Bubble Pop

Bubble Pop is a bubble shooter played inside a big enamel bathtub, seen from just above the water line. Pastel tiles run up the wall behind it, a chrome tap drips into the water, a rubber duck sits on the rim and a little toy boat bobs about. The bubbles themselves are the star: six clear colours of translucent soap film, each with a bright specular highlight and a faint rainbow rim.

The rules are the ones everybody already knows. Aim the wand at the bottom of the tub, watch the dotted guide line bend off the enamel wall, and let go. Three or more of the same colour pop, and anything that was only hanging on by those bubbles drops into the water for a bonus. Miss a few shots in a row and the whole ceiling creeps down a row. Let a bubble touch the water and the run is over.

Forty levels hang in hand-shaped silhouettes — an arch, a heart, a wave, a duck — with stars awarded for clearing them in fewer shots than par. Rainbow bubbles match anything, soap bombs burst everything they touch, and steamed-over rows hide their colour until something lands beside them. Endless keeps pushing rows down for as long as you can hold them off, and Zen never drops a row at all. It plays with a finger on a phone, a mouse on a desktop, or the arrow keys and Space; progress and best score are kept in your browser.