How to play Arkanoid

The goal

The playfield is a dark arena with walls on the left, on the right and at the top. The bottom is open. Near the top hangs a wall of bricks, 13 bricks wide and up to 18 rows high, and at the bottom you move a paddle from side to side. Bounce the ball off the paddle into the bricks and break every brick that can be broken. When the last one is gone, the level is cleared and the next one begins.

If the last ball falls past the paddle and out through the bottom, you lose a life. You start with 3 lives, and the game is over when the last one is gone.

Controls

Use a mouse, a touch screen or a keyboard, and switch between them at any moment.

On a touch screen the paddle does not jump to your finger. It moves by the same distance as your finger, so you can keep your hand below the paddle where it does not hide the ball, and the page does not scroll while you drag. On a keyboard the paddle speeds up the longer you hold a key; Shift slows it down for small corrections. In the settings you can set the touch and keyboard sensitivity from 50% to 200%.

Launching the ball

At the start of each level and after each lost life, the ball rests on the paddle and the game shows "Click or press Space to launch" (on a touch screen, "Tap to launch"). Move the paddle to where you want to start, then launch. There is no hurry.

The first time you play, a short tutorial in 3 steps shows how to move the paddle, launch the ball and catch capsules. You can skip it and replay it later from the settings.

Aiming with the paddle

You do not control the ball directly, but you decide where it goes. The point where the ball hits the paddle sets its new direction:

• a hit in the center sends the ball straight up;
• a hit between the center and an edge sends it off at a moderate angle to that side;
• a hit at an edge sends it off at the steepest angle, 60 degrees to the side.

The direction the ball came from does not matter, only the spot on the paddle.

In the picture, the ball lands on the right end of the paddle and bounces off the right wall into the bricks. Bank shots like this reach bricks you cannot hit directly.

The ball gets faster with every brick it hits and the longer a level lasts, up to 50% faster than at the start. When you lose a life, its speed goes back to normal. The ball never flies almost flat: it always keeps at least about 20 degrees from the horizontal, so it cannot get stuck going from wall to wall. If it bounces 10 times without touching a brick or the paddle, the game gives it a small nudge.

Bricks and capsules

Colored bricks break with one hit. Silver bricks need 2 to 4 hits and show cracks as they weaken; gold bricks never break and do not need to be cleared; explosive bricks destroy their neighbors; Splitters release 2 extra balls. The power-ups and bricks guide describes every type.

About 1 broken brick in 7 drops a capsule that falls slowly toward the bottom. Move the paddle under it to catch it. A missed capsule is simply gone and never costs a life.

The best moment to catch a capsule is when the ball is high above the paddle, as in the picture. If both come down together, save the ball first.

The paddle has one power at a time. Wide, Laser and Magnet replace each other, so catching a Laser while your paddle is wide turns it into a normal-sized laser paddle. Slow, Fireball and Shield work on top of everything else. Timers of active powers are shown in the top bar.

Lives and drones

You start every game with 3 lives and can hold up to 9. A life is lost when the last ball on the field falls out at the bottom; while other balls are still in play, losing one costs nothing. A Shield under the paddle saves the ball once. Losing a life ends all active powers.

Extra lives come from your score: one at 20,000 points and another every 60,000 points after that, at 80,000, 140,000 and so on. The rare Extra life capsule gives you one more.

From the second world of the campaign, small drones drift in through two gates at the top. They never harm you, but the ball bounces off them, which can throw off your aim. Hit them with the ball, a laser shot or the paddle for 100 points.

Scoring and combos

Combos add extra points. Every brick the ball breaks without touching the paddle in between adds a bonus: from the 2nd brick, 10 points times the combo minus one, so the 2nd brick gives +10, the 5th +40, and at most +200 per brick. From 3 bricks the game shows "Combo" with the count. Shots that get behind the wall and bounce around the top build the longest combos.

Your best score is saved separately for the campaign, the Daily and Endless.

Levels, stars and Continue

The campaign has 36 levels in 3 worlds of 12: Neon Harbor, Crystal Caverns and Solar Forge. Clearing a level unlocks the next one, and the level select screen shows each unlocked level with your best score and stars: 1 star for clearing it, 2 for clearing it without losing a life, 3 for doing that under the par time. Level 36 is the boss, the Prism Core. It moves, has a health bar and fires slow plasma orbs; an orb that hits the paddle costs a life.

When the game is over, the result card shows your score, your best, the level you reached and how many bricks you broke. In the campaign and in Endless you can continue once per run after a short ad: you stay on the same level with 3 new lives and keep your score. If no ad is available, you continue anyway. The Daily has no Continue.

Pause, settings and saving

Press P, Esc or the pause button to stop the game at any time; it also pauses by itself when you switch to another tab or app. The settings cover sound, vibration, dark theme, reduced motion, CRT scanlines, paddle speed, language and the tutorial, and the fullscreen button gives the game the whole screen.

The game saves unlocked levels, stars, best scores, your current run and your settings in your browser, so you can close the tab and continue later on the same device. The save does not move to other devices, and clearing your browser data deletes it. For ways to get more out of every ball, read the tips and strategies.