Block Breaker

A block breaker game is a video game genre involving moving a paddle horizontally or vertically to deflect a ball, using the deflected ball to destroy an arrangement of bricks on the screen. It is also known as a brick-buster. Brick Breaker is a Breakout clone in which the player must smash a wall of bricks by deflecting a bouncing ball with a paddle. The player moves the paddle from left to right to keep the ball from falling. A life is lost if the ball hits the bottom of the screen. When all the bricks have been destroyed, the player advances to a new, harder level.

The term is “block breaker,” not “breaker block,” and it comes from the gameplay where the player breaks blocks or bricks by deflecting a ball towards them. The original game, *Breakout*, developed by Atari in 1976, involved breaking out of a walled space by destroying the bricks. The core concept of keeping the ball in play to break bricks has remained consistent across numerous clones and versions of the game.

To play a block breaker game, you control a paddle to deflect a ball, aiming to destroy all the blocks or bricks on the screen. Here’s a breakdown:

1. Starting the Game: You usually begin with a wall of bricks above the paddle. The ball is either released from the paddle or launched with a button press.
2. Controlling the Paddle: Use left and right controls (mouse, keyboard keys, or a scroll ball) to move the paddle horizontally. The goal is to position the paddle so the ball bounces off it and towards the bricks.
3. Breaking Bricks: When the ball hits a brick, the brick disappears4. Some bricks require multiple hits to break. Different colored bricks can represent how many hits are needed to destroy them. For example, in one version, blue bricks are destroyed after one hit, while green bricks turn blue after a hit, and so on.
4. Keeping the Ball in Play: Prevent the ball from falling off the screen. If the ball falls past the paddle, you lose a life.
5. Progressing Through Levels: Once all the bricks are destroyed, you advance to the next level, which typically presents a new, more challenging brick arrangement.
6. Power-Ups: Some versions include power-ups that can be acquired when hitting certain bricks. These power-ups can do things like lengthen your paddle or give you a gun to destroy the bricks.
7. Special Bricks: Some games feature unbreakable bricks, explosive bricks, bonus bricks, or locked bricks that add complexity to the gameplay.

The game continues until you either clear all the levels or run out of lives.