How to play Pookutti Game

Updated October 2026, 11 minute read

You only need to learn one move: hold, then let go. Here's everything else, including how to get full screen working on your device.

Starting the game

1. Press the big yellow Play button on the home page. The game opens in full screen.
2. Wait for the short loading bar to finish.
3. Press Play inside the game. This also turns the sound on, because browsers keep audio off until you tap inside a game.

Aiming and firing

Put your finger or mouse anywhere on the screen and keep holding. A dashed line appears, running from Pookutti to the edge of the room through the point you're holding. Slide around to move it.

Let go to fire. The laser travels along that line instantly, and it hits any cat that the line passes through. Only the middle of a cat's body counts, so a line that only clips an outstretched foot may miss.

Scoring

There are no lives and no time limit, so the game continues until you decide to stop.

Pausing and closing

Press the pause button in the top right corner to stop the game. You can then resume or go to the main menu. The game also pauses itself when you switch to another app or tab.

Press the X in the top left corner to close the game and return to this site.

Full screen on your device

Android and computers

The game opens in true full screen. If you leave it, for example by pressing Esc, the game stays open. Tap the game or press "Back to full screen" to return.

iPhone

Safari on iPhone doesn't allow web pages to use true full screen, so the game fills the browser window instead. The address bar may stay visible. To get more room, use Safari's Share button and choose Add to Home Screen, then open the game from the new icon.

Turning your phone

The game is designed for upright play. If your phone is sideways, the game becomes small, so turn it back upright or switch on rotation lock.

What you see on screen

The game screen is simple, but it helps to know what each part does before you play your first round.

A short reminder of the controls appears in the middle of the screen for the first few seconds of every game, then fades away.

A complete round, step by step

1. The room settles. About a second after you press Play, the first cat arrives.
2. A cat flies in. It enters from the left or right, and you hear a voice clip that repeats while the cat is in the room.
3. You hold. Press and keep holding anywhere in the game. The dashed line appears.
4. You line it up. Slide until the line runs through the middle of the cat. Keep adjusting as it bobs.
5. You let go. The laser fires and Pookutti reacts with a scream.
6. You hit or miss. A hit adds a point and blows the stick figure apart. A miss leaves the cat flying, and you can fire again immediately.
7. The next cat arrives. After a hit, a new cat appears roughly a second after the old one has fallen off the screen. If a cat escapes, a new one arrives within about a second and a half.

How aiming really works

Understanding the line will make you more accurate than any amount of guessing.

The line starts at the bed

Your shot always starts from the same spot on the bed, close to the horizontal centre of the room. The line runs from that point, through wherever you're holding, and carries on to the edge of the room. So your finger doesn't have to be on the cat. It only needs to be somewhere along the line to the cat.

Holding closer gives finer control

This is the most useful detail in the game. If you hold close to the starting point, a tiny finger movement swings the far end of the line a long way. If you hold further away, near the cat's height or above it, the same movement changes the angle much less. For careful shots, hold far from the bed. For quick swings across the room, hold nearer to it.

The target is a circle

Each cat has a round target zone at the centre of its picture. Its radius is about a third of the width of the cat's picture. The arms and legs stick out past that circle, so a shot through a foot won't count. On the other hand, you don't need to be perfect. Anywhere close to the middle of the cat is enough.

The shot is instant

The game checks the line at the exact moment you let go. There's no travel time, so don't aim ahead of a moving cat as you would with an arrow or a slow bullet. Aim where the cat is now.

Shots only go forward

Because the line begins at the bed and heads towards your finger, a cat behind the starting point can't be hit. That never matters in normal play, since cats always fly in the upper part of the room.

You can fire as fast as you like

The laser has no cooldown and no ammunition. You can tap repeatedly and each release fires a shot. If you tap quickly without holding, your finger's position still decides the direction, so quick taps on the cat's position can work too. They're just less accurate than a considered hold.

Using a mouse, a finger or a stylus

Touch screens

Most people play with one thumb. Hold your phone upright, with its base resting in your palm. Keep your thumb in the lower or middle part of the screen, so you can still see the cat above it. A second finger touching the screen won't take over your aim, because the game follows the finger that started the shot.

Mouse or trackpad

Press and hold the left button to aim, and release to fire. A mouse is usually the most accurate option. On a trackpad, it helps to click and hold with one finger while you move with another, or turn on your system's three-finger drag if your computer has it.

