The trees grow while you’re gone.

The story

Two kids, one tree, an obsession.

Chase Tantalo has loved bonsai since he was a kid. His little sister Morgan loved it because he did. They begged their mom for a tree each. Morgan’s died within weeks. Chase’s survived, and taking care of it became something they did together. They still keep a collection of real trees, and they built Yamadori as the game they wished existed. Morgan’s first tree is why the game’s strangest rule exists: in Yamadori, trees can never die. Neglect leaves scars, and scars become prized deadwood: the mark of a story, not a deleted save.

The name is the oldest way a bonsai begins: yamadori, climbing into the mountains to collect a wild tree that time has already shaped. The game is built on that reverence for real time. Every tree is procedurally grown, a unique 3D form rather than a sprite, and it grows on the actual calendar, budding and thickening while the app is closed. Water on each species’ real schedule; prune with cuts that heal over real days and sprout where the blade fell; wire a branch and come back in six days, when the bend has set.

The world is a small walkable planet: wild trees in the foothills whose value is their real age, rangers to slip past, four old mother trees offering a daily cutting, a sand garden you rake just by walking through it. Over all of it, one law: time is the one currency that can never be bought. No streaks, no energy bars, no punished absence. And it’s free, with no ads, ever.

What makes it different

Six things nobody else does.

1. No. 01

   Grown, not drawn

   Every tree is a unique, procedurally grown 3D form. Cuts are permanent — a mature silhouette is the record of weeks of decisions.

2. No. 02

   The real clock

   Trees grow on the calendar, even while the app is closed. Cuts heal over real days; a set wire holds after six.

3. No. 03

   The forage

   Walk a small planet, find wild trees whose value is their real age, slip past rangers, carry one home per trip.

4. No. 04

   Nine real species

   Real Latin names, real watering intervals, real difficulty. The jade punishes overwatering; the maple flushes scarlet in spring.

5. No. 05

   Trees never die

   Neglect costs looks and time, never history. Scars become deadwood — jin and shari — the way real bonsai carry theirs.

6. No. 06

   Zen, not grind

   No streaks, no energy, no guilt. Two weeks away looks exactly as gently tousled as one day away.