Christmas Bubble Shooter: pop the baubles

How to play

Aim with the mouse and click to shoot; on a keyboard the left and right arrows or A and D turn the cannon by 2°, Space or the up arrow shoots, X or Shift swaps the bauble with the next one and P pauses. On a phone, drag a finger across the board to aim and lift it to shoot (letting go below the red line cancels the shot) – or use the ◀, Shoot, ▶ and ⇄ buttons under the board. Three or more touching baubles of one colour pop for 10 points each, and baubles no longer hanging from the top fall: n at once score 20·2^(n−1), at most 1280 points. Every few shots a new row slides down from the top; the game ends when a bauble crosses the red line, and an empty board brings 1000 points and the next round.

For teachers: aiming is geometry in action – the angle at which a bauble hits the wall equals the angle at which it bounces off, so children can predict the path before they shoot. On an interactive whiteboard the big buttons under the board are all you need, and on Easy the aiming line shows the bounce off the wall.

Fun fact: glass Christmas baubles were first blown in the 19th century in Lauscha, a glassmaking town in Thuringia, Germany, and from there they spread around the world.

Also useful

• Catch the Elf: a Christmas reflex game
• Christmas Match 3: line up baubles, stars and presents
• Christmas Breakout: a snowball against the ice bricks
• Present Stack: Christmas falling blocks
• Reindeer Flight: Santa’s sleigh over the rooftops
• Catch the presents: Santa’s sleigh against the coal
• Christmas 2048: merge the tiles all the way to Santa
• Christmas Four in a Row: red baubles against gold
• Christmas Tic Tac Toe: Snowman vs Tree

More on santa.haus

• Christmas quizzesTrivia and emoji puzzles, checked as you play, with sheets to print for teams.
• Christmas bingoa card of its own on each phone, a caller that draws the words, or up to 40 different cards to print.
• Party gamesCharades, “Who am I?” and fifteen one-minute games – played in teams on one phone.
• Advent calendarMake one online and send it: a door a day until Christmas Eve.
• Online Christmas cardPick a picture, write your wishes and send the card as a link. Free, no account.
• Christmas printablesColoring pages, cards, gift wrapping and decorations to cut out – print them at home, free.

Drawing names for gifts too? Secret Santa on santa.haus.