Puffduck

Up in the oak, a squirrel has an armful of acorns and six nests of eggs below to aim them at. Down on the water, three call ducks, one white, one buff and one blue-grey, are all that stand in his way. Tap the sky and the nearest duck puffs a little cloud there, and whatever drifts into it pops. A puff takes a moment to fly, so you soon learn to aim a touch ahead, and each duck holds three before it has to wait for them to come back. As the waves go on, a hail cloud joins in, then pine cones that burst into three pieces and buckets that swing as they fall. A nest that gets hit isn’t harmed, its eggs just roll safe into the reeds, but it sits empty until you rebuild it with straw after the wave.

Between waves you can spend points on bigger puffs, quicker refills or a painted wooden decoy the squirrel can’t resist, and spending never takes anything off your score. Play endless until all six nests are rattled at once, or take on the seven daily waves, the same for everyone. It’s gentle, quick aiming for anyone who likes guarding something small, and the quacks and peeps are our own call ducks. Ducklark, the little Long Island studio behind it, lets you play free in your browser, with nothing to install. For every rule, see how to play Puffduck.