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Pat its head · Drop a seed · Connect the tubesCozy Hamster

A cozy hamster in your browser

Shredding tissues into a bed, night runs on the wheel, every last seed stashed in its wooden hut… your little hamster has already moved into its glass box. Boop its nose, hand it a treat, or build it a few new rooms whenever you like.

Go see it
Illustration: a golden hamster peeks out of the arched doorway of a wooden hut, front paws on the sill, in a drift of star-shaped paper bedding.Illustration: at night a small mushroom lamp glows beside the same wooden hut; inside, the hamster sleeps curled up on paper bedding.

A day in the box

Nobody tells it to do any of this.

A golden Syrian hamster lives in a little glass-fronted box on a wooden shelf, right in your browser. It eats, naps, packs its cheeks and noses about in its own time. Drop a seed, offer an open hand, and let it decide how close to come.

It eats, washes, digs, naps and wanders about on its own. A few things you might catch it doing.

  • In-game: the hamster sits up beside its hut and washes its face.

    Waking up

    It flattens out, stretches, gives a big yawn, then sits up to wash its face.

  • On the wheel

    Fast for a stretch, then slower, the wheel whirring round under its feet. Now and then it stops dead, rocks with the wheel, has a look about and sets off again.

  • In your hand

    Press and hold, and a hand scoops it up from below. It sits up in your palm and sniffs about; set it down on the bedding and it goes back to its own business.

  • A tissue

    It holds a corner down, tears off a strip and packs it into its cheeks, a white tuft at its mouth. Then it trots home and paws the paper into its nest.

  • Cheeks packed

    Heading home to unload. Lift the hut's roof later and the hoard has grown a little.

  • Asleep

    Curled into a ball in its hut. Its breathing slows and deepens, and now and then an ear twitches.

Build mode · A home on the wall

Give it more room. It'll go when it's ready.

Design bedrooms, pantries, wheel rooms, clear tunnels, and zigzag stair towers. Once you're done, drop in a seed and watch your fluffy resident sniff out every corner of its new home.

In-game: the home box alone on its wooden shelf, beside a mushroom lamp and a little plant.In-game, at night: the home box alone on its wooden shelf, beside a mushroom lamp and a little plant.In-game: a second, empty box hung on the shelf beside the home box, not joined yet.In-game, at night: a second, empty box hung on the shelf beside the home box, not joined yet.In-game: the two boxes joined by a clear tube with pale green collars.In-game, at night: the two boxes joined by a clear tube with pale green collars.In-game: four boxes in two rows, joined by tubes, and a stair tower beside them with zigzag flights.In-game, at night: four boxes in two rows, joined by tubes, and a stair tower beside them with zigzag flights.

  1. It starts with a single box on the shelf.

  2. Open Build and tap the ＋ beside a box: there's another one on the wall.

  3. Run a tube across, open a little door, or stand a stair tower between them. Tap Done.

  4. Row on row: a bedroom, a pantry, a wheel room, lamps and plants, as far as the wall goes.

Then it goes to look

  • A new tube

    It doesn't rush in. A sniff at the mouth, its neck stretched out long, up on its hind legs to look across. It may come back a few times first.

  • The first visit

    Through the tube and a careful look round the new box. It eats nothing, then heads home. Next time it stays longer.

  • Up the stairs

    Flight by flight, turning on each landing, now and then stopping to look out.

Close the tab. It's fine.

While you're away, it lives its own life.

Go to work, go to bed, go on holiday. It eats, sleeps and sees to its nest without you.

  1. In-game, last night: the box under the lamp, the hamster up and about, a fresh tissue on the bedding.

    Last night

  2. In-game, this morning, the same view: the tissue smaller and torn, the hamster asleep in its hut.

    This morning

Leave it a tissue before bed. In the morning the tissue may be smaller, or gone, its nest a little whiter, with it asleep inside. A log you gave it yesterday may sit a little askew where it pushed through. Some nights there's only a little pit in the bedding.

  • No numbers, no tasks.

    No bars, hearts or levels, no chores, no reminders. You get to know it by watching.

  • Being away costs nothing.

    It never dies and never gets sick. Nothing bad happens while you're gone, and its trust in you doesn't fade. After a long time away its bowl may be empty; a tap on it fills it.

  • Coming back doesn't wake it.

    If it's asleep it sleeps on, maybe with an ear twitch; if it's awake, it looks up at you. A seed from your fingertip is left by its door or its nose for when it wakes.

Questions

Questions people ask about the virtual hamster.

What is Cozy Hamster?

A quiet hamster game that runs in your browser. A 3D virtual hamster, a golden Syrian, lives in a little glass-fronted box on a wooden shelf and gets on with its own life: it eats, naps, hoards and explores. You mostly watch; now and then you offer it something.

Can the hamster die while I'm away?

No. It never dies or gets sick, and nothing bad happens while you're gone. Its time goes on by the real clock, and it lives by the same rules as when you watch; mostly, it sleeps. After a long time away its bowl may be low or empty; a tap on the bowl fills it. If you left it something new, there may be small signs of what it did with it.

Why is the hamster asleep so often?

Hamsters nap a lot. By day it naps often and wakes on its own to potter about; after dusk it's out more. If you find it asleep, let it sleep: stay a while, or look in again later.

Where is my hamster saved?

In this browser, on this device. Come back in the same browser and it picks up where it left off. Open it in another browser or on another device and you'll meet a different hamster, and clearing this browser's site data starts over with a new one.

Will the hamster get to know me?

Slowly. A pat, a seed from your fingertip, being held calmly: gentle handling builds its trust, and that only shows in what it does, like coming closer to your hand or washing its face while you hold it. There's no meter. Each hamster is a little different, bolder or shyer, and a shy one takes longer. Time away never costs you its trust.