A ball, a paddle, a wall of bricks that did nothing to deserve this. Classic arcade physics, zero installation required.
Brick-breaking games trace back to Atari's Breakout in 1976 (co-designed by a young Steve Wozniak before he co-founded Apple), but the format most people actually picture — coloured brick rows, a launching ball, power-ups raining down — comes from Taito's Arkanoid in 1986, which spawned an entire genre of clones still being made today. The format has survived nearly fifty years on one simple mechanical hook: a paddle, a ball, and the small, satisfying violence of watching a wall of bricks disappear one hit at a time.
Move the paddle left and right to keep the ball in play and break every brick on the board. Miss the ball and you lose a life.
Points are awarded per brick destroyed, with higher rows typically worth more.
Satisfying in the same way popping bubble wrap is satisfying — mindless, repetitive, exactly what a slow afternoon calls for.
Standard three lives — lose all three and the run ends.
The game keeps things classic and focused on core paddle-and-ball mechanics.
Three. The run ends when you lose the last one.
Catch them as they fall. One triples your balls, one lets you shoot bullets (press up twice), one slows the ball (press down twice) and one makes the ball stick to the paddle so you can aim, then click to release it.
Every brick you clear scores points, and bricks in the higher rows are worth more. The score keeps adding up until you run out of lives.