Pumpkin Carving Game

This pumpkin game lets you carve a jack-o’-lantern in your browser, with no mess and no real knife. Pick a pumpkin, cut a face with a freehand knife or ready-made stamps, then light the candle and watch every cut glow against the night sky. For a challenge, Contest mode gives you a judge who asks for a different face eight times and scores how closely you match it. It is free, with nothing to install, and works with a mouse or a finger.

How to play

• Pick a pumpkin: in Free Carve, choose one of four shapes (Round, Tall, Wide or Lumpy) and one of six colors: orange, white, green, red, yellow or purple. You can switch at any time and your cuts stay put.
• Carve with the knife: press down on the pumpkin and draw a closed shape, like drawing around an eye. When you let go, everything inside your line is cut out. A quick tap pokes a small round hole.
• Use the stamps: a triangle, a circle, a cat eye, a smile, a toothy grin, a zigzag mouth, a star, a bat, a moon and a heart. Pick one and tap the pumpkin to cut it. While the new stamp shows a dashed ring, you can drag it or change it with the Size and Turn sliders.
• Undo and Clear: Undo takes back your last cut, one step at a time. Clear starts the face over, and you can undo a Clear too.
• Light the candle: a flickering candle goes inside, the sky turns dark and the holes glow yellow and orange. Press it again to blow the candle out.

Cuts only remove pumpkin from the face. A thin rim around the edge always stays, and anything you draw off the pumpkin is ignored.

Contest mode

A contest has 8 rounds. Each round the judge hands you a pumpkin and a card, such as “Two triangle eyes, a round nose, a toothy grin and one star”. Carve it, then press Show the judge.

• Eyes (40 points): the right number, the right shape, and sensible placement. Two eyes should sit on both sides of the face.
• Nose (15 points): a small cut in the middle. Some cards ask for no nose at all.
• Mouth (30 points): the smile, toothy grin or zigzag mouth the card names.
• Extras (15 points): the stars, bats, moons or hearts on the card. Extras it did not ask for cost a few points.

The judge reads each stamp by its shape and where it sits: cuts high on the face are eyes, a small cut in the center is a nose, and wide cuts low down are a mouth. Freehand knife cuts count too, but they earn half marks for shape. You get a score out of 100 with up to three stars, and after round 8 a total out of 800. Your best total is saved in your browser.

Saving and the gallery

Save PNG downloads a picture of your pumpkin, lit or unlit. Every pumpkin you save or show the judge goes into the Gallery, which keeps your last six. Tap one to open it again in Free Carve. Your Free Carve pumpkin is also remembered when you come back.

Tips

• Classic jack-o’-lantern: two triangle eyes, a smaller triangle nose and the toothy grin. Turn the eyes a little toward each other for an angry look.
• Leave space between cuts. Holes that touch join into one, which can turn two eyes into one wide one.
• In a contest, read the whole card first, and add only the extras the judge asked for.
• Check it in the dark. Thin cuts glow nicely and are easy to miss when the candle is out.

FAQ

Is the pumpkin game free?

Yes. There is no account and no download, and it runs in any modern browser on a computer, Chromebook, tablet or phone.

Does it work on phones?

Yes. Drag one finger to carve and tap to place stamps. The page won’t scroll while your finger is on the pumpkin.

Are there keyboard shortcuts?

K picks the knife, 1 to 0 pick the stamps, [ and ] resize a stamp, comma and period turn it, Z undoes and L lights the candle. In a contest, Enter shows the judge and starts the next round.

Is it OK for kids?

Yes. Nothing is scary, there is no timer, and the only knife is a drawing tool. It is a handy way to plan a real jack-o’-lantern design before Halloween.

Like making pictures? Try the Drawing Game for a full sketch pad, or Pixel Art to build art square by square. For more spooky fun, play the Halloween Game.