Daisy — loves me, loves me not

Daisy turns the oldest little oracle in the world into a toy. A big flower stands in a dusky meadow, its petals catching the last warm light. Pull them off one by one: each petal stretches, resists, then snaps with a soft click, the whole flower bounces on its stem, a puff of pollen flies, and the petal says the next word of the rhyme. I love you, a little, a lot, passionately, madly, not at all. The last petal decides, and the answer gets a little show of its own before a new flower grows from the grass.

How to play

Drag anywhere and you catch the nearest petal: pull until it snaps, carry it in your fingers, then let it go and watch it flutter down into the grass. Tap anywhere to pluck the closest petal in one quick tug. Swipe fast across the flower to pluck a whole row of them, one note each. The number of petals is random, so you never know the answer in advance, unless you count. Pick a flower (white daisy, pink-tipped daisy, cosmos, lilac aster, sunflower), a rhyme (I love you, loves me / loves me not, yes / no / maybe), how many petals, grow a new flower whenever you like or save the picture.

Why it's satisfying

The petal really fights back for a moment before it gives way, and that tiny snap is the whole pleasure. Nothing to aim at, nothing to miss: the flower always has one more petal for you, and every word lands with its own little feeling, shy, warm, burning or grey. Nothing to win, just one more petal, and one more flower.

About

Daisy is part of Alcy, forty-six free contemplative micro-games in your browser. For more flowers: Bloom, Orchard, Wind.