Desk Strikes
Ten-pin bowling on a school desk. Swipe up from the eraser to roll it along a long wooden ruler toward ten cheerful pencil stubs with little smiley faces, with a pencil cup and sticky notes doodled behind them. The direction of your swipe aims the eraser, a faster flick rolls it harder, and a bend in your swipe makes it curve. Pencils scatter, tumble into each other and drop off the end of the ruler, and a full 10-frame scoresheet keeps track of every strike and spare. From frame 4 a window draft nudges the eraser, and from frame 7 a friendly doodle bug wanders across the ruler.
- Arcade
- 10 frames per game
- Phone, tablet and computer
- Saves your best score and strike streak
How to play
- Swipe up from the eraser to bowl. Where you start the swipe sets the eraser's spot on the ruler, the direction of the swipe aims it, and a faster swipe rolls it harder.
- Bend your swipe partway through to curve the eraser. A faint dotted line shows your aim while you drag.
- Hit just beside the front pencil, in the pocket, for your best chance at a strike. Each frame gives you two rolls to knock down all ten.
- Scoring is real bowling scoring: a strike adds your next two rolls as a bonus and a spare adds your next one. Strikes and spares in frame 10 earn extra rolls, and a perfect game is 300.
- Frames 1 to 3 are calm. From frame 4 a window draft pushes the eraser sideways, so check the draft arrow, and from frame 7 a doodle bug scurries across the ruler. Bonk it and your eraser bounces off course, but the bug is fine.
Controls
- Phone or tablet: put your finger on the eraser and swipe up toward the pencils. Tap during the replay to skip ahead.
- Computer: click and drag upward from the eraser, then let go.
- Keyboard: Left and Right move the eraser, Up or Space starts the aim sweep, press again to lock it, then Space sets the power on the meter.
- The speaker button turns sound on or off.
Tips
- Aim for the pocket, just beside the front pencil. A dead-center hit often leaves pencils standing on both sides.
- A small curve into the pocket knocks more pencils than a perfectly straight roll.
- In a draft, aim a little into the wind. More bars on the draft meter means a bigger push.
- Watch the doodle bug before you swipe and roll when it has walked out of your path.
About Desk Strikes
Desk Strikes is a swipe-to-bowl game on a long wooden ruler laid across a school desk, drawn in pencil on sketchbook paper. You roll a round pink eraser at ten cheerful pencil-stub pins, and the pencils really knock into each other, so a good pocket hit sends them tumbling for a strike. Swipe direction, speed and curve all change the roll.
Each game is a full 10 frames with proper strikes, spares and frame 10 bonus rolls on a classic scoresheet. The game gets trickier as you go, with a window draft from frame 4 and a wandering doodle bug from frame 7. Your best game and your longest strike streak are saved on your device.
