Academics
HollowPals
Hide your eight animals and your Moonstone, then go looking for theirs. You can't see their pieces until two meet, so you work out what each one might be from how it moves: bigger tags smaller, Puck the mouse can tickle Ursa the bear home, and only Burdock the badger clears a bramble. Play the cast, play together, pass the device, or play in referee mode where every piece stays hidden. No dice, no timer, no accounts. Ages 6-8.
▶ Play it nowBuilt for sittings of about 15 minutes on the screen. That is our design budget, not a measurement.
Meet your mentor
Every Spark & Anvil app has a friendly mentor character that demonstrates, asks, and patiently scaffolds learning.
Mentored by Mosswick
#2F6B57 Characters who teach
Meet the cast
In the Hollowmere Valley two villages hide a Moonstone each. Every animal's act IS one rule of the game: Ursa is biggest, Lupa is next, Puck the smallest can tickle Ursa home if he reaches her first, Burdock alone clears a bramble, the hares Skipwell and Hopwell run far in straight lines (which gives them away), and Briar the bramble never moves. Mosswick the owl asks what a piece that never moved might be.
Mosswick
asks which of their pieces has not moved yet, and what it could be
Ursa
A big bear - the strongest; she tags anyone home except Puck, if he reaches her first
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Lupa
A wolf - next biggest; only Ursa is bigger, and a bramble pops her too
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Puck
A tiny mouse - the smallest, but he tickles Ursa home when HE strikes first
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Burdock
A badger - the only one who can clear a bramble
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Skipwell
A hare - runs many squares in a straight line, so moving far gives him away
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Hopwell
A hare - looks first and runs fast; cheap to send, often goes home
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Briar
A bramble - never moves; anyone who bumps her goes home, except Burdock
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Browse all chapters → · What's distributed-narrative methodology? →
What's inside
Learning goal
Hide your eight animals and your Moonstone, then go looking for theirs. You can't see their pieces until two meet, so you work out what each one might be from how it moves: bigger tags smaller, Puck the mouse can tickle Ursa the bear home, and only Burdock the badger clears a bramble. Play the cast, play together, pass the device, or play in referee mode where every piece stays hidden. No dice, no timer, no accounts. Ages 6-8.
Mentored by Mosswick — no data leaves the device.
How HollowPals handles your kid's data
- ✅ All progress, settings, and AI-generated content stays on the device
- ✅ No analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs
- ✅ Free — no ads, no in-app purchases
- ✅ No personal information collected from children — in line with COPPA (updated by the 2026 FTC amendments)
- ✅ No chat with strangers — play-together rooms use a short code and preset emotes, never typed messages