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Pottery Wheel is a free online pottery game that runs in the browser with no download and no account. A lump of clay spins on the wheel and the order for the day is drawn behind it as a dashed outline. Drag left or right at any height to push the wall in or out, and the silhouette follows. The rule that makes it feel like clay rather than like a set of sliders is that the clay is conserved: pushing a band in does not delete it, it moves into the bands above and below, so narrowing the waist makes the shoulders swell and you have to work the whole profile rather than dial in one row at a time. When the shape is close enough, take it to the glaze bench, pick a colour and fire it. There is no timer and nothing to lose — a pot that comes out wrong is just a pot that came out wrong. Each level's tolerance is derived from how far the starting cylinder already is from the order, so there is always real shaping to do and no level can be won by leaving the clay alone. Twelve orders run from a flared cup up to a shouldered piece with three changes of direction.
How to play Pottery Wheel
- The clay starts as a plain cylinder. The dashed outline behind it is the shape that was ordered.
- Press on the pot and drag towards or away from the middle. The wall at that height follows your hand.
- The clay is conserved: whatever you push out of one band goes into the bands next to it, and whatever you push in comes out somewhere else.
- The match percentage in the header tells you how close the whole profile is. The banner turns green once it is inside the level's tolerance.
- Undo steps back through your pushes as far as you like. New Lump starts the order over.
- Press Glaze It to stop shaping, pick one of six glazes, then Fire It to finish the pot.
- A fired pot inside tolerance unlocks the next order, and stars come from how close the profile is — not how few pushes it took.
- Nothing is timed and nothing can be broken.
Tips
- Work the big shape before the details. Get the widest and narrowest bands roughly right and the rest of the profile is small corrections.
- To thin a neck, push it in slowly and let the clay go into the shoulder you actually want — pushing hard sends it further up and down than you expect.
- Pull the belly out first on a bottle shape. It is easier to squeeze a neck out of a full body than to add body to a thin one.
- Check the silhouette against the dashes near the rim. The top band is the one people leave short.
- Small drags beat one long one. Each push is capped, so a slow sweep gives you finer control than a fast yank.
- If the match percentage stalls, look for a band that is wildly out rather than nudging the ones that are nearly right.
- The tolerance is tighter on the later orders, so the last few percent of match is what the stars are actually measuring.
FAQ
Is Pottery Wheel free to play?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. All twelve orders are included and unlock as you fire them.
Why does the pot bulge somewhere else when I push it in?
Because the clay is conserved. Pushing a band in moves that clay into its neighbours rather than deleting it, which is what real throwing does and what makes the shape a whole-profile problem rather than twelve independent sliders.
Is there a timer?
No. Stars come from how closely the profile matches the order, and nothing counts down at any point.
Can I fail a level?
You can fire a pot that is not close enough, and it simply does not unlock the next order — Throw Again resets the same clay. Nothing is lost and there are no lives.
How is the pot shaped, exactly?
It is a profile of revolution: one radius per height band, mirrored to make the silhouette. That is what a wheel gives you, and it is why a drag moves the whole ring at that height rather than denting one side.
Could a level already be finished before I touch it?
No. Each level's tolerance is calculated as half the distance the starting cylinder already sits from the order, so there is always real shaping to do — an earlier hand-written tolerance made two levels start already matched, which is why it is derived now.
Does the glaze affect the score?
No. The glaze is yours to choose; only the profile is measured.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The wheel scales to whichever screen dimension is tighter and shaping is a normal touch drag.