Bounce Bots

Start or join a lobby

How it works

• A robot slides in a straight line until a wall, the centre block, or another robot stops it. There is no stopping halfway.
• Only one marker shows at a time — the bracketed square with a hollow centre. Get the robot matching its colour onto it. A purple marker accepts any robot.
• The board is locked while everyone is thinking. Work the route out in your head — you only get to touch the robots when it is your turn to prove it.
• Bid with the number buttons, or type a number and press Enter. Once you have bid, only lower numbers stay available — you can improve a bid, never inflate it.
• Every move in a proof is drawn on the board as a numbered arrow, so you can check the count even if you look away. When nobody solves it, the shortest line is revealed the same way.
• The first bid starts a shared countdown, and the board border flashes red when it begins. You can keep lowering your own bid until it runs out.
• Lowest bid has to prove it. Land the robot within your bid and you score a point.
• Fail to show your line and it costs you a point, then the next-lowest bidder gets their shot. That repeats until somebody proves it or every bidder has paid — so do not bid what you have not found.
• Playing alone? Add up to three bots and set how tough they are. A Ruthless bot bids the shortest line and always proves it; a Casual one pads its bids and fumbles.
• Once a bid is in, everyone who has not bid can resign to stop the clock early. Before anyone bids, the whole table can resign to throw the round away with nobody scoring.
• Diagonal deflectors, when enabled, turn a robot ninety degrees and let it keep going — unless the robot matches the deflector's colour, in which case it passes straight through.

An independent implementation, written from scratch and inspired by Alex Randolph's board game Ricochet Robots. Not affiliated with or endorsed by its publishers.