🎾 How to Play Breakout
Breakout is a classic paddle-and-ball arcade game. Move your paddle with the mouse or touch to bounce the ball and break all the coloured bricks above. Each brick destroyed earns points. When all bricks are cleared you advance to the next level with a fresh brick layout. You have 3 lives — losing the ball off the bottom of the screen costs one life. The game ends when all lives are spent.
Two power-ups randomly drop from destroyed bricks: Wide Paddle temporarily expands your paddle width, and Multiball splits the ball into three. Both power-ups are active for a limited time. Ball speed increases gradually over each level, so reaction time becomes critical at higher stages. Choose Easy for a wider paddle, Hard for a narrow paddle and a faster ball.
Tips & Strategies
- Hit the ball to the sides of the brick area to get it trapped in the upper rows, clearing many bricks quickly.
- Use the edge of the paddle to angle the ball deliberately — centre hits go straight back.
- Prioritize catching the Wide Paddle power-up over Multiball for safety.
- Never let the ball go far to one side unseen — keep the paddle centred until the last moment.
- On later levels, reduce mouse speed to make smaller corrections more precisely.
History & Background
Breakout was designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak for Atari in 1976. Wozniak built it in four days; the game directly inspired the creation of the Apple II computer. The browser version here features 8 rows of colour-coded bricks, progressive level speed, power-ups, and a leaderboard.