Brick Breaker History: From 1970s Arcades to Phones
The first brick breaker was an arcade game released in May 1976, designed by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, with an early prototype built by Steve Wozniak with help from Steve Jobs. It turned the two-player paddle game into a solo game against a wall of bricks. Multi-ball arrived in 1978, power-ups in the 1980s, and a 1999 phone version gave the genre the name most people use today: brick breaker.
The 1976 arcade original
Atari released Breakout in arcades in May 1976. Its designers, Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, wanted a single-player version of the bouncing-ball paddle games that had made the company: instead of a second player, you play against a wall.
The wall had eight rows of bricks, two rows each of yellow, green, orange and red from the bottom up. Bricks in the low rows were worth less than the ones at the top. The screen itself was black and white: the colours came from strips of coloured film stuck over the monitor.
It also introduced rules that brick breakers still use. The ball sped up as you played (after a set number of hits, and when it first reached the upper rows), and once the ball broke through to the ceiling, the paddle shrank to half its size.
Who built the first prototype?
The best-known part of the story is the prototype. Steve Wozniak, then working at Hewlett-Packard, designed it with help from his friend Steve Jobs, who was working at the arcade company. The deal paid a bonus for every chip the design saved under 50. Wozniak's design used around 44 chips, remarkably few, but it was so tightly packed that it was hard to build in a factory, and the production machine ended up using about 100.
How the money was shared became a famous footnote: Wozniak later said he received $350, and that he had believed the agreed fee was $700. In April 1976, a few weeks before the game came out, the two Steves founded Apple.
Multi-ball, power-ups and the 1980s
- 1978: a sequel added play with more than one ball at once, the ancestor of every multi-ball power-up.
- 1978: a home console version brought the game into living rooms.
- 1986: Taito's Arkanoid turned the paddle into a spaceship and added falling capsules that changed the game: a longer paddle, a slower ball, a sticky paddle, extra balls and lasers. That list is still the standard set of brick breaker power-ups.
In Japan the whole genre is simply called "block breaking" (*burokku kuzushi*), and from the late 1980s on there were hundreds of versions on home computers and consoles, with hand-designed levels, tough bricks that take several hits and bricks that can't be broken at all.
How phones made it "brick breaker"
Around 1999, a version called Brick Breaker came preloaded on BlackBerry devices, and for many people it was the first brick breaker they ever played. Since then "brick breaker" has become the everyday name for the whole kind of game, alongside "block breaker".
Search engines joined in too: in May 2013, for the original's 37th anniversary, Google turned its image search results into a playable wall of bricks.
What GameLake's version keeps, and what it adds
| Idea | Where it comes from | On GameLake |
|---|---|---|
| Paddle that aims the ball | 1976 | The spot on the log sets the angle, up to about 62° |
| Ball that speeds up | 1976 | A little faster with every brick |
| Rows of coloured bricks | 1976 | Shells in six colours, plus the Classic look |
| More than one ball | 1978 | Three pearls power-up |
| Falling power-ups | 1986 | Long log, Three pearls, Slow pearl, Sticky log, Laser frog |
| Tough and unbreakable bricks | 1980s | Stones (2 hits), ice (3 hits), mossy rocks |
On top of that GameLake adds things the arcades couldn't: a new Daily level every day, combos up to ×5, a Teach me mode where Hop shows where to catch the ball, and online races against a friend on the same levels. Switch on the Classic look to see the lake turn into coloured rows on a black screen, like the cabinets of the 1970s.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented the brick breaker game?
The first one was an arcade game from May 1976, designed by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow. Steve Wozniak built the early prototype, with help from Steve Jobs.
When did brick breaker games come out?
The arcade original came out in May 1976. A sequel with multi-ball followed in 1978, power-ups became standard in 1986, and a phone version called Brick Breaker arrived around 1999.
Why is it called brick breaker?
Because you break a wall of bricks with a bouncing ball. The name became the common word for the genre after a phone game with that name came preloaded on many phones; people also call it block breaker.
What were the original brick colours?
Eight rows: two each of yellow, green, orange and red, from the bottom up. The screen was black and white, so the colours came from coloured film over the monitor.
Where can I play a brick breaker game for free?
Right here on GameLake: Brick Breaker plays free in your browser on phone, tablet or computer, with no download and no account.