Rug Flip guide: cleaning order, foam, and flipping for profit
To make money in Rug Flip, buy cheap filthy rugs, vacuum the dust before anything gets wet, sprinkle oxy powder, add water and brush it into foam, squeegee the dirty water off the edge, and rinse until it runs clear. Sell only when the rug is dry, with every tear stitched.
What is Rug Flip?
Rug Flip is a free carpet cleaning game you play in your browser. Buy a filthy rug cheap at the bazaar, wash it by hand in your workshop, then flip it at auction. If you've ever lost twenty minutes to those carpet cleaning videos, where the black water rolls off and the colours come back, you already know how it feels.
Every rug is drawn thread by thread and arrives caked in dust, grime and stains, sometimes with a tear. All the dirt you can see has to come out, and none of it leaves until you wash it out. Uncle Ray walks you through your first rug, a novelty duck.
Free browser gameRug FlipBuy filthy rugs cheap at the bazaar, scrub them back to life with oxy foam, brushes and a squeegee, stitch the tears and sell them at auction. Grow from one bucket to a full workshop.▶ Play free
The cleaning order that works
Most money is lost by doing things in the wrong order. On a normal rug, go like this:
- Vacuum the loose dust. Wet dust turns into mud, and mud is much harder to shift.
- Sprinkle oxy powder over the dirty parts.
- Pour water on the powder. It fizzes up into pale yellow foam.
- Brush the foam in. Scrubbing is what lifts the grime, and the foam turns brown as it fills with dirt.
- Squeegee the dirty water off the edge of the rug and into the drain.
- Rinse and repeat until the water you push off runs clear, then dry the rug.
Powder first and then water works just as well. What matters is that there is water, powder and scrubbing all in the same place.
How the foam works
Dirt only leaves a rug once it's dissolved in water and then pushed off. Foam is the fast way to dissolve it: powder plus water makes foam, and foam pulls grime out of the pile wherever you brush.
Read the foam like a gauge:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pale yellow foam | Fresh foam, still has room for dirt |
| Brown foam | Full of dirt. Squeegee it off |
| Black water at the edge | It's working. Keep going |
| Clear water and clean foam | That patch is done |
Foam left on the tiles collapses by itself in a second or two, so don't bother chasing it around the floor.
Getting the dirty water off
This step is the one people skip. If you leave dirty water sitting on the rug, it soaks straight back in as grime. Pull the squeegee in long strokes towards the nearest edge, overlapping a little each time, and keep each stroke going past the fringe. Then rinse and pull again.
Mistakes that cost you money
Rug Flip has hidden rules. You find them out by breaking them, and your notebook writes each one down the first time it happens:
- Wet dust makes mud. Vacuum first, every time.
- Scrubbing a dry rug wears the pile. That goes double for the rotary scrubber. Wet it first.
- Steam sets pet stains for good.
- Bleach removes any stain but fades the colour. Save it for rugs where the colour doesn't matter.
- The pressure washer frays silk and antiques, and thinner makes silk bleed.
- Damp rugs sell for less, and leaving one damp overnight can grow mould. Dry it with the drying fan or the wet vac before you sell.
What bidders pay for
At the auction house, bidders pay for clean, dry, unworn rugs with no tears and no faded colour. Stitch tears with the needle and thread before the sale. Below grade B, fewer bidders turn up and they bid low, so a rushed job can wipe out your margin. Sometimes a VIP walks in and pays 1.5x to 3x for the right rug in great shape. The dealer will always buy, but only at a low price, so treat him as the emergency exit.
Watch the market too. Every rug you sell of one type lowers the price for that type for a few days, and each week one type is hot and pays 25% more. If you sell three of the same rug in one day, the third one pays the least.
Buying, loans and growing the shop
The bazaar posts new listings every day at a fixed price, and there are one or two live auctions where you bid against the regulars. Cheap and filthy is where the profit is, but check the condition notes first. A rug with rot or moth damage can cost more to fix than it earns.
Profit unlocks upgrades: more tools (25 in all, including the pressure washer, wet vac and steam cleaner), stronger tool tiers, better market tiers and a bigger workshop. You can borrow to grow faster:
| Lender | The catch |
|---|---|
| Uncle Ray | Friendly, but miss a payment and he stops lending for 10 days |
| The bank | Your limit comes from your credit score and net worth, and a missed payment cuts your score |
| Fast Cash Freddie | Money right now at 3% a day, and he takes your best rug if you miss a payment |
Borrow to buy a tool or market tier that pays for itself quickly, never to cover rent. Three nights in the red and the shop goes bankrupt.
The daily rug
Everyone gets the same rug each day, with every tool unlocked and no upgrades, so the board is fair. Your score is the sale price minus what you spent on supplies, so wasting powder costs you points. Use powder only where the rug is dirty, rinse properly once, and don't keep scrubbing a patch that's already clean. Create a free account to post your score on the leaderboard.
Frequently asked questions
Is Rug Flip free?
Yes. It runs in your browser on computers and phones (turn your phone to landscape), with nothing to install. On a phone, tap a tool and drag your finger over the rug.
Why is my rug still dirty after scrubbing?
Either there was no water, so nothing dissolved, or the dirty water never came off the rug. Add water, brush it into foam, then squeegee it off the edge and rinse.
Why does the foam turn brown?
Oxy foam starts pale yellow and soaks up the dirt it lifts, so it turns brown as you scrub. When the foam and the water stay clean, the rug is clean.
Is my workshop saved?
Yes, in your browser, so you can pick it up again on the same device.
