Ballast: merge the orbs, mind the balance

Drop orbs into a bowl that stands on a rounded base. Two orbs of the same size that come to rest touching fuse into one orb of the next size up, and a good drop can set off a chain of them. The bowl rocks. A low, even pile rights itself; a high or lopsided one carries its weight past the point the base can hold, and the whole thing rolls over.

How to play

There is one action, and it asks two questions at once.

• Drag to aim, release to drop. The aim point belongs to the vessel, not the screen, so the marker swings as the vessel leans. The dashed line shows the path the orb will actually fall.
• Match to merge. Two of a size that settle against each other become the next size up, worth more, and able to merge again.
• Watch the lean. The gauge does not read the angle, it reads the lean your current load is heading for, so it warns you before the bowl has got there. It is not a control. The only thing that moves the bowl is where you put the weight, and how high the pile is.
• The two largest cancel. Bring two of the biggest size together and both vanish for a large bonus, which is the release valve that stops a strong run from filling up with orbs that have nowhere left to go.

Why it is clever

Merging alone is the most copied loop on the internet, and on its own it is a game about pattern more than choice. The rocking base adds a second decision that is genuinely independent of the first: the best merge is very often on the side you should not be loading. You cannot satisfy both every time, so you are always trading a little score for a little balance.

The base also ties the two together in a way a fixed bowl cannot. What makes the bowl tip is not only which side you loaded but how HIGH the pile has grown, because a high pile puts its weight further above the base. Merging lowers the pile. So merging is not just points, it is the thing that keeps you upright, and a run you never tidy is a run you lose.

Tips

• Keep the pile low. Height is what makes the bowl tippy, so clearing a layer of small orbs buys more safety than it looks like it should.
• A merge moves mass toward the point where the two orbs met. That is a way of shifting the balance without dropping anything.
• Small orbs are worth almost nothing on their own. Their value is that they fill gaps and let larger pairs find each other.
• When the gauge is deep in the red, stop chasing the merge. One or two drops spent purely on balance will usually save the run.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ballast free? Yes, completely free to play, with no account or download, in any modern browser on phone, tablet or desktop.

Does it work on mobile? Yes. Ballast is built for touch as well as mouse, and the controls sit at the bottom of the screen within thumb reach.

How do I win? There is no winning state. It is a score chase: the run ends when the bowl rolls over or an orb leaves it, and the aim is to beat your own best.

Is the rocking random? No. It is computed from where the weight actually sits and how high it sits, every frame. Nothing about it is chance, and the same seed plays out the same way twice.

Stuck? Read the Ballast strategy guide →

Enjoy a good thinking puzzle? Try Bloom or Kaleido, or browse all Zamborin games.