Bloons Walkthrough and Strategy Guide

v1.0 (4/20/07) by Kevin O'Hare
bloonsmaniac (at) yahoo (dot) com
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• Introduction
• Best Scores
• Objects
• Gameplay notes
• Level Walkthroughs

Object Notes

The game has minimal help, and objects aren't named, so here I describe some special objects, and give them names for the purpose of this walkthrough.

• Bloons

  • Tack bloon: This is a pink bloon with a picture of a tack on it. When hit, it explodes, spreading tacks in (I think) the eight orthogonal and diagonal directions, to a distance of maybe four or five bloons. These tacks, of course, then do the same kind of damage to other objects as your own dart would.
  • Multi-dart bloons: This is a light-blue bloon with a picture of three darts on it. When you pop it, it gives you a 3-dart shot on your next turn (adding to your turn count, not replacing your next 1-dart shot with a 3-dart shot).
  • Extra-dart bloon: This is a purple bloon with a yellow star with a dart on it. When hit, this just gives you an extra dart to shoot with.
  • Boomerang bloon: This is a light-green bloon with a boomerang on it. It gives you an extra shot on your next turn, with a one-time-use boomerang.
  • Bomb bloon: This is a dark red bloon with a bomb on it. When hit, it blows up objects within a distance of 4 bloons or so. Note that your dart is also blown up in the explosion. This contrasts with other bloons like the extra-dart and multi-dart bloons, which your dart passes through when it pops them.
  • Pac-man bloon: This is a dark green bloon with a "Pac-man" on it. Since no instructions are given for this bloon, some people get confused about how to use it. It's simple, really. When popped, the bloon turns into a Pac-man character, which you can move (using the arrow keys) about the playfield for about ten seconds, while a signature "Pac-man" tune plays. (When the music ends, you have about two more seconds left.) The hard part for me, at first, was switching from having the mouse in my hand, to using the keyboard, without wasting precious time in some levels. While moving, the Pac-man can both pop bloons, and destroy breakable walls. Note that the Pac-man can only move orthogonally (in the four left/right/up/down directions), and not diagonally.
  • Mine bloon: This is an orange bloon with a mine on it. When popped, a "mine" falls out of it. The mine falls straight down, popping any bloons it finds, but is blocked by metal walls and by bloons that have been turned to ice.
  • Ice bloon: This is a white-capped pale-blue bloon. When hit, it "freezes" any normal bloons within a distance of two bloon-widths or so. Those frozen bloons then act just like metal walls. Sometimes this is necessary to solve a level, and sometimes it is something you'll want to avoid. In the latter case, an ice bloon can place enough bloons around it off-limits to popping (since they're now frozen), that you may no longer be able to achieve the level's target.

• Walls

  • Metal walls: These are light-gray walls. Darts hit them and stick, with a metallic "clink" sound.
  • Breakable walls: These are dark-brown walls. When hit, they simply disappear. You get no points for destroying them; only bloons give you points.
  • Rubber walls: These are black walls. When a dart hits a rubber wall, it rebounds off of it. An occasional bug happens with rubber walls, where a dart can pass right through them.