How to actually win at Bouncelings

The last devlogs were about the one rule (aim one tile lower) and about why a match only takes a few minutes. This one is for when you have the rule down and want to start winning. Eight things that matter more than luck.

1. Read the row above, not your own row

The board slides down one row while you jump, so whatever is on your target tile right now does not matter. Look one row up: that is what you will land on. Good players stop seeing the tiles where they are and start seeing the tiles where they will be.

2. Think about where the others are going

All four squishies jump at the same time, so two of them can pick the same tile. That starts a Bounce Off: both roll from 1 to 10, the highest roll stays, and the loser takes 15 damage and gets knocked back to the tile they came from, which then goes off under them. A great tile that two others can also reach is a coin flip. A decent tile that nobody else can reach is a sure thing.

3. Frozen players are an easy target

A frozen squishy still takes part in a Bounce Off, but only rolls up to 6 instead of 10. If someone is frozen and sitting on a good tile, landing on top of them is a strong bet.

4. Do not heal at full health

Everyone has 100 HP, and anything you heal above that is simply gone. A Heal at 90 HP is worth 10. That same jump could have hit somebody instead.

5. One shield is enough

A second copy of a buff you already have does nothing. If you are already shielded or boosted, pick a weapon or a heal instead. The same goes for Rage: it doubles the damage you deal, but only if there is something to hit next. Grab it when there is a weapon tile within reach on your next turn.

6. Shield before the storm

A Shield blocks all damage for two turns. When there are several red tiles around the others, that is the moment, because a single Paint Bomb hits everyone on the board for 30.

7. Warp is an escape, not a gamble

Warp throws you to a random spot. When you are cornered between two players with Rage, that is a lifeline. When you are standing well, it pulls you out of a good position for nothing.

8. Use your range

You can jump up to 2 tiles in every direction, diagonals included. A Boost makes that 3. More range means more tiles to choose from and more ways to stay out of a Bounce Off.

How the bots play (and how to beat them)

The bots follow these exact rules, they just make different mistakes on purpose:

• Easy forgets to aim one tile lower in about 1 out of 5 turns and sometimes just jumps anywhere. It does not look at where you are going.
• Medium forgets less often, and does check whether you might land on the same tile.
• Hard never forgets the slide and never jumps at random.

Fun fact: an early version of Medium lost to Easy, 41% to 59% over 400 matches. It was looking at the tile it could see instead of the tile it would land on. It turns out that aiming at the wrong tile is worse than not aiming at all. That bug is the whole game in one sentence.

So the best way to practice: beat Medium a few times, then try Hard. If you can win against Hard, you are ready for the online leaderboard.

Play free: https://bouncelings.com

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