How to play Slipwhorl

A visual guide · Raise your first Tumbler, open out a bowl, read the outline and Match, and learn wobble, the Sponge, firing, the clay bin and Bank.

Your goal

Shape the spinning clay to match every order.

A customer orders a piece and its dashed outline appears around the lump on your wheel. Press on either side of the clay and drag to shape it, then fire it in the kiln. The closer your piece matches the outline, the more it scores. Orders keep coming for as long as you like.

These are simplified teaching diagrams, not screenshots. The clay shapes are drawn from the game's real orders and starting lumps; the studio and controls are simplified.

01Squeeze the clay to raise it

Press anywhere in the left or right half of the scene. Your hand grabs the clay wall right where it is, so nothing jumps.
Drag toward the middle to squeeze the wall in. Each lump holds a fixed amount of clay, so squeezing it in makes the piece rise.
Slide up or down while you press to shape a different part of the wall. The other side always mirrors the side you shape, so watch it if your finger hides the wall.
On touch, use one finger on each side to shape two places at once. With a mouse or keyboard, one hand does everything; it just takes a few passes.
Keyboard: Right arrow or D squeezes in, Left arrow or A opens out, Up and Down (or W and S) move along the wall, and holding Shift slows you down for fine work.

The first order: a Tumbler

Before · Match 21%

After · Match 100%

The game starts each order from a lump that does not fit, here a wide, low puck. Squeezing it in from both sides pushes the clay up until it fills the tall outline. The Match figures are the game's own measure for these exact shapes.

02Open it out to make it low and wide

The second order: a Breakfast bowl

Before · Match 26%

After · Match 100%

A bowl starts as a narrow post. Dragging away from the middle opens the wall out, and the same clay sinks into a low, wide shape.

Squeeze first to get the height right, then shape the belly and the neck. Bigger pieces like the Lantern and the Gourd bottle have two curves, so work them one at a time, or use two fingers on touch.

03Read the wheel and the top bar

Every mark, with a shape cue as well as a colour

The edge of your clay turns green where it sits on the outline and amber where it is off, so you can see at a glance where to work next.

The order ticket at the counter names the piece and the customer. From the second Market day it also shows that day's twist.
Match is the share of your piece that overlaps the outline, row by row, from the foot to the rim.
The clock ring counts down the seconds left to shape the order. On Market day 1 each order has 26 seconds.

04Mind the wobble and keep the clay wet

Ease off before it slumps

Pushing too far ahead of the clay makes it wobble. At 70 the fingertip ring thickens, the meter pulses and the game says "Ease off". Let go or slow down and it settles. At 100 the piece slumps.

Small, steady drags beat big pushes. Squeezing the wall very thin also warns you before it pinches through.
The clay dries as you work. Below 35 the game reminds you, and below 15 the clay is too dry to shape.
Tap Sponge or press Space to add 35 moisture. It needs 0.6 seconds between uses, and too much water makes the clay wobble.
A piece that slumps goes back to be reused and takes a lump from the clay bin. The next customer then steps up.

05Fire it and score

Tap Fire or press Enter when the shape looks right. Fire wakes up 4 seconds into each order; if the clock runs out first, the piece is fired for you.
Each percent of Match is worth 10 points, up to 1,000.
Fine (80%) adds 100, Superb (90%) adds 250 and Perfect (95%) adds 500.
Firing early at 80% or better adds 20 points for every whole second left on the clock.
Each good piece in a row (80% or better) raises your next piece by 5%, up to x1.50. Market days multiply too: x1.00, x1.15, x1.30, x1.50, then it holds.
A piece under 60% goes back to be reused and takes a lump from the bin.

A worked example

A 92% Water jug on Market day 1, fired with 8 seconds left and no streak yet, scores 1,330 points. A streak and later Market days multiply this total.

06Keep the studio open, or bank your score

An endless run with a clay bin

Pieces that go back to be reused use up lumps. Three good pieces in a row at 90% or better earn one back, up to 5.

8 orders make a Market day. Each new day brings the same pieces back with a twist: taller orders on day 2, a slow or brisk wheel on day 3, stoneware or porcelain clay on day 4, and from day 5 a mix that can include a Twin order of two matching cups.
Every twist is shown on the order ticket before the clock starts.
Tap Bank or press B at any time, then choose Bank score to keep your score and close the studio. Keep throwing goes straight back to your piece.
If a piece goes back to be reused while the bin is empty, the session ends. Either way you see Good Game, your score, Play Again and Menu.
Press Esc or P to pause. If the window gets too small to play, the game pauses and asks for a little more room, and your piece waits for you.

Opening this Visual Guide during play stops the wheel, the clock and the drying, and lets go of the clay. When you close it, play carries on from the same moment. If you had paused first, the game stays paused.

Play Slipwhorl