Pop Harpoon

Dash left and right along the ground and launch harpoons up the screen. A harpoon splits a balloon into two smaller, faster ones; keep chasing them down until the littlest balloons pop for good. Clear every balloon to climb to the next, harder level. A single touch from any balloon costs a life.

• Each hit halves a balloon into two faster pieces, the smallest ones pop away.
• Only a limited number of harpoon wires can be on screen at once.
• Fire a grapple to catch a balloon overhead, then throw it sideways to pop others.
• Pop balloons for power-ups: double wire, machine-gun fire, shield, slow, and a screen-clearing blast.

• Desktop: Left/Right or A/D to move, Space (or Up/W) to fire a harpoon, Shift or J to grapple/throw.
• Phone & tablet: on-screen pad, arrows to move, FIRE to harpoon, GRAPPLE to catch and throw.

• Stand under a big balloon's edge, not its centre, the two halves split outward away from you.
• Grab a balloon with the grapple and hurl it into a cluster to chain several pops at once.
• Bank the machine-gun and double-wire power-ups for crowded levels where wires run short.

Pop Harpoon draws on Pang, released by Mitchell in 1989 and known in some regions as Buster Bros, in which you fire a harpoon straight up at bouncing balloons.

Every hit splits a balloon into two smaller, faster ones, so shooting is how you make the problem worse before you make it better — the screen is at its most dangerous just after a good shot. The harpoon travels slowly and only one is in flight at a time, so a missed shot is several seconds of standing under something you cannot now stop. Ladders and breakable blocks give you places to stand and places to be trapped.

Pop Harpoon is an original, free browser take on the classic balloon-splitting arcade shooter, with added grapple-and-throw play and a stack of power-ups. Play instantly in your browser.

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