Jackpotter

The court jester has one ambition, and it is not the throne. It is to put on the King's crown for exactly one second. The King naps standing up at the far end of the hall with his back turned, and he has excellent hearing. You hold anywhere to tiptoe forward and let go to freeze, and the whole game lives inside that one decision: how much further to push before he turns around.
He does give you a tell. The music stops, his shoulders twitch, and then he whips around, and anyone still moving is marched back to the start by a pair of doodle guards who take the job far too seriously. Later halls shorten the tell, add fake-outs where he twitches and does not turn at all, and set a royal bell running in the background. Finish before it rings and the hall is worth three stars.
Twenty halls, and their names tell you what you are walking into. Throne Hall and Velvet Steps are five seconds of nerve. Long Gallery and Mirror Walk stretch to six, Banquet Aisle and Candle Row to seven, Echo Corridor to eight, Guard Alley to a full nine seconds of held breath. Nobody is ever harmed in any of them, and the worst thing that happens to the King is a moment of royal embarrassment.
Then the game turns around. In the endless mode you are the one wearing the crown, and courtiers creep up behind you in three lanes, moving only while your back is turned. Tap to whirl, and anyone caught mid-step is escorted out. Between reigns sit twelve notes on real crowns and castles, three quiz formats and fourteen achievements, but the crown is what you keep coming back for.