How to play

Build A Squishy is a free 3D squishy maker that runs in your browser. You design a squishy, watch it form, and then squeeze, poke and stretch it — every material gives differently under your finger, and sounds different too. Nothing to download, nothing to sign up for.

Make one that's yours

The builder has five tabs, and you can change any of them at any time — before you play with it or after.

• Shape — hundreds of them, from a plain jelly orb or soft cube to a mochi bun, a butter stick, a marshmallow, a gummy bear, a dolphin.
• Colour — solids across the whole spectrum plus patterned ones: stripes, spots, swirls and rosettes.
• Finish — the surface. Glossy jelly, soft matte, crystal clear, pearl, iridescent, and textured ones that catch the light as the squishy turns.
• Inside — what fills it. A clear gel, a two-tone swirl, floating stars, tiny fish, drifting snow.
• Bits — what's scattered through it, or nothing at all if you want it plain.

Then squeeze it

There are more than twenty ways to touch a squishy — eight with one finger, four with two, and eleven more once it's been opened. Each one makes its own sound, worked out from the material rather than played back from a recording.

• One finger — poke it, hold a dent in it, drag it into a stretch, flick it, set it jiggling.
• Two fingers — pinch it, spread it apart, twist it, wring it.
• Slow it down to watch the rebound properly, or move the camera closer.
• Freeze one solid — then it takes ten good pokes to crack the ice, and it shatters.

Open it up

Any squishy can be cut open to show what is really inside. Let it drain and the shell melts away, leaving slime you can fold, stir, stretch, knead and pull apart on its own. Repackage it when you're done and it goes back to being a squishy.

Keep the ones you like

Saving a squishy puts it in your collection and on your shelf, a display wall you can arrange however you want. Some pieces belong to sets — save every piece and the set completes. A few combinations are hidden recipes that reveal themselves only when you happen to build them.

There are challenges too: small briefs like keeping the shell calm so the inside shows. Finishing one unlocks something new to build with.

Trade for the rare ones

On the trading floor a crew of traders sets up with squishies you can't make yet, and each one wants something different. Trade what you have for what you want. Nobody real is on the other side of the table — there is no chat and no other players.

Send one to a friend

A finished squishy can become a link, a card, or a short video with its own sound. The link carries only the recipe — which shape, colour, finish and inside to use — so opening it simply rebuilds the squishy on the other person's screen. No names, nothing personal.

What it costs

Nothing. Build A Squishy is free on the web, with no ads, no accounts, no coins and nothing that runs out. Once you have visited once it works with no internet connection at all, which also means it works on a school Chromebook behind a filter.

Parents and teachers: there is more detail on what this is and what it never does.