How to play

Drillshot is played with one thumb. You drill down through a planet one level at a time, and every run is different. This page explains everything the game throws at you.

The basics

Your drill rig sits at the top of the screen. Put your thumb anywhere below it and drag. A dotted line shows where the shot will go, including the first bounces. Let go and the rig fires every ball you own in one stream along that line. Drag back up above the rig to cancel a shot.

Balls bounce off the walls, the floor and the bricks. Each hit takes health off a brick, and a brick at zero is destroyed. The dashed pink line under the rig is a ceiling: every ball bounces off it three times before it is let through to come home.

When the last ball is home the turn ends and the whole field climbs one row toward you. If a brick crosses the pink line, the run is over. Bricks turn pink when they are one step away.

Long volleys speed up on their own after a few seconds. A RECALL button also appears, and it pulls every ball home at once when you would rather take the next shot.

Levels

Each depth is one level, and no two are built by hand. The game draws the brick layout, the brick types and their health from a seed, using eight different layout shapes such as rings, tunnels, pillars and spirals. The same shape never appears twice in a row.

A level starts with four rows on screen. One more row enters from the bottom each turn until the level has no rows left. Destroy every brick and you drop to the next depth. If you clear the screen early, the next rows jump up for free and you lose no time.

Brick health rises with depth, slowly at first and faster later, so every run ends somewhere. The look of the planet changes every 5 depths through six biomes: crust, crystal, magma, ice, fungal and core. After the core the cycle starts again. Biomes change the colors only. Within a level, the color of a brick tells you roughly how much health it has.

Bricks

New brick types arrive one at a time as you go deeper. The right column shows the first depth each can appear on.

Normal: Shows its health. Every hit takes 1 off, more with damage upgrades and perks.; Depth 1
+1 ball: A ring, not a brick. Fly through it and you own one more ball for the rest of the run. Every level has one or two.; Depth 1
Bomb: Yellow circle. When it dies it damages all eight neighbors, and bombs set off bombs.; Depth 3
Splitter: Two dots. Spits out two extra balls for the current volley when it dies.; Depth 5
Shield: Thick white bar on top. Hits on that side do nothing, so come in from the sides or from below.; Depth 8
Mover: Small arrow. Slides one column sideways every turn and turns around at walls and bricks.; Depth 11
Portal: Two rings, always a pair. A ball that enters one leaves from the other at the same angle.; Depth 12
Regen: Green plus. Heals a little every turn until you finish it, so do not leave it half dead.; Depth 14

Mutators

From depth 6, about one level in three bends a rule. The name of the active mutator shows next to the depth counter. Boss levels and the level right after a boss never have one.

Gravity: Balls curve sideways. The aim dots show the real curved path.; Depth 6
Fog: Brick numbers are hidden. Color still hints at health.; Depth 9
Portals: The level is guaranteed to contain a portal pair.; Depth 12
Fast rise: The field climbs two rows per turn. Bricks are weaker to make up for it.; Depth 15
Narrow shaft: The two outer columns are walled off.; Depth 19
Shifting: Every row slides one column sideways each turn and wraps around the edge.; Depth 23

Bosses

Every 10th depth is a boss: a large core three bricks wide with a lot of health, guarded by three rows of bricks. No new rows enter on a boss level. The core makes its own, and spawns fresh bricks above itself every other turn that then climb toward you.

One side of the core is armored, marked by a thick white bar. Hits on that side do nothing. The armor moves each turn, from the top to the left to the right, so some turns you shoot straight down and other turns you bank shots off the walls or the floor.

Destroy the core and every other brick on screen blows up with it. A boss pays as much as sixty ordinary bricks, and the level after it is an easier one.

Combo and overdrive

Every hit in a single volley adds to your combo, and the hit sound climbs in pitch as the combo grows. Every hit also charges the pink overdrive bar at the top of the screen.

