Breakout
Breakout is the arcade grandparent of every brick-breaker ever made: bounce the ball off your paddle, smash through walls of coloured bricks, and keep the rally alive as the levels — and the powerups — stack up.
Breakout started life in 1976 as one of Atari's simplest cabinets and quietly became one of the most influential games ever built. The idea has not aged a day: a wall of bricks at the top, a paddle at the bottom, and a ball that refuses to stop moving. Everything that happens in between is on you.
The paddle is your only tool, and where the ball lands on it matters — catch it dead centre and it flies straight up, catch it on the edge and it screams off at a steep angle. Good players do not just keep the ball alive; they aim it, carving tunnels through the wall and letting the ball rattle around the top doing the work for them.
This edition takes the classic and adds the toys the genre grew up with: tougher bricks that crack before they shatter, and powerup capsules that tumble out of the wreckage — a wider paddle, slow motion, twin lasers, an extra life, and the beloved multiball that turns the screen into happy chaos. Levels keep coming with new layouts and a faster ball, so a run ends only when your last life does.
It is pure arcade DNA: thirty seconds to understand, a lifetime to master, and that one-more-run pull that made people stack quarters on cabinets fifty years ago. The quarters are gone; the pull is not.
How to play Breakout
One paddle, one ball, a wall of bricks. Here is the whole job description:
- Move the paddle to keep the ball in play — if it falls past you, you lose a life.
- Every brick the ball hits takes damage; silver and gold bricks need two or three hits.
- Some bricks drop powerup capsules — catch them with the paddle to activate them.
- Where the ball strikes the paddle sets the bounce angle: edges send it out steep, the centre sends it straight up.
- Clear every brick to advance to the next level — the ball gets a little faster each time.
Tips for Breakout
- Aim with the paddle edges — steep angles reach the sides of the wall that straight bounces never touch.
- Dig a tunnel up one side: once the ball gets behind the wall it clears bricks for free.
- Not every powerup is worth chasing — never trade a ball for a capsule.
- Multiball is the best time to go aggressive: lost balls cost nothing while you still have spares.
- When the ball speeds up, stop chasing it and start waiting for it — small paddle moves beat big panicked ones.
Who made Breakout?
This edition of Breakout was built for crokocat in 2026 — a modern take on the 1976 Atari classic with powerups, crackable bricks and endless levels, tuned for mouse, keyboard and touch.
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About this game
- Controls
- Move the paddle with the mouse, arrow keys or A/D on desktop, or drag anywhere on the screen on mobile. Tap, click or press Space to launch the ball. Catch falling capsules to grab powerups.
- Supported devices
- desktop, phone, tablet
- Developer
- crokocat
- Genre
- Arcade
- Release date
- July 2026
- Latest update
- July 2026
Related categories
Frequently asked questions
Is Breakout free to play?
Yes. Breakout is free on crokocat with no download and no sign-up — it runs entirely in your browser.
How do I control the paddle?
Use the mouse or arrow keys / A and D on desktop, or drag anywhere on the screen on mobile. Tap, click or press Space to launch the ball.
What do the falling capsules do?
They are powerups: W widens the paddle, M splits the ball into several, S slows time, L mounts lasers on the paddle and ♥ grants an extra life.
How many levels are there?
Layouts keep cycling with a faster ball each round, so the game is endless — the goal is your highest score.