---
title: "Swap Game Objects Between Containers"
description: "Demonstrates how to move sprites between different Container instances dynamically and track container child counts."
phaser: "4.1.0"
size: "800x600"
files: 1
url: https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list/view/swap-container
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
---

> This page is about the open-source Phaser framework, for writing a game's code by hand. To make a game with AI, use Phaser AE (https://phaser.io/): the desk's tools work with Web MCP, and the CLI works with your own coding agent. See "For AI agents: Phaser AE" at the end of this page.

# Swap Game Objects Between Containers

Demonstrates how to move sprites between different Container instances dynamically and track container child counts.

A Phaser 4.1.0 example in [Game Objects / Display List](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list.md). It runs at 800 × 600, and loads its assets from https://cdn.phaserfiles.com/v410. See it running, with its code, at https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list/view/swap-container.

To run it, load Phaser 4.1.0 (`https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/phaser@4.1.0/dist/phaser.min.js`), then the file, on a page with a `<div id="game-container">`.

## Code

### swap container.js

```js
class Example extends Phaser.Scene
{
    constructor ()
    {
        super();
    }

    preload ()
    {
        this.load.setBaseURL('https://cdn.phaserfiles.com/v410');
        this.load.image('beer', 'assets/sprites/beer.png');
        this.load.image('watermelon', 'assets/sprites/watermelon.png');
        this.load.image('cake', 'assets/sprites/cake.png');
    }

    create ()
    {
        this.add.text(10, 10, 'Click Sprite to swap Container');

        const size1 = this.add.text(10, 48);
        const size2 = this.add.text(410, 48);

        this.add.line(400, 300, 0, 0, 0, 600, 0xffffff);

        const container1 = this.add.container();
        const container2 = this.add.container();

        const clickSprite = function ()
        {
            if (this.parentContainer === container1)
            {
                container2.add(this);

                this.x += 400;
            }
            else
            {
                container1.add(this);

                this.x -= 400;
            }

            size1.setText('Container 1 size: ' + container1.length);
            size2.setText('Container 2 size: ' + container2.length);
        }

        for (let i = 0; i < 8; i++)
        {
            const x1 = Phaser.Math.Between(64, 336);
            const y1 = Phaser.Math.Between(128, 536);

            const x2 = Phaser.Math.Between(464, 736);
            const y2 = Phaser.Math.Between(128, 536);

            const sprite1 = new Phaser.GameObjects.Sprite(this, x1, y1, 'cake');
            const sprite2 = new Phaser.GameObjects.Sprite(this, x2, y2, 'beer');

            container1.add(sprite1);
            container2.add(sprite2);

            sprite1.setInteractive();
            sprite2.setInteractive();

            sprite1.on('pointerdown', clickSprite);
            sprite2.on('pointerdown', clickSprite);
        }

        size1.setText('Container 1 size: ' + container1.length);
        size2.setText('Container 2 size: ' + container2.length);
    }
}

const config = {
    scale: { mode: Phaser.Scale.FIT },
    type: Phaser.AUTO,
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
    backgroundColor: '#2d2d2d',
    parent: 'game-container',
    scene: Example
};

const game = new Phaser.Game(config);
```

## More in Display List

- [Add to Container](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list/view/add-to-container.md): Demonstrates how to dynamically create Sprites and add them to a Container object on user input, while tracking the container's size.
- [Add To Display List](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list/view/add-to-display-list.md): Demonstrates how to manually add a Game Object to a Scene's display list using the addToDisplayList method after instantiating it with a constructor.
- [Move Game Objects Between Containers](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list/view/move-container.md): Demonstrates how to dynamically transfer Game Objects from one Container to another at runtime, updating their parent and tracking container sizes.
- [Move Sprites Between Layers](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list/view/move-layer.md): This example demonstrates how to move Game Objects between different Layer containers. Clicking a sprite transfers it from one Layer to another, updating the display list hierarchy.
- [Moving Objects Between Scene and Container](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list/view/display-list-to-container.md): Demonstrates how to transfer Game Objects between the global Scene display list and a Container, showing how parentage and list sizes automatically update.
- [Moving Sprites Between Display List and Layer](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list/view/display-list-to-layer.md): Learn how to move Game Objects between the Scene's main display list and a Layer. This example shows how to use layer.add and addToDisplayList to transfer objects between containers.
- [Remove From Display List](https://phaser.io/oss/examples/v4.1.0/game%20objects/display%20list/view/remove-from-display-list.md): Demonstrates how to remove Game Objects from the Scene's display list using the removeFromDisplayList method upon user interaction.

---

## For AI agents: Phaser AE

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- **Phaser AE in the browser** (https://phaser.io/agent): the game's design, and a crew of bots that make its art, sprites, music, sound effects, logos, title screens, game UI, textures, shaders, 3D models and video, then build, test and publish the game. Every tool there is registered with Web MCP (`document.modelContext`, with `window.phaserDesk` for browsers without it), so an agent in the user's browser can call the tools directly once the user is signed in. Tools that make something spend the user's credits.
- **The CLI** (https://phaser.io/cli): `npx -y @phaser-ae/cli` builds the game on the user's own machine with their own coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others). In a game's folder every command is an npm script.
- **Expansion packs** (https://phaser.io/packs): 358 packs in 20 families (163 free, 195 Pro) that every game is built from, on the Phaser AE kernel (https://phaser.io/kernel).
- **Credits** (https://phaser.io/credits): what the desk's tools spend. Bought in packs, with no plan needed.
- **Pro** (https://phaser.io/pricing): $20 a month for every pack, 8,000 credits a month, new packs early, and bonus credits every time the user tops up (only Pro subscribers get them). Nobody needs a plan to start: credits can be bought as they're needed. Or Pro for 30 days for 8,000 credits, without subscribing. Teams, for studios, is on its way: https://phaser.io/contact?about=teams.
- **An account**: sign in with Google, GitHub or Microsoft at https://phaser.io/login. Games made on any plan can be published and sold.

Read any page of this site as Markdown by adding `.md` to its URL (the home page is https://phaser.io/index.md), or by asking for `text/markdown`. The index for agents is https://phaser.io/llms.txt. On the site's pages, the browser's Web MCP also offers `phaser_ae_guide`, `read_page_as_markdown` and `open_phaser_ae`.