Pump is a one-button push-your-luck balloon game. A kid is waiting at the fair stall and your blob is on the pump. Hold to pump air into the balloon and watch it swell past the dotted line. Let go to tie it off and hand it over. The bigger it is when you let go, the more it counts: a big balloon is worth two, a perfect one right on the edge is worth three. But every balloon has a hidden pop size, and it only tells you through a wobble that gets wilder the closer it gets. Pop one and you lose a heart. Lose three and the stall closes. There's a new set of balloons every day, and friends' ghost balloons float above the stall.
How to play Pump
- Hold anywhere to pump. The balloon grows while you hold.
- Pump it past the dotted line, then let go to tie it off and hand it to the kid.
- Watch the wobble: the balloon shakes harder the closer it is to popping.
- Let go late for a BIG (2) or PERFECT (3) balloon. Pop it and you lose one of three hearts.
- Don't keep the kid waiting too long, or they walk off and you lose a heart too.
Tips to get a high score
- The first wobble is your warning, not your cue. There's still room left, so wait for it to get frantic.
- Letting go under the line does nothing except let a little air leak out, so short pumps are a safe way to creep up.
- Stiff balloons pump slowly and have lots of room. Twitchy ones balloon fast, so let go sooner.
- Golden balloons are worth coins. Perfects in a row climb in pitch, and every third one drops a coin.
- The pump speeds up and the warning gets shorter the longer you last, so bank safely when it gets hectic.
How the balloons get trickier
Pump ramps up by whichever comes first: 22 balloons handed over, or about 70 seconds of play. Over that stretch the pump nearly doubles in speed and the wobble warning shrinks to under 40% of its early size. Pop sizes change too. Early balloons always pop well above the line, but later ones can pop just past it. The kid's patience drops from about 6 seconds to about 3.
The first two balloons are extra roomy so you can learn the wobble. Special balloons start with the fourth. Stiff ones pump about 30% slower and have extra room. Twitchy ones pump 40% faster and get more common as you go. Golden ones, from the seventh balloon, pump a little fast and have slightly less room.
After 22 balloons the pump keeps speeding up with every balloon you hand over, up to two and a half times as fast, so every run ends eventually.
The wobble zone and your score
Points depend on where you let go inside the wobble zone, the stretch between the first wobble and the pop. Let go before the wobble or in its first quarter and the balloon is worth 1. From there to about 70% of the way through, it's BIG for 2. The last stretch before the pop is PERFECT for 3.
Early on, that PERFECT stretch takes about a quarter of a second of pumping. Late in a run it can pass in a few frames, and even BIG is gone in under a tenth of a second. That's when a safe 1 starts to beat a greedy 3.
There's no way to win hearts back. Three pops or walk-offs end the run, so each heart is worth far more than the extra points from one PERFECT. Golden balloons give three coins whatever size you bank them at, and every third PERFECT in a row gives one more. Coins are for hats and don't change your score.
Short pumps, the line and the kid
You can only hand over a balloon that's past the dotted line. Let go under it and nothing happens except a slow leak, so short pumps let you creep up on the line. The kid's patience keeps counting the whole time, though, so don't creep for long.
Late in a run, some balloons start wobbling before they even reach the line. When you see that, there's very little room. Pump just past the line and let go straight away for a safe point.
After a pop you have to lift your finger before the next balloon will pump. If you're still holding when it's ready, nothing happens until you let go and press again, and the kid is already waiting.
Daily levels and ghost races
Today's Pump level is the same for everyone, and you race the ghosts of other players' runs. How daily levels and challenges work.
FAQ
How do I know when a balloon will pop?
Each balloon has its own hidden pop size. It starts to wobble a little before that size, and the wobble grows until it bursts. Learn to read it and let go in the last stretch for a PERFECT.
Why does a big balloon count for more?
The score counts balloons, and a big one counts double. A balloon banked well into the wobble zone is BIG and worth 2, and one banked right at the edge is PERFECT and worth 3.
Is it free?
Yes. Every Tapamine game is free to play in your browser with no download and no account.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. Tapamine is built for phones first: portrait, one thumb, and it works offline after your first visit. It also works with a mouse or the spacebar on a computer.
How do challenges work?
After a run, tap “Challenge a friend” to send a link. Your friend plays the exact same level and races your ghost — a replay of your run — to see who wins.
Add Pump to your site
Pump is free to embed on your blog, class page or website. Paste this code:
<iframe src="https://tapamine.com/embed/pump/" title="Pump: free one-tap game" width="360" height="640" style="border:0;border-radius:16px;max-width:100%" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; web-share" loading="lazy"></iframe>