Pebble Putt

What is Pebble Putt?

Pebble Putt is a cozy mini golf game where the course is a string of tiny islands. You play with a flat river pebble, and that's the trick: a pebble that hits the water fast enough skips like a stone on a pond. A slow one goes plop. Most holes can be played the safe way around, or straight across the water if you trust your skip.

It's free and plays in your browser on phone, tablet or computer, no download needed.

How to play

Each hole has a tee, a cup and a par. Pull back to aim, let go to shoot, and try to sink the pebble in as few strokes as you can.

Controls on phone and computer

On a touch screen or with a mouse, drag back anywhere on the screen, like pulling a slingshot, and let go. The pebble flies the opposite way you dragged, and the further you pull, the harder the shot. On a keyboard, Left and Right turn your aim, Up and Down set the power, and holding Shift makes both move slowly for fine adjustments. Space or Enter shoots. P or Esc pauses and M mutes.

Skipping and plopping

If the pebble touches water while it's still moving quickly, it skips. Roughly a third of full power is the line. Each skip keeps about 80 percent of the pebble's speed, so a hard shot can skip several times before it slows down. If it reaches water too slowly, or flies off the edge of the map, it plops. That costs you a penalty stroke, and the pebble goes back to the spot you last shot from on dry land.

Sinking it

The cup pulls a slow pebble in when it rolls close. Come in too fast and it lips out, spinning off to one side. A firm, rolling putt is better than a blast at the hole.

What's on the course

Modes and scoring

Tour

Eighteen hand-made holes, from Shore Thing and First Skip through Sandy Bend, Rail Run, Lily Pond, Stepping Stones, Log Ride, Stone Gate, Frog Crossing, Turtle Lane, Low Tide, Double Skip, Gate Garden, Bumper Bay, Log Jam, Moon Lagoon and Tide Pools to the par 5 Grand Tour. Each hole opens after you play the one before it. Your best score on each hole earns stars:

That's 54 stars in all. You get 12 strokes on a Tour hole before it ends for you.

Daily Course

Nine new holes every day, the same for everyone, and each one is a little harder than the last. Your score is your total strokes, compared to the course par. Each hole caps at par plus five. It changes at midnight UTC, you can replay it, and playing on back to back days builds a streak.

Endless Islands

A survival mode on random holes. You start with a small bank of spare strokes, and each new hole adds its par to the bank (one less than par once you're past the eighth hole). Every stroke and penalty comes out of the bank. A hole in one adds 2 strokes back and a Skipper adds 1. When the bank hits zero, the run ends. Your score is the number of holes you sank.

Pebbles to unlock

There are 13 pebbles to collect. They change the look and trail, not how the pebble plays.

A Skipper is any shot that skips three times.

Tips and strategy

• Commit to the skip. The most common miss is a shot that's almost fast enough. If water is in the way, hit it firmly. A pebble that skips too far is usually one easy putt from the cup. A pebble that plops is a penalty stroke.
• Plan where it lands, not just where it skips. A skip carries the pebble through the air for a moment, and the faster it's going, the longer the hop. Aim so the last skip comes down on grass rather than sand or more water.
• Sand is a brake you can use. Landing on sand soaks up most of the pebble's speed. On a long skip shot, a sand patch near the cup can stop you right where you want to be.
• Bank off rails on purpose. Holes like Rail Run are much shorter if you hit the wooden rail at an angle instead of going around it.
• Go slow near the cup. The cup grabs slow pebbles from a little way out, and fast ones bounce off the lip. Lay up and tap it in.
• Watch moving parts for one full cycle. Gates, logs, frogs and tide flats all repeat. Watch one round before you shoot, then time it.
• Use Shift on a keyboard. Fine aim with Shift held down is the easiest way to repeat the exact power of a shot that nearly worked.
• In Endless, chase Skippers. Each one gives a stroke back, and holes in one give two. A bank that grows early carries you through the harder holes later.
• Know your safe spot. After a plop you go back to where you last shot from on land. If you're on a log, that might be a long way back, so think twice before risky shots from a moving log.

Questions