the pdfresh field notes
How to play a PDF game in Chrome.
A PDF can contain more than text and pictures. Pulse Dash uses interactive fields and PDF scripting to turn three document pages into a game, a record book, and a set of instructions.
The reader matters. An app can display a PDF correctly while ignoring the actions that make its game work. The instructions below are for the supplied Pulse Dash 1.0.0 release, whose target is Google Chrome’s built-in PDF viewer on desktop.
Open the original file.
- Go to the Pulse Dash game page and download Pulse Dash.pdf.
- On your desktop, open Google Chrome. Drag the saved PDF into a Chrome tab, or use the browser’s open-file command to choose it.
- Wait for the PDF’s first page to finish loading. Enter a player name if you want to separate your records, then select START RUN.
- Drag on the playfield and release. The player travels in the opposite direction of your pull. Follow the preview dots to aim a wall bounce.
You can also open your downloaded or saved PDF in pdfresh viewer. Pulse Dash opens automatically in play mode using the viewer’s own game player, designed for current Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari with mouse or touch controls. Select save PDF to keep your completed runs. To start with an empty record book, open a fresh game.
If you can see the PDF but cannot play.
| What you see | What to try |
|---|---|
| A thumbnail, email preview, or cloud-drive preview | Download the original file and open it in desktop Chrome. A preview image cannot run a game. |
| The pages appear in pdfresh’s document-reading mode | Select play above the document. Supported Pulse Dash files open in this mode automatically. If play is unavailable, check that the original game was not printed or converted; other PDF games require their own compatibility support. Read mode displays pages without running their scripts. |
| Chrome saves the PDF instead of displaying it | Open the downloaded file in a Chrome tab. Browser and organisation settings can change how PDFs open. |
| Controls are missing in a printed or converted copy | Download a fresh original. Printing or converting a PDF may remove interactive fields and scripts. |
| A phone or another PDF app only shows the pages | Open the file in pdfresh viewer to use its web game player. Standalone PDF apps have different scripting support. |
Pause, finish, and try again.
Each run starts with 30 seconds. Enemy contact deducts 3 seconds, so avoiding a hit can matter as much as landing a bank shot. Switching to another PDF page pauses the run. Return to page 1 and select RESUME to continue.
QUIT ends the run and records the score after active effects finish. It cannot restore the unfinished attempt. At the end, choose the game’s replay control to try again. The file’s records are local to that copy of the PDF.
Keep what you earned.
Use the PDF reader’s download control and choose With your changes to keep the name and records. Downloading from the website starts with a clean file, and Print to PDF does not preserve the game. The saving guide explains how to check the saved copy.
Still stuck?
Send a problem report with your operating system, Chrome version, game version, and the step that failed. Say whether you opened a fresh original or a previously saved copy. Avoid attaching personal documents; a description of the visible issue is usually enough to begin.