Putt Park

Putt Park is top-down mini golf you play with one finger or one hand. Pull back from the ball to set the line and the power, watch the dotted line show you where the first bounce lands, and let go. The ball rolls, banks off the walls, kicks off the bumpers and slows on the felt exactly the way you expect it to, so every miss teaches you something about the next shot.

The nine holes are hand-built rather than generated. A short straight opener eases you in, then the course starts asking questions: a blind bend that has to be banked, a steel bar you must putt around, a pond that swallows anything short, boost pads that fling the ball down a long dog-leg, a four-bladed windmill you have to time, sliding barriers that only open on one side at a time, and a pair of tunnels that cut a corner off the last two holes. Roll into the water and the ball goes back where you played it with a stroke added, so the safe line is often the fast one.

Every hole has a par and the scorecard follows you between holes: birdies in green, dropped shots in orange, and the round total against par at the bottom. Hole out from the tee and the course says so. Your best round is saved in your browser. Touch, mouse and keyboard all work, the camera fits each hole to your screen in portrait or landscape, P pauses and M mutes.