---
title: "Swinging rope"
package: "@phaser-ae/rope-swing"
tier: Free
version: 3.0.0-1
released: 2026-10-19
updated: 2026-10-19
description: "A swinging rope for any body on a 2D physics world: a ninja rope that wraps round corners, a grappling hook, or a grapple arm that climbs ledges."
url: https://phaser.io/packs/rope-swing
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
---

# Swinging rope

A rope for a body to fire and swing on, on a `physics-2d` world: a ninja rope that wraps round corners, a grappling
hook, or a straight grapple arm that climbs ledges. The body, the world and its walking and jumping are your game's;
this is the rope.

## What it does

You create a rope for a body with `game.ropeSwing.create(world, body, options)`, giving it the surfaces it may hook and
wrap round, the same shapes as the world's static bodies. `fire(target)` sends the rope towards a point and hooks the
first hookable surface along the line within range. The body then hangs on a one-sided joint to the rope's last bend,
so the rope pulls only when it is taut: the body swings as a real pendulum, and flies on with its momentum when you
`release()`. `reel` pulls it in or lets it out at a speed you set.

As the body swings, the rope wraps round the corners of the convex surfaces it sweeps past and unwraps as it swings
back, so it can loop round a pillar and hang from the far side. That is the classic ninja rope. Turn wrapping off and
it is a straight grapple arm instead, which lets go when terrain crosses it; give it a `mantle` reach and a hook on the
top of a ledge climbs the body up over the edge.

Call `step(dt)` after each world step. The rope reports what happened as events (hook, miss, wrap and unwrap with the
corner, release, jam, mantle), and `line()` returns its polyline from the hook through each bend to the body, for your
game to draw.

## Features

- **Fire and hook** — the first hookable surface along the line within `range`; a miss lets go of the old rope.
- **A real pendulum** — the body swings on the physics world and keeps its momentum on release.
- **Corner wrapping** — wraps round convex surfaces and boxes as it swings and unwraps on the way back, up to `bends`
  corners.
- **Reel in and pay out** — at `reelSpeed`, down to the `shortest` length, with paying out optional.
- **Mantling** — with a `mantle` reach, a hook on a ledge's top climbs the body over it in `mantleTime`.
- **Two presets** — `ninja` (range 420, wraps, pays out) and `grapple` (range 340, straight, reels in only, mantles
  within 64).
- **Events and a line** — everything that happened since the last `drain()`, and the rope's polyline to draw.
- **Geometry helpers** — `segmentEnters` and `surfaceCorners`, the tests it uses itself.

## Good for

- **Rope-swinging platformers and courses** — swing across pits and gaps; `ninja-rope-2d` is a course game built on
  it.
- **Artillery games with a ninja rope** — a rope that wraps round the terrain, in the style of Worms.
- **Grappling-hook action games** — fire, reel in and pull up onto ledges with the grapple preset.
- **Climbing games** — reach a ledge, mantle over it, and fire again.

## Make it yours

Each rope takes its options when it is made; the pack has none of its own. Start from a preset and change any part:
`range`, `shortest`, `reelSpeed`, `wrap`, `payOut`, `mantle`, `mantleTime` and `bends`, plus the `surfaces` it may
hook, any of which can be marked as not hookable.

Two different uses: a ninja rope with wrapping and paying out on and a long range, for a character swinging round a
cave of pillars and letting out rope to drop lower; and a grapple arm with wrapping off, reeling in only, and a
`mantle` reach of 64, for a platformer hero who hooks the top of a ledge and climbs onto it.

## A quick look

A ninja rope fired, reeled with the keys, stepped after the world and released:

```ts
const rope = game.ropeSwing.create(world, runner, { ...game.ropeSwing.presets.ninja, surfaces });
rope.fire({ x: aimX, y: aimY });             // hooks the first hookable surface along the line, within range
game.step('rope', dt => {
    rope.reel(keys.up ? 1 : keys.down ? -1 : 0, dt);
    world.step(dt);
    rope.step(dt);                           // after the world: wrap, unwrap, set the length
    for (const e of rope.drain()) if (e.kind === 'wrap') clink();
});
rope.release();                              // flies on with its momentum
```

## Works with

- `physics-2d` — the world and the body the rope swings: a headless world, or the game's own.
- `ninja-rope-2d` — rope-swinging courses with gates, hazards and a goal, built on this pack.
- `physics-rope` — for ropes with weight that hang, drape and are cut.

## Good to know

- The rope is straight between bends and has no weight of its own: it is a tether, not a hanging rope, which is
  `physics-rope`.
- Wrapping is found from the corners the rope sweeps over in a step, so a rope swinging very fast past a thin surface
  can wrap a step late.
- Surfaces are convex polygons and boxes.
- The body is pulled straight towards its last bend: it does not slide round a corner it touches; the rope does.

---

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