How to play Star Catcher

The goal and the first move

Collect falling stars in your basket before you miss too many. Open the first challenge if this is your first round. Before pressing Start, read the goal in the side panel and locate the controls. There is no entry fee, score purchase or account requirement. You can restart a round whenever you need another attempt.

Move the basket with your pointer, Left and Right, or the on-screen controls. On a narrow screen, the controls appear below the board. Keep the page still while interacting with the game, and finish any typing before using keyboard shortcuts. This avoids sending an intended game move to a text field.

A strategy to try

Track the lowest star first and line up underneath it.

A star near the edge is not always worth a long chase. Look at where the next one will land.

Try one change at a time. For example, play a round while prioritising the tip above, then compare how the board develops with your previous attempt. A single useful observation is more valuable than a rushed restart. The result belongs to this challenge; it is not a comparison with other players.

Choose your challenge

The ten entries below share the same basic rules. Their settings determine the goal, the available time, the board or the computer behaviour. Easy, Medium and Hard are labels within this game family; they are not standardised ratings across every game on the site.

1. Orchard Basket — goal: 7, movement speed: 116 px/s
2. Star Sailor — goal: 9, movement speed: 127 px/s
3. Cookie Delivery — goal: 11, movement speed: 138 px/s
4. Pearl Harvest — goal: 13, movement speed: 149 px/s
5. Autumn Acorns — goal: 15, movement speed: 160 px/s
6. Postbag Pickup — goal: 17, movement speed: 171 px/s
7. Honey Harvest — goal: 19, movement speed: 182 px/s
8. Snowflake Collector — goal: 21, movement speed: 193 px/s
9. Royal Treasury — goal: 23, movement speed: 204 px/s
10. Rainbow Paintbox — goal: 25, movement speed: 215 px/s

When a round does not go to plan

Check the controls before changing your strategy. A blocked move can be part of the game rules, such as moving into a wall, choosing a filled cell or using a disabled letter. Read the status line above the board for the current prompt. It reports progress and explains the result when the round ends.

Use Restart to return to a fresh board. Where the game uses shuffled layouts, the next round can have a different arrangement while keeping the same challenge settings. A harder label means a changed set of parameters, not a guarantee that every random layout will take longer.

Short breaks and local records

Finish a round, put the game down and return when you want another short break. PLAYDAY saves favourites, recent game IDs and small result records in browser storage. It does not provide cloud saves or a public leaderboard. Clearing browser data, using a different browser or private browsing may remove or separate these records.

The games do not make claims about improving intelligence, treating a condition or measuring professional ability. Their purpose is ordinary recreation. You can read more about the stored information on the privacy page.