Carrying timber to the river…
No ads in Timber Squirrel — just the flood
Play Timber Squirrel — a free Norse log-bridge puzzle in your browser
Play Timber Squirrel free online: a Norse log-bridge puzzle where you push logs and rotten wood into flooded rivers to build the crossings you walk on. Thirty hand-made story chapters across four mythological realms, every one proven solvable by a built-in solver. No download, no sign-up, plays on phone and desktop.
The world tree has flooded, and the squirrel who runs its roots now has to build his own road. You play Ratatoskr, the gossip-messenger of Norse myth, in a retelling where the rivers between the realms swallowed the paths. He cannot swim, cannot jump and would not fight anything — all he can do is push. Push a log into the water and it floats; walk across it and you have paid for the gap with timber. Thirty crossings stretch from the Well of Fate to Thjazi's Eyrie, where Idunn and her apples of youth are waiting.
Timber Squirrel is a turn-based bridge puzzle in the sokoban family, rebuilt from scratch for the browser. Every chapter is a small argument about timber: logs are permanent, rotten wood holds for exactly one crossing, boulders refuse to sink, whirlpools eat whatever you feed them, and the embers of Surtr burn your bridge materials to nothing. There is no clock — only par, and a solver that knows the perfect route and will tell you if you have just stranded yourself.
How to play
- Move. Arrow keys, W A S D, the on-screen pad, or a swipe. Ratatoskr moves one tile.
- Push. Walk into a log, a rotwood, a boulder or a pinecone and he shoves it one tile in that direction.
- Bridge. Push a log into water and it floats. That tile becomes a plank you can stand on.
- Cross. Walk to the golden acorn and the crossing is done. Chapters with two acorns need both.
- Feed the runes. A pinecone set on a rune plate opens every gate in the act. Gates refuse everything else.
The five things that will kill your route
| Thing | What it does | How to live with it |
|---|---|---|
| Open water | Impassable, and it swallows nothing you push into it — logs float there. | Bridge it, then walk on your own timber. |
| Whirlpool | Water that destroys any timber pushed into it. You cannot bridge it at all. | Find another row of the river. There is always a throat. |
| Ember of Surtr | Impassable to the squirrel and it burns logs and rotwood to nothing. | Route your timber around it, never into it. |
| Boulder | Pushable on land, but it refuses to enter water. | Shove it aside before it jams the lane your log needs. |
| Ice | Any push or step continues in a straight line until something stops it. | Line up the shot — a log on ice can fly into a gap far away. |
Log versus rotwood
The one rule that decides most chapters: a log bridge is permanent, a rotwood bridge survives exactly one crossing. The moment Ratatoskr steps off rotwood it sinks and the tile becomes open water again. So a gap you will cross twice — out and back — must be paid for with a log, while a gap you will only ever cross once can be bought with rotwood. Spend them the other way round and you strand yourself in a pocket with no way home; the game will tell you so, and Undo takes it back.
The four acts
| Act | Chapters | Where you are | What arrives |
|---|---|---|---|
| I · Urðarbrunnr | 1–8 | The Well of Fate | Water, logs, stone |
| II · Elivágar | 9–16 | The Ice Rivers | Rotwood, whirlpools, two-acorn chapters |
| III · Járnviðr | 17–24 | The Iron Wood | Pinecones, rune plates, gates, embers |
| IV · Þrymheimr | 25–30 | Thjazi's Eyrie | Ice, and every earlier hazard at once |
Beyond the thirty chapters, the Endless Climb builds crossings forever — each one wider, meaner and more crowded than the last, and every one checked by a solver before you ever see it so that a climb can never hand you a wood with no way through.
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Timber Squirrel FAQ
How do you play Timber Squirrel?
Walk with the arrow keys, W A S D, the on-screen pad or a swipe. Move into a log and Ratatoskr pushes it one tile. Push timber into water and it floats: that tile becomes a plank you can walk on. Bridge every gap between you and the golden acorn, step on the acorn, and the crossing is done.
What is the difference between a log and rotwood?
A log bridge is permanent. A rotwood bridge survives exactly one crossing: the moment you step off it, it sinks and the tile becomes open water again. So a gap you will cross twice — out and back — needs a log, while a gap you will only ever cross once can be paid for with rotwood. Spending them the other way round is the most common way to strand yourself.
Is Timber Squirrel free and does it need a download?
It is free and it runs entirely in your browser. There is no download, no install and no account. It plays on desktop with a keyboard and on phones or tablets with touch, and your stars and unlocked chapters are saved locally on your own device.
What makes the later chapters harder?
Four things arrive in order. Act I teaches the water and the stone. Act II adds rotwood and the whirlpools that swallow anything you push into them. Act III adds rune plates and gates, which only open once every plate carries a pinecone, plus the embers of Surtr that burn timber to nothing. Act IV adds ice, which carries you further than you meant to go. From chapter twelve there are also chapters with more than one acorn to collect.
How do the stars work?
Stars are based on how many moves you spent against the best possible route. Three stars means you matched the optimal number of moves exactly, two stars means you finished within about a third more, and one star means you got there the long way. Undo rewinds a move and gives it back, so a careful player can always reach three stars.
What is the Endless Climb?
The Endless Climb generates crossings forever, each one harder than the last: wider rivers, more whirlpools, more ice. Every crossing comes with a step budget, and every step you save is added to your score. Thirty chapters of hand-made story finish at Thjazi's Eyrie, but the climb never does.