Turbo Pudding
Fluffenders is a game about bedtime. Every night the Moonberry Tree glows, the Fluffs sleep snug in the burrow beneath it, and the Grumps, who can’t sleep a wink, come shuffling across the meadow for the dreamy moonberries. Granny Hoot’s plan is simple: “Bubbles, sneezes and cuddles will tuck them in.”
The longer we spent on the meadow, the more we noticed that sleep isn’t just the goal here. It’s everybody’s favorite hobby. So here is a short guide to who naps, who doesn’t and who really should.
The Fluffs nap on the job
You’d think the defenders of the burrow would be the wide-awake ones. Not quite.
Dozy Mole naps underground until it wakes, then pops up, BOING, under the first Grump that comes along. Granny Hoot is very patient about it: “Dozy Mole needs time to wake up!”
Gulpy Frog gulps a close Grump into a sleepy bubble, then needs a long nap of its own. Fair enough. That’s a big lunch.
Whoosh Fox lets out one big puff that blows every floating Grump off the lawn and clears the mist for a while. Then the fox runs home. One puff is a full day’s work.
And then there is Pillow Pal, who isn’t a Fluff at all. Tap any Fluff with it, and that Fluff goes home for a nap and frees its spot on the lawn. Moving your team around, Fluffenders style, means sending somebody to bed.
The sleepiest tricks on the meadow
Nobody in Fluffenders gets hurt. Every Fluff’s trick is just another way to get a Grump to sleep. Bubbun the bunny blows sleepy bubbles at every Grump in its row. Yawny Sloth lets out a yawn cloud that reaches every Grump up to four steps ahead and goes right through planks and pillows. Even Prickles the hedgehog plays along: Grumps that walk over it say ouch, then yawn.
The record holder is Achoo Kitty. One giant glitter sneeze, and every Grump nearby goes straight to dreamland.
The Grumps who never sleep
On the other side, being wide awake is practically the uniform. The Grumplet is a grumpy fuzzball who hasn’t slept in a week. Big Grumbo, the king of the Grumps, hasn’t napped for a hundred years, and the Grumps are oddly proud of it. Before night 10 they even send the Fluffs a warning: “Do NOT sing him a lullaby!”
He bonks Fluffs with a giant pillow mallet and sends them running home. A pillow, mind you. We suspect that, deep down, he knows exactly what it’s for.
The picture at the top of this post is Big Grumbo at the end of the Meadow chapter, snoring under the Moonberry Tree at last. A hundred years is a long time to stay up.
Grumbelda’s wide-awake cocoa
In the Whispering Woods, things get serious. Grumbelda the Grump witch brews wide-awake cocoa. One sip, and no Grump can sleep a wink. Her cauldron splashes cocoa, brews up mist and sends out more Grumps. In a game this cozy, that is about as villainous as it gets.
Her own note to the Fluffs before night 20 says it all: “Nobody naps in MY woods! Not tonight, not ever.” How that turns out, we’ll leave for you to find out.
Tuck-in night
Night 15 in the woods is a little breather called Tuck-a-Grump. There are no cards, no stardust and no Rollys, just nine burrow holes in the grass. Grumps pop out and start eyeing the moonberries, and you tap each one to tuck it in. An acorn cap takes two taps. Too slow, and a Grump ducks back down its hole with a moonberry held up high.
It’s the whole game in its simplest form: see a Grump, put it to bed.
Lights out
Fluffenders has twenty nights across Moonberry Meadow and the Whispering Woods, sixteen Fluffs to collect and a lot of Grumps who could really use a nap. The first two nights are free to play in your browser at fluffenders.com, and the full game is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on the Fluffenders page.
