Hamster Maze

Hamster Maze starts with choosing your hamster: six round little hamsters in golden, cream, grey, panda, cinnamon and cocoa, named with letter tiles. Its home is a wide cage with soft bedding, a wheel that squeaks when it runs, a water bottle, a food bowl, a sand bath, a hidey house and a chew stick. Six needs drift slowly, food, water, play, clean, rest and cuddles, and every bit of care is something you do with your hands: drag the seed bag to pour seeds into the bowl, fill the bottle with the jug, sprinkle fresh bedding across the floor, rub the hamster to pet it, tap the wheel to start a run or tap the house to tuck it in.

An in-game clock runs from morning to night. Like a real hamster, yours is sleepier by day and busiest at dusk, but it always wakes gently with a yawn and a stretch when you come to care for it. Nothing bad ever happens: the worst it gets is a sleepy or wistful face, and a minute of care brings the smile back. Come back after a while away and you get a missed-you welcome, and every daily visit adds a sticker to the book. Care earns hearts and mazes earn stars, and both unlock tube colours, wheel designs, a second storey, new hidey houses and little hats. Nothing is for sale.

The Maze Workshop is the brain half. In thirty puzzles some tube pieces are already fixed and you drag in the missing straights, bends, junctions, slides and loops to link the cage door to the treat, then press Go and follow your hamster through bubble rooms and seed rooms with happy squeaks. Each puzzle has three stars: linked, every seed room visited, and no more pieces than par. There is no fail state, a half-built maze still makes a fun run, and an endless Build mode lets you design your own. A gentle music box plays along, your hamster is saved in your browser, and it is a calm little place to relax.