Bubble Shooter

Bubble shooter is a puzzle game where you aim coloured bubbles from the bottom of the board and fire them into a grid of bubbles above. You can play bubble shooter online free on this page: it runs in your browser, with no download and no sign-up.

Groups of three or more bubbles of the same colour pop. Any bubbles that are no longer linked to the top row fall away. If you miss too many shots in a row, a new row is added at the top, so the pressure builds slowly. Each cleared level brings more rows and extra colours. The toolbar tracks your score, your best score for the current difficulty, your level and how many shots remain before the next row arrives.

How to play bubble shooter online

1. Move the pointer over the board to aim. A dotted line shows the path, including bounces off the side walls, and a faint circle marks where the bubble will stick. On touch, press and drag, and the line follows your finger.
2. On a keyboard, press the Left and Right arrow keys to turn the aim. Each press moves about 2.3 degrees, and holding the key repeats it.
3. To shoot, click, or release your finger on touch. Keyboard players press Space or the Up arrow. You cannot aim flatter than 75 degrees to either side of straight up.
4. Look at the small bubble at the bottom-left, which is the next one. If its colour suits your plan better, click it, press X, or use the Swap button to swap it with the current bubble.
5. Watch the Drop in counter. It shows how many shots you have left without a pop before a new row appears at the top.
6. Keep every bubble above the red dashed line. If any bubble reaches the 13th row or lower, the game is over.

Use the Difficulty menu to choose 4, 5 or 6 colours. Changing it starts a new game. Turn Symbols on to show a different shape on each colour, which helps colour-blind players. Press N for a new game or F for fullscreen. To return to a specific board, add ?seed=123 to the address, which starts that exact game.

What are the bubble shooter rules?

A shot flies in a straight line along your aim, bounces off the left and right walls as many times as needed, and stops when it touches another bubble or reaches the ceiling. It then sticks in the nearest free cell next to where it stopped.

If the stuck bubble and the same-coloured bubbles connected to it number three or more, they all pop. A group of two stays on the board. After a pop, every bubble that is no longer connected to the top row falls away, whatever its colour.

For example, suppose you fire a blue bubble that sticks at row 0, cell 3, next to two blue bubbles. Three blue bubbles pop. A green bubble and a purple bubble were hanging only from those blue bubbles, so both fall. The score is 3 × 10 + 2 × 20 = 70 points. Popped bubbles give 10 points each and fallen bubbles give 20 each. Clearing the whole board adds a bonus of 100 times the level number.

A shot that pops nothing counts as a miss. After 6 misses on Easy, 5 on Normal or 4 on Hard, a full new row of random bubbles is added at the top and the other rows move down. Any pop resets the count. If a bubble reaches the 13th row or lower, the game ends. Clearing a level starts the next one with your score kept, and every second level adds a colour, up to 8.

What is a good bubble shooter strategy?

Plan each shot around the colour groups already on the board, not only the spot you can hit directly. Use the dotted path to find a bounce that lands the bubble next to a group of three. A bounce can reach a gap that a straight shot cannot.

Remove the bubbles that hold other bubbles up. When a group of bubbles sits on top of several others, popping the group can drop the whole cluster beneath it. Those drops are worth twice as much as the pops themselves.

Watch the Drop in counter as well. When it is low, take a shot that will pop something, even if the spot is not ideal, because any pop resets the count. When a colour is missing from the board, the bubbles you are dealt change to match the colours still in play, so check the current and next bubbles before you aim.

What are bubble shooter tips and tricks for higher scores?

Falling bubbles are worth 20 points each, double a popped bubble. A single shot that pops a group and drops a hanging cluster is often the most valuable move, so look for groups that support other bubbles.

Starting boards and new rows are random, so a few groups of three may already be on the board. Check for those first, because a quick pop costs one shot and keeps the counter from running down.

Level bonuses grow with the level number, so reaching a higher level with a clear board is worth more than it first looks. Use Easy while you learn the path rules, then move to Normal or Hard when you are ready.

Frequently asked questions

Is bubble shooter free, and do I need to sign up?

Yes, it is free, and you can play straight away. The game does not ask you to create an account or sign in. Nothing you do is sent to a server, and the only saved data stays in your own browser.

Can I play bubble shooter on a phone?

Yes. Press and drag to aim, release your finger to shoot, and tap the small next bubble to swap it. The board refits the screen height when you use the fullscreen button.

Is my game saved?

Yes, but only in the browser you are using. The game is saved after every shot and swap, and a reload restores it, including a finished game. Your best score for each difficulty and your Symbols setting are also saved. Clearing the site data in your browser removes all of it.

Why can’t I shoot straight sideways?

The aim is limited to 75 degrees either side of straight up. Aiming lower than that is clamped to the limit, so the bubble always travels upward.

What happens if I miss too many shots?

After 6 misses on Easy, 5 on Normal or 4 on Hard, a full new row of random bubbles is added at the top, and every other row moves down. The miss counter then resets. Any pop also resets it.

Does bubble shooter have undo, hints or a pause button?

No. The game has no undo, hint, pause button, timer, sound, power-ups or two-player mode. Each shot is final, so check your aim on the dotted path before you fire.

Will I get the same board every time?

Not by default. Each new game uses random colours. If you add ?seed=123 to the address, the game starts with that exact board and the same bubbles dealt, and starting a new game removes the seed from the address.

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