Sweet Swirl
Swallow the town, from sweets to the cake tower
How to play
Sweet Swirl is a free hole game online: steer a candy swirl round a little sweets town and swallow everything that fits, from sweets on the street to houses and the giant cake tower. It plays in any browser on phone or desktop and inside Telegram via @MatsuriGamesBot, with no download and no sign-up, in rounds of two minutes.
Sweet Swirl is a cute hole game you play with one thumb. Your swirl is a candy-coloured whirlpool in the ground of a little sweets town. Drag anywhere on the screen to steer it (on a computer, it follows the mouse, or use the arrow keys or WASD) and let go to stop. Anything small enough to fit inside it tips in and is gone, and the swirl grows with everything it eats, so the town opens up size by size: sweets dropped on the street, cupcakes, benches and signs, lamp posts, parasols and little trees, kiosks, candy cars and fountains, then houses, shops, the carousel and, last of all, the giant cake tower in the middle square. Four computer swirls are eating the same town. A swirl clearly bigger than another swallows it when it covers its middle, so grow fast, steer clear of the bigger ones and swallow the smaller ones for a bonus. A round lasts two minutes; your score is the points of everything you ate plus a bonus for every swirl you swallowed. The daily town is the same for everyone, so the leaderboard is fair.
- Move the mouse and your swirl heads for it (or use the arrow keys or WASD). Anything small enough to fit inside it tips in, and the swirl grows.
- Eat your way up: sweets, then cupcakes and benches, lamps and little trees, kiosks and candy cars, houses and shops, and last the giant cake tower in the middle.
- A swirl clearly bigger than another swallows it, and being swallowed ends your round. Swallow smaller swirls for a bonus. A round lasts two minutes.
How to play Sweet Swirl
You start as a small swirl, a candy-coloured whirlpool in the ground, at a street corner of a town of streets and blocks. On a phone, drag anywhere on the screen and a floating thumb stick steers it; let go and it stops. On a computer the swirl heads for the mouse pointer and rests when the pointer is over it, or you can use the arrow keys or WASD. The clock and your place among the swirls are at the top.
Anything whose base fits inside your swirl tips in once its middle is over the swirl, and the swirl grows with what it ate; a bigger swirl grows more slowly for the same bite. Things still too big wobble when you touch them. The town opens up size by size: sweets, then cupcakes, benches and signs, lamp posts, parasols and little trees, kiosks, candy cars and fountains, houses and shops, the carousel and the clock tower, and the cake tower in the middle square.
Four computer swirls eat the same town. A swirl clearly bigger than another swallows it when it covers the other's middle. If one swallows you, your round ends and the score you had stands; if you swallow one, you get 150 points and some of its size. For the first five seconds nobody can swallow anybody.
A round always ends by itself after two minutes. Your score is the points of everything you swallowed, from 1 for a sweet to 378 for the cake tower, plus 150 for each swirl. Every 200 points give one candy coin, up to 30 coins.
Sweet Swirl strategy and tips
- Follow the sweets. The first seconds are about the little things: trails of sweets run along some streets, and every one you eat brings the next size closer. The first cupcakes and benches fit within a few seconds.
- Go where the next size is. Once lamps and little trees fit, sweep along a street, where they stand in rows; once kiosks and candy cars fit, head for the car parks and the shopping blocks; once houses fit, take a block of homes in one pass.
- Mind the bigger swirls. Your place beside the clock tells you how many are bigger than you. Keep away from the middle of a bigger swirl, and never let one corner you against the town's edge.
- Swallow the smaller ones. A swirl clearly smaller than yours is worth 150 points and a good piece of size, but the computer swirls run from bigger ones, so cut them off rather than chase them.
- Save the cake tower for last. It fits only a very big swirl. Grow on the houses, shops, carousels and fountains round the middle square first, then come back for it.
Modes and difficulty
The daily town is the same for everyone and changes at 00:00 UTC, with the same streets, the same things and the same computer swirls; only your first daily round counts on its leaderboard. Practice lays out a fresh town whenever you like, and your best practice score goes on the all-time board. After a round you can send it as a challenge: your friend plays the same town with your score as the target.
Playing Sweet Swirl on Matsuri
The computer swirls come in three kinds: some just eat whatever is nearest, some go for the biggest bites and run from bigger swirls, and the quick ones also hunt smaller swirls. For the first twelve seconds none of them hunts you. Only objects are ever swallowed: no people and no animals live in the sweets town. There is no online multiplayer, so there is no lag and no waiting. The seed of the round lays out the town and the rivals, so the server replays your steering to check the score.
A little history
Hole games became a phone favourite in 2018, when a game about a black hole that swallows a city and grows with everything it eats was one of the most downloaded games of the year. The idea, a hole that swallows anything smaller than itself, has been remade countless times since, in arenas against other holes and in calm puzzle versions. People look for it as the black hole game or the hole game; in Russian as игра дыра, in Spanish as el juego del agujero.
In the same series: Action games
- Candy Survivors: Just keep moving, your weapons fire on their own
- Candy Defense: Help me guard the counter from candy thieves
- Café Rush: Brew, top and serve before the regulars lose patience
- Mocha's Cake Tower: Tap on the beat, stack my cake to the sky
- Candy Trail: Grow your gummy snake, never bump into another
Update log
- · Sweet Swirl arrives: steer a candy swirl round a sweets town and swallow everything that fits, from sweets to the cake tower, in two-minute rounds with a daily town.
Questions
- Is Sweet Swirl free to play online?
- Yes. It is free with no ads, no download and no sign-up, in any browser on phone or desktop and inside Telegram through @MatsuriGamesBot. Drag anywhere on the screen to steer and let go to stop; on a computer the swirl follows the mouse.
- What can my swirl swallow?
- Anything whose base fits inside it, once its middle is over the swirl: sweets first, then cupcakes, benches and signs, lamp posts, parasols and little trees, kiosks, candy cars and fountains, houses and shops, the carousel, and the giant cake tower last. Things that are still too big wobble when you touch them. Only objects: nothing alive is ever swallowed.
- What happens when I meet another swirl?
- A swirl clearly bigger than another swallows it when it covers the other's middle. If one swallows you, your round ends and you keep the score you had. Swallowing a smaller swirl is worth 150 points. For the first five seconds nobody can swallow anybody.
- How is the score counted?
- Each thing you swallow is worth points by its size, from 1 for a sweet to 378 for the cake tower, plus 150 for every swirl you swallow. A round lasts two minutes. Every 200 points give a candy coin, up to 30. The daily town is the same for everyone, and the server replays your steering to check the score.