Subway Surfers is an "endless running" mobile game co-developed by Kiloo, a private company based in Denmark and SYBO Games. The game displays colourful, whimsical design and a fast pace. It is available on Android and iOS platforms. Players of the game take the role of youthful hooligans who, caught in the act of applying graffiti to a metro railway site, take off down the tracks to escape the inspector. As the hooligan avatars run they grab gold coins out of the air while simultaneously dodging collisions with railway cars and other objects.
Subway Surfers launched in 2012 with updates based on seasonal holidays. Since January 2013 updates have ben based on a "World Tour" theme that places game action in a new city each month. Cities featured the first year included New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Rome, Tokyo, Miami, Paris, Beijing, Moscow and New Orleans .
The object of the game is to run one's hooligan character as far as possible through an endless game world by avoiding randomly generated obstacles that require the player to either jump (slide finger forward), duck (slide finger backwards) and/or dodge the oncoming trains (slide finger laterally) in a precise manner with the help of occasional power-ups. Gameplay takes place in graphical 3-D perspective. Player characters collect coins as they run; occasionally they surf on hoverboards, jump over or roll under objects, soar over the train tracks, and even run along overhead wires. Special missions reward players with bonuses for accomplishing precise tasks. Upon a wipeout, characters occasionally appear to smash into the screen. This fourth wall gag has predecessors in Crash Bandicoot and the 1999 Pepsiman videogame on PlayStation.
Since January 2013 the game's monthly update features a new city as a setting. The differences are mainly graphic, as the gameplay remains much the same. Weekly city-themed "treasure hunts" earn special bonuses. Each new city installment introduces a new character who is native to the locale, and a new hoverboard bearing a design suggestive of the local culture. Both items are made available for in-game "purchase" with harvested gold coins for only a limited time, but they remain as permanent items in the player's collection. The game makes whimsical use of tourist stereotypes. The Paris version, for example, introduced a street mime character, a tricolour hoverboard based on the French flag, and souvenir hunts for miniature Eiffel towers.
As with many free tablet/mobile games, Subway Surfers is "optionally free by default". Players can advance unhindered in the game without making online payments of real money. Online purchases enable interested users to customize the experience more easily and build reserves of virtual currency. Two forms of virtual currency are used for in-game purchases: gold coins (abundant) and blue keys (scarce).