Spread the Plague
There is a game on this website. It is free, it runs in your browser, there is nothing to download and nothing to sign up for, and it lasts sixty-nine seconds.
It is called Spread the Plague, and it is about bluebonnets.
How it works
You plant bluebonnets along a Texas roadside. They spread on their own if you leave them alone. Lawnmowers come along and cut them down. Your job is to grow faster than they can mow.
- Tap or click to plant. You have a limited number of seeds that regenerate over time.
- Blooms spread to neighbouring ground by themselves — planting in the right place matters more than planting constantly.
- Mowers escalate. They arrive more often and faster as the run goes on.
- Sixty-nine seconds. That is the whole run.
The leaderboard
Scores go on a shared board. There are sixty-nine places on it, and every open slot starts at 69 points, so you have to actually beat something to get on.
The top spot belongs to Rebel Lion at 777 points, and that one is not open. The board will not let you take the name, either — it catches the obvious spellings.
777 is reachable. It is not easy. It was tuned by simulation rather than by feel, specifically so that it sits just out of comfortable reach.
Why a game exists at all
Because the album is called Bluebonnet Plague and the idea at the centre of it is something spreading faster than it can be cut back. That is a game mechanic, sitting there, asking to be built.
It takes a minute to play. You will understand the record slightly better afterwards, which is a strange thing to say about a game involving lawnmowers.
A note on your score
One name per device. Beat your own score and your entry updates rather than duplicating. If you are below 69 points you have not beaten an empty slot yet, which is a fair thing for the game to tell you.