A round is a countdown, a few careful steps, and a long still patch. This is the rulebook for the game on the home page.
Short version: Press play, wait out the Hide countdown, then drag only for a short hop. Release and let Camo finish before a cone arrives. Fireflies are ten points each. Stay unseen until the seek clock ends and you clear the round.
The Loop
The garden is a mosaic of coloured tiles. Your character wears a bright coral body while you steer, and it fades toward the tile underneath once you are still. Seekers patrol with a cone of light. If a cone sees a body that is still too vivid, the Alert meter climbs. Fill Alert and you lose a life.
| Phase | What happens | Can you move? |
|---|---|---|
| Hide | A short three-second countdown. Look at the fireflies and the tile under you. | No |
| Seek | The live clock runs. Fireflies sit on the mosaic as the reason to travel. | Yes |
| Clear | The clock reaches zero. You get a round bonus and the next round starts with a fresh Hide. | n/a |
Start a Run
- Press Play Mottle Game on the home page. The field loads only after that press.
- Tap the arena, press Play on the card, or hit Enter.
- Wait out Hide. Note where the fireflies are.
- When Seek begins, steer briefly toward one firefly.
- Release and let Camo finish. Repeat only when the cone has moved on.
Round one has a single Seeker. Later rounds add more, up to four, and their cones reach farther. The seek clock also lasts longer as rounds climb, so you are asked to stay calm for more time, not less.
Two Actions Do the Work
- Hold and drag to walk toward the pointer. Arrow keys or WASD work the same way.
- Release everything to stop. Camo then fills over roughly three quarters of a second.
Until the blend finishes you are still partly coral, and a cone can still feed Alert. Letting go when the light is already on you is usually too late. Release on the tile you mean to wear, with a margin. The full input list is on the Mottle Game controls page.
Camo and Alert
| Meter | What it tells you | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Camo | How finished the blend is | At 100% you match the ground. It does not rise while a button, finger or movement key is down. |
| Alert | How close this life is to ending | Climbs only while a cone sees a vivid body. Climbs faster if you are brighter, and a second cone adds more. Falls on its own when you are unseen. |
You can survive a graze if you blend and the light moves on before the bar fills. You cannot take a full second of being obvious in the middle of a cone.
Scoring and Lives
| Event | Result |
|---|---|
| Reach a firefly during Seek | +10 points |
| Clear the seek clock | +100 points x round number (even if fireflies remain) |
| Alert fills | Lose one life. The same round restarts after a new Hide. Points are kept. |
| Lives reach zero | The run ends. Score, best and rounds reached are shown. |
You start with three lives. Your best score is stored in this browser only. It is not an account and is not sent anywhere.
Your First Run
Ignore the high score the first time. Collect one nearby firefly, blend, and let the clock expire. That teaches the Camo delay better than a reckless sweep. On the second run, try a second firefly only after Alert has fallen and the cone points away. When you are caught, ask whether you were still moving or just not finished blending. They are different mistakes, and the tips and strategy page covers both.
Pause with Esc, P or the pause button. Leaving the tab also pauses the round.