips for each room
- The Foyer (drums, 100 bpm): the kick is the left lane, the snare the second, hi-hats the third and cymbals and toms the right. The pattern repeats every bar, so lock into it with your whole hand rather than reading each note.
- The Cellar (slap bass, 104 bpm): bass lines jump between a low root and a high octave; the lanes follow the pitch, so a jump right means the note went up. The last note of a bar often slides into the next chord.
- The Library (organ, 96 bpm): the slowest song, with the most held notes. Let go of a held note only when its trail ends, and don't rush the repeated phrases.
- The Attic (theremin, 112 bpm): almost every note is a long glide. The trick is holding: a dropped hold breaks your combo. In the breakdown you get two very long notes in a row.
- The Ballroom (horns, 120 bpm): the fastest track, with short stabs and runs. Play it on Normal first and learn where the horns breathe.
How do I unlock the other rooms and outfits?
Clearing a room on any difficulty opens the next one. Candy from scared trick-or-treaters adds up across all your games and unlocks outfits for your ghost: a bow tie at 40, a top hat at 120, a pumpkin crown at 260 and a vampire collar at 450. Change outfits from the mansion screen.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ghost Gig free?
Yes. It runs in your browser on phones and computers with nothing to install.
Is the music made from real songs?
No. All five tracks are original spooky-funk, composed by code and played live in your browser with synthesised instruments. Nothing is sampled from a recording.
Why do my hits feel late?
Usually it's audio delay from Bluetooth headphones or speakers. Run Calibrate with the headphones you play with, or raise the timing offset in Settings.
How do I get on the leaderboard?
Create a free account (18+). Your best single song and your tour score, the best score in each room added up, are saved to the weekly, monthly and all-time boards.
Free browser gameGhost GigA Halloween rhythm game: you're the ghost in a haunted mansion's house band. Five original spooky-funk tracks, a new instrument in every room, and trick-or-treaters to scare with your streaks.▶ Play free
