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freakyshake
New Participant
Nov 12, 2026 3:45 AM UTC

Meet Pinch Puzzle: A Minimalist Tabletop Puzzle Built for Quest

Pinch Puzzle is my entry for the Start Developer Competition (Gaming): a calm, seated puzzle you play with nothing but your hands.

Pinch a shape, carry it to its glowing ring, let go. It snaps in with a note. Six boards, from 3 pieces to 8, about 10 minutes end to end. A see-through ghost hand teaches the pinch in the first few seconds, so there is nothing to read.

Built for comfort and access:
- Hands only, one hand is always enough
- Seated, everything within easy reach
- No timers, no fail states
- Shape plus colour on every piece, never colour alone
- Comfort panel: table height and distance, high contrast, music

Play it now, no install: Pinch-Puzzle


Open in the Quest Browser, press Enter XR, set the controllers down.

It is fully playable in the IWSDK emulator, and I am collecting first impressions from real headsets this week. If you try it, one line on how the pinch felt and whether it ran smoothly would mean a lot. Happy to return the favour on your project.
 

    2 replies

    steve40
    steve40
    Honored Contributor
    Nov 12, 2026 10:15 AM UTC

    When I opened that web page on my desktop PC, my RTX 5080 cooling fans started blowing really hard. I’m not sure why such a simple game should be stressing the GPU so much? I hadn’t even connected my headset.

    steve40
    steve40
    Honored Contributor
    Nov 12, 2026 10:39 AM UTC

    The game runs fine through the Quest 3 internal browser. I couldn’t get it to run through Virtual Desktop, AirLink or Virtual Display when connected to my Windows PC running Edge browser.

     

    The pinch felt OK. It was smoother if I kept the table low. If the table was too high, the pinch would sometimes get a little erratic. The pinch seemed to work best if I pinched the objects from above, rather than from the side. Sometimes the objects would shift a little away from my fingers when trying to place them on the board, which felt a little weird.

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