Comet Pop: Free Online Space Bubble Shooter

Comet Pop is our own space bubble shooter. Robo, a little robot astronaut, floats at the bottom of the board holding the next planet, and a wall of coloured planets hangs from the top. Aim, let go, and the planet flies, bounces off the side walls and sticks where it lands. Touch three or more of the same colour and they pop. Anything left hanging with nothing holding it up falls, and falling planets are worth double.

What makes it different is the moves. There is no line to defend and no timer. Instead, a whole run shares one supply of moves, and every shot spends one. Knock six or more planets loose in a single shot and you win a move back; knock twelve loose and you win two. Clearing a level hands you a pile of new moves, more if you still had plenty left, and then the next level starts. The run ends when the moves run out, so every shot is a small decision: take the safe pop, or set up the shot that brings half the board down.

Every level is generated, and each one is two rows taller than the last, so a run never plays the same board twice. Tall boards scroll, keeping the lowest planets in view. New things turn up as you climb. Laser stars clear their whole column when they pop. Ice planets crack when something pops or lands next to them, and thaw the second time. Meteors never pop, so you have to drop them. Black holes swallow everything around them, and lasers and black holes can set each other off.

Pops fill an energy bar that hands out free boosts: a solar flare that thaws every ice planet, a laser cannon whose next shot burns straight through everything in its path, and a rainbow star that becomes whichever colour makes the biggest match. Every colour also carries its own symbol, so you can play by shape if some colours are hard to tell apart.

The daily challenge gives everyone the same planets for the day, with boosts from the energy bar only, so the best score is down to aim. If you prefer a board that fights back from the top, try Tiger Pop, our other bubble shooter, where a new row pushes down when you miss. Comet Pop is free to play in your browser with no download or sign-up, and it plays with a mouse or by touch.