When the bar is full the rig turns pink. Your next volley is an overdrive volley: balls do not bounce off bricks, they fly straight through them and damage each one they enter. Shields and boss armor do not stop an overdrive ball. The bar then empties and starts charging again, so it pays to save a full bar for a crowded screen or a boss.

Perks

After every third level you pick one of three perks. Perks last until the run ends, and most can be taken several times to stack. The right column shows how many times. You can reroll the three choices, for free if you own the upgrade or by watching an ad, or skip the pick entirely.

Splitter: The first hit of each ball splits off an extra ball.; x3
Ember: Hits set bricks on fire for 3 turns.; x5
Heavy rounds: Every 5th ball in a volley hits much harder.; x3
Pierce: A ball flies on through the first brick it kills.; x3
Big balls: Balls are 30% larger.; x2
Crit: 12% chance for a hit to deal triple damage.; x5
First strike: The first hit of each ball deals +3.; x5
Chain: Every kill zaps 2 random bricks.; x4
Blast: Every kill damages its neighbors.; x3
Magnet: +30% coins.; x5
Reinforcements: +4 balls, right now.; No cap
Overcharge: Overdrive fills 35% faster.; x3
Floor boost: Balls that have touched the floor deal +1.; x5
Ricochet: Each wall bounce adds +1 to the next hit.; x3
Pushback: Once per level, bricks that cross the line are destroyed and the run goes on.; x2
Drill laser: Each volley opens with a laser down the column under the rig.; x5
Execute: Bricks under 15% health die instantly.; x2
Rear guard: The last 3 balls of a volley deal double.; x3
Jackpot: 10% of kills drop five times the coins.; x3
Wide draft: Perk drafts offer 4 choices.; x1

Perks combine. Splitter with Ember means the extra balls burn bricks too. Floor boost with Ricochet rewards steep bank shots. Execute with Chain clears a screen of wounded bricks quickly.

Coins and upgrades

Every destroyed brick pays coins, deeper bricks pay more, and clearing a level pays a bonus. Coins are banked when the run ends and are spent in the UPGRADES screen on permanent upgrades that apply to every future run.

Start balls: Begin every run with more balls. 8 at first, up to 18.; 10 levels
Base damage: Every hit deals more. 1 at first, up to 4.; 3 levels
Coin gain: +8% coins per level.; 10 levels
Overdrive charge: The meter fills 6% faster per level.; 10 levels
Free rerolls: Reroll a perk draft without watching an ad, up to 3 times per run.; 3 levels

The same screen sells ball skins: circle, square, diamond and triangle balls in different colors. Skins change the look only.

Daily run, missions and streak

The daily run uses the date as its seed, so every player in the world gets the same levels that day. Your best depth for the day is kept on the menu.

Three missions are active at any time, such as destroying 300 bricks, detonating 25 bombs, reaching depth 15 in one run or hitting a 20 combo. Claim a finished mission for coins and a new one takes its place.

Finish at least one run a day to build a streak. The first run of each day pays a bonus of 10 coins per streak day, up to 70 coins a day from day 7 on. Miss a full day and the streak starts over. The seven squares on the menu show where you are in the week.

When a run ends

When a brick crosses the line you see how deep you got and what you earned. Once per run you can watch an ad to revive, which destroys the top four rows and lets you keep going. You can also watch an ad to double the coins of the run. Both are optional. The game never interrupts a run with an ad.

All progress is saved on your device. There is no account and nothing to sign in to.

Tips

Aim for gaps. A ball that gets behind the bricks bounces between them and the floor and lands many hits.
Deal with the highest bricks first. Only the top row can end your run.
Grab every +1 ball. Ball count is most of your damage later on.
Hit shields from the side with a wall bounce, or from below off the floor.
Finish regen bricks in one turn, or leave them for a turn when you can.
Spend early coins on start balls. It is the cheapest big step up.
Against a boss, shoot the side without the white bar and keep the spawned bricks from stacking up.