I Built a Neon Brick-Breaker Called Ricochet: Free to Play

I’ve got another little game for you. I’ve been on a real game-building kick lately, and this time I went back to a classic I grew up loving, the old paddle-and-ball brick-breaker, and gave it a glowing neon makeover. I’m calling it Ricochet. Like the rest of my games it’s completely free, runs right in your browser, and there’s no signup or catch. Just open it and start bouncing.

The idea is about as old as video games get, and that’s exactly why I love it: a ball, a paddle, and a wall of bricks. You slide the paddle along the bottom to keep the ball in play, and every time it cracks into a brick the brick shatters and the ball comes flying back. Clear the whole wall and you move on to the next level, which packs in a few more bricks and a little more speed. It keeps going as long as you do.

What makes it more than just nostalgia are the power-ups. Smash certain bricks and a glowing capsule tumbles down: catch it with your paddle and good things happen. You might split your single ball into a whole swarm, stretch your paddle wide, turn it into a laser cannon that fires up at the wall, slow everything down so you can line up a shot, or get a sticky paddle that catches the ball so you can aim your next launch. There are tougher bricks that take a few hits, and my favorite: explosive bricks that take out everything around them in a satisfying chain reaction.

The real trick to a big score is the combo meter. Every brick you break without letting the ball touch your paddle stacks your multiplier higher and higher. So the bold move (keeping the ball ricocheting up in the bricks as long as you dare instead of playing it safe) is also the one that pays off the most. It’s a fun little tug-of-war with yourself.

It plays great on a phone (just drag your finger to move the paddle) and on a computer you can use the mouse or the arrow keys. You can even add it to your home screen like a real app, and it remembers your best score. Give it a go:

Like my other games, this is one I’ll keep tinkering with, so if you run into a snag or think of something that would make it better, I’d genuinely love to hear it: drop a comment or use the contact form. And if you want to see the rest of what I’ve been building, they’re all collected over in the arcade. Thanks for playing!

Never Played a Brick-Breaker? Here’s How It Works

It takes about ten seconds to learn. Here’s the whole thing:

• The goal. Break every brick on the screen to clear the level and move on to the next one. That’s the whole job: keep the ball bouncing until the wall is gone.
• Moving the paddle. On a phone, drag your finger anywhere on the board. On a computer, move the mouse or use the arrow keys (or A and D). The paddle slides left and right along the bottom.
• Launching the ball. At the start of each turn the ball sits on your paddle: tap the screen or press the space bar to fire it off.
• Don’t drop it. If the ball slips past your paddle and off the bottom, you lose one of your three balls. Lose them all and the game’s over, so the name of the game is keeping that ball up in play.
• Grab the power-ups. When a glowing capsule falls, slide under it to catch it. Multi-ball, lasers, a wider paddle, slow-motion, a sticky catch: they all help, so don’t let them fall past you.
• Chase the combo. Bricks broken in a row without the ball touching your paddle are worth more and more. Risky, but that’s where the high scores hide.

That’s all there is to it. Hop in, knock down that wall, and see how many levels you can clear, and how high you can run your combo. Have fun!