Sandboxels

What it is

Sandboxels is a falling-sand simulator with more than five hundred materials and the physics to make them argue. Pour sand, dirt and water onto a black canvas, add fire, ice, plants, gases, food or machines, and watch heat spread, liquids find their level, powders pile up and things burn, freeze, react or explode. It opens with its own logo drawn in living pixels so you can see it at work before you touch anything.

How to play

Pick a material from the categories along the bottom, land, liquids, life, powders, solids, energy, weapons, gases, food, machines, special, and click or drag on the canvas to place it. The tool row changes what your cursor does: erase, drag, pick, mix, heat, cool, shock, paint, smash, plus a lookup that tells you what a pixel is. Adjust the brush size, pause and step the simulation, undo, reset. There are save slots, a mods menu and a settings panel.

What makes it different

Most sand games stop at sand, water and fire. This one models temperature, density and chemistry, so materials have real relationships: heat spreads, heavy things sink through light ones, and a stray spark near the wrong gas is a lesson. The element list is enormous, which makes browsing it a game in itself, and the page carries a version number and a changelog marker.

Why it is on Bored

Little worlds that run themselves are a weakness of ours, and this is the deepest one we link. It is a physics toy, a chemistry set and a way to lose an hour, and it asks nothing of you but curiosity.

Tips

• Start with sand, water and fire, then add one new material at a time
• Use the lookup tool on anything you did not expect, it tells you what the pixel is
• Pause and step the simulation to watch a reaction frame by frame
• Save a scene before you set it on fire

FAQ