My Pet
A free pet game that runs in your browser. Choose one of three creatures of our own and look after it: a snack, a bath, a game, a cuddle. It asks for things in a thought bubble and it is delighted by whatever you hand it. Nothing here can go wrong.
- Free
- No ads
- No account
- No download
- Works offline
- Single player
How do you play?
- Pick a creature - Pip, Mo or Tuli. Each one grows separately and keeps its own size.
- Read the bubble - The picture inside it is what the creature wants. The matching button wears a ring.
- Tap a button - A snack, a bath, a game or a cuddle. Tapping the creature itself is a cuddle too.
- Watch it grow - The bar underneath fills up. When it is full the creature grows and the drawing gains a part.
- Come back whenever - Everything is exactly where you left it. Nothing happens while you are away.
About this game
Tap a button. The creature enjoys it. That is the whole game.
The bubble over its head shows what it wants right now, and tapping the matching button is worth three points of care instead of one. Everything after that is arithmetic. The fifth and last size needs 80 points, so a child who grants every wish arrives there in 27 taps. We put the game's real rules in front of three bots, 2,000 runs each, to find out what happens when nobody is paying much attention. A bot poking one of the four buttons at random meets the wish 24.9% of the time and finishes in 53.8 taps. A bot that never looks at the bubble at all, and only ever strokes the creature, takes 79.5. Slower. It still reached full size, and it still collected seven coins along the way.
The creature cannot get sick, sad or hungry, and it has no way of knowing that a week went by. That is built rather than tuned. The rules file reads no clock and schedules nothing, so there is no mechanism by which the thing could come to need something while a child is at school. A pet that punishes a five-year-old for owning a tablet they do not control is not a warm toy, and this is meant to be a warm toy.
The limit, said plainly. The growing stops. At the fifth size the creature stops changing, the bar underneath it stays full, and taps carry on counting towards the record with nothing new appearing on screen. You can start that creature over and raise it again, and it is a lovely thing to do, but a growth is never paid for twice.
What does it teach?
Noticing somebody else
The bubble says what the creature wants, not what the child wants. It is a small daily exercise in paying attention.
Cause and effect
A tap moves the bar and a full bar brings a new size. The link is completely visible and takes a second to work out.
Sticking with it
Eighty points is a lot of taps. Nobody is hurrying, so a child sees that a thing can grow slowly and still grow.
Matching pictures
The picture in the bubble and the picture on the button are the same one. A child who cannot read finds that match alone.
Tips
Give it what it asked for
Three points instead of one, and a fresh bubble the moment it lands. That is the difference between 27 taps and nearly 80.
Do not make a thing of it
A tap that misses the wish costs nothing and takes nothing away. It is worth less, that is all, and the creature is exactly as pleased with it.
One creature at a time
Spreading care across all three is three beginnings and no ending. Take one to the fifth size, then open the next.
A bubble that will not change
The wish only moves on when you grant it. A bubble stuck on the same picture is telling you nothing has landed yet.
What age is it for?
2 to 3
The age this was built for. Nothing to read, nothing to lose, and every tap answers with something nice.
4 to 5
Where the bubble starts to matter. The second size arrives after three accurate taps, which is quick enough to feel the connection.
6 and up
Give them a target: all three creatures at full size. That is 81 accurate taps and a fair bit of patience.
Grown-ups
A game to keep a hand on during a conversation. There is no moment in it that demands attention right now.
Accessibility
One tap per action, with no dragging and no press-and-hold, so it works with alternative input devices and with a small hand that does not aim well yet. The four buttons are deliberately large, at least 2 by 2 centimetres on any screen, and the creature itself is a button as well. There is not a word anybody has to read: the request appears as a picture inside the bubble, and the same picture sits on the matching button with a ring around it. Nothing counts down and nothing on this screen has to be answered quickly. The whole game plays in silence without losing any information.
Playing together
Guess the bubble
Before the tap, ask what the creature wants. A small child answers that with a finger, and that is already a game.
One tap each
Take turns. Every request becomes a short conversation about what somebody else needs.
Give it your own name
Pip, Mo and Tuli have names and nobody is asking you to use them. A child who names it themselves tells you about it later.
Say what it did today
The creature remembers nothing, so the story is entirely yours. What it ate, where it went, why it is wet.
Common questions
Can the pet die or get sad?
No, and there is no way to make it happen. No hunger rises and no illness arrives, and leaving the game does nothing bad to it.
What happens if we do not open it for a week?
Nothing at all. The creature is exactly the size you left it, because the rules have no way of knowing that any time passed.
How many taps does it take to grow it fully?
27 if you give it what it asks for every time. 53.8 on average with random taps, and 79.5 if you never look at the bubble. All three get there.
What happens once it reaches the last size?
It stops changing. Taps go on counting towards the record and coins go on arriving, but there is no sixth size and no new drawing to see.
Can you do it wrong?
No. Across all 320,541 taps we simulated, not one was refused. A tap that does not match the wish is simply worth less.
How many pets are there?
Three: Pip, Mo and Tuli. Each grows separately and keeps its own record, so you can raise one and save the other two for another day.
Is it free?
Yes. No payment, no in-game purchases, and no bigger paid version.
Are there ads?
None. No banners, and nothing that plays between levels.
Do I need to download or sign up?
No. It runs in the browser, and after one visit it is stored on the device and works offline.
What age is it for?
About two and up. There is no word to read and no way to lose, so a child who cannot talk yet plays alone.
How is the record measured?
By the biggest this creature has ever grown, kept separately for each one. It only ever goes up and it cannot be taken away.