Stylus

A stylus behaves like a finger, and it doesn't hide as much of the screen. If you have one on a tablet, it's a very accurate way to play.

Keyboard

The game itself is played with touch or a pointer. Keyboard users can reach the buttons on the website, and on a computer the Esc key leaves full screen.

Sound settings

Pookutti Game has four kinds of sound. The laser plays on every shot. A voice clip loops while a cat is in the room. A second clip plays after a hit, and another plays after a miss. The game has no volume menu, so use your device's own volume controls.

If you can't hear anything, work through this list:

1. Tap Play inside the game. Browsers don't allow a game to make sound until you've tapped inside it.
2. On iPhone, check the silent switch or the Action button setting, since silent mode can mute web audio.
3. Turn up the media volume, not just the ringer volume.
4. Check whether the browser tab has been muted on a computer.
5. Check that your sound isn't going to a connected Bluetooth speaker or earphones.
6. Close the game with the X button and start it again.

Pausing, resuming and your score

The pause menu has two buttons. Resume takes you back to the same moment, with the cat where you left it and its voice clip continuing. Main Menu takes you back to the game's first screen. The game also pauses itself if you switch tabs or apps, take a call, or click outside it on a computer.

Your current score resets when you start a new game from the main menu. Your best score doesn't. It's saved in your browser as soon as you beat it, so you won't lose a record by closing the game early.

Your best score belongs to one browser on one device. It won't follow you from your phone to your laptop, and a private browsing window won't keep it. Clearing your browser's site data removes it, and there's no way to restore it afterwards.

Fixing common problems

Which devices and browsers work

The game runs on current versions of Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox and other modern browsers on Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mac and Linux. There's nothing to download. It's a small game, but the images and sounds do need to load once, so a connection is needed when you start. Older browsers may not support everything it uses, so updating yours is the first thing to try if something looks wrong.

If you play often on a phone, you can add the site to your home screen. In Safari on iPhone, use Share, then Add to Home Screen. In Chrome on Android, open the browser menu and choose Add to Home screen. You'll get an icon that opens the site directly.

Your first five minutes

If you've never played, here's a good way to learn quickly.

1. Minute one: just fire. Don't try to score. Hold, slide and release a few times to see how the line moves.
2. Minute two: wait for the middle. Let each cat reach the centre of the room before you start aiming.
3. Minute three: hold further away. Put your finger higher on the screen and notice how much steadier the line feels.
4. Minute four: try the entrance. Place your line near the edge of the room and fire as a cat crosses it. You'll miss a lot, and that's fine.
5. Minute five: go for a score. Start a new game and put it all together. Your first real best score is the one to beat.

When you're ready to go further, read the tips for a higher score.

Where to hold for each situation

Since the line always pivots on the bed, where you put your finger changes how the shot feels. This table gives you a simple starting point.

You don't need to memorise this. Hold in a few different places during your first games and you'll soon feel the difference.

Playing on different screen sizes

The game always keeps its tall shape, and it scales up or down to fit your screen. Everything inside it stays in proportion, so cats, targets and the line all behave the same way on every device. What changes is how far your hand moves.

Small phones

Your thumb covers more of the game, so hold below the cat and use small movements. Close any notification that's covering part of the screen before you start.

Large phones and tablets

You may not be able to reach the upper part of the screen with one thumb, and you don't need to. Holding midway up still lets you aim anywhere. For very large screens, rest the device on a surface and use one finger.

Computer monitors

The game appears as a tall panel in the centre, with plain space on either side. That's expected, since the game is designed for a phone-shaped screen. You can start holding the mouse button in that side space too, so long as you began inside the game. Your line keeps following the pointer until you release.

Full screen, explained

Full screen matters in this game because you're dragging your finger. In a normal page, dragging can scroll the page or trigger the browser's own gestures. By opening over the whole display, the game gets the room it needs, and accidental scrolling isn't a problem.

Browsers protect you from pages taking over your screen without permission, so a website can only enter full screen right after you tap or click something. That's why it happens when you press Play and not as soon as the page loads. If you leave full screen, the next tap in the game brings it back. Press the X button when you really want to stop playing.

Some phones show a small swipe bar or a notch that remains visible. You can safely ignore these. On a phone, you may also see a message from your browser when full screen starts, and it disappears by itself after a moment.

Frequently asked questions about the controls