COOKIE COUNTERCOOKIE JUGGLE · EST. 1985

🎈 ARCADE

The cookie moves on its own, one space at a time — you don't toss it. It arcs up over the Grungy Crow's head from one wing to the other, and you press that wing's green arrow the moment the cookie lands on the wing to hit it back. The big number on the LCD counts your successful juggles — that's your score. Too early, too late, the wrong arrow, or no press at all, and the crow eats the cookie. Keys work too: ← →, A D, or J L.

How to play

  1. 1Press either arrow to start. The cookie starts moving on its own, one space at a time, across the LCD in a high arc up over the Grungy Crow's head, from his left wing toward his right. Nothing waits for a toss press — your only job is the hit back when it lands.
  2. 2One space, one note. Every space the cookie moves is one note of the scale: do moves one space, re moves one space, then mi, fa, sol, la, ti, high do. Eight spaces and the cookie lands on his right wing. Coming back the scale runs down the same way, high do down to do, ending on his left wing. The big number on the LCD doesn't count the spaces — it counts how many times you've successfully juggled the cookie back. That's your score.
  3. 3Time the hit back. The moment the cookie lands on a wing, press that wing's green arrow: the right arrow hits it back to the left, the left arrow hits it back to the right. Press too early, press too late, press the wrong arrow, or don't press at all, and the Grungy Crow eats the cookie — game over. Your total juggles show on the LCD; press either arrow to play again.
  4. 4Faster and faster — then two cookies. Every hit back makes the cookie move faster. After 8 hits back, a second cookie is added, as in the directions: now two cookies are moving at once, and each one has to be hit back at its wing, same timing. Never a third cookie. How long can you keep them both going?

The original toy

The Fisher-Price Sesame Street Cookie Counter (1985) was a chunky plastic teaching toy: big friendly buttons, a little LCD screen, and Cookie Monster himself walking kids through counting, addition, and subtraction.

Tucked inside those math modes was a hidden gem — Cookie Juggle, the "counting cookie game." It worked like a counter, the way games on a calculator did: a cookie crossed the LCD over Cookie Monster's head one space at a time, all on its own, and each space was a count and a note — 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 on the way to one hand, singing do re mi fa sol la ti high do up the scale, then 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the way back, high do down to do. When the cookie reached a hand, you timed that hand's green arrow to hit it back the other way. Miss the timing — early, late, wrong arrow, or no press — and Cookie Monster ate the cookie. The crossings got faster and faster, and after 8 juggles the directions added a second cookie at once.

It was a rhythm-action game years before rhythm-action was a genre — pure Game & Watch DNA, and a rough sketch of ideas games like Guitar Hero would later turn into a phenomenon. This page rebuilds that little game as faithfully as a browser allows — with the Grungy Crow doing the juggling: same two wings, same two green arrows, same notes climbing up and down the scale, same escalating panic. Here the big number counts your juggles, not the spaces.