Zerdly

Putt Lab 3D

Build a tiny tabletop hole - turf, ramps, rails, water, a cup - then pull back from the ball and make the putt that proves the design works.

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About Putt Lab 3D

Putt Lab 3D is a mini-golf course editor and physics game. Each hole sits on a grid of tiles with heights: ramps climb half a tile, slopes lean, rails bounce the ball back, rough and sand slow it, water costs a stroke and an open edge lets it roll off the table.

The ball is simulated 60 times a second in small sub-steps, the same way every time: the same putt from the same spot always ends in the same place, whatever your screen's frame rate. The walls the ball hits are built from the same heights that are drawn.

The 18 campaign holes run through six themed tables and introduce one idea at a time. Before shipping, every hole was played by a shot-search solver using exactly the game's physics, which holed each one within its par.

How to play

  1. Press on the ball, pull back, and let go. The arrow shows the direction; the bar shows power (soft, medium or firm).
  2. Watch where it settles, read the slope arrows and the rails, and putt again until it drops.
  3. The cup only catches a ball slower than 1.6 tiles a second, so a hard putt can roll straight over it.
  4. In Build, choose a tool and tap or drag on the grid. Press Playtest to putt your own hole, or Prove it to let the solver try.

Controls

  • Mouse: drag back from the ball and release to putt. Drag elsewhere to turn the view, Shift+drag or right-drag to pan, wheel to zoom.
  • Keyboard: Left and Right aim (Shift for 5 degree steps), Up and Down set power, hold Space to charge and release to putt, Enter putts at the set power, R restarts the hole, W A S D nudge the camera, Q and E turn it, Escape pauses. In Build, number keys pick tools, arrow keys move the cursor, Enter places and Ctrl/Cmd+Z undoes.
  • Touch: put a finger on the ball, pull back and lift. Drag elsewhere to turn the view; two fingers pinch to zoom and pan. The buttons on the right aim, change power, restart and putt; the buttons on the left turn, zoom and switch camera views. Left-handed mode swaps the sides.

The rules

  • Every putt is one stroke. Water or rolling off an open edge adds one penalty stroke and the ball goes to the nearest safe drop (or back to where you struck it).
  • A putt ends when the ball has been almost still for 1.4 seconds. You can putt again then.
  • Holes unlock in order. Medals: gold for beating par, silver for level par, bronze for finishing.
  • Challenge cards (one shot, bank off a rail, stay out of the sand and so on) only appear on a hole when the solver found a line that meets them.
  • The Daily Hole is generated from the UTC date. It is labelled verified only if the solver holed it in four strokes or fewer.

Scoring, saving and limits

Your score on a hole is strokes including penalties. Best strokes, medals and completed challenge cards are kept per hole. Finishing campaign holes unlocks extra turf and flag palettes.

Progress, Daily scores, settings and your Build draft are saved only in this browser. Export .zputt saves a hole to a small file you can share; an imported file is checked (size, tiles, coordinates, numbers, version) before it opens, and Undo restores your previous hole. Save picture downloads a PNG of the current view. Clearing data in Settings removes only Putt Lab 3D's data.

The 3D view needs WebGL 2. The physics is a model tuned for play, not a measurement of real greens. There is no online play and no global leaderboard. Holes go up to 24 by 20 tiles.

Accessibility

Every action has a button with a name and a visible focus ring, and the whole game can be played with the keyboard. Stroke count, par and where the ball stopped are announced as text. Reduced motion stops camera easing, flag sway and water movement without changing the physics.

Questions

Is this the same as Mini Golf?
No. Mini Golf plays ready-made holes. Putt Lab 3D is a hole editor with heights, ramps, rails, tunnels, water and moving parts, and its own physics.
Why did my ball roll over the cup?
It was moving faster than 1.6 tiles a second. Putt a little softer, or use a rail behind the cup to slow it.
What does Prove it do?
It runs a shot search on your hole using the game's own physics. If it holes the ball you get the number of strokes it needed; if not, it tells you how many test shots it tried.
Do my scores go anywhere?
No. Everything stays in this browser. There are no accounts, uploads or leaderboards.