Jungle Bricks Breaker

★ 4.8

26K+ votes

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RELEASED2022

ORIENTATIONLandscape 800×600

GENREPaddle breakout

WALL36 faces, 1 ball

01 — Overview

What is Jungle Bricks Breaker?

Jungle Bricks Breaker is a free browser arcade game in which you slide a wooden plank along the floor of a cartoon jungle, bounce a red ball off it, and knock out two rows of bricks painted as cats' faces. You have one ball and no lives to fall back on, so the game lasts exactly as long as you can keep that ball in the air.

The setting is the draw. The background is a sunny clearing with palm trees, broad-leafed branches and mountains in the distance, and the title sits over it in leafy green lettering with three options: NEW GAME, EXIT and a SOUND ON toggle. Pick NEW GAME and the bricks, the plank and the ball appear at once, with the ball already on its way up.

The bricks are the friendliest in our collection. Instead of coloured blocks, Jungle Bricks Breaker lines up small square animal faces: four black-and-white cats at the left of each row, ten ginger cats in the middle and four white cats at the right. Two rows of eighteen make thirty-six faces in all, strung across the screen like bunting.

The game was added to the GamePix catalogue in 2022 and runs in a landscape 800×600 frame. It is short, bright and easy to understand, which makes Jungle Bricks Breaker a natural pick for younger players or for anyone who wants a gentle-looking game with a surprisingly strict rule.

02 — How to play

How to play Jungle Bricks Breaker

01
Start from the menu
Click NEW GAME on the title screen. There is no countdown; the red ball is moving as soon as the clearing appears.
02
Slide the plank
The wooden paddle sits near the bottom of the screen and moves left and right. Keep it under the ball as the ball comes down.
03
Bounce the ball into the faces
Each contact with the plank sends the ball back up towards the two rows. A face that is hit disappears from the line.
04
Clear each group
Work through the black-and-white cats, the ginger cats and the white cats. Gaps in the rows let the ball travel through to the space above.
05
Keep the single ball alive
There is only one ball. If it drops past the plank, the run ends.
06
Go again
The game returns to the title menu after a miss. Click NEW GAME to set up a fresh thirty-six.

Controls

The plank moves left and right along the bottom of the clearing. In our test, moving the mouse did not shift it. Jungle Bricks Breaker shares its menu and its brick layout with Neon Brick Breaker, where the Left and Right arrow keys moved the paddle, so use the arrow keys here too. Menu options are chosen with a click. We saw no touch buttons on screen, which points to a desktop or laptop with a keyboard.

Objective

Knock out as many of the thirty-six faces as you can before the ball gets past you. The screen shows no score and no lives, so your result is simply what is left hanging when the run ends. Clearing both rows with one ball is the goal to aim for in Jungle Bricks Breaker, and it is harder than the cheerful artwork suggests.

Game modes & features

There is a single mode, reached from NEW GAME; the title screen also has EXIT and a SOUND ON toggle. The playfield is two rows of eighteen animal-face bricks in three groups of four, ten and four. The paddle is drawn as a plank of wood and the ball as a glossy red sphere. The ball launches automatically at the start of every game.

Why play Jungle Bricks Breaker?

Play it when you want a quick game that is pleasant to look at. The jungle backdrop and the cat-face bricks make Jungle Bricks Breaker much warmer than the usual neon or plain-block style, and the one-ball rule keeps each attempt short. It is a good one to share with a child who is learning how a paddle game works, because nothing on screen needs explaining.

03 — Tips & strategy

Jungle Bricks Breaker tips

Beginner

Be ready before you click

The ball starts moving the instant the game begins. Have your hand in position to move the plank before you choose NEW GAME.

Follow the red ball down

The ball stands out well against the green background. Keep your eyes on it as it falls and move the plank to meet it.

Centre the plank between hits

While the ball is up among the faces, bring the plank back to the middle of the screen. Either side is then equally close.

Do not chase the last face

When only a few faces remain it is tempting to lunge. A steady return that keeps the ball in play will reach them eventually; a missed ball will not.

Advanced

Break through at the four-cat ends

The groups of four at each end of the rows are the shortest route to the top. Open one end and the ball can get above both rows and work along them from behind.

Aim for the same spot twice

The rows are only two deep. Two returns to the same column make a hole right through, which is the opening you want.

