How do you play Balloon Pop?
Balloon Pop is a tap game where you pop the balloons rising from the bottom of the screen with a finger or the mouse. The main mode gives you 60 seconds to score as much as you can, and the only thing to avoid is the black bomb balloon.
Each balloon sways on its string as it drifts up. When you tap it, rubber scraps fly everywhere with a pop, and every color has its own pitch, so a quick run of pops sounds like a little tune. More balloons appear as the round goes on, which makes the last ten seconds the busiest.
How many points is each balloon worth?
There are six kinds of balloons. Small and gold balloons are worth the most, and bomb balloons take points away.
| Balloon | Points and behavior |
|---|---|
| Regular (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) | 1 point. The most common kind. |
| Small (white star) | 3 points. Smaller and about twice as fast. |
| Gold (gold star) | 10 points. Sparkles and shows up now and then. |
| Bundle (three tied with a ribbon) | 2 points. When it bursts, a lightning chain pops the nearby balloons too. Bombs are never caught in the chain. |
| Ice (snowflake) | 2 points. The first tap cracks the ice and the second tap pops it. |
| Bomb (black with a warning sign) | Tapping it costs 5 points, shakes the screen and breaks your combo. Letting it float away does nothing. |
How does the combo multiplier work?
Pop balloons within 1.4 seconds of each other to build a combo: 5 in a row doubles your points, 10 triples them and 20 quadruples them.
A small bar under the combo counter shows how much time is left. Pop the next balloon before it runs out and the combo continues, but a bomb resets it to zero at once. A gold balloon popped during a ×4 combo is worth 40 points, so it pays to keep a long combo going before you go for gold.
What game modes are there?
There are four modes: 60s Score, Survival, Two Players and Kids, and each keeps its own best score.
- 60s Score: collect as many points as you can in 60 seconds. This is the main mode.
- Survival: no time limit, just do not let balloons escape. The game ends when 10 balloons have floated off the top, and the balloons keep getting faster and more frequent. Tapping a bomb also costs a life.
- Two Players: the screen splits into left and right halves for two people on one device. Left pops only red balloons and right pops only blue, and tapping the other color costs a point. Both sides get balloons in the same order, so it is fair.
- Kids: no bomb balloons, and bigger balloons that rise slowly. Combos last up to 2.4 seconds, so young children can enjoy every round.
How do you play with two players?
Put a phone or tablet between you and each tap your own half of the screen at the same time. Multitouch is supported, so your fingers never block each other.
Before the start, each half shows a big balloon in that player's color. After 60 seconds the higher score wins, and the result card shows both scores and best combos. On a computer you can take turns with the mouse, or one player can use the mouse while the other aims with the arrow keys.
How do you get a higher score?
- Pop the highest balloons first. Balloons near the top are about to escape, while the low ones still have time.
- Keep the combo alive. When balloons are sparse, tap any nearby regular balloon to refill the combo bar.
- Pop bundles in a crowd. The more balloons around a bundle, the more the chain collects in one go.
- Double tap ice quickly. Two quick taps on the same spot will not miss.
- Tap overlapping balloons away from the bomb. The game is forgiving and prefers the other balloon when one overlaps a bomb, but the far side is safer.
Controls
- Phone and tablet: tap a balloon with your finger. Several fingers at once each pop their own balloon.
- Mouse: click a balloon. During play a small pin follows your pointer.
- Keyboard: move the crosshair with the arrow keys or WASD and pop with Space, Enter or J. On the title screen, keys 1 to 4 start a mode right away, and Esc returns to the menu.
Best scores for each mode and the sound setting are saved only in this browser and never sent to a server. Use the button at the top right to mute the sound.