Playing Fireboy and Watergirl With a Friend: Co-op Tips for One Keyboard

Fireboy and Watergirl is at its best with two people squeezed around one laptop. It is also, for many friends, the game where they discover they are not very good at working together. Here is how to make co-op smooth and fun.

Sort out the keyboard first

One player takes the arrow keys and plays Fireboy. The other takes W, A and D and plays Watergirl. On a small Chromebook keyboard it helps to sit so the Watergirl player is on the left and the Fireboy player is on the right, which matches the keys. Click inside the game once before you start so it receives both sets of key presses.

Talk before you move

The most useful habit is a few seconds of planning at the start of each room. Point at the screen and agree on the basics: which door is whose, where the buttons are, and who needs to go first. A room that feels chaotic when you both run in usually becomes simple once you have said the plan out loud.

Use simple calls

• "Hold." Stay on the button until I say.
• "Go." I am in position — move now.
• "Wait." Do not move, I need a second.
• "Swap." Let's change who goes first.

Short words work better than long explanations when the lift is already moving.

One moves, one waits

Most rooms are solved in turns. While one hero crosses, the other holds a button or waits somewhere safe. The waiting player's job is just as important: stay still, stay on the button, and watch the hazards for your partner.

Remember the element rule

It sounds obvious, but in the heat of a room people forget. Fireboy goes through red, Watergirl through blue, and nobody touches green. If the Watergirl player keeps dying in lava, it is worth saying "blue is yours" before each room for a while.

Handling a room you cannot solve

1. Stop and look again. Describe the room to each other out loud.
2. Swap who goes first. Often the answer is simply the other order.
3. Look for a box. Boxes can stand in for a player on a button.
4. Try another branch. The map lets you play a different room and come back.

Keep it friendly

Deaths happen to both players, and a restart is instant. Agree that nobody apologises and nobody blames — just restart and try the plan again. The best co-op teams laugh at their failures and celebrate reaching the doors together.

Where to go next

When you have finished the Forest Temple together, the Light, Ice and Crystal Temples and Elements are on this site. For a change, the co-op shelf has Duo Vikings, Bad Ice Cream and Up Together, and if you want to play against each other instead, try 12 MiniBattles or Basket Random.