How to play Bubble Pop

By Ari Hlynsson · 1 player · Updated 10 September 2026

Clear every bubble off the board. Three touching bubbles of one colour pop, and anything left hanging from nothing falls with them.

The rules, step by step

1. 1

   Point at where you want the bubble to go. The dotted line shows the whole path, including any bounce off a side wall.

2. 2

   Tap or click to fire. The bubble sticks where it lands, against the ceiling or against whatever it touches first.

3. 3

   Three or more of one colour touching each other pop, and score ten each.

4. 4

   Any bubble that is no longer connected to the ceiling then falls, and falling is worth twenty each — double a pop.

5. 5

   The bubble waiting after the current one is shown beside the shooter, so you can plan two shots at once.

6. 6

   Clear the board to win. If a bubble sticks on the bottom row without popping, the game is over.

Tips that change how you play

• Aim at what a bubble is holding up, not at the bubble. Three popped is thirty points; three popped that drop nine more is two hundred and ten.
• Use the walls to reach the corners. A bubble fired straight at the back corner cannot get there, and the same bubble banked off the side wall arrives from above. The dotted line means you never have to guess the angle.
• Look at the next bubble before you fire the current one. Two shots planned together are worth far more than two shots planned separately, because the first can set up the second.
• A colour with only one or two left on the board is a colour to spend, not to save. Firing it somewhere harmless is better than letting it clog the shooter while the board grows.

Why the drop is the whole game

Say there is a run of three red bubbles across the fourth row, and hanging beneath them are nine bubbles of assorted colours that touch nothing else. Popping the three reds scores thirty. But the nine underneath were holding on to the ceiling only through those reds, so they all come away at once — a hundred and eighty more, and a quarter of the board gone in a single shot. Now compare that with a red match at the bottom edge holding nothing up: same three bubbles, same colour, same shot, thirty points and the board barely changed. Both are legal, both look identical while you are aiming, and the difference between them is the entire skill of this game.

Mistakes that cost beginners the game

Shooting at the nearest match every time.

The nearest match is usually at the bottom of the board, where popping three takes three bubbles off and changes nothing else. The shots worth taking are higher up, where a group is carrying a column beneath it. Look for what falls, not for what pops.

Never using the bank shot.

The back corners cannot be reached directly, and a board where you have given up on the corners fills from the outside in until there is nowhere left to aim. The guide line shows the bounce exactly, so a bank shot here costs nothing but the decision to take it.

Parking an unwanted colour somewhere it makes things worse.

Every bubble you fire and do not pop stays on the board and brings the bottom row closer. If you must waste a shot, put it against the ceiling at the edge where it joins the fewest things, rather than into the middle of the board where it will block a shot you wanted later.

Common questions about Bubble Pop