Tap to plant your pole, tap again at vertical to release. Clear the bar — it rises every time you do.
An athlete runs across the track carrying a pole. A bar stands ahead. You get two taps per attempt.
First tap — plant the pole. The runner must be inside the green plant zone on the track. Tap too early or too late and the attempt fails.
Second tap — release. The planted pole pivots upward in an arc, carrying the runner over. Tap when the pole is closest to vertical (the green release window). Tap before vertical and you don't have enough lift; tap after and you've already dropped.
Clear the bar with your release power and you score a point. The bar rises a notch for the next attempt.
Missing the plant, missing the release, or failing to clear the bar each cost one of your three lives.
Plant the pole, don't plant the runner. The green zone is wide on the early attempts, so don't panic-tap as soon as you see the bar coming up — wait until the runner is comfortably inside the zone. Early taps are the most common life loss.
The vertical release window is symmetric around dead-center. The pole sweeps through it in about a third of a second, which is plenty if you watch for the moment, not the position. Look at the angle of the pole, not at the runner — the pole tells you when it's about to be straight up.
Clearance is determined entirely by release timing. Perfect vertical gives full lift; ten degrees off, and you'll clear a low bar but not a high one. As the bar rises past ten or twelve points, you need closer-and-closer-to-perfect releases — half-second of inattention costs the run.
The plant zone shrinks as the score climbs. By score fifteen the green band is narrow and the runner is moving fast — your eye has to track the runner, not the bar. Pre-commit to the plant, then re-focus on the pole for the release.