Go Balloons!

The pitch

A fairground squirrel sells balloons — until a gust steals them skyward. There’s only one thing left to do: climb after them. Go Balloons! is an endless pixel wall-runner. Cling to pavilion facades, tap once to leap to the opposite wall, and snatch balloons in mid-air. The higher you go, the faster the pace and the denser the hazards: sticking signs and pigeons eager to knock you off course. Missing a balloon is safe — only collisions end the run. After each attempt you see height and haul, and your best daily height enters the champions board. Unlock achievement seals and come back for a new record. Controls stay simple: tap or Space to jump. No combos — just timing, nerve, and another climb. How high can you rise today?

Controls & how it runs

1. Press Start at the booth — balloons soar, the squirrel clings to a wall. 2. Tap (or press Space) to leap to the opposite wall. 3. Catch balloons in flight; gold ones are worth more. 4. Dodge ledges and pigeons. 5. After a fall, check height and balloons, beat today's record, and try again. Goal: maximize height per run. Height feeds the leaderboard; balloons fuel achievements.

Getting a run going takes exactly one press: Press start, up top, and the game boots inside this page — nothing downloads in the background and no form wants your details before the first jump. The cabinet is drawn for a portrait (upright) screen and listens to mouse, keyboard or touch, whichever the game prefers. This cabinet stands tall: it was built for portrait screens, so a phone held upright gives it the frame it wants — though it will squeeze politely into any window. Given a fullscreen button, use it — scores look better at full size, that's just science.

Pro tips for arcade cabinets

• Treat your first run as a scouting mission. Arcade cabinets hide their cruelty in the second minute, not the first — learn where the difficulty spikes before you start chasing numbers.
• Small scores compound. Grab the easy pickups on every pass instead of gambling the whole run on one heroic line; heroes respawn, banked points don't evaporate.
• Watch the edges of the screen. In classic arcade design the next problem almost always enters from somewhere you weren't looking — build the habit of scanning the borders.

Go Balloons! — quick-fire questions

Does Go Balloons! cost anything to play?

Not a token. The cabinet is free from the first run to the five-hundredth — no wallet, no sign-up, no toll booth hiding three levels in. The adverts around the page are what keep the floor's lights on.

What sort of game is Go Balloons!?

It stands on our Arcade row — that's the family it plays most like. The pitch above is the publisher's own rundown of what it throws at you and what it hands back.

Can I play Go Balloons! on my phone?

Happily, yes. It runs inside the browser on phones and tablets the same way it does on a computer. This cabinet stands tall: it was built for portrait screens, so a phone held upright gives it the frame it wants — though it will squeeze politely into any window.

Do I need to install anything first?

Nothing whatsoever. Go Balloons! is an HTML5 game: hit the start button and it boots on this page, and shutting the tab sweeps the cabinet clean behind you.

Before you wander off

Personal best banked, or still chasing it? Either way the full Arcade row is powered on and waiting — The main floor: 415 cabinets of pure arcade stock — the quick, the loud and the gloriously unfair. If it beeps, flashes and dares you to beat a number, it lives on this row.