米花爆 — how to play

What is on the screen

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1. The gear: music, sound effects, fullscreen and screen width are all adjusted here.
2. The props you are carrying: how many jumps are left, and how many needles.
3. Your character: the ring under your feet is your team colour, and anyone the same colour is a teammate. A "YOU" arrow floats above you.
4. Prop button: uses jump shoes — or a needle if you press it while trapped.
5. Balloon button: drops a balloon.
6. Settings / Leave: leave this match.

During a match a countdown also sits at the top centre of the screen, and it starts ticking for the last 10 seconds. (The screenshot above is practice mode, so it has no timer.)

What the colours mean

• The colour of the ring under a character is their team. Red, blue, green and yellow make up to four teams; the camp maps have only red and green.
• A balloon carries the team colour of whoever dropped it, so you can tell whose it is.
• A trapped player becomes a ball of popcorn with a flashing "!" above their head — that is a call for help.

Where props come from

Breaking a crate may drop a prop — roughly one crate in two. Every so often a plane also flies over and airdrops a few. Walk onto one and it is yours.

All the props

Balloon +1One more balloon on the field at a time.

Range +1The water reaches one cell further.

SpeedWalk a little faster.

KickLets you kick a balloon away.

ThrowLets you hurl a balloon over obstacles.

Jump shoesHop over one obstacle in front of you. One pickup gives three jumps, and you can hold six.

NeedlePop the bubble yourself while trapped and escape. You can hold one.

Max rangeRaises range straight to this character's maximum.

Max balloonsRaises your balloon count straight to its maximum. Rare.

Max speedRaises speed straight to its maximum. Rare.

CoinsSpend them in the shop after the match on hats and balloon skins. Larger 50 and 100 coins also exist.

Mounts

Some crates hold something you can ride. While mounted, water does not trap you — it only knocks you off, which is effectively an extra life.

• Tank: comes out of a big treasure chest, which takes several explosions to open. Its speed is fixed and it refills your balloons at once.
• Animal mounts (Alpaca, Gazelle, Rabbit, Pig): each has a fixed speed — some fast, some slow. The Gazelle can jump without limit, and the jump counter always shows six while riding; once you are blasted off, your character's own jump count is restored.
• Ghost horse: walks straight through crates, but you cannot pick up props while riding it.
• Mystery egg: you only find out what is inside once you ride it.

How a balloon pops

It pops about 2 to 3 seconds after you drop it, and the water shoots straight out in four directions: up, down, left and right. It never travels diagonally. How many cells it reaches depends on your Range.

• Water hitting a crate: the crate breaks and the water stops there — it goes no further.
• Water hitting a wall: it stops dead, and the wall is unharmed.
• You can stand in tall grass to hide, but water sweeping through burns it away (grass never drops a prop).
• The water lingers for only about half a second. Time it right and you can walk through just behind it.

Chain explosions

When the water reaches another balloon that has not popped yet, that one goes off immediately, and its own water may set off the next one — that is a chain explosion.

A balloon you have just dropped spends a brief moment where another player's water can neither set it off nor be blocked by it — so dropping one at the instant of an explosion will not reliably shield you.

Kick

After picking up Kick, walk into a balloon so that you push against it, and it will be kicked rolling forward.

• The balloon rolls until it hits something: a wall, a crate, another balloon, or a player in the way.
• A rolling balloon is still counting down, and pops where it is when the time is up.
• You can kick away the balloon at your own feet, turning it into "drop it, then kick it over to catch someone".
• Nails: where the ground has nails, a balloon that rolls onto them pops immediately.

Throw

After picking up Throw, stand on a balloon that has come to rest and press the balloon button again to hurl it in the direction you are facing. (It does not have to be your own balloon — you can pick up and throw someone else's.)

• A thrown balloon flies over the crates and walls in between and lands a few cells away.
• If the landing cell is taken, the balloon travels a little further to find a free one.
• Throwing from the far side of a wall catches opponents who often cannot react in time.

What happens when the water hits you

• You are sealed into a ball of popcorn: no dropping balloons, and you can only inch along.
• The ball swells larger and larger and bursts after about six and a half seconds — that is when you are really out.
• A teammate who walks into you frees you. So when you see a "!" above a teammate, go and bump into them.
• If you are carrying a needle, the prop key pops the ball yourself and frees you, using one up.
• The reverse also holds: touching a trapped enemy pops them on the spot — so check the colour before you rush in to rescue.

Things on the field

• Crate: breakable, blocks water, and may drop a prop.
• Walls, houses, plank stacks: they block both movement and water. Plank stacks can be blown up; stone walls cannot.
• Tall grass: walk in to hide, and you are harder to spot. It is gone once blown up, and never drops a prop.
• Tent: you can only enter and leave from above or below — the sides are cloth walls, and water can only pour in from above or below as well. Hiding inside is safe, but you can also be boxed in.
• Nails: a balloon that rolls onto them pops immediately.
• Big treasure chest: it takes several explosions to open, and it holds a tank. The easier chests on the camp maps hold jump shoes.
• Airdrop: a plane flies over and parachutes a few props down. You can only pick them up once they land.

The two match modes

The five characters differ

Characters are chosen in the waiting room, and changing costs nothing.

Half-body: standing on the line between cells

Your body is exactly one cell wide. If you stand on the line between two cells, half of you is in the left cell and half in the right. When only one of them is flooded you are not caught — both have to be flooded to count.

• Nudge with WASD: one press moves you a fraction of a cell, which makes it far easier to stop on the line.
• There are lines up and down too; stand right and you have the vertical half-body.
• But: if both cells in the neighbouring row are wet and one cell in your own row is wet too, the water has you from three sides — and you are caught anyway. Standing on the line is not invincibility.

Other handy details

• You jam against a balloon: walking into one stops you at a fixed position, which is handy for lining up. Approaching diagonally lets you slip past its edge instead.
• Jump shoes: hop over one crate or balloon in your way — the prop that saves you when you are boxed in. Inside a tent you cannot jump sideways, because the sides are cloth walls.
• Plan the escape before you drop: decide which cell you are running to first, especially near a dead end.
• Use crates as a shield: crates stop the water, so standing behind one is safer than standing in the open.
• Check the team colour before you charge: touching a trapped teammate rescues them, touching an enemy pops them.

Channel

• Quick Start: finds you a room to play in straight away.
• Create Room: open one yourself and you get a three-digit room number. Give the number to a friend and they can come in.
• On the right are chat, news, the message board and the wish pool — leave a message if you want to tell us anything.

What you can do in a room

• The host can change the map, turn an empty seat into a CPU (normal or hard) and close the seats nobody needs.
• Tapping a seat selects it, and the colour swatches below then change that seat's team.
• Tap your own seat to change character. A CPU's character is random each match.
• Tap someone's avatar to see their own space, and to add them as a friend (if you are already friends, or a request is pending, the button shows that state itself).
• Everyone who is not the host presses READY when they are set, and the host can only start once everyone is ready.

Coins, levels and the shop

• You get coins from picking them up and from finishing a match, and more for winning.
• Coins buy hats, balloon skins, frames for your room card and decorations for your own space. They are purely for looks and make you no stronger.
• Playing matches earns experience and levels, and there are daily tasks and achievements to claim rewards from.

FAQ

What kind of game is 米花爆?

米花爆 is an online multiplayer popcorn water-balloon brawl that needs no install. You drop water balloons on a grid; when one pops it sprays water in a cross, and anyone it touches is sealed inside a piece of popcorn. The side that deals with all its opponents wins. Play online with friends, or offline against the computer.

Does 米花爆 need to be downloaded or installed?

No. Open bnb.bonmipang.com in a browser and play — on a phone, a tablet or a computer. On a phone you can also use the browser menu to "Add to Home Screen", after which it opens like an app.

Can I play without registering?

Yes. The login page has a "Play as guest" button: no sign-up, and you can create rooms, join them and play. Guest progress lives in your own browser, up to LV5 and 3,000 coins. Press "Save my progress" at any time to register, and your level, coins and wardrobe all come across to the new account. Tasks, achievements, friends and the leaderboard do need an account.

How do I play with a friend?

Create a room, press "Copy invite link" and send the link to your friend. Opening it drops them straight into your room, with no room number to hunt for. The room also shows its three-digit number, and joining by number works too.

How do I catch an opponent?

Walk up near your opponent and drop a balloon. A little over two seconds later it pops, spraying water up, down, left and right. Anyone the water touches is sealed into popcorn. Stone blocks the water, and the water breaks one crate in each direction; a broken crate may drop a prop.

Can someone be rescued after being caught?

Yes. Being caught does not eliminate you at once: you first become a piece of popcorn that swells for six and a half seconds before it bursts. A teammate who walks into you frees you; an enemy who walks into you pops you. The trapped player can also struggle by tapping left and right quickly, or escape instantly with a needle.

How do kicking and chain explosions work?

Once you pick up the Kick prop, walking into a balloon you dropped kicks it away, and it rolls until it hits something. A rolling balloon that hits another balloon sets it off too — that is a chain explosion. The Throw prop lets you hurl the balloon under your feet straight over an obstacle.

When are the most players online?

Every evening from 21:00 to 23:00 is play hour: coins and experience are doubled, everyone comes online at once, and it is the easiest time to find a match against real people.

Does 米花爆 cost money?

The core game is free to play. Everything in the shop can currently be bought with in-game coins. Paid cosmetics, a season pass or a supporter plan may appear later, funding the servers and continued development. Paid content will be cosmetic and collectable, and will never grant an advantage in a match.

How do the phone controls work?

Press and drag on the left half of the screen as a virtual stick; the button at the bottom right drops a balloon, and the one beside it jumps (with jump shoes) or uses a needle (while trapped). Hold the phone sideways for a bigger view.

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