Pearl

Tap to open or close the oyster. Hands-on: lift the pearl out, then put it back.

A pearl is a gem made by a living animal. When an irritant, usually a scrap of the animal's own tissue or a bead put in by a pearl farmer, ends up inside an oyster or mussel, the animal coats it with layer after layer of nacre, or mother-of-pearl, the same shiny stuff that lines its shell. The thin layers give a pearl its soft glow, called luster.

This oyster starts open, with its pearl inside. Tap it to close the shell; tap again to open it. A pearl can take years to grow, and most pearls sold today are grown on pearl farms. With ✋ Hands-on on, pry the lid open or shut by hand, lift the pearl out and roll it about, then bring it back near its place in the shell and it settles in.

Made in Splashery. Its code is MIT.