ODDLOOP lives are the three hearts that keep an attempt going. A new round begins with three, and the LIVES strip shows how many remain while you play. Keeping one heart at the finish is part of passing the level, alongside meeting the score target.
The hearts are worth watching because a strong score does not replace them. You can reach the target and still lose the attempt by losing your final life before the round is complete.
What costs a life?
The central rule is to keep dangerous Burrs outside your rescue loops. If the catch includes one, it can cost you a heart. Watch the space inside the shape and leave a little room around the spikes when you choose your route.
Amber Burrs teach this lesson in Learn. They are not the later armed hunters, but they are still the wrong things to scoop up with the Churrs. Their calmer appearance is an opportunity to practise the distinction early.
Later, an armed Black Burr remains dangerous to catch. It is only after its spikes have been spent that the round helper can safely join a rescue. Learn to read that visible change before treating a former hunter as part of the group.
Your hearts and Churr damage are different
A hunter striking a Churr does not mean one of your hearts has automatically vanished. The Churr can carry spike damage, and further hits may pop it. Losing Churrs to attacks can take points away from the round score.
That gives you two things to protect: your lives and the faces that can become points. You might still have all three hearts while hunters are reducing the available catches around you. A good defence pays attention to the pond as well as the life strip.
Suppose a damaged Churr is drifting in a clear group. It can still be worth rescuing. A spike mark does not turn that Churr into a Burr, and catching it is different from enclosing the attacking Churr beside it.
Extra lives can restore a missing heart
Each new 20,000-point scoring milestone across your game can restore a missing life while a round is still active. The game shows a LIFE UP message when a missing heart is restored. Treat that visible confirmation as the useful signal that you have gained another chance.
The limit remains three lives. A milestone reached at full health does not create a fourth heart or bank an extra one for later. The reward also cannot restart an attempt after the final life has already been lost.
These milestones follow scoring progress across the game, rather than a promise that every replay of the same round awards another heart. You do not need a separate purchase or a visible game-total counter to use them. Keep making worthwhile catches and watch for the game's life-up confirmation.
Make the last heart count
When one life remains, simplify the next decision. Choose a group with a clear boundary. Protect an approach with an open herding line if it creates a better chance to catch. Leave a difficult face for another opening rather than dragging a nearly closed loop towards its spikes.
If you lose every heart, the attempt ends. The results card offers the route to try again; it does not erase the fact that you were learning the pond's movement. A new round gives you the three-heart starting point again.
Your first aim is to finish a rescue safely. Your next is to repeat that good decision often enough to reach the target with a heart left. Those small choices give three simple symbols their real importance.