Balloon Lift

Balloon Lift is a side-view physics puzzle about getting things up in the air and setting them down again in the right place. Every level hands you a few helium balloons in three sizes, sometimes with long strings, sometimes with a sandbag for ballast. Drag a balloon onto one of the hooks on a crate, a parcel, a puppy's box or a sleepy owl's nest box, add as many as you think it needs and press Go. Too little lift and nothing moves; too much and it shoots past the goal or into a spiky branch, where a balloon goes pop and the load sinks gently back down.

The sky is never empty. Wind gusts shown as arrows and drifting leaves push everything sideways, fans switch on and off, washing lines and airships slide across the gap, bubbles give a quick shove, a kite rope or a pulley holds the load on a leash. Tap a string while it flies to cut a balloon loose and land on a ledge, or snip a sandbag to climb faster. The physics is real and deterministic, so the same setup always flies the same way, and a dotted line shows where your load is heading before you let go. Animals are only ever delivered: a miss lands on a soft bush and the level resets in a moment.

Forty quick, hand-built levels across the Backyard, the Rooftops, a Canyon and the Sky Harbour each have three stars to earn: reach the goal, use no more balloons than par, and collect the bonus star on the way. When the levels are done, Sky Climb is the endless mode: keep tying on fresh balloons as the old ones slowly leak, cut sandbags for a boost and see how high the basket can go before it drifts back down. Your best height is saved as your high score. Press P to pause and M to mute.