Coreball — One Bad Throw Ends It All

Coreball (also known as the AA game) is arcade minimalism at its most evil: a core spins in the middle of the screen, and you throw pins into it one by one. The only rule — a new pin must never touch a pin that's already stuck. Early levels feel insulting. Then the core starts reversing directions, oscillating, stuttering and accelerating, the free space shrinks with every throw, and suddenly you're one twitchy finger away from restarting level 47. Every level has a fixed layout, so each retry is pure skill, not luck. Free in your browser, no download.

1. Tap the screen, click, or press Space to throw a pin at the spinning core.
2. The pin sticks where it lands — and rotates with the core forever after.
3. Land all your pins (the number in the core) without touching any existing pin to clear the level.
4. Hit a pin and it's over — press Retry (or R) to replay the same layout. Your level progress saves automatically.

• Throw into the gap that's coming, not the gap that's there — your pin takes a beat to arrive, so lead the rotation.
• Rhythm beats reaction: on steady levels, find the spin's tempo and throw on the beat.
• On reversing cores, wait out the flip. The direction change is the trap; patience is the answer.
• Dump pins early: the board only gets more crowded — hesitating never makes a level easier.