# Hole Punch

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/hole-punch/

18 people recommended Hole Punch in Hacker News comments, 9 had mixed feelings and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

14 of the 18 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Hole Punch: Sling your spaceship around gravitational fields”.

**Verdict:** A fun, addictive spaceship game where you sling around gravitational fields and black holes, and players say it is more engaging than expected. The most common caveat is imprecise controls on mobile and iPad.

Summary written by Claude from 28 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 27 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Fun and addictive gameplay (6 comments in the sample): "Very fun. Got far enough to need the black holes to provide the starting motion and gave up." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49954032)) "This is somehow surprisingly fun, a good game to play with kids." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947312)) "I just spent a ton of time on this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49948220))
- Delightful, charming look and feel (3 comments in the sample): "This was delightful but I wanted it portrait as well and on iOS and w haptics!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49985039)) "I enjoy this game, congrats on making it!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947204)) "thanks for the refreshing skeumorphism" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947999))

## What people warn about

- Imprecise or broken mobile and iPad controls (6 comments in the sample): "It launches on mobile safari but doesn’t seem playable, landscape on mobile safari sucks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947389)) "on Safari desktop clicking uses up matter too quickly to set precisely" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947138)) "Doesn’t work on mobile safari. Tapping on a blackhole does nothing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49953752))
- Cannot subtract mass or delete holes (2 comments in the sample): "if i overshoot, i can't do anything subtract mass or delete a hole" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49946882)) "The ability to subtract mass is definitely needed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49946994))

## Other physics games people recommend

- [Sandboxels](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sandboxels/): 10 recommend, 0 mixed, 2 criticize
- [2D Vehicles](https://hackerapproved.com/p/2d-vehicles/): 5 recommend, 1 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Hole Punch", https://hackerapproved.com/p/hole-punch/ (18 recommend, 9 mixed, 6 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.