Breakout
NEWWorks on both desktop and mobile. Tap or click to play.
About This Game
Play Breakout free online - bounce the ball, smash every brick, and clear all the levels. Move the paddle with touch, mouse, or keys. Classic arcade fun.
How to play Breakout
Objective: Clear every colored brick on the board with your ball while keeping it in play, then keep advancing through progressively taller brick walls to push your score higher without losing all three lives.
Move the paddle along the bottom of the board to bounce the ball into the bricks above. Drag left or right anywhere on the board with your mouse or finger, or press the left and right arrow keys (A and D also work). Keyboard movement steps the paddle 7 pixels per frame, while dragging snaps the paddle center directly to your pointer, so dragging is faster for sharp repositioning. The paddle stops at both walls and cannot leave the board.
The ball launches from just above the paddle in a random left or right direction. It bounces off the two side walls and the ceiling automatically. When it strikes a brick, that brick disappears and you earn 10 points multiplied by your current level, so a brick on level 3 is worth 30. Clear all bricks in a wall and you instantly advance to the next level with a fresh, taller layout and a new ball.
The ball only reflects off the paddle when it is falling and touches the paddle's top edge within its width. Where it lands on the paddle decides the bounce: hit near the center and it goes nearly straight up, hit toward an edge and it fires off at a steep sideways angle, up to 4.6 units of horizontal speed. Use this to aim the ball at bricks you still need instead of waiting for luck.
You start with three lives, shown as hearts. If the ball falls past the bottom of the board, you lose one life and a new ball launches. Lose all three and the game ends, showing your final score. Level 1 has four rows of eight bricks; each new level adds a row up to a maximum of seven rows, so later boards take longer to clear and give the ball more chances to slip past you.
Tips and strategy
Aim with the paddle edge
The contact point sets the angle. Strike the ball with the left or right third of the paddle to send it sideways toward columns you have not cleared yet. Center hits send it nearly vertical, which is useful for punching a channel straight up.
Use the side walls to reach corners
Side walls reflect the ball with no speed loss. Fire an angled shot into a wall to reach bricks tucked in the far corners without moving the paddle across the whole board, which keeps you centered and safer against the next return.
Score late, not early
Each brick pays 10 times your level. The exact same brick is worth 10 on level 1 but 40 on level 4. Surviving deeper into the run matters far more for your best score than how you clear any single early wall.
Drag for panic saves
Arrow keys move a fixed 7 pixels per frame, but dragging snaps the paddle straight under your pointer. When the ball is dropping toward a corner you cannot reach in time, drag instead of tapping keys to close the gap in one motion.
Punch a top channel
Clearing one vertical column lets the ball reach the ceiling and rattle across the top row, breaking several bricks before it falls back. Focus early hits on carving that gap rather than scattering bricks evenly across the wall.
The history of Breakout
Breakout grew out of Atari and was released as an arcade cabinet in 1976, conceived by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow as a single-player take on Pong. The prototype hardware was famously developed by Steve Wozniak, with Steve Jobs involved in the project before he co-founded Apple. The idea was simple: turn Pong's vertical wall of the opponent into a stack of bricks you knock away with a ball and paddle.
The format proved enormously durable. It inspired a long line of brick-breaking games, most notably Taito's Arkanoid in 1986, which added the power-up drops and enemies that many later clones adopted. This version stays close to the original arcade concept: a paddle, one ball, and a wall of bricks to clear, with angle control coming entirely from where the ball meets the paddle.
Frequently asked questions
How do I win a level?
Destroy every brick in the current wall. The moment the last brick disappears, the level counter goes up and a taller layout appears with a fresh ball. There is no final level, so the game keeps generating walls up to seven rows and you play to beat your own best score.
How are points scored in Breakout?
Each brick you break adds 10 points multiplied by your current level. On level 1 that is 10 per brick, on level 2 it is 20, and so on. Because the multiplier climbs with every level, reaching higher levels is the main way to build a large score rather than clearing walls quickly.
Does the game save my high score?
Yes. Your best score is stored in your browser's local storage on your own device and shown as Best above the board. It survives page reloads but is not sent anywhere, so it will not appear on other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data resets it.
How many lives (balls) do I get?
Three, shown as hearts. You lose one each time the ball drops past the bottom of the board, and a new ball launches automatically. When the last heart is gone the game ends and displays your final score. There is no way to earn extra lives during a run.
Can I control the ball's angle?
Indirectly, through the paddle. The ball bounces based on where it hits: near the center it rises almost straight, and toward either edge it fires off at a sharp angle. Position the paddle so the contact point sends the ball where you want it, instead of just parking it under the ball.
Are there power-ups or multiple balls?
No. This version is the classic single-ball game with no drops, lasers, or extra balls. Your only tools are the paddle, the walls, and your control of the bounce angle. Difficulty rises simply because each new level stacks another row of bricks up to seven.