How to play Bubble Pinball

Controls

The goal: pop every bubble before the clock runs out

Each table fills with bubbles: big ones, some with several layers, and a board of small bubbles that the brass boiler (or Burbu, the mascot) blows in at the start. Pop them all before the clock runs out and the table is yours.

The small bubbles hang in clusters, and every cluster hangs from an anchor bubble with a gold ring. Pop the anchor and the whole cluster falls at once, just like in a bubble shooter.

Each table has three stars, one per challenge: QUICK (finish with at least a quarter of the clock left), NO BALL LOST and WHOLE CLUSTER (drop a cluster by popping its anchor). You can pass a table with no stars and come back for them later.

Colours: you choose

A ball only pops bubbles of its own colour. A bubble of another colour bounces the ball, and a ball with no colour takes the colour of the first small bubble it touches.

You pick the colour: the three lanes at the top of the table show colours, the flippers rotate them and rolling through one paints the ball. Press both flippers at once to swap the ball's colour on the spot. Ramps and the coloured rings on the playfield paint the ball too.

On some tables the wrong colour costs more: fragile bubbles answer it with a brand-new bubble.

One clock per table

Balls are endless and the clock is what matters. Losing the ball costs 5 seconds, popping bubbles gives time back and the last 10 seconds count down on the display.

When time runs out you can continue with 15 more seconds. Hard and very hard tables (red and purple on the map) have a tighter clock and pay more pearls.

Layers, special bubbles and combos

Bigger bubbles wear layers. Every correct hit cracks one and the display counts how many are left. Later zones bring layers that grow back after some seconds, so finish what you start. A popped big bubble can leave a module on the table: a magnet, a pop bumper, a rescue post between the flippers or a prism that doubles points.

Some small bubbles are special: the clock adds 5 seconds, the bomb pops everything around it, the rainbow can be popped by any ball and turns yours rainbow, and gold doubles points. Pop 10 bubbles in 3 seconds for bubble fever, and watch the last bubble burst in slow motion.

Parts of a pinball table

The pinball ball is a steel ball, launched by the plunger in the lane on the right. You keep it in play with the two pinball flippers at the bottom: tap the left or right half of the screen to swing them.

Above the flippers sit the slingshots, two triangular rubbers that kick the ball sideways when it touches them. Higher up, the pop bumpers fire the ball away on contact and score on every hit, just like on an electronic arcade pinball machine.

The rest of the playfield is where Bubble Pinball adds its own parts: colour lanes and rings that paint the ball, drop targets, ramps, and the bubbles you have to pop.

The side lanes

Each side has two lanes that feed the ball back to its flipper. SHIELD gives a 6-second ball saver, CHARGE paints the ball with the colour of a bubble still on the table, COMBO opens a 10-second combo: the next popped bubble pays x2 and each quick one after it climbs to x3, x4, x6 and x8, and BONUS adds points.

Light all four and Bubble Rain starts: double scoring for 20 seconds.

Ramps, the Mother Bubble and multiball

The LIFT and CASCADE ramps are raised tubes: balls on the playfield roll underneath. Ramps can paint the ball, and every ramp shot inflates the Mother Bubble. Fill it and it bursts into a three-ball multiball wrapped in bubbles.

During multiball every popped big bubble is a JACKPOT and every ramp a SUPER JACKPOT. More balls on the table also means more bubbles popped before the clock runs out.

Ball saver, skill shot, bonus and tilt

Each ball starts with a few seconds of ball saver, more in the early zones. Launch into the lit top lane for a skill shot. The end-of-ball bonus multiplies up to 5x.

You can nudge the table to rescue a ball, but the machine warns you. Push too often and it tilts: the flippers go dead and the ball is lost, along with 5 seconds of your clock.

Boss tables

Every zone ends with a mini-boss and a boss. Boss tables play in phases, from two to five, and each phase changes the rules: bubbles that change colour, bubble barrages that sink towards the flippers, shields to break, a core that only opens at the end.

The phase title shows on the display. Read it, then shoot. Zone bosses are very hard tables, with the tightest clock of their zone.

• 

  Boss · Table 20 · 3 phases

  The Great Cauldron

  A boiling cauldron that changes colour, spits bubble barrages and hides its core.

• 

  Boss · Table 40 · 3 phases

  Foam Leviathan

  A whale of foam with armoured scales. Get swallowed, break free, find the heart.

• 

  Boss · Table 60 · 4 phases

  The Bubble Bloom

  Four petals, four rules: dew, shadow, crystal and mirror.

• 

  Boss · Table 80 · 4 phases

  The Generator

  Subway charge, high voltage, the kicker and a final overload.

• 

  Final boss · Table 100 · 3 phases

  The Primordial Bubble

  Where every bubble began. Five phases, one per zone, ending in five-ball multiball.

An example table for every mission type

See each mission on a real table: the first table of the campaign that uses it.

• CLEAN SWEEP Table 1: Power On
• FRAGILE Table 12: Crossed Valves
• DRIFT Table 14: Magnetic Tide
• INVASION Table 17: Critical Pressure
• BOSS Table 20: The Great Cauldron
• CHAIN REACTION Table 22: Swell
• LIMITED CHARGE Table 28: Pearl Bay
• FUSION Table 43: Dewdrop
• MIRROR Table 45: Mirror Pool
• PRISM Table 52: Prism
• FROST Table 57: Hoarfrost
• ROOTS Table 58: Roots of Light
• CEILING Table 63: Crucible
• SUBWAY Table 70: Molten Pour
• MULTI-PHASE Table 97: Singularity

All tables

12 pro tips

1. Trap the ball: hold a flipper up and let the ball settle before you aim.
2. Aim with the tip of the flipper for the far side and the base for the near side.
3. Colour first, shot second: a ball of the wrong colour just bounces off.
4. Need another colour now? Press both flippers at once instead of travelling to a lane.
5. Go for the gold-ring anchors: one hit drops a whole cluster and wins back seconds.
6. Save the bomb bubble for a crowded cluster and the rainbow for the colour you lack.
7. Light SHIELD before a risky shot: every lost ball costs 5 seconds.
8. After COMBO, pop bubbles fast: every quick follow-up climbs the ladder up to x8.
9. Ramps are worth it twice: they paint the ball and fill the Mother Bubble.
10. In multiball, keep one ball trapped and shoot the others.
11. Nudge early and gently. A late push is the one that tilts.
12. Replay a table for the stars you missed: QUICK, NO BALL LOST and WHOLE CLUSTER.