Six investment axes · every claim carries its source

Scarlet Skips upgrades

Steam says there are 10 upgrade cards and names three of their effects, but has published none of the card names. Below are the six axes players actually name in public guides and runs, what each one does, and the order one published ~200,000-point run was built in — with a label on every row saying how well sourced it is.

  • 6Named upgrade axes
  • 10Upgrade cards, per Steamdata.about_the_game · via Steam API
  • 0/10Card names published (none yet)
#what-steam-says

What Steam actually says

Quoted rather than paraphrased, so you can see exactly where the developer stops and our summary begins.

Level up and choose from 3 random power-ups in a completely original Rogue-Like upgrade system

10 upgrade cards; Increase your jump height, add a jump-rope, set it on FIRE?!

Scarlet Skips store page, data.about_the_game — retrieved via the Steam API and pinned by sha256 in docs/prd/facts.json.

That is the entire published record: a count, a pick-three mechanic, and three example effects. Everything below this line comes from players, and says so.

#axes

The six upgrade axes

These are things you invest in repeatedly across a run, not individual cards. The badge on each one grades the effect described, not whether the upgrade exists — several are in Steam’s own copy while the mechanic attributed to them rests on a single player’s guide.

  1. Jump height

    Official

    Steam lists this outright: "Increase your jump height".

    Why it mattersPlayers report the consequence that matters: a higher jump means more rope loops pass underneath before you land, and the high-score guide treats this as one of the two things worth grinding first because loops-per-jump feeds every other system. Steam says none of that — only that the upgrade exists.

    Source: Steam store page · Steam guide — "Strategy to Get a High Score" by TheWeirdNoob
  2. Luck

    Single source

    Raises how often an upgrade is offered — high enough, and several arrive inside a single jump.

    Why it mattersOne guide describes the offer-rate effect; a second, Spanish-language guide only says luck affects which cards you get. We label this single-source because those are different claims and only one of them supports the sentence above.

    Source: Steam guide — "Strategy to Get a High Score" by TheWeirdNoob · Steam guide — "Como jugar este juego de manera eficiente" by NeKraRy
  3. Rocket boots / rocket fuel

    Single source

    Hold the button in mid-air to burn fuel and keep rising. One guide reports that the fuel gauge refills every time you receive an upgrade.

    Why it mattersThe refill-on-upgrade behaviour is the most important claim on this site and rests on one guide. A second player independently describes stacking rocket-fuel pickups to stay airborne, which is consistent with it but does not confirm the refill mechanism itself.

    Source: Steam guide — "Strategy to Get a High Score" by TheWeirdNoob · YouTube — "Scarlet Skips to Space" by Asha The Crocodile · Steam guide — "How to get the 'Off To A Great Start' badge" by punchesfruit
  4. Add a jump-rope

    Official

    Steam lists this outright: "add a jump-rope".

    Why it mattersMore ropes turning at once means more scoring chances per jump and more that can break — that framing is the guides’, not Steam’s. Counter-intuitively, the high-score guide recommends staying at 2–4 ropes early: extra ropes are a liability until upgrades arrive fast enough to replace what you break.

    Source: Steam store page · Steam guide — "Strategy to Get a High Score" by TheWeirdNoob
  5. Jump rope speed

    Single source

    Speeds up the turning ropes, raising loops per second. Not named in Steam’s copy — this one comes from the guides.

    Why it mattersA late-game axis in the sources that mention it. One guide reports it appears to cap out, though that is a player’s impression, not a published number.

    Source: Steam guide — "Strategy to Get a High Score" by TheWeirdNoob
  6. Set it on FIRE

    Single source

    Steam lists the upgrade outright — "set it on FIRE?!" — but does not say what it does. One guide reports a burning rope is worth more score.

    Why it mattersLabelled single-source because that is what grades the effect: Steam establishes the upgrade exists, and exactly one guide says the effect is a score increase. The second guide mentions fire ropes without describing what they do, which is not a second source for this claim.

    Source: Steam store page · Steam guide — "Strategy to Get a High Score" by TheWeirdNoob · Steam guide — "How to get the 'Off To A Great Start' badge" by punchesfruit

Ropes can also be reinforced rather than added — the high-score guide keeps a small reinforced set instead of a large fragile one. Source: Steam guide — "Strategy to Get a High Score" by TheWeirdNoob

#order

What to take first

One player published a route that reached roughly 200,000 points and wrote down the order they invested in. This is that order — one route we could find, not a proven optimum, and the game is two days old.

Investment order, from a published high-score route
PhaseSpend onHold off on
EarlyJump height, luckExtra ropes — stay at 2–4 and reinforce them
MidRocket boots, then rope speed and more ropesFire ropes — score scaling before the loop is stable is wasted
LateFire ropes, more ropes, more rocket bootsLuck and rope speed — the guide’s author believes both cap out

“I think luck and jump rope speed cap out at some point” is the guide author’s own hedge, reproduced here rather than stated as fact. No cap value has been published.

#see-them

See the cards for yourself

Since no card list exists yet, the fastest way to actually read the upgrade text is unedited footage. Long unedited footage — the closest thing to reading the ten upgrade cards yourself before buying.

Scarlet Skips — 55 Minute Gameplay [PC Ultrawide] — YouTube channel justonegamr. ID verified via YouTube oEmbed on 2026-09-04.Source: YouTube — "Scarlet Skips - 55 Minute Gameplay [PC Ultrawide]" by justonegamr

Next: turn these into infinite height

One guide reports that rocket fuel refills every time you receive an upgrade. Stack luck and jump height high enough and that becomes a loop you never fall out of.

Read the infinite-height loop