Breakout

How to play

Move the paddle by dragging the mouse or a finger across the board, or hold the left and right arrow keys to nudge it in fixed steps. Click, tap, or press Space to launch the ball. The 40 bricks are laid out in five rows, and the higher rows are worth more points per brick, so working across the top rows pays better than tunneling through one column. Every paddle hit nudges the ball's speed up slightly, capped so it never gets uncontrollable, and where the ball lands on the paddle changes the bounce angle — near the edge gives a sharp deflection, the center sends it back close to straight. You start with three lives and lose one each time the ball drops past the paddle; the round ends when you clear all 40 bricks or run out of lives.

Frequently asked questions

Is my best score saved?

Yes — your highest score is saved to your browser's local storage and will still be there the next time you load this page in the same browser on the same device. It only updates when a finished game's score beats the previous best, so a bad run never overwrites your record. Because it's stored locally rather than in an account, it won't follow you to a different browser, a private/incognito window, or another device, and clearing your browser's site data resets it back to zero.

What are the controls?

Move the mouse over the canvas, drag a finger on a touchscreen, or hold the left and right arrow keys to slide the paddle — arrow presses move it in fixed steps rather than smoothly. Click or tap the board, or press Space, to launch the ball whenever you're ready. There's no pause button, so it helps to line up the paddle before launching, especially right after losing a life, since the ball serves from the center immediately and the round keeps running.

Who made the original Breakout?

Atari released Breakout in 1976. According to the well-known story, co-founder Nolan Bushnell assigned the design to Steve Jobs, who enlisted his friend Steve Wozniak to build the circuit board; Wozniak reportedly finished a working prototype in just a few days, using far fewer chips than Atari's own engineers expected. Both went on to co-found Apple soon after. This browser version keeps the same core loop — paddle, ball, and a wall of bricks — but adds three lives, a rising ball speed, and a locally saved best score instead of arcade credits.