Find out what the plank ends do

Many paddle games send the ball off at a wider angle from the ends of the paddle. Try an off-centre contact early in a run to learn whether this plank does the same.

Prepare for a fast return

A ball that clips the lower row comes straight back. After any low hit, expect the ball sooner than a shot that travels through to the top.

04 — Highlights

What makes Jungle Bricks Breaker special

Jungle Bricks Breaker gets a lot of charm from a simple swap. Replacing coloured bricks with rows of cat faces changes nothing about how the game works, but it makes the screen feel like a fairground stall, and knocking the faces out one by one is more fun than it has any right to be.

Heritage

Themed brick breakers like Jungle Bricks Breaker are new paint on a design from 1976. Atari's Breakout, released on 13 May of that year, asked the player to bounce a ball off a paddle into rows of coloured bricks; it had been conceived by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow as a way to play Pong alone. The original gave three turns and scored each brick by its colour. Re-skinning the bricks came much later and turned out to be one of the genre's most durable habits: the rules are so simple that the wall can be made of almost anything — sweets, planets, or, as here, cats — without the player needing a word of explanation. What Jungle Bricks Breaker keeps from 1976 is the essential loop of paddle, ball and rows, and what it drops is the safety net, leaving a single ball where Breakout allowed three turns.

Under the artwork it is a strict little game. One ball, no score, no second chance — the same stripped-down rules as the barest arcade machines. That contrast between a soft look and a hard rule is what gives Jungle Bricks Breaker its character, and what makes a full clearance worth boasting about.

It is one of several paddle games on this site and the most approachable to look at. The classic Brick Breaker on our home page and Block Breaker have more levels and more forgiving rules. Neon Brick Breaker is the same format in an arcade style, and Brick Out Candy is another bright, themed paddle game if the jungle appeals.

05 — Features

Jungle Bricks Breaker features

🐱

Cat-face bricks

Black-and-white, ginger and white cat faces take the place of plain blocks.

🌴

Jungle clearing

Palms, leafy branches and distant mountains form the backdrop.

🪵

Wooden plank paddle

A plank of wood bounces a glossy red ball back up the screen.

1️⃣

Single ball

No lives counter; the run ends when the ball gets past the plank.

🔢

Thirty-six to clear

Two rows of eighteen faces in groups of four, ten and four.

▶️

Straight into play

NEW GAME starts the ball moving with no countdown.

06 — FAQ

Jungle Bricks Breaker FAQ

QWhat are the bricks in Jungle Bricks Breaker?

They are small square tiles painted as cat faces. Each of the two rows has four black-and-white cats on the left, ten ginger cats in the middle and four white cats on the right, giving thirty-six in total. A face disappears when the ball hits it.

QHow many lives are there in Jungle Bricks Breaker?

None beyond the ball you start with. There is no lives counter on screen, and when the ball drops past the wooden plank the game goes back to the title menu. NEW GAME begins a new attempt with all thirty-six faces restored.

QWhat are the controls for Jungle Bricks Breaker?

Use the Left and Right arrow keys to move the plank. Moving the mouse did not shift it in our test, and the game shares its menu and layout with Neon Brick Breaker, where the arrow keys worked. Menu options are clicked.

QWhen was Jungle Bricks Breaker released?

It was published to the GamePix catalogue in September 2022. It is an HTML5 game in a landscape 800×600 frame and runs in the browser without a download.

QHow do you clear both rows in Jungle Bricks Breaker?

Make a hole at one end, where the groups are only four faces wide, and send the ball through it. Once the ball is above the rows it bounces between the top of the screen and the faces and removes them from behind.

QIs Jungle Bricks Breaker like Breakout?

Yes, in its basic design. Atari released Breakout in 1976 with a paddle, a ball and rows of bricks. Jungle Bricks Breaker uses the same three parts, swaps the bricks for cat faces, and gives you one ball instead of three turns.

QIs Jungle Bricks Breaker suitable for children?

The content is gentle: cartoon cat faces, a jungle background and a red ball, with nothing violent or frightening. The rule is strict, though — one miss ends the game — so younger players may need a few tries to enjoy it.

QWhat games are similar to Jungle Bricks Breaker?

Neon Brick Breaker is the same two-row, one-ball game in neon outlines. Brick Out Candy and Cartoon Bricks are other brightly themed brick games, and the classic Brick Breaker on our home page is the fuller, more forgiving version.