''The Powder Toy'' is a

falling-sand game A falling-sand game is a genre of video game and a sub-genre of sandbox game, sandbox games which typically utilize a Two-dimensional_space, two-dimensional Particle system, particle or cellular automaton based game engine to simulate various mate ...

originally created by Stanislaw K. Skowronek (also known as Skylark). It is now developed and maintained by LBPHacker, Simon, jacob1 and other contributors on

GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...

. ''The Powder Toy'' is

free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

licensed under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

version 3.0. A total of 258 (as of February 2025) different in-game materials (or "elements"), each with custom behavior and interactions, are available in the game. In June 2024, ''The Powder Toy'' was released on Steam.

Gameplay

''The Powder Toy'', (abbreviated ''TPT''), is a

sandbox video game A sandbox game is a video game with a gameplay element that provides players a great degree of creativity to interact with, usually without any predetermined goal, or with a goal that the players set for themselves. Such games may lack any objec ...

programmed primarily in C++ that allows users to create content in-game to share using its online level sharing system. A public server for sharing in-game creations is provided as part of the game itself, allowing users to share anything that abides by the rules. Examples of player shared creations include functioning

circulatory system In vertebrates, the circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the body. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart ...

nuclear power plants A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power s ...

nuclear bombs A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explo ...

, and

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

. Content is rated using upvotes and downvotes, and can be reported to the moderators if it breaks the on-site rules.

Modding

''The Powder Toy'' allows users to add plugins and mods to the game with Lua scripting and change the mainly C++ code base. The source code is available on GitHub and can be compiled using Meson. A mod manager can be installed using the built-in console using the tpt.installScriptManager() command. Users have created many

forks In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a Eating utensil, utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with whic ...

and mods. The most popular of which include:
TPT Multiplayer
(Lua)

(Source code modification)

(Source code modification) The former is a Lua script and the latter two are all forks of the source code.

April Fools

''The Powder Toy'' features annual April fools update, most notably the 3D Mode update, alongside the addition of a fake currency called Powdercoins. The April Fools updates are usually removed shortly following April Fools. These updates remaining in the game is very rare.

Reception

edgalaxy.com called ''The Powder Toy'' a "great science game" for its potential use as a learning aid through its accurate portrayal of physics, chemical reactions and more.
on edgalaxy.com (2010-09-03)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powder Toy, The 2010 video games Online games Simulation video games Linux games Windows games MacOS games Android (operating system) games Non-games Open-source video games Free software that uses SDL Free software programmed in C++ Video games about toys Video games with available source code Lua (programming language)-scripted video games Cellular automata in video games