Bounce Busters

Big bouncing balls are falling, and the only way out is to break them down. Every hit splits a ball into smaller, faster pieces until the last one pops. Bounce Busters is a modern take on the classic ball-splitting arcade shooter, built for one hand and short sessions. Free on Google Play: get it here.

What Is Bounce Busters?

You play a kid with a paper straw, stuck under a sky full of bouncing balls. Drag left and right to move, and your shots fly straight up. A Large ball splits into two Medium balls, each Medium splits into two Small ones, and Smalls pop. So one big ball on screen is really four problems waiting to happen, and the screen gets busier before it gets calmer.

Getting hit costs a life. You get three per level, and play carries on right where you stood instead of starting the level again.

The first time you play, you name yourself for the leaderboards, enter a friend's invite code if you have one, and pick your player, a girl or a boy. You can change your name and player later in Settings. The choice is only for looks: both play exactly the same. Two quick cards before your first level show you how to play.

How to Play

1. Move. Drag anywhere on the playfield to slide left and right. Your kid follows your finger.
2. Shoot. Lift your finger off the screen to fire one shot straight up. Dragging only moves you, so you can dodge without wasting shots, and every shot goes exactly where you choose.
3. Split everything down. Large to Medium, Medium to Small, Small to gone. Bigger balls take more hits.
4. Dodge. A ball touching you costs a life, and you get a couple of seconds of safety afterwards.
5. Finish the goal. Every level has one, and it is not always "clear the screen".

Scoring: Small Pays Most

A Small ball is worth 100 points, a Medium 50, and a Large 25. That is deliberate. Your score measures how far you actually broke the board down, not how much you sprayed at it. Leaving the small ones bouncing while you chase the big ones is how a level goes wrong.

Level Goals

Special Balls

• Gold. Pops in one hit and pays bonus tickets the first time you clear a level.
• Thornball. Never shoot it. The spikes go everywhere and it costs you a life, and the levels that carry thornballs are built around working around them.
• Armored. The shell comes off first. A Steel shot or a Popper strips it in one go.
• Rubber. Shots that hit its middle do nothing. Shoot a little to one side and hit its edge.
• Balloon. Floats up instead of falling and drifts along the top.
• Splitter. Breaks into one more piece than a normal ball would.
• Critter. Pop the ball, then run underneath and catch what falls out.

Game Modes

The Daily Dare Challenges

Fifteen challenges rotate through the calendar, each with three layouts, so it is a long time before you see the same board twice. Every one is a trade: it gives you something and takes something away.

• Rubber World, Splitter Storm, Big Ones Only. The board itself fights back.
• Thorn Field, One Life, Last Stand, Floor Is Lava. One mistake is expensive. In Floor Is Lava, standing still lights a fuse.
• Pea Shooter, Sharpshooter, Speed Day. Your straw or the clock is the problem.
• Gold Rush, Armory, Balloon Day, Critter Rescue, Boss Rush. A twist on what is falling, and what it pays.

Straws and Tickets

You start with a Paper Straw and work up through the Super Plastic, Mega Wide and Turbo Charge Straws, each with upgrade steps, plus special ammo you buy by the shot: Steel that punches a whole column, Tri-Shot, Gumball, Ice and Poppers. You choose your straw and the ammo you carry on the card before each World Tour level. Everything is paid for with tickets, earned from first clears, gold balls, finishing a world, the daily and inviting friends.

Power-ups also fall during play when you pop a ball. Catch one for a few free special shots, or a Shield that takes one hit for you. The Shield only ever comes from a power-up.

There is no energy system and no timer on playing. Tickets make progress faster; they never decide whether you can play.

Tips and Strategy

• Break the big ones early. A Large ball left alone becomes four fast Small balls at the worst possible moment.
• Watch the small ones. They are fast, they are worth the most, and they are what actually ends a level.
• Keep moving under cover. Standing under a ball about to split is the most common way to lose a life.
• Pick your moment. Every shot is one lift of your finger, so line up under the ball you want, lift, and move on. Popping a ball you did not mean to is how a board gets out of hand.
• Leave thornballs alone. On levels that carry them, plan the shot that avoids them rather than the shot that clears fastest.
• Upgrade before world 7. The Turbo Charge Straw is what the late worlds assume you are carrying. It is the only straw that charges: hold your finger still, then lift, and the shot pierces everything in its line.
• In Bounce Rush, a wave break is not a reset. A shot already in the air, or a gumball column still hanging, carries into the next wave. Gum pops Smalls on contact and splits the bigger ones, so timing one just before you clear a wave is a real play.
• Play the daily. It is the only repeating source of tickets, and the streak bonus adds up.

Invite Friends

Tap Invite Friends on the main menu (it is also in the Shop) to get your own six character code. Share it with the button, or copy it and send it any way you like. When a friend who is new to the game enters your code before their first level and then clears two World Tour levels, you earn 25 tickets. That works for up to five friends, 125 tickets in all. Sharing on its own does not pay; your friend has to play.

Got a code from a friend? You are asked for it the first time you start the game, and you can also enter it from the Invite Friends panel until you clear your first level.

Is It Free?

Bounce Busters is free to play. It includes ads, an optional one-time Remove Ads purchase, and optional ticket packs. Watching an ad is never required to finish a level; it is only ever offered as a way to continue after losing your last life.

Availability

Bounce Busters is available now, free, for Android on Google Play. An Apple App Store release is planned to follow.