How to play

Last reviewed 23 September 2026

Beta v1.1 — Pumpkin Squashing is in beta testing. You may run into bugs or glitches here and there. Thank you for your patience.

There's no way to lose and nothing to unlock. This page is for anyone who wants the specifics, or who plays with a keyboard or a screen reader instead of a mouse or a finger.

1. Open the game

Go to the play screen. Pieces fall from the top of the screen right away — there's no start button and no loading screen.

2. Smash a piece

Tap, click, or press a falling piece to smash it. Most pieces — pumpkins, squash, apples, green apples, cranberries, sweet potatoes, sweet onions, corn, and both pies — burst into pieces and add one to your tally.

Can't point at a specific falling shape? Press space, or tab to the "Smash the nearest piece" button and activate it (it's built for screen readers and keyboards, so it's not visible on screen until you tab to it). Either one smashes whatever piece is closest to the middle of the screen.

3. Watch for the rare ones

A handful of pieces don't just burst:

• Apple pie flies at the screen and splats across it like a pie in the face, then drips away.
• Wild turkey, mallard duck, Canada goose, and the flying pig call out — a gobble, a quack, a honk, or an oink — then bolt off screen instead of breaking.

These are all rarer than the everyday pieces, and the pig is the rarest of all.

4. Check the scoreboard

The scoreboard in the corner of the play screen keeps a running count of how many of each piece you've smashed this visit. It resets when you reload the page or use "Start the count over" in Settings.

5. Adjust settings to taste

The gear icon opens a panel where you can turn smashing sounds and background music on or off, turn falling leaves on or off, change how big the pieces are and how many fall at once, and switch to gentler movement if the default motion is too busy. These are saved on your device and remembered next time.

Keyboard and screen reader summary

• Tab reaches the music button, the settings button, and the smash button, in that order.
• Space smashes the nearest piece from anywhere on the page (except while typing into a control).
• The tally announces itself to screen readers each time it changes.
• The settings panel's size, spawn, and motion choices are a standard radio group: arrow keys move between them.

Something not working the way this page describes? That's exactly what the beta is for — please let us know.