How to play

Every game here works the same way. You make a call before the run starts, then you watch the physics decide it. There is nothing to steer and no trick to learn. The whole game is the call.

A run in three steps

1. Pick a game. Each card on the home screen gives the rule in one line.
2. Make your call. Choose the colour, month, state or side you think will win.
3. Start the run. It plays out live, and most runs are over in under a minute. The result screen shows the winner and the places behind it.

Runs are not recordings. Your device works out each one while you watch, from a fresh starting set-up, so the same pick can win one run and finish last in the next.

Three ways to play

On your own

Pick, run and go again. The site keeps count of how many runs you have called right in each game. That count is saved in your browser, not on a server.

Same phone, 2 to 4 players

Set the number of players on the home screen. Everyone picks in turn on the same phone, then you all watch one run. The best-placed pick scores 1 point, and a pick that wins the run outright scores 3. Two players can back the same pick. Scores carry on from round to round.

Online, everyone on their own phone

Tap Online table on the home screen, type a name and tap Host a table. You get a 4-character code to share. Friends tap Online table, type the code and tap Join. A table holds up to 12 players.

The host chooses the game and starts each run. Everyone picks on their own phone and every phone shows the same run. If the host leaves, the next player in line takes over. Anyone who joins in the middle of a round watches until the next one starts.

The 12 games

1. First to the Bottom

Your call: Pick a colour

Four balls dig down through a wall of bricks, and each one has its own power. Red grows a little with every hit. Yellow sets off a blast every few seconds. Green splits into more balls as it goes. Blue keeps getting faster. The first ball to break through the bottom wins. This is the game from the most-watched Bounce Bracket video.

2. 12 Marbles, One Long Course

Your call: Find your month

One marble for every birth month, all dropped down the same course. The course is put together in a new order for every run, with ramps, drops and tight spots in different places each time. The first marble over the line wins, so there is no lucky lane to learn.

3. 100 vs 1 vs 1

Your call: Pick a side

Three sides race through ten walls. The crowd of 100 balls does 1 damage with every hit. The Doubler starts as one ball and doubles at every wall. The Strong One stays a single ball but hits 50% harder after each wall. The first side through the last wall wins.

4. Round 2: New Powers

Your call: Pick a colour

The same race to the bottom with four different powers. Red has a laser, Yellow has lightning, Blue has a drill, and Green is heavy. The first ball through the bottom wins.

5. 12 Birth Months, One Wall

Your call: Find your month

Twelve balls, one for each month, share one wall of bricks. Gold bricks explode when they are hit, which can open a path in a hurry. The first ball through the bottom wins.

6. 50 States. One Stays.

Your call: Find your state

Fifty balls, one for each state, bounce around inside a ring. The ring has a gap, and the gap keeps turning. A state that slips through the gap is out. The last state left inside wins. With fifty to choose from, this is the hardest game to call.

7. Bomb Pass

Your call: Pick a colour

Eight colours and one bomb. Touch another colour and the bomb is theirs, and they cannot hand it straight back. Whoever is holding it when the fuse hits zero is out. The fuse gets shorter and the room gets smaller as the run goes on. The last colour standing wins.

8. Tile Takeover

Your call: Pick a colour

Four colours fight over one board. Hit a tile and it is yours until someone else hits it. Holding more tiles earns a colour more balls, and bombs flip a whole patch of tiles at once. The first colour to hold half the board wins.

9. Knockout Bracket

Your call: Pick a colour

Eight colours play a three-round bracket: quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final. Each match is played on a floor of tiles that keeps falling away, and the balls bump each other around. Leave the tiles and you are out. The colour that wins the final wins the run.

10. Six in a Ring

Your call: Pick a colour

Six balls bounce inside a ring with one gap. Every 10 seconds the gap gets wider. Any ball that goes through it is out. The last ball inside wins.

11. Rock Paper Scissors War

Your call: Rock, paper or scissors?

Three armies share one box. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock. When a piece touches its prey, the prey joins its side. If the fight drags on, sudden death starts and a touch removes the piece instead. The last kind standing wins.

12. Which Month Eats Them All

Your call: Find your month

Twelve months start out small in a shrinking dish. Eating dots makes a month grow, and a bigger month can bite a smaller one. Lightning strikes whoever is biggest, so being in front is risky. The last month left wins.

Questions people ask

Can you tell who is going to win?

No. Every run starts from a new random set-up and is worked out as you watch. In testing, the wins were spread across the entrants in every game.

Does it cost anything?

No. The games are free and there is nothing to buy. Ads pay for running the site.

Do I need an account?

No. There are no accounts. For online tables you type any name you like.

Can I speed a run up or turn the sound off?

Yes. The play screen has a speed control, and the sound switch is at the top of the home screen. At an online table the run plays at the host's speed.