Bubble Bay

What is Bubble Bay?

Bubble Bay is a classic bubble shooter with a rescue twist. Instead of clearing every last bubble, your goal on each level is to free the critters hidden inside some of them. Free the last critter and the level ends right there, even if the board is still half full.

There are 45 levels spread over three reefs (Coral Cove, Kelp Forest and Moonlit Lagoon), an endless Tide Run, and a Daily Reef. It's free, plays in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and there's no download.

How to play

You shoot one bubble at a time from the launcher at the bottom. When it touches the reef it sticks. If it makes a group of three or more of the same color, the whole group pops. Any bubbles that were only hanging on through that group lose their connection to the top and fall. Those are drops, and they're worth a lot more than pops.

A critter is freed when its bubble pops or drops. Either way works.

Controls

• Phone or tablet: touch above the launcher and drag to aim. A dotted line shows the path, including bounces off the walls. Let go to shoot.
• Computer: move the mouse to aim and click to shoot. Keyboard players can aim with Left and Right (or A and D) and shoot with Space, Enter or Up.
• Swap: tap the next bubble or the launcher to switch your current and next bubble. On a keyboard, S, Tab or Down.
• Rainbow: tap the rainbow button, or press R. P or Esc pauses.

Your next bubble is only ever a color that's still on the board, so you won't get stuck holding a color you can't use.

The tide

The counter at the top right says Tide in and a number. Every shot counts it down by one. When it reaches zero, the whole reef moves down a row. Early levels give you 9 shots between tides, later ones as few as 5. If the reef reaches the bottom line, the tide's in and the level is lost.

Scoring and stars

Every level has a par, a target number of shots. Finish in par or fewer for 3 stars, within about one and a half times par for 2 stars, and anything else that frees all the critters gets 1 star. Par starts at 6 shots on the first level and rises slowly. If you miss 3 stars, the results screen tells you the exact number to beat.

Rainbow bubbles

A rainbow bubble turns into the color of whatever it touches, so it always makes a match if it lands next to a pair. You earn one by dropping 6 or more bubbles in a single shot (the game shouts Splash, or Avalanche for 10 or more), and by getting 3 stars on a level for the first time. You can hold up to 5, and they carry over between games.

Modes

• Reefs: the 45 levels, 15 in each reef. Each one unlocks when you finish the one before. Colors go up as you go: 3 colors at first, then 4, 5, and finally 6. A new critter friend joins every 5 levels.
• Tide Run: endless. A new row pushes in from the top every 7 shots, then faster, down to every 4. Every fourth new row adds a color, up to 6. Clear the whole board for 500 points and a fresh set of rows. Signed in players get a leaderboard.
• Daily Reef: a Tide Run on a layout that's the same for everyone that day, with a day streak.

The Aquarium

Every critter you free swims off to your Aquarium. There are eight kinds: Sunny Fish, Pinch Crab, Star Pip, Shelly, Inky, Puff, Glow Jelly and Curly. Free 10 of a kind for a bronze shell, 40 for silver and 120 for gold.

Bubble shooter tips

Go for the critters, not the board

A level ends the moment the last critter is free. Don't waste shots tidying up the far corner. Look at where the critters are and spend every shot getting closer to them. That's also how you hit par for 3 stars.

Drop, don't pop

Pops are 10 points each. Drops start at 20 each and the bonus grows with the size of the drop, so a single shot that cuts loose a big hanging cluster can be worth more than the rest of the level. Look for the one small group holding a big clump to the top, and pop that. Critters inside the falling clump are freed too.

Bank shots reach where you can't

The aim line shows bounces off the side walls. Use them to get behind a wall of the wrong color, or to slip a bubble into a gap high on the reef. A bank shot is just as accurate as a straight one, since the line shows exactly where it'll go.

Use the swap

You can always see your next bubble and switch to it for free. Before each shot, check both. If neither color makes a match, place the bubble somewhere it sets up a match for later rather than burying a critter.

Keep the fever going

Four popping shots in a row starts Fever and doubles everything. One shot that doesn't pop ends it. When you're in Fever, swap to whatever color pops something, even a small group, before going for the big play.

Count down to the tide

When the counter says Tide in 1, your next shot brings the reef down a row. If you're close to the bottom, make that shot clear something low. In Tide Run, the rows come faster as you go, so keep the board shallow instead of letting it build up.

Save rainbows for the tough spot

A rainbow bubble is perfect for a critter wedged between mixed colors. Since you can carry up to 5 between games, it's fine to save them for a level that's giving you trouble.

Questions