The Magical Ferry

The Magical Ferry turns the old riddle of the wolf, the sheep and the cabbage into a daily game. Its maker, Laura Gao, writes that the riddle was her favourite of the puzzles her grandmother used to set her, and the game keeps its core: a ferry, two banks and passengers who cannot be left alone together.

Each day's challenge is dated and the same for everyone. A card lists the rules for the day: the most rides you may take, how many passengers the boat holds, the crew (on Tuesday 20 October 2026 a wolf, a frog king, a sentient cabbage, a hen and a unicorn) and the conflicts, such as the wolf chasing the cabbage or the frog king hexing it. Statuses add a second layer: that day's hen gets seasick after two rides. You tap a passenger to load it, send the boat across, unload and come back until everyone is on the far bank within the ride limit.

The daily gets harder as the week goes on, from Easy on Monday to Extra Hard on Sunday, and the harder days use mechanics that the Story Mode teaches one at a time: luggage that curses its carrier or cannot travel without its owner, weight limits, a tide that uncovers an island for parking passengers, fog that hides the rules, and passengers such as mimics and werewolves. There is a 30-second tutorial, an undo button, hints and a full solution if you are stuck, a timer, a streak, a calendar of past days that can all be replayed, a leaderboard and private rooms to compare times with friends.

It plays in the browser on a phone or a computer with no account: the game gives you a random captain's name, which you can change, and there are no ads, only a link to support the maker. It suits players who like short planning puzzles with a story to them rather than words or numbers.