How to play
Two players with oversized heads share one small pitch and one ball. Red defends the goal on the left and Teal defends the goal on the right. Score more goals than your rival before the clock runs out. A match lasts 60 seconds, and you can pick 90 or 120 on the menu.
- Red runs with A and D, jumps with W and kicks with Space.
- Teal runs with the left and right arrows, jumps with ↑ and kicks with Enter.
- Gamepads work too: the stick runs, up or the d-pad jumps and A kicks. The first pad is Red, the second is Teal.
- On a phone, hold it sideways. Each player owns one half of the screen: drag to run, drag upwards to jump, and tap the ball button on the outer edge to kick.
- Playing alone? Choose vs Bot and pick Easy, Normal or Hard.
- P or Esc pauses. The game also pauses by itself when you switch tabs.
Heading and kicking
Your head is your best tool. A ball that drops onto your head bounces off it, and your own speed goes into the ball: run or jump into it and it flies. A kick swings your shoe forward and upward from the hip. Only the forward half of the swing hits the ball, and a kick always sends the ball towards your rival’s goal, never backwards. Each swing hits once, and there is a short pause before you can swing again.
The goal roof slopes down towards the pitch, so a ball that lands on top of a goal rolls back into play, and so does a player. A ball that crosses the goal line completely, under the crossbar, is a goal. If the last player to push the ball towards their own goal was the defender, the goal is shown as an own goal and still counts for the other side.
Wind
With Wind switched on, the arrows at the top of the screen show the wind: calm, light or strong, to the left or to the right. The wind changes every twelve seconds, and the arrows blink for a second and a half before it does. Wind only pushes the ball while it is in the air, so a rolling ball keeps its line, but a high clearance can drift a long way. Switch it off on the menu for a still evening.
Super shot
Every meaningful touch fills your super shot meter by one: a kick, or a header with some pace on it. After six touches the meter above your head lights up. Your next kick is a rocket: it leaves your foot about forty percent faster and flies straight for about half a second, ignoring both gravity and wind. Conceding a goal halves your meter, so a charged rocket is worth using before the other side scores.
Golden goal and stuck balls
If the score is level when the time runs out, the match goes to a golden goal: the next goal wins. If nobody scores within another minute, the match is a draw. And if the ball gets wedged somewhere for five seconds, for example squeezed between two heads, it pops straight up so the game keeps moving.
Strategy
Stay on the goal side of the ball. Running back towards your own goal and bumping into the ball is the classic way to score an own goal. Let a ball that is behind you drop first, then get behind it.
Jump early for headers. A head that is rising into the ball sends it much further than one that is standing still.
Do not kick into a face. A shot from close range into your rival’s head comes straight back. Back off a step and kick the ball over them instead.
Play the wind. With a strong wind behind you, a high ball from your own half can reach the other goal. Against the wind, keep the ball low.
If you like this, the same big heads play basketball in Bobble Hoops, with a shot meter and dunks. For a one-button brawl on the same keyboard, try Flop Wrestle, and for a duel in a maze, Bounce Tanks.
If you enjoy Bobble Kick, try Bobble Volley or Bounce Tanks next.
