Earn to Die Upgrade Guide: What the First Days Pay and What to Buy

Earn to Die gives you a fire truck, a map and no money. Your first few days decide how quickly the game opens up, and the obvious move (buy the most expensive part you can afford) is usually the wrong one. This guide covers the first three days of the version on our front page: what each run pays, what the garage sells, and what to buy in what order.

Before the first run

Press Play and you land on the map. The route runs from Forgotten Hills through Catus Ride and Red Canyon to Desert Dash, with a red X marking the goal far to the north-west. The Garage button top right takes you to the shop. The fire truck stands in the middle and seven upgrade slots run along the bottom, each with a price and a level bar.

At the start the prices are:

• Engine: $800
• Gearbox: $900
• Wheels: $500
• Spikes (the front armour): $1,000
• Gun: $2,000
• Boost: $1,300
• Fuel tank: $100

You start with $0, so press Go! and drive. The game shows one tip card before the first run: Up for acceleration, Left and Right to tilt. Click Ok.

Day 1: what a bare truck earns

Hold Up and do nothing else, and the truck climbs out of Forgotten Hills, runs into a small crowd of zombies and throws them over the bonnet. A bit further on it stalls on a slope. That was our first run. The Day Complete card paid $320 for distance and $360 for zombie hits, $680 in total.

Look at that split. On the first day, the zombies paid more than the road did. You earn more by aiming for the crowds than by avoiding them, and the truck is heavy enough that early zombies barely slow it down.

Day 2: the same road, a little money

Replay without buying anything and the run looks the same: we got $312 for distance and $345 for zombies, $657 in all. The bar on the card now has a red marker for your best distance, so you can see at a glance whether a run went further. Cash carries over. Our Day 3 garage opened with $1,273.

What to buy first

With $680 after Day 1, you can afford the wheels ($500), the fuel tank ($100) or both. You cannot afford the engine, the gearbox or anything that shoots. We would buy in this order:

1. Fuel tank. At $100 it is the cheapest item in the shop, and early runs end with the fuel gauge near empty. More fuel means more road, and road is money.
2. Wheels. At $500, better grip is what gets a heavy truck up the slope where it stalled on Day 1.
3. Engine or gearbox, whichever you can afford after Day 2 or 3. Both make the truck climb and hold speed.
4. Spikes, once zombie crowds start slowing you down instead of paying you.
5. Boost and gun last. At $1,300 and $2,000 they cost two or three early days of pay, and a truck that runs dry halfway gets little from either.

Driving well is free

Upgrades are only half of it. Whenever the truck leaves the ground, tap Left or Right so it lands on both axles; a nose-first landing costs the speed you need for the next hill. On a steep climb, lean forward with Right so the front wheels stay down. Do not brake for zombies. Hit them at speed.

Once the truck clears the first stops, the series guide explains how this version relates to the Flash originals on the shelf, and which one to try next.