How to Play Swarm Blaster

Swarm Blaster is a free daily arcade shooter. A swarm of aliens marches across the screen and drops lower each time it reaches the edge. Slide your ship along the bottom, blast them before they land, and see how many waves you can survive.

The goal

Clear every alien in the wave. Each time you do, a tougher wave arrives. If the swarm reaches the ground, the game is over, even if you still have lives left.

Controls

• Keyboard: left and right arrow keys (or A and D) move your ship. Space fires. Hold space to keep shooting.
• Phone or tablet: use the Left, Fire and Right buttons under the game. Hold Fire to keep shooting.
• Sound: press M or tap the Sound button to mute.

You can have up to 3 shots in the air at once, so you can fire a steady stream without waiting for each one to land.

Lives and hits

• You start with 4 lives.
• An alien shot that hits your ship costs one life. Your ship then flashes and can't be hit for a moment.
• Lose all 4 lives, or let the swarm reach the ground, and the game ends.

Scoring

• Aliens in the top row are worth 30 points, the middle rows 20, and the bottom rows 10.
• A red bonus ship sometimes flies across the top of the screen. Hit it for 50, 100 or 150 points.
• Clearing a wave earns a 100-point bonus.
• Your best score of the day is saved in your browser.

Shields

Four green shields sit between you and the swarm. Alien shots chew through them from above, and so do your own shots from below. A damaged shield still blocks fire, but there's less of it each time, so don't fire from directly underneath one unless you have to.

Waves

The first wave is deliberately gentle, with a slow swarm and not much return fire. Every wave after it gets harder: the swarm moves faster, fires more often and shoots faster bullets. Within a wave, the swarm speeds up as you thin it out, so the last few aliens are the fastest.

The daily wave

Everyone gets the same alien formation each day. The size of the swarm, the gaps in it and the layouts of later waves all come from the date, so you can compare scores with friends who played the same day. The formation changes at midnight your time.

Tips for a high score

• Shoot the outer columns first. The swarm only drops when its edge-most alien reaches the side, so trimming the edges lets it travel farther before it descends.
• Lead your shots. The swarm moves in steps, so aim where it will be rather than where it is.
• Keep your 3 shots staggered, not fired all at once. A steady rhythm covers more of the screen.
• Take the bonus ship when it's safe, but don't chase it into a bad position. It's worth less than a life.
• Watch how low the swarm is, not just how many aliens are left. The lowest row decides how much time you have.