Moon Game

Moon Game is a free moon explorer for your browser with three parts: a Moon phases lab, a low-gravity rover drive across real places on the Moon, and a Moon quiz. It works on a phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer with touch, mouse or keyboard, and there is nothing to download. Your stars and progress save in your browser.

How to play

Pick a part from the start screen or the tabs at the top. There are 42 stars to collect in total.

• Phases Lab: the big diagram looks down on Earth from above, with sunlight coming from the right. Drag the Moon around its orbit and the side panel shows how it looks from Earth at that spot, with the phase name, the percent lit and the day of the cycle. You can also step one day at a time or press Play to watch a month go by.
• Order: eight phase pictures are shuffled. Tap them in order, starting with New Moon: new, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, last quarter and waning crescent. No mistakes earns 3 stars.
• Match: you see a phase picture, and the view from Earth is hidden. Drag the Moon to the spot in its orbit where it would look like that, then press Check. Five rounds per game.
• 7 days: the game shows tonight’s Moon and four pictures. Pick what the Moon will look like in about a week. Five rounds per game.
• Moon Rover: hold Drive to roll forward and Back to slow down or reverse. Gravity is about 1/6 of Earth’s, so the rover floats over crater rims and drifts back down. Collect the 5 rock samples on each drive and reach the finish flag before the battery runs out. There are 10 short drives, and each one unlocks the next.
• Moon Quiz: 10 multiple-choice questions, each with a short explanation after you answer.

What you will learn about the Moon

The Moon makes no light of its own. Moonlight is sunlight reflected off its surface, and half of the Moon is always lit. The phase you see depends on how much of that sunlit half faces Earth. At new Moon, the Moon sits between Earth and the Sun, so the lit half faces away. At full Moon, it is on the far side of Earth from the Sun, so the whole lit half faces us. A full cycle of phases takes about 29.5 days.

In the lab, an orange dot marks the Moon’s near side. It always points at Earth, because the Moon is tidally locked: it turns once on its axis in the same time it takes to orbit Earth. That is why we always see the same face.

The rover drives visit four real places. The Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed on July 20, 1969, is a mare: a dark plain of basalt from ancient lava. Copernicus crater is about 93 km across, with terraced walls and central peaks. Oceanus Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms, is the largest mare and is where Apollo 12 landed in November 1969. Tycho crater is about 85 km wide, and its bright rays are easy to spot at full Moon.

Tips

• Count in quarters. Seven days is about a quarter of the 29.5-day cycle, so the Moon moves two steps along the eight phases. A waxing crescent becomes a waxing gibbous, and a first quarter becomes a full Moon.
• Find the lit side. From the Northern Hemisphere, a waxing Moon is lit on the right and a waning Moon on the left. The North button switches the view to the Southern Hemisphere, where the sides are reversed.
• Ease off near samples. At full speed the rover can float right over a sample sitting in a crater bowl. Hold Back while in the air to slow down, so you come down closer to the sample.

FAQ

Is Moon Game free?

Yes. It is free to play with no account and nothing to install.

Does it work on phones and Chromebooks?

Yes. Drag the Moon with your finger, and hold the big Drive and Back buttons (or touch the right or left side of the scene) to steer the rover. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys or A and D.

Can I pause?

Press P or Esc, or use the Pause button, during a rover drive or while the month animation plays. The game also pauses if you switch tabs.

Is this a landing game?

No. There is no fuel or landing. The rover is already on the ground, and the drives are about exploring craters and maria and collecting samples.

Want to try landing on the Moon yourself? Play Moon Lander. To see where the Moon fits among the planets, open Solar System Explorer.