TEMARI: Hanetsuki Paddle

You stand at the near edge of a long Japanese corridor, holding a hagoita paddle, with a colorful temari ball resting on it. Flick to launch the ball deep down the corridor, then drag your finger to slide the paddle and bat the ball back each time it returns. The ball never stops on its own - it ricochets off the floor, the ceiling, the side walls, the back screen and the wooden lattice panels - so one good return can carry it through a whole cluster.

WHAT YOU ARE AIMING AT Down the corridor hang paper balloons (kamifusen). Strike one and its paper pops; clear every balloon to win the stage. Wooden panels are not targets - solid ones simply bounce the ball, while movable ones slide aside when struck, opening new lanes deeper in.

THE CATCH The near edge is open. If the ball comes back and the paddle misses it, you lose one temari. Run out of temari and the stage is over. Read the angles, keep the rally alive, and the longer you keep the ball in play, the more balloons a single launch can break.

ITEMS (caught with the paddle when a balloon drops one)

• Split: the ball multiplies into several.
• Focus: time slows so you can line up the next return.
• Pheasant: a helper bird flies in and pops balloons for a while.
• Wide: your paddle grows wider.
• Plus one: an extra temari.

NINJA BALLOONS From the second world on, some balloons hide a ninja and throw shuriken at your paddle. Slide out of the way to dodge - or pop that balloon to stop the attack.

WHAT IS INSIDE

• 200 hand-built stages across 8 worlds, each a different Japanese room through the seasons: a dusk veranda, a morning parlor, an autumn-leaf room, a night study, a young-bamboo room, a golden room, a cherry-blossom room, and an ink room.
• A first-person, fixed-camera view that gives the corridor real depth.
• Finger-following paddle control, both left-right and up-down.
• Star ratings to chase a high score, and stage select with your progress saved.
• A calm soundtrack and soft sound effects; sound is on by default.
• 12 languages.
• Plays in portrait or landscape.
• Works offline after install.
• Made by PixelRyu, an independent developer.

Free to play, supported by ads. No purchases required.

Take a breath, bat the temari, and pop your way down the corridor.