Drag back from the ball, the same way you would pull back a real putter, and release. The farther you pull the harder the shot, and a dotted line shows the exact path the ball will take including bounces off walls and bumpers. What you see previewed is what happens — there is no hidden randomness.

Side spin arrives at hole seven and the lob wedge at hole eleven. Both show up on a hole that is built to need them, so you learn what they do by solving that hole rather than by reading a tutorial. Once unlocked they stay available for the rest of the course.

Because it was travelling too fast. The cup only catches a ball that reaches it slowly enough; a quick one lips out and carries on. That is deliberate — it means power is a real decision on every putt, not just something to max out.

Sand kills your roll almost immediately, ice barely slows you down, and tar stops the ball dead. Slopes push constantly in one direction, fans and conveyors push while you are on them, bumpers add speed instead of absorbing it, and portals move you while keeping your speed and heading.

Yes. Mini Putt is completely free in your browser on ArcadeWhale. There is no purchase and no sign-up needed — open the page and start putting.

No. It runs directly in your web browser and works in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge on desktop, tablets and phones. There is nothing to download and no plugin to install.

Twenty-seven, split across three courses. The first nine teach the basic surfaces one at a time, the middle nine introduce the harder physics, and the last nine combine them, so the difficulty comes from new ideas rather than from the same hole made narrower.

Yes. Your best score and stars on every hole, your coins and your mulligans are stored on your device, so closing the tab does not reset you. You return to the first hole you have not finished.

A free replay of your last stroke. You can buy them in the pro shop with coins you earn from finishing holes, or get one by watching a short video. They are optional — every hole can be finished without one.

The hole simply restarts and you keep the layout you have already learned. There is no life system and nothing to lose, so a hole that beats you costs you nothing except the chance at a better star rating.