Paw Panic

Four animals sit around a small table and count out loud: A, 2, 3, 4… 13, and back to A. Everyone takes turns pushing a card face-up into the middle.

When the card you flip matches the number being counted, it's on. The paw that played it is still out on the table — everyone else lunges for that paw, and whoever played the card has to snatch it back.

Land on their paw first and they take the whole pile in the middle, plus a card off the top of yours. Grab air, sit the round out, or slap at a card that never matched, and you're the one left with a clumsy paw. Empty your stack to finish — the table keeps playing until everyone has a place.

One round, in slow motion

1. Hold Space to push your card up. Push it slowly and you see it first — but everyone else gets more time to read you.
2. The card lands. A short beat so everyone can see the number, then a 3-2-1 countdown. Nobody may move.
3. The go signal. Attackers aim at the exposed paw with the mouse (or WASD) and slap with E. An aim ring closes in on the spot each paw is about to hit.
4. The paw is thrown, not teleported .it arcs, it casts a shadow, and it lands exactly where it was aimed. That flight time is the other player's window to snatch their paw back.
5. Everything freezes for a moment so you can see who landed first, who hit, and who grabbed air.

What's in it

• Four players — you and three opponents, each with their own reaction time, nerve and tells. The slow, careful one is not the dangerous one.
• Aim rings, paw shadows and a freeze-frame verdict, so a hit never feels random.
• Clumsy-paw penalties — one round for slapping late or not at all, two for slapping at nothing. Bigger paw, slower dodge, muffled hearing. They stack like a kart racer's items, there's no cure, you just ride them out.
• A practice table — every card is a match, nothing is scored, nobody is knocked out. Go learn to slap and to dodge.
• English / 简体中文 / 繁體中文, switchable any time with L.
• Music, spoken counts, and a heartbeat that tightens as the pile in the middle grows.

Controls

• Space — hold to push your card, release to place it
• E or left click — slap
• Mouse or WASD — move your paw (aim when you're slapping, escape when you're the one being slapped)
• Touch — drag your paw with one finger, tap Slap with another
• L — switch language  ·  R — restart

Plays on a desktop with keyboard and mouse, or on a phone / tablet held sideways — touch controls and the layout adapt on their own.

Please tell me what you think

This is a single-player demo — you against three AI animals — made to find out whether the core loop is actually fun. If it is, a multiplayer mode is the obvious next step, and your feedback is what decides that.

Does the 3-2-1 beat give you enough time to react? Is dodging fair? Does slapping feel good? Tell me in the comments — that's the whole reason this build is up.