What Is Melon Sandbox?
Melon Sandbox (originally released as Melon Playground) is a 2D physics sandbox created by 27 Studio. There is no story, no score, and no fail state. You get an empty arena, a giant catalogue of items, and total freedom to combine them however you like. Drop a ragdoll from a height, wire up a chain of explosives, build a ramp for a car, or just see what happens when a melon-headed dummy meets a syringe full of something dubious.
The game exploded on mobile, where its simple drag-and-drop controls and instantly readable physics made it a favourite for short videos and “what if” experiments. The browser version brings that same toolbox to desktop and mobile web with no install.
The Toolbox
Everything in Melon Sandbox is organised into categories in the item menu:
- Ragdolls – the signature melon-headed humans, plus a range of other characters, each with fully simulated limbs and joints.
- Melee & Firearms – blades, bats, pistols, rifles and more. Attach a weapon to a ragdoll or fire it yourself.
- Explosives – grenades, TNT, barrels and mines with timers and triggers.
- Vehicles – cars, bikes and other rides that you can push, drive or launch off ramps.
- Syringes & Chemicals – inject ragdolls with serums that change their behaviour, size or durability.
- Building blocks & Props – planks, platforms, ropes and mechanisms for constructing your own contraptions.
Items snap together, so you can bolt a weapon to a wheel, hang a ragdoll from a rope or chain multiple blocks into a working machine.
How To Play
- Open the item menu and pick a category.
- Tap or click an item to spawn it into the arena.
- Drag objects to position them. Use the rotate controls to angle them.
- Pause time while you set up a scene, then press play to release the physics.
- Interact — pull limbs, trigger explosives, drive vehicles, and watch the ragdolls react.
Because time can be frozen, you can build elaborate setups piece by piece before you let anything move. This is the secret behind most of the impressive contraptions people share online.
Things To Try
- Rube Goldberg machines: chain ramps, balls and explosives so one small push sets off a long reaction.
- Ragdoll stress tests: see how many syringes a melon can take before it falls apart.
- Vehicle stunts: build a jump, load a car with passengers and see who survives.
- Defence scenarios: arm one ragdoll, give the other a shield, and let them loose.
Tips
- Use the pause button liberally. Setting everything up frozen, then hitting play, gives you far cleaner results.
- Zoom out for large builds; zoom in to fine-tune joints and rotations.
- Combine categories. The best experiments mix items — a ragdoll on a motorbike carrying a grenade is more interesting than any of those alone.
- Clear the arena when the object count gets high; too many active bodies can slow the simulation in the browser.