Bomb Blitz Tips: Plant, Blast, and