Swing Paint
A relaxing pattern game with a sand pendulum. Set the lengths of its two strings and the direction of the push, let it swing, and watch the trickle of sand draw loops and figure eights. Match the chalk pattern on the floor.
Play nowHow to play
Controls
TapDragKeyboard←→↑↓- A pendulum full of sand hangs over the floor, and a target pattern is drawn there in dashed chalk. The pendulum hangs from two strings: one sets how fast it swings side to side, the other how fast it swings front to back.
- Use + and - to set each length from 1 to 6. Equal lengths draw lines, ellipses and circles; different lengths draw loops, the more different the more loops.
- Then pick the push direction with the four arrows: it decides where in the swing the two motions line up. Press SWING and the sand draws your pattern while the swing slowly dies down.
- The match score compares your drawing with the chalk; 80% or more completes the pattern. First try gives three stars, within three tries two stars.
About the game
Swing Paint is a gentle puzzle about a toy that has fascinated people for centuries: a pendulum that leaks sand as it swings. Hung from two strings in a Y shape, it can swing side to side and front to back at different speeds at the same time, and the sand left behind traces beautiful curves, circles, figure eights and many-looped knots, all slowly spiralling inward as the swing loses energy.
Each pattern starts with a chalk drawing on the floor, and your job is to recreate it. There is no aiming and no timing, only understanding. When the two strings are the same length, the two swings keep pace and the result is a line or an ellipse; when one string is four times as long as the other, one swing runs at half the speed of the other and a figure eight appears; other ratios make their own families of loops. The push direction changes which shape of that family you get: a slanted line or a round circle, a closed eight or an open smile. You can always experiment and watch the sand, but a careful look at the chalk, counting the lobes along each side, usually tells you the answer before the first swing.
Free to play in your browser. No download, no sign-up. Works on phones, tablets and computers. Your progress is saved on this device.
