Poofruits: Merge the Fruit

The pitch

Eleven fruits, from blueberry to watermelon, and every one of them has a face. They blink, squint when something lands on them, beam when they merge, and start to doze off if you leave them alone. The physics is honest: a dropped fruit rolls, shoves its neighbours and can set off a chain of merges worth far more than you planned. Stacking well beats stacking fast. Now and then a bomb turns up in the queue. It scatters whatever has settled into a jam and gives a crowded cup a second chance. There is a leaderboard and a personal best, kept in your Yandex account so it survives a change of device. A run is short, losing costs you nothing, and you will want to start again at once.

Controls & how it runs

Drag your finger or the mouse along the top of the screen and the fruit follows. Let go to drop it into the cup. Two identical fruits that touch become the next one up: blueberry makes a cherry, cherry makes a kumquat, and so on to the watermelon. Merges chain, so one good drop can clear half the cup. Swipe down to fling the fruit instead. It drives into a tight pile and opens a way through. Watch the line near the top. If the fruit stays above it, the run is over. Put the big ones at the bottom and leave the small ones room up top, so they have time to find their pair. The bomb can be dropped like any fruit, or tapped where it lies to set it off.

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 flexible screen and listens to mouse, keyboard or touch, whichever the game prefers. It reshapes itself for tall and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all get the full picture. 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.

Poofruits: Merge the Fruit — quick-fire questions

Does Poofruits: Merge the Fruit 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 Poofruits: Merge the Fruit?

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 Poofruits: Merge the Fruit on my phone?

Happily, yes. It runs inside the browser on phones and tablets the same way it does on a computer. It reshapes itself for tall and wide screens alike, so phone, tablet and desktop all get the full picture.

Do I need to install anything first?

Nothing whatsoever. Poofruits: Merge the Fruit 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.