Your first isopod
Daisy
A Dairy Cow who looks ordinary and secretly carries both hidden genes. Every laevis colour can come from her line.
Isopod-keeping sim
Pod Box
Keep isopods, breed colours nobody has seen
Raise a colony of tiny isopods and breed new colours.
A cozy isopod-keeping game. Mist, feed, breed and fill your PodDex.
- Players
- 1
- Online
- No, single player
- Device
- Computer with a mouse
- Session
- Short or long. Saves in your browser
- Genre
- Cozy isopod sim
- Price
- Free
Pod Box videos and screenshots
Highlights
What makes Pod Box fun
01
A real moisture gradient
Spray a damp corner and keep a dry side. The isopods walk to where they feel right.
02
Hidden genes
Two simple genes behind ten morphs. Carriers look normal until the babies show it.
03
Buyers and Keeper Levels
Seven buyers send orders. Levels unlock three more species, up to the Rubber Ducky.
04
Helpers when you want
Vacuum, Auto Scoop, Composter, Feeding Dish, Auto Feeder and Auto Mister take the chores.
05
Nothing dies
A neglected tub slows down. It never wipes your colony.
06
Saves in your browser
No account. Time pauses when you close the tab.
The cast
Meet the isopods
Four species and ten colour morphs, all bred from two hidden genes.
Common · starter
Dairy Cow
Dark grey-brown with cream blotches. Fast to breed and asked for by buyers all the time.
Common · colour gene
Orange Laevis
Warm orange with a few pale spots. Needs two copies of the colour gene.
Uncommon · surface gene
Oreo Crumble
Pale cream with dark blotches, the Dairy Cow turned inside out.
Rare · both genes
Papaya
Soft peach and orange. Needs both hidden genes twice over, so it takes planning.
Common · Keeper Level 3
Powder Orange
Orange with fine pale speckles. The quickest walker in the tub.
Uncommon · colour gene
Powder Blue
Pale blue-grey with fine speckles, bred from two Powder Orange carriers.
Uncommon · Keeper Level 6
Zebra
Dark shell with pale cross bands. Grows slowly and drops a little extra frass.
Rare · surface gene
High Yellow Zebra
The Zebra with bright yellow bands instead of pale ones.
Legendary · Keeper Level 11
Rubber Ducky
Yellow and grey. The slowest grower, thirsty, with broods of one to three.
Legendary · breed only
Blonde Rubber Ducky
Pale cream and amber. Never sold in the shop. You have to breed it.
How to play
Controls
| Action | Mouse |
|---|---|
| Everything | Mouse |
Guides
Pod Box guides
Pod Box Beginner's Guide: How to Play the Cozy Isopod GameYour first hour with Daisy and the tub8 min read
Pod Box Breeding Guide: Isopod Colours, Hidden Genes and MorphsTwo genes, ten morphs, and how to breed them10 min read
Pod Box Orders and Upgrades: Coins, Keeper Levels and HelpersOrders, Keeper Levels and what to buy first9 min readFAQ
Pod Box questions
What is Pod Box?
A free cozy isopod game in the browser. You keep isopods in a tub, collect frass for coins, and breed new colour morphs.
Can isopods die in Pod Box?
No. A dry or hungry tub makes less frass and breeds less, but nothing dies.
How many morphs are there?
Ten morphs across four species: Porcellio laevis, Porcellionides pruinosus, Armadillidium maculatum and Cubaris.
Does Pod Box keep going when I close it?
No. Time only passes while the tab is open, and your save waits in the browser.
Is the genetics realistic?
It is inspired by real isopod morphs but simplified to two genes, so you can plan pairings. Rarity and prices are game choices.
Can I play on a phone?
It is made for a computer with a mouse or trackpad, since spraying and collecting need precise clicks.
Does Pod Box have sound?
The tub has no sound effects or music. It is a quiet game, easy to leave open beside other things.
About Pod Box
Read more
A cozy isopod game you play in the browser
Pod Box is a free isopod game about keeping a small colony in a plastic tub. You start with one Dairy Cow isopod named Daisy, a 5L shoebox, a moss corner, some oak leaves and a piece of cork bark. You mist the soil, drop in a carrot, and watch her wander, eat, hide and rest. She leaves little frass pellets behind. You click them, compost them, and they become coins.
Coins buy a male, more food, bigger tubs and helpers. Then the real game opens up: breeding. Every isopod carries hidden genes, and the babies sometimes come out in a colour nobody in your tub has shown before. When that happens the game says NEW MORPH DISCOVERED and fills a card in your PodDex.
Care that you can see
Pod Box has five care bars: Moisture, Food, Leaf Litter, Stability and Space. Together they set the mood of the tub, from Thriving to Unhealthy, with a short Why? list in plain words, such as the substrate drying out or too much disturbance lately. Moisture works like real isopod keeping. The soil is a map of damp and dry patches, and good care means a wet corner the animals can walk to and a dry side they can walk away to.
The isopods behave like small animals. They rest under the bark by day and come out at night. They walk to water when they are thirsty, to food when they are hungry, and they all hide when you poke them too much. Nothing dies. A neglected tub slows down, makes less frass and stops breeding until you fix it.
Breeding colours with hidden genes
Each isopod has two genes with two copies each, one from each parent. A colour copy and a surface copy stay hidden unless an isopod has two of the same. That simple rule gives ten morphs across four species: Dairy Cow, Orange Laevis, Oreo Crumble and Papaya in Porcellio laevis; Powder Orange and Powder Blue in Porcellionides pruinosus; Zebra and High Yellow Zebra in Armadillidium maculatum; and Rubber Ducky and Blonde Rubber Ducky in Cubaris.
Daisy carries both hidden copies from the start, so every laevis colour can come from her line. Test pairings tell you who is a carrier, and two isopods of a recessive morph always breed true. Markings are passed down too, and boldly marked animals sell for more.
Orders, Keeper Levels and helpers
As the colony grows, seven buyers start sending orders, from the Bioactive Shop to the Botanic Gardens. Orders pay far more than selling isopods one by one, and they always take your least valuable animals. Everything you do earns Keeper XP, and Keeper Levels 3, 6 and 11 unlock new species in the shop. Coins buy the Frass Vacuum, Auto Scoop, Auto Composter, Feeding Dish, Auto Feeder and Auto Mister, plus tubs up to a 64-isopod Bioactive Bin. You can let the helpers do the chores or keep doing them by hand.
Pod Box saves in your browser, needs no account, and pauses while the tab is closed. It is a slow, quiet game for a computer with a mouse.
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