Freeze, Gnomes!

Aim your torch to freeze creeping garden gnomes, hold the beam to shoo them and crank the dying battery. Survive the 4-minute night to sunrise, then see how far into the morning you last.

Freeze, Gnomes! is a flashlight survival game for one finger. You are a sleepy goblin in pyjamas standing in the middle of a round garden at night, and the lawn gnomes creep in from the hedge, but only while they are in the dark. Light a gnome and it freezes mid-hop. Keep the beam on one for a moment and it covers its eyes and tiptoes back into the hedge. The torch battery drains while the light is on, and the only way to recharge it is to hold CRANK, which switches the light off, so every gnome moves while you crank. Fireflies held in the beam give a little charge back. The night runs from 12:00 to 6:00 AM, 40 seconds per hour, and every hour adds one new rule: twins that arrive on opposite sides, pebble gnomes that double-hop and leave glowing footprints, shy gnomes that move only while you look at them, big gnomes that shrug off the light for a second, and finally everything at once with fog banks that swallow the beam. Three nightcaps are your lives; a gnome that reaches you plops its hat over your head and takes one. Make it to sunrise and the gnomes put a hat on the sun, and the night carries on into overtime, faster every hour. Your score is the clock when you lose your last nightcap, so 3:45 AM scores 345. Everyone plays the same garden on the same day (UTC), with three scored nights a day and practice nights after that. Every sound has a visual cue, so the game plays fully muted, and Gentle mode softens the sound and effects without changing the gnomes.

By Goblin Originals

How to play

Touch, drag or mouse to aim · hold CRANK, Space or right-click to recharge · ←/→ rotate

Aim the torch by touching or dragging anywhere on the screen, by moving the mouse, or with the arrow keys or A and D. The beam is a 50-degree cone from the goblin to the hedge.

Gnomes only move while they are in the dark. A lit gnome freezes mid-hop. Hold the beam on one until the ring around it fills and it tiptoes back into the hedge.

The battery drains while the light is on. Hold CRANK (Space, C or the right mouse button on a computer) to recharge it, but the light is off while you crank, so every gnome moves. At 0% the beam only sputters. A firefly held in the beam for half a second gives +20%.

Every hour adds a rule, shown on a card at the top of the hour. A gnome that reaches you takes one of your three nightcaps. Your score is the clock when the last one goes: 3:45 AM scores 345, and anything past sunrise scores 600 or more.

Tips

Sweep rather than stare: a quick sweep freezes several gnomes at once. Hold the beam on one only when nothing else is close.

Twins always arrive exactly opposite each other. Freeze one, then swing straight across.

Crank in short bursts when no gnome is near, and watch the hedge while the light is off: every hop in the dark flashes a rustle arc at that gnome's position, brighter when it is closer.

From 3 AM, keep the light off the shy gnomes with the round bowl-shaped hats. Leave one in the dark for 5 seconds and it goes home on its own.

Big gnomes keep creeping for a second after you light them, at half speed. Catch them early, while they are still near the hedge.

Can I play this flashlight game online for free?

Yes. Freeze, Gnomes! is an original single-player browser game. It runs in the page with no download, account or app.

How does the score work?

Your score is the time on the alarm clock when you lose your third nightcap, written as a number: 3:45 AM is 345 and 12:07 AM is 7. Sunrise is at 6:00 AM, so a score of 600 or more means you made it past sunrise.

What happens after sunrise?

At 6:00 AM the gnomes put a hat on the sun and the night keeps going. Every hour after that brings more gnomes, faster hops and, from 8 AM, more fog. Nightcaps you still have at sunrise carry over. If anyone somehow lasts until noon, the gnomes leave for brunch and the night ends.

Does everyone play the same night?

Yes. The garden, the gnome schedule, the fireflies and the fog come from the date (UTC), so everyone who plays on the same day faces the same night and a challenge is a fair race. You get three scored nights a day and your best one counts; after that you can keep playing practice nights in random gardens.

Can I play on a phone?

Yes. Touch anywhere to aim; aiming from outside the hedge keeps your finger off the gnomes. Portrait has a full-width CRANK bar, and landscape has a CRANK pad on each side, so one thumb can crank while the other aims.

Is it scary? Can I play with the sound off?

It is silly-spooky, with no jump scares: getting caught means a gnome hat over your head. Every sound has a visual cue, such as rustle arcs on the hedge, warning chevrons and glowing footprints, so it plays fully muted. Gentle mode softens the sounds and turns off the screen bump without changing the gnomes, so scores stay comparable.

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