A Balance the Ball – Keep Your Eye on the Ball and the Ball on the Beam

Balancing games come in all shape and sizes. You could be moving a ball around a maze or steering a car on a cross country race. Whatever the game, the key is to stay calm and make your movements counts. A Balance the Ball is one such game. Extremely simple in design, it will keep you engaged and entertained for as long as you need it.

The game is setup in landscape mode, so you will have to hold your device this way. When you first download, the app will give you an opportunity to view a tutorial, which I found extremely helpful. While the game itself is self explanatory, it’s always nice to see what you are up against before you actually play it, in my opinion.

Game play involves keeping a ball on a beam which sits gingerly on top of a fulcrum. The beam will lean left or right based on what moves it. It could be a lightning bolt that hits the right end, causing it to slowly angle towards the right. Your job is to then make slight adjustments to your device so the ball remains on the beam, without letting it roll off the left end.

The beam “moves” in each of three waves you will encounter. Each wave lasts for so much time, and a counter for this time is kept at the top center of the screen. You also see a countdown timer in the top right corner which will show you when the next wave will hit. There is also a best time on the top left corner.

Every time you manage to keep the ball on the beam in each wave, your rocket gets fueled up. Fill up the rocket all the way and you will advance to the next level. You can see your progress in the bottom center of the screen.

There are not boosts or powerups in the game, but sometimes you will see a blue block show up. Hit this without going over the edge and you will receive some reprieve from the tension before the next wave hits.

Every so often the app changes out the background and the music that plays keeps things lively, helping you keep a constant tempo to keep up with the waves that come your way. Since the game is so simple, it would be nice to change things up by making the see saw apparatus turn into something else and transform the game into a new one. It can get boring just watching a ball get moved from side to side in outer space.

I really enjoyed playing A Balance the Ball. It was challenging, but fun at the same time. I did get slightly frustrated at times, but with practice was able to grow better and move past waves that once set me back. I would definitely recommend downloading this game if you are looking for an app to fill a few minutes here and there.