Bubble Shooter

The most widespread and popular were and remain casual games that do not require any special knowledge and skills from players.

Such games are simple, intuitive, and have low system requirements. Tetris, Zuma, Color Lines, Luxor are typical examples of casual games.

Despite their simplicity, they are able to distract attention for a long time and diversify leisure time between work, study, sports or any other activities. In such applications there is no storyline, no save points, dynamic graphics and other attributes of modern heavy games. And while the latter take up tens of gigabytes, the former often do not require installation and can be launched online.

Today there are tens of thousands of different casual games, among which the “Match 3” genre is especially popular. One example is the game Color Lines, in which you need to move balls of the same color, lining them up in rows of 5, after which they disappear and free up the playing field for the next moves.

This game genre is characterized by a grid field: with cells in the form of squares (less often, rhombuses, hexagons, etc.). In different variations, stars, flowers, mushrooms, crystals and any other objects from which you need to form vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines can be used instead of balls.

A striking example of the “Match 3” genre is the popular game Bubble Shooter. In it, bubbles are generated at the top of the field and gradually fall down. The player's task is to collect combinations of 3 or more from them, preventing the bubbles from reaching the bottom border of the field.

The name Bubble Shooter comes from the fact that you shoot a bubble (just like in the game Zuma), targeting an area that matches its color. The more bubbles of the same color are in the hit zone, the more points you will score and the faster you will clear the playing field.

A little history

Match 3 games, including Bubble Shooter, have been casual games since the mid-2000s. They were ported to mobile devices as soon as the computing power of the latter approached the capabilities of desktop computers.

The founders of the “Match 3” genre can be called Tetris and Chain Shot, released back in the mid-80s. Even then they contained a number of key mechanics, which later formed the basis for games like Color Lines and Bubble Shooter.

Initially, such games had a time limit, that is, the user had to not only find the right combinations, but also do it quickly - until the timing ran out. This idea was later abandoned, giving players unlimited time to think about their moves, and making casual games simpler and more relaxing.

Now you can play and win them without stress: over a cup of coffee, and with long breaks. This idea was implemented back in Chain Shot, but until the mid-2000s there were many variations of Match 3 games that sometimes added a timer back. For example, it is present in the popular game Collapse, released in 1998.

The “shot” mechanic, characteristic of Bubble Shooter, was introduced in 1989 in the game Plotting. But most players became acquainted with it much later - in 2004, when one of the most popular casual games of all time, Zuma, was released. After it, shooting balls were also implemented in Luxor and Tumblebugs. In 2007, game designer Jesper Juul conducted a study of the Match 3 game genre over the past two decades and compiled a list of the most iconic games, which included Bubble Shooter.

Today, users are much more likely to launch Bubble Shooter on smartphones and tablets than on computers and laptops. Nevertheless, the browser version is still very popular, especially among people who work on a computer. Thus, a simple and uncomplicated game of “colored balls/bubbles” is ideal for breaks; it starts and closes almost instantly, does not require installation and does not load the computer.

Features of the genre

Casual games do not require long and thoughtful playthroughs, the ability to shoot accurately, drive a car, or do complex stunts. You can play them according to the “launch, play and turn off” principle. This is the main advantage of casual gaming - complete relaxation and indifference to whether you win or lose in the next gaming session.

Here are some more reasons why you should play Match 3, including Bubble Shooter:

Casual games are easy to learn to play - their rules usually boil down to just 2-4 points.
This genre of games is the most relaxing. When playing them, you don’t have to stress at all and don’t worry about losing.
Such games do not require installation and can be opened in the browser at any time.
Bubble Shooter can be closed instantly, for example, if you are playing at work.
Bubble Shooter, like all other casual games, does not contain violence.
Browser applications are undemanding of system resources and run even on weak devices.

The listed advantages explain why the casual genre continues to remain the most popular in the world, despite the development of the gaming industry and the emergence of realistic modern games.

Interesting facts

The number of fans of casual games in the world exceeds 200 million, and developer income amounts to billions of dollars.
The average age of players exceeds 35 years.
Bubble Shooter completely replicates the game Bust-a-Move / Puzzle Bobble (パズルボブル), created by the Japanese company Taito Corporation for the Super Nintendo in 1995.
The version of the game for personal computers was developed by the Absolutist company in 2001.
It was assumed that the main audience would be children, but the game also appealed to teenagers and adults.

Bubble Shooter attracts with its simplicity and dynamism. Short sessions allow you to have fun and pass the time with an exciting activity. Get to know the rules and start playing, for free and without registration!

Developed in 2000 on the basis of the Puzzle Bobble application, the casual game Bubble Shooter was initially aimed at Windows operating systems, but today runs under all OSes: through a tab in any browser.

The simplicity of the rules, an intuitive interface and the ability to shoot multi-colored bubbles make it stand out against the background of similar games from the “Match 3” genre.

Game rules

You can understand the rules of Bubble Shooter in a minute; besides, it is as close as possible to the world famous game Zuma. In both games you need to shoot multi-colored bubbles at clusters of bubbles of the same color, forming arrays of 3 or more of them.

For example, when a red bubble hits a cluster of other red bubbles, an explosion occurs and they are all destroyed, freeing the playing field. Players who are not yet familiar with the rules of the game also need to remember the following nuances:

The more bubbles that explode during the next shot, the more points you get. Therefore, large single-color arrays are a priority.
Colorful bubbles move from top to bottom, and shots are fired from bottom to top.
When the bubbles reach the bottom edge of the field, you lose.
The next color of the bubble to be shot is displayed on the screen, which makes it possible to calculate moves in advance.

Like most other casual games, in Bubble Shooter the goal of the game is to find matches. In this case: bubbles of the same color. But you need to act quickly in this game, because if the speed of destroying the same-color bubbles is too low, they will reach the edge of the screen and you will lose.

Game tips

It’s not difficult to understand winning strategies in Bubble Shooter; this simple arcade shooter is intuitive even for people who have never dealt with casual games.

The principle is extremely simple: we see a cluster of bubbles of the same color, shoot at them with a bubble of the same color and collapse the array. The second option is to shoot at single bubbles in order to form a trio of them after a few moves and remove them from the playing field.

Numerous Bubble Shooter players over twenty years have found several effective strategies for winning:

Create explosions in clusters of bubbles of the same color.
Collapse of the upper bubbles due to the destruction of the lower ones.
Spot shooting of bubbles that interfere with the execution of the first two strategies.

As a rule, to win, all three points are required, which the player is forced to use in turn, depending on the situation on the playing field. To achieve good results in Bubble Shooter, all you need to do is:

Think through each subsequent shot in such a way that it either causes maximum destruction or opens the way for the destruction of large arrays of bubbles.
First of all, clear the field from small clusters of bubbles that prevent you from getting into large clusters.
Act quickly. Although this game does not have a timer, you will lose if you destroy the bubbles too slowly.

The main qualities that are required from a player in Bubble Shooter are attentiveness and speed. The more often and longer you play this casual shooter, the better you will get at it. The main thing is that the game does not cause negative emotions from losing, and the main thing in it is not winning, but participation (and gaining points).

Now you have mastered the theory of Bubble Shooter and can move on to practice. Act quickly and don't let the bubbles fill the entire field, you will definitely win!

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