ZDNET's key takeaways

• Roku's new game lets you fly a spaceship through Roku City.
• The game features iconic landmarks and Easter Eggs.
• You play using your Roku remote.

The next time you turn on your Roku TV to find something to watch, you might get wrapped up in an impromptu gaming session instead.

On Monday, Roku launched a new interactive game that you can play straight from your home screen called Roku City Dash. If you're a fan of Roku City, this is one you'll want to see. 

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The game is set in Roku City, the famous screensaver that's adorned Roku products since 2018, and features iconic buildings from past iterations, Easter eggs, and more. All of your favorites are here, including the volcano, sea monster, robot attacking the city, and lighthouse. The objective is simple: keep a spaceship flying for as long as you can (my current high score is 568, if you want to compete).

How to play

If you remember the viral Flappy Bird craze from about a decade ago, the gameplay will be very familiar. You use your Roku remote to play: Just press the up button that bounces your spaceship from its current position. You can't move backward or forwards, or even up and down; you can only bounce. The game gets faster as you go, and ends when you crash your ship, either into the Roku City skyline below, randomly placed magnets hanging from above, or other spacecraft heading in your direction.

On more than one occasion, I had a good game run end because my eye drifted to something in the background instead of focusing on the incoming obstacles. If you just want to sightsee, I found that if you wait at the very beginning when the game tells you to "Press ^ to jump," you can see everything without having to worry about keeping your spacecraft aloft. 

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It's fairly easy to get to the 200-point threshold, but things quickly ramp up from there -- to get much farther, you'll have to skirt sea monster tentacles and water towers. 

The game is pretty simple, so it's not one you're going to spend a ton of time on. Still, if you live in a competitive household, I can definitely see families spending far too much time trying to top each other's high scores. 

How to try it 

To get started playing, look for the Roku City Dash ad on your home screen. Click on it, download the app, and you're all set. Once it's downloaded, open the app with the play/pause button from your home screen. Additionally, you can access it from your TV's Roku City screensaver.