Ghost Game

Ghost Game is a cute, not-scary haunted-house puzzle. You play a friendly little ghost getting a big old house ready for a sleepover: light every candle, put the lost toys and books back where they belong, and do it all without being caught in the flashlight beams of the sleepy guests. Play Ghost Game free online in your browser, with no download or sign-up, on desktop, Chromebook or phone.

How to play

Each room is a small top-down grid. It’s turn-based, so nothing moves until you do.

• Move one tile at a time. Use the arrow keys or WASD, swipe on the board, tap a tile next to the ghost, or use the on-screen arrows on a touch screen.
• Float through thin walls. Dashed walls are thin, and the ghost slips straight through them. Solid walls stop you. Items, guests and light can’t.
• Possess items to move them. Float into a teddy, book, pillow, lamp or toy blocks to possess it and nudge it one tile ahead. Items follow push rules: you can only push, never pull, and an item stops at walls, thin walls, guests and other items.
• Put every item in its place. Glowing dashed outlines show where lost items belong. Any item fits any place.
• Light every candle. Float onto a candle to light it. A room is finished when every candle is lit and every place is filled.

Sleepy guests and flashlights

The guests are sleepy kids in sleeping bags, and each one holds a flashlight. After every move you make, each guest takes one step along its patrol or turns its head. If your move ends with the ghost inside a yellow beam, or a guest walks right into you, you’re spotted. One press of Undo puts you back.

• Beams widen by one tile on each side every two tiles and reach two to seven tiles, depending on the guest.
• Walls, thin walls and items all block light, so you can hide behind a teddy or push a pillow into a beam to make a shadow to hide in.
• Faint footprints show each guest’s patrol route, and dotted yellow outlines show where the beams will reach after your next move.
• A guest who finds an item in their path waits until it moves.

Stars and progress

There are 24 handcrafted rooms. Every room has a par: the fewest moves that clear it, worked out by a solver that checks every possible move. Finish in par or fewer for three stars, a few moves over for two, and anything else for one. Clearing a room unlocks the next, your stars are saved in your browser, and you can replay any unlocked room from the room select.

Tips

• Look before you push. An item pushed into a corner or against a wall can’t be pulled back out. Press Z to undo.
• Use thin walls to get behind items. Since you can float through thin walls and items can’t, the quickest way to push something left is often to slip through a thin wall and come at it from the other side.
• Count the turns. Guests repeat the same pattern forever. Watch a rotating guest for a full cycle and you’ll know exactly how many moves you have before the beam swings back.
• Waiting is a move too. There is no pass button, but stepping back and forth on a safe tile lets a patrol walk past. It costs moves, so plan where you’ll wait.
• Make your own shadows. If a beam covers a candle, look for an item you can push into the beam’s path first.

FAQ

Is Ghost Game scary?

No. It’s a gentle puzzle game with a smiling ghost, sleepy kids in nightcaps and soft sound effects. There are no jump scares and nothing gory, so it’s fine for younger players.

Can every room be solved?

Yes. Every one of the 24 rooms was checked with a breadth-first solver that searched every possible sequence of moves, and the solver’s shortest solution sets the room’s par for three stars.

What happens when a guest spots me?

The room pauses with a Spotted message. Press Undo (Z) to take back your last move and try a different route, or Restart (R) to start the room over.

Does it work on phones and Chromebooks?

Yes. On a phone or tablet, swipe on the board, tap a tile next to the ghost or use the on-screen arrows. The board won’t scroll the page while you play. On a laptop or Chromebook, use the arrow keys or WASD.

Want more spooky fun? Try our Halloween Game, a platformer with a Halloween theme, or push crates in classic Sokoban if you liked moving the toys around.