Boxtown Bash: Toy Smash

No reading needed. A hamster fires soft balls from a slingshot at a wobbly cardboard town. Tap mid-flight to split the ball into three! Or pass the phone and take turns.

A cute hamster has loaded a soft ball into its slingshot. On the table stands a wobbly cardboard town built from boxes, tin cans, teacups and roofs. Touch anywhere on the screen, drag back and let go, and the ball zooms off. While you drag, a dotted line shows where it will fly.

The game's one big secret: tap the screen while the ball is in the air and it splits into three! (Once per shot.) Where is the best spot to split it? Boxes tied to a balloon come loose when hit and float away. Boxes go thud, cans go ting, teacups go clink: every piece has its own sound. A board is three shots. The more pieces you knock off the table, the more stars you earn, up to three. A moment after the board ends, a new cardboard town appears by itself, or tap the screen to jump to the next one right away.

■ Nothing to read There is no text anywhere on the game screen. On the first board a finger shows how to drag back and let go, and when you can split the ball a ring pulses around it. A child can start the first board without an adult.

■ Playing alone The app opens straight into a one-player board. You don't need an opponent: keep going for three stars. Tap the round button in the top-right corner to switch to two players.

■ Two players: knock off the last piece and you lose Share one tower on one phone and take turns, one shot each. Whoever fires the shot that knocks off the very last piece loses. Who will topple that one wobbly box? The hamster changes colour on each turn, and the icons at the top show whose turn it is.

■ For parents · No ads · Nothing to buy inside the app · Sends and receives nothing over the internet. No account · No contact with strangers — no chat, no leaderboards · Not a single text field anywhere in the app · The app asks for no permissions. The sounds are made by the app itself