Bulwark

Four castles sit in the corners of the arena, each protected by a wall of bricks and a king. Slide your shield to deflect the bouncing ball away from your king, catch it to aim, and launch it to chip away at your rivals' walls until their king falls.

• Move your shield along your corner to block the ball
• Catch and release the ball to aim your shots
• Break the enemy walls and knock out their kings
• Be the last castle with its king standing

• Desktop (solo): move the shield with the mouse, Space to catch and release
• Desktop (hot-seat): each corner uses its own key pair plus a catch key
• Phone & tablet: keyboard/mouse recommended

• Solo vs computer castles (Easy/Medium/Hard)
• Local hot-seat for multiple players
• Online play

• Catch the ball to aim a precise shot at an exposed king rather than swatting blindly
• Keep the shield centered on the gaps in your own wall
• Gang shots on the weakest castle to remove a rival fast

Bulwark is a nod to Warlords, released by Atari in 1980: four players at one cabinet, each defending a corner castle behind a wall of bricks, with a paddle to deflect the fireball ricocheting between them.

It looks like a brick-breaker split four ways, but you can catch and hold the fireball rather than merely bat it back, which changes everything. Holding it lets you aim, and aiming makes the game social: three players who are losing will quietly agree, without saying anything, to send everything at whoever is ahead. Being in the lead is the most dangerous position on the table.

Bulwark is an original free browser revival of the four-player corner-defense paddle game, with solo, hot-seat and online play. No download required.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.

1. How a Warlord Thinks

   Play alone and three of the four castles are defended by a machine. Each computer warlord runs the same short loop, find the ball worth fearing, guess where it will cross your wall, slide to meet it,