Brick Breaker
- Category
- Action
- Players
- 1
- Controls
- Mouse / Touch
- Lives
- 3
About this game
Brick Breaker is the descendant of Breakout, the game Atari built in 1976 and the one a young Steve Wozniak famously redesigned. A ball, a paddle, and a wall of bricks. Keep the ball alive, clear the wall, and try not to lose all three lives on the way.
The whole game is contained in one mechanic: where the ball hits your paddle determines the angle it leaves at. Hit it dead centre and it comes straight back. Catch it near the edge and it flies off sharply. Everything skilful about this game comes from using that relationship deliberately instead of just chasing the ball.
Controls
| Move the mouse | Slide the paddle left and right. |
| Drag on screen | Same control using touch. |
| ← → | Keyboard paddle control. |
| Start | Launch the ball and begin. |
Tips & strategy
Steer with the paddle edges instead of hitting everything flat. Catching the ball off-centre sends it away at a sharper angle, which is how you reach bricks in the far corners. Players who always centre the ball end up with a stubborn column at one side that they cannot touch.
Try to open a channel up one side of the wall early. Once the ball gets above the bricks it will rattle around the top clearing rows on its own while you wait underneath, and that single trapped-ball sequence is usually worth more points than several minutes of careful play.
Keep the paddle near the middle when you are not actively intercepting. From the centre you can reach either side in time, whereas sitting at one edge after a save means a ball to the far corner is already gone before you start moving.
Slow down as the wall thins out. The last few bricks are where most runs end, because the ball is moving quickly and the remaining targets are scattered. There is no clock, so wait for the ball to come to a position you can control rather than lunging at it.
Questions
How many lives do I get?
Three. Letting the ball fall past your paddle costs one, and the run ends when they are gone.
Does the ball speed up?
Yes, it gets faster as the wall clears, which is why the final bricks are the hardest part.
Can I control the angle?
Yes, and it is the core skill. The point of contact on the paddle sets the rebound angle.
Is there an ending?
Clearing the whole wall wins the round and posts your score.