Timberman: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats you need to know!

Timberman strategy guide: How to chop down more trees and get your best score ever!

Timberman is arguably just as addictive as the infamous Flappy Bird is but with a twist. This time, you'll play a logger that's tasked with chopping down an endless tree as fast as possible. Watch out for branches or game over. The more chops you get, the higher you'll level up. Just don't let too much time go by between chops or your life meter will run out. While game play in Timberman is pretty straight forward, there are a few tips, hints, and cheats you should keep in mind to get your highest score yet!

1. Pick a dominant chopping side

Timberman: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats you need to know!

When you first start playing Timberman, you may realize that you're more comfortable chopping on one side than the other. That's most likely your dominant chopping side. While you obviously can't stay on one side, when you can that should be your control side. If there's a large enough gap, you will most likely find that you feel you have more control on that particular side, and that's ok. Stick with it!

2. How to prevent accidental or reflex taps

Timberman: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats you need to know!

It's very easy to accidentally tap the screen one more time than you should. This is why I typically intentionally lift my finger higher up off the screen in between taps. This of course slows you down slightly but just enough to prevent accidental taps and not enough to make a big enough difference to drain your life much quicker.

3. The rule of fours

Timberman: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats you need to know!

From the time a branch appears at the top of your screen to the time it hits the top of Timberman's head is 4 chops. That's all you have to get out of the way. Knowing this and counting as you tap is a good way of knowing when you absolutely need to switch sides. It's a great method when you have a long run of cutting and then all of a sudden see a branch. Count to 4 and then switch!

4. The rule of twos

Timberman: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats you need to know!

When you get lots of branches in a row, they normally come in a specific pattern and that's typically chop twice, switch, chop twice, switch. I have seen that pattern appear more than any other so when you see a grouping of branches and you need to move quickly, that's the pattern you should go with if all else fails.

5. Focus your sight line underneath your chop count

Timberman: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats you need to know!

If you focus only at the top or the bottom of the screen, you probably won't have very much luck. Darting your eyes around the screen doesn't really do much good either. You are far better off focusing your vision right under the chop count. This lets you view what's coming up but also to keep a decent eye on the bottom of the screen so you don't accidentally switch sides before a branch clears the bottom of the screen.

6. Know when to speed up and slow down

Timberman: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats you need to know!

As long as you keep your life meter full, you're golden. Learning when you can slow down and take a hit is just as important. When you see a good run coming, chop away as fast as you can to get your meter up as high as you can. Then use that life you built up to slow down slightly when you've got to maneuver through harder to pass sections. Don't watch the life meter deplete but instead focus on getting to another clear run so you can build it right back up. Whenever I get fixated on the life meter, my game ends abruptly, so try and avoid that.

7. Bigger is better

Timberman: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats you need to know!

If you have an iPad, the extra screen real estate gives you a lot more room to tap the screen without your fingers obstructing some part of your view. I haven't touched the score I've racked up on my iPad on my iPhone and I think that's why. I just don't feel like I have the field of vision I do on the larger screen. So when you want to sit down and have a serious Timberman session, grab your iPad instead of your iPhone!

8. Use Do Not Disturb mode

With games like Timberman, it's very easy to get distracted and looking at the top of the screen to check a notification can mean game over a lot of the times. It's even worse if you use popup notifications. So next time you're in a groove and having good luck, try enabling Do Not Disturb mode so you can play uninterrupted.

Your favorite Timberman tips, hints, and cheats?

If you're as addicted to Timberman as we are, be sure to let us know of any tips, hints, cheats, or strategies you've found to be useful in the comments below! And if you'd like, let us know your highest score so far!

Allyson Kazmucha

iMore senior editor from 2011 to 2015.