Orb Rush: Career Mode
Career is the solo Orb Rush path. You race your companion across a world map of 200 courses, earn stars and crests, unlock islands, and pick up badges. It is not a ranked lobby and it does not spend a 50 Coin stake.
Open it from the Arcade (Career on the Play tab), go to /app/arcade/career, or tap a career quest.
Career may be in early access for some accounts.
How it unlocks
Finish 20 ranked heats first — Free Race or 50 Coins. The world stays locked until those are done. Practice, Today's Top 5, and Weekly Survival do not count.
Free races, then earn
Starting a career heat uses a play slot. The map, stars, and crests stay visible either way.
- Your first 10 career races are free.
- After that you get 10 free races each week (week starts Monday UTC).
- Those are the same 10 if you use them all in week 1 — they do not stack into 20.
Once the free slots are gone, Play stays locked until you earn on offers in the last 14 days:
- 1 offerwall claim of 1,000+ coins, or
- 3 offerwall claims of 500+ coins
A 1,000-coin offer counts toward both. Reversals and other claim types do not. The lock shows your weekly free races and either offer path — you only need one. Find offers from the Labs home screen.
While you still have free races, the level card shows how many are left. Qualifying offers keep Career open without using those free slots.
The path
Five islands, 40 races each:
| Island | Races |
|---|---|
| Alpine | #1–40 |
| Dune Sea | #41–80 |
| Neon Void | #81–120 |
| Jungle | #121–160 |
| Breaker Coast | #161–200 |
A 1★ finish opens the next regular race. Every tenth node is a podium exam; each island ends on a boss. Those stay locked until the stretch before them has enough stars — later islands ask for more 2★ and 3★ finishes, not just a 1★ sweep.
Fog hides later islands until you reach them.
Stars
Each race grades 0–3 stars. Best grade on that difficulty is kept.
- Solo races — 1★ any finish, 2★ and 3★ are time cuts shown on the card.
- Pack races (AI field) — place is the grade: 1st = 3★, 2nd = 2★, any other finish = 1★.
DNF is 0★ and does not clear the node.
Crests
Career courses hide five crests, same idea as ranked maps. They do appear in career heats (unlike practice on ranked maps).
- Crests belong to the course, not the difficulty. A pickup on Hard still shows on Easy.
- Track them on the Crest Atlas — career races attach there once Career is on.
- Filling every crest on every race of an island feeds career quests.
Difficulties
Easy, Normal, Hard, and Insane. Each mode keeps its own stars and best times. Crests are shared.
- Easy / Normal / Hard are open from the start.
- Insane unlocks after you 1★ every Alpine race on Hard (#1–40, including the boss).
3★ on every race of a difficulty (600 stars) unlocks that mode's title badge (Pathfinder, Trailblazer, Summit, Mythic). Clearing all 200 on one difficulty unlocks The Path. Island clears unlock biome badges.
Records
Each career course has its own best-time board. Mode does not matter — Hard and Easy share the same course record. Those times stay on Career. They do not count as ranked map records and do not feed ranked world-record quests.
Quests
Career has its own daily, weekly, and lifetime Orb Rush quests — first finish, podiums, island clears, star totals, per-mode 200 / 600, and crest-island ladders. They count career heats only, not ranked or practice.
Incomplete career quests deep-link back to the world map.
Career vs ranked vs practice
| Career | Ranked | Practice | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Players | You (sometimes an AI pack) | 2–8 live racers | You |
| Elo / league | No | Yes | No |
| Crests | Yes, on career courses | Yes, 15 ranked maps | No |
| Quests | Career quests | Ranked / record / league quests | Map records only |
| Stake | Free slots, then offers | Free Race or 50 Coins | Free |
Learn a ranked line in practice. Learn Career on the island map.