Zen Rake — virtual zen garden with pentatonic chimes

Zen Rake brings the Japanese zen garden (karesansui) into the browser. A multi-toothed rake carves furrows into sand, working around stones placed at random. Fully encircle a stone and it "wakes up" — a pentatonic note rings, sparks rise.

How to play

Drag with mouse or finger to rake. Adjust tine count and spacing in the toolbar. Encircle a stone with a closed loop to wake it. Save your pattern as PNG when the garden is yours.

Why it's satisfying

Raking sand has something fundamental, almost archetypal about it. No goal, no score, nothing to lose. Just the clean trace of the rake, the sand reshaping itself, and the audio reward when a stone awakens.

About

Zen Rake is part of Alcy, thirty free contemplative micro-games. If you like the slow and meditative, also try Ripple, Breath, Strata.