Rodeo Stampede

Rodeo Stampede is the kind of game that dropkicks you into chaos and politely asks you to build a zoo afterward. It starts with you, a ten-gallon-hat-wearing madman, leaping from buffalo to giraffe to elephant across an endless stampede of animal mayhem. Each ride is a barely controlled tumble through procedurally generated pandemonium, where the only thing keeping you from being flattened by a rock or eaten by an alligator is your trusty lasso and your questionable judgment.

What starts as a flashy Crossy Road cousin quickly morphs into something deeper, every animal you ride behaves differently, bucks harder, and throws unique curveballs into your runs. Giraffes launch you. Elephants bulldoze everything. Hippos? Recharge in swamps. Flaming buffalo? Well, they’re literally on fire. And once you befriend a beast by surviving its tantrum, you can show it off in your floating zoo-ship, open the gates for coin-loving visitors, and slowly build an airborne Noah’s Ark of weird, wonderful wildlife.

There’s real strategy here, too. Jumping too often makes your lasso reticle shrink, forcing you to gamble distance versus safety. And the deeper into each biome you go, the weirder things get, swampy jungles, camouflaged gators, and a psychedelic elephant named Psychedeliphant are just a few highlights.

Sure, the zoo bits are light, and the monetization shows its free-to-play seams now and then. But the heart? Solid gold.

Rodeo Stampede is a chaotic, clever, endlessly replayable arcade ride that ropes you in, and refuses to let go. Yeehaw.