I don’t usually play idle games — the ones that just… exist in the background while you pretend to be productive. I have the patience of a caffeinated squirrel and an attention span to match. But when I saw Bao Bao’s Cozy Laundomat was about a panda running a laundromat, I was intrigued because, hello — cuuuute!

While it didn’t quite feed my gaming addiction, it did provide some delightful lo-fi beats, an adorable little laundromat to stare at while doing actual work (shh, don’t tell my boss), and — miraculously — it wasn’t distracting.

Simple, Clean, and Panda-Approved

The interface is as minimalist as a Marie Kondo-approved sock drawer. You navigate with arrow keys or mouse clicks, and the tutorial is over before you can say “fluff cycle.” At first, I thought I was stuck with whatever machines I plopped down, but — surprise! — there’s a little button at the end of each menu section that lets you move or replace items.

READ MORE: Review | Grimoire Groves (PC)

Bao Bao’s Cozy Laundromat has great customisation. You can tweak almost everything — from rain sounds to machine hums to the mildly infuriating ka-ching of money rolling in (yeah, I shut that off immediately). The music was really lovely lo-fi music that was perfect for working — or at least pretending to while staring at Bao Bao’s tiny laundromat empire. You can turn it down all the way too if you need, through the buttons at the top of the screen, but I kept it on 30% most of the time while tapping away. 

Darn Decorations

Money starts off trickling in at a pace that makes watching paint dry look exhilarating, so upgrading takes time. And pro tip: right-click out of the purchase menu unless you want to accidentally buy extra ironing pandas (I now own more ironing pandas than actual clothes to iron in real life). You can also buy more space if needed, but since the price starts at $2,000, it takes some time to get there.

READ MORE: Preview | Camper Van: Make it Home ‘Aesthetic Camping Without Pooping In A Hole’

Once you buy the priciest washing machine available, the game rewards you with a new, even shinier (read: different coloured) model — same goes for other categories, though some items demand a little more spending before they unlock. Selling items gives you a small refund (because of course, depreciation is real, even in panda-run laundromats), but trying to make everything match is a grind. My laundromat currently looks like a thrift store exploded, but hey, function over fashion, right? This still took about 13 hours of play to get here. And it seemed like the pandas preferred to use the newer machines over the old, which meant some rearranging had to happen.

Also, what do the decorative items do? We only get told about the bench and the vending machines for Bao Bao’s stamina. Plants? Fans? Mysterious boxes? I have no clue. Do they boost Bao Bao’s work environment for maximum enjoyment? Make the laundromat smell nicer? Or are they just there for aesthetic chaos? A little more clarity would’ve been nice. You also can’t move them after you’ve placed them on the whitegoods — something I found a bit aggravating since I had paid for them already.

Is Bao Bao’s 好 好?

好 (hao) means good in Chinese, by the way. As someone who never really vibed with idle games, I can’t deny Bao Bao’s Cozy Laundromat piqued my curiosity about the genre. It’s slow, it’s chill, and it’s the perfect background game to run alongside something else. In fact, I did run another game while playing this — because let’s be real, Bao Bao and his panda pals don’t need my supervision.

READ MORE: Preview | Whisper of the House: ‘Unpacking, and more!’

Would I play it again? I have it running as I write this review. Would I recommend it? If you love cute aesthetics, lo-fi beats, and have a soft spot for business-owning pandas, then absolutely. It’s available now on Steam for $5.95 AUD. Just make sure your PC can handle multitasking, and for the love of Bao Bao, watch those accidental purchases.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some ironing pandas to fire.

Quest Daily rates Bao Bao’s Cozy Laundromat:

7/10

A copy of Bao Bao’s Cozy Laundromat was supplied to Quest Daily for this review.