How to play Breakout
Controls
On desktop, move the paddle with the left and right arrow keys; press Space to launch the ball when it's resting on top. On touch devices, drag your finger anywhere along the canvas to slide the paddle horizontally, and tap to launch. Press New game to wipe the score and rebuild the brick wall. You start each life with the ball balanced on the paddle so you can aim.
The objective
Smash every brick on the wall. You start with three lives — drop the ball below the paddle and you lose one. When the bricks are all broken you win the round; when lives reach zero the round ends. Score equals the total bricks you've broken across all three lives, so a clean run is worth more than a sloppy one.
Tips
- Hit the ball with the paddle's edge to angle it sharply — center hits send the ball almost straight up.
- Carve a tunnel up one side. Once the ball is bouncing between the top wall and the back of the bricks, it'll clear them for free until something disrupts it.
- Keep the paddle near the middle between hits so you have the most reaction time in either direction.
A little history
Atari released the original Breakout arcade cabinet in 1976. It was conceived by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow and famously prototyped by a young Steve Wozniak (then moonlighting from HP). The game directly inspired Arkanoid, the entire "brick breaker" genre, and a great deal of Apple I lore.
Accessibility
Keyboard and touch both work without setup. The paddle is large relative to the playfield, the ball speed is moderate, and a status banner announces life loss and round-end via an ARIA live region.