Editor's note — Every game linked in this guide is the official ZeptoLab release, served through our licensed distribution feed (the same one that powers the rest of this site) — not fan remakes, not "unblocked" re-uploads. We have hands-on reviewed the flagship original (full review here); the four sequels are offered as licensed quick-play and described from series knowledge, clearly marked below. No download, no signup, all free. Last verified: August 2026.
Search "cut the rope online" and most of what comes back is a minefield of re-skinned clones with the candy swapped out and the physics subtly wrong. Which is a shame, because the actual ZeptoLab games — the series that has passed one billion downloads since 2010 — have official HTML5 versions, and five of them are sitting on our licensed feed right now.
This page is the map: what each official title is, how the five differ, and which one to start with.
The five official titles, in series order
1. Cut the Rope (2010) — the original
The one that started it: candy on ropes, Om Nom waiting below, three stars per level if you take the greedy route instead of the safe one. Bubbles, air cushions and timing traps arrive one box at a time.
Play Cut the Rope → · We played this one properly — read the hands-on review.
2. Cut the Rope: Experiments (2011) — adds the rope gun
The Professor's chapter. The signature gadget is a suction gun that fires a new rope onto candy mid-flight, which flips the base game's logic: you're not just removing connections at the right moment, you're creating them. Opens up deliberate drop-and-recatch solutions the original never asks for.
Play Cut the Rope: Experiments → (licensed quick-play)
3. Cut the Rope: Time Travel (2013) — two mouths to feed
Every level has two Om Noms — present-day and an ancestor — and each needs his own candy. Both candies share the same ropes and swings, so a route that feeds one often strands the other. The entry where planning two moves ahead stops being optional.
Play Cut the Rope: Time Travel → (licensed quick-play)
4. Cut the Rope 2 (2013) — the helpers
Om Nom leaves the box. Outdoor scenes, and part of every solution now belongs to the Nommies — helper creatures that lift, bounce or carry candy along segments no rope reaches. Less about cut timing, more about staging the scene before the first slice.
Play Cut the Rope 2 → (licensed quick-play)
5. Cut the Rope: Magic (2015) — transformations
Om Nom himself shape-shifts to chase candy through enchanted levels. The swing physics are intact, but many puzzles hinge on when to transform rather than when to cut — the format bent rather than repeated.
Play Cut the Rope: Magic → (licensed quick-play)
Which one should you play first?
- Never touched the series → start with the original. Its first two boxes are still the best physics-puzzle tutorial ever shipped.
- Played it years ago on a phone → Experiments feels familiar for ten minutes, then the rope gun starts demanding new habits.
- Want the hardest thinking → Time Travel. Two-candy routing is the series' peak puzzle density.
- Playing with a kid → Cut the Rope 2. The helpers make levels more forgiving, and the outdoor scenes are the friendliest in the series.
How to tell official from clone (30-second check)
- Art: official builds use ZeptoLab's Om Nom character art; clones swap in an off-model green blob.
- Physics: in the real games, rope tension and swing momentum feel exact; clones float.
- Source: on this site, all five pages above come from our licensed distribution feed — the same supply chain, with the publisher's build served as-is. If you find "Cut the Rope" somewhere with a weird subtitle ("Unblocked", "IO", "3D"), assume clone.
FAQ
Is Cut the Rope free to play online? Yes — all five official titles above are free in the browser, supported by ads. No download, no account.
Do these work on a school Chromebook? They're plain browser games (HTML5), so they run anywhere Chrome runs. Whether your school's network allows game sites is between you and your IT department.
Which Cut the Rope is the best one? Most series fans point to the original or Time Travel — the original for purity, Time Travel for depth. Our take is in the hands-on review.
Are these the full games? These are the official browser editions distributed by the publisher for web play. Level counts can differ from the mobile apps — we note in the review what we actually verified.
Who made Cut the Rope? ZeptoLab, the studio founded by Efim and Semyon Voinov, first released it in October 2010. Om Nom has since become one of mobile gaming's recognizable mascots.
Play them all
Cut the Rope · Experiments · Time Travel · Cut the Rope 2 · Magic
More physics puzzles without the brand name: our puzzle collection.
Sources: ZeptoLab — Cut the Rope official site. Titles and dates refer to the original series releases; browser editions via our licensed distribution feed.
