Penga

What it is

Penga is a physics game about penguins. A pyramid of them stands on slabs of ice, and asleep at the very top, wearing a crown, is the royal tyrant. Your job is to rescue the other penguins by dragging them out of the stack and dropping them into the sea, one at a time, without waking the royal by tipping the whole thing over. The question on the title screen is the score: how many can you save?

How to play

Press start. Grab any penguin with the mouse or a finger and pull it clear, then drop it into the water. The slabs above it shift and settle. Choose the next one. The stack is wider than the screen, so scroll to see the whole thing. Every rescued penguin adds to the counter in the corner, and the run ends the moment the royal topples. Then play again, and this time think about which side you are pulling from.

What makes it different

It is the block-pulling tower game with feelings. The physics is proper, so the stack leans and wobbles the way you would expect, but the stakes are penguins rather than blocks, and a sleeping monarch rather than a table. It takes a minute to understand and about five to get competitive, and the cartoon penguins sell every wobble.

Why it is on Bored

Penga is one mechanic, one screen, one score to beat, and a minute to understand. It earns its place by making the block-pulling tower game about something: a penguin saved is a penguin saved, and a sleeping monarch is a better thing to fear than a falling table. Pass the mouse back and forth and it becomes one of the better two-player games we link, mostly for the arguments about structural integrity.

Tips

• Pull from the outside edges first, the middle is holding everything up
• Watch the slab above the penguin you are about to take, not the penguin
• Sound is on by default and worth keeping
• Scroll across the stack before you start, there are more penguins than you see

FAQ