Cookie Clicker

At first, the player clicks on a large cookie, earning one cookie per click. With these cookies, the player can buy additional means of production such as cursors, grandmas, farms, mines, factories, banks, temples, and 12 more that automatically generate cookies. Prices increase exponentially, with each asset costing 15% more than the last-purchased asset of the same type. The player may also purchase upgrades to increase cookie production for these buildings. Golden cookies, small cookies that appear in random locations and fade away after several seconds, appear periodically and grant effects, such as a temporary increase in the rate of production, if clicked before they disappear.

After earning a certain number of cookies, the player can 'ascend', losing all their progress but earning heavenly chips and prestige levels. Prestige levels add a permanent boost (+1% per level) to the rate of cookie production in future playthroughs, while heavenly chips can be spent on a wide variety of prestige upgrades. However, the number of cookies needed to unlock the next prestige level goes up proportionally with the cube of the level, becoming harder to attain as more are acquired. Other game mechanics include "wrinklers" (eldritch beasts which reduce cookie production, but can be popped by clicking them, returning all the cookies it digested with interest), Krumblor the Cookie Dragon, and sugar lumps (which take 24 hours to coalesce and are used to level up buildings, boost their production rate, and unlock minigames.)

Julien Thiennot, also known as Orteil, created Cookie Clicker on August 8, 2013. Written in a single evening, the game was posted in a link on 4chan, and garnered 50,000 players within hours. A month after the game's initial release, it had over 200,000 players per day. 5 million hits in one day during August 2013, and by January 2014, Cookie Clicker was getting 225,000 hits per day.

The game has had continual updates since its release, notably the "legacy" update in February 2016 and the "spiritual" update in July 2017. On October 25, 2018, Orteil launched the game's Patreon page, with the intent to develop Cookie Clicker and other Dashnet games becoming a full-time job, though it has been announced that the Patreon will close on January 24, 2026. As of January 27, 2026, the Patreon is no longer accessible. On August 8, 2019, the mobile beta for Cookie Clicker was released for Android devices after a long delay.

Justin Davis of IGN called Cookie Clicker the "greatest Idle Game", commenting on how it balances power such that "every step of the way you feel like you're flying". He remarked on how the game creates anticipation for each major progression milestone. Destructoid described how its focus on gaining cookies creates an "illusion of progress, without any substantial advancement".

An academic work published by University of Minnesota Press analyzed Cookie Clicker as subverting the standard of digital media hiding its complexity. Rather, it forces players to confront how ever-growing systems minimise the importance of player decisions, mirroring detachment users face with complex modern technology.