How to play Brick Breaker
Brick Breaker is a Breakout-style arcade game. Keep the ball in play with your paddle and knock out a wall of 40 colourful bricks. The trick is aiming: where the ball hits your paddle decides the angle it flies off at.
Rules
The ball bounces off the side walls and the ceiling. Catch it with the paddle at the bottom; if it falls past the paddle, the game is over. Each brick you hit disappears and adds 10 points. Clear all five rows of bricks to win.
Controls
- Mouse: the paddle follows the pointer.
- ← → move the paddle in steps.
- Touch: drag your finger on the board; tap after a game over to restart.
- R or New Game restarts.
Tips to clear the wall
- Hit the ball with the centre of the paddle for a steep, safe return and with the edges for sharp angles.
- Aim for the sides of the wall early; opening a gap lets the ball bounce behind the bricks and clear many at once.
- Watch the ball, not the bricks, when it comes back down.
- Move the paddle under the ball early instead of chasing it at the last moment.
History
Atari released Breakout in 1976, with prototype hardware built by Steve Wozniak. Its paddle-and-bricks idea led to Arkanoid and thousands of brick breaker games on every platform.
FAQ
- Is Brick Breaker free? Yes. It runs in your browser with no download or account.
- How do I aim the ball? The farther from the paddle centre the ball lands, the wider its angle. The centre sends it nearly straight up.
- Can I play with touch? Yes. Drag anywhere on the board and the paddle follows your finger.
Build it yourself
Curious how this game works? Our step-by-step tutorial How to Make a Breakout Game in JavaScript rebuilds it from this page's code, with examples you can copy.