Brick bounce aiming: contact position and wall rebounds

Move the paddle and launch

Drag the strip below the board, or use left/right buttons or arrow keys. A sideways drag on the board also moves the paddle; a vertical swipe there scrolls the page. The paddle stays within the horizontal playing area.

While ready, the balls move with the paddle. Choose Launch and wait for the countdown. Standard play offers seven difficulty levels with different brick and ball counts. Check how many balls and lives are shown before starting.

Centre contacts are steeper; edge contacts spread sideways

When a downward-moving ball contacts the paddle, its outgoing direction depends on how far the contact lies from the paddle’s centre. A near-centre hit goes upward on a steeper path. Outside a small central band, a right-side hit sends it farther right and a left-side hit sends it farther left.

Near the centre, the game retains a small sideways component with its previous leftward or rightward direction; no prior sideways movement defaults to right. You cannot assume a perfectly vertical return. The diagram compares two alternative contacts, not two simultaneous balls following those exact lines.

Position the paddle for a rightward return

To return a descending ball toward the upper right, put the paddle’s centre left of the contact point far enough for the hit to lie outside the small central band, on the right. A slight offset within that band still preserves the previous sideways direction. Moving the paddle far to the right does not by itself create a rightward bounce.

Start by keeping the ball alive and compare small changes. Aiming too close to an edge can miss the ball. A later wall or brick contact changes its route, so revise your target after each rebound rather than expecting the entire flight to follow the first direction.

Follow the route after the wall and ceiling

A side wall reverses horizontal movement; the ceiling reverses vertical movement. A ball heading upper right can leave the right wall heading upper left, then leave the ceiling heading lower left. A brick in the route may interrupt that sequence first.

For a wall-only rebound, imagining the route extended into a mirror image can help estimate which side the ball returns toward. Actual brick faces and corners can change it again. Follow the current direction after the latest contact and move the paddle toward the updated landing area.

Read ball count, combo and lives together

With multiple balls, losing one does not immediately cost a life. A life is lost when every ball falls. If lives remain, the game returns to a ready state for launching again. Clearing every brick completes the layout; different colours do not make bricks require repeated hits.

Cleared counts removed bricks. Combo grows through brick contacts and resets at a paddle contact. Multiple balls share one combo counter: any ball hitting the paddle resets it. Even when seeking a long chain, check where a descending ball needs to be caught first. No particular rebound guarantees that every brick will be cleared.

Questions and answers

Will a centre hit go straight up?

The game keeps a small sideways component near the centre. Watch the actual outgoing direction.

Should I move right to make the ball bounce right?

Create a contact on the right side outside the small central band. Near the centre, the previous sideways direction remains, so a tiny rightward offset may still bounce left.

Does losing one of several balls cost a life?

A life is lost when all balls fall. Play continues while a ball remains.