The pet

Menu > Pet. Choose one of three characters (Blob, Kit or Bot), give it a name and look after it. It starts as an egg that hatches after half an hour, is a baby for a day, then grown up. The top of the screen shows its name, its age in days, its happiness (hearts) and its health (crosses).

Looking after it

Feed: a meal, or a snack that cheers it up but makes a mess sooner.
Medicine: only when it is sick.
Bath and Clean up: it leaves messes every couple of hours.
Lights off: when it is sleepy. It sleeps until rested and a sleeping pet is not disturbed.
Name: rename it.

It tells you when it is hungry, dirty, sick or sleepy with a small banner on any screen.

Playing with it

Tic-tac-toe (you are X), Repeat with me (it hops from foot to foot; L is the left foot and R the right, each with its own note, and every round adds a hop) and 21 (draw numbers 1 to 10 and get closest to 21 without going over; L stands, R hits). A win cheers it up and a loss costs it a little.

Time passes, gently

Time passes for real even with the board off, but gently: its needs drift slowly while the board is off and never make it ill (up to three days are counted). It can only leave while the board is on: left at zero health for twelve hours it says goodbye, and the next visit offers a new egg. A parent can switch the pet off in Parent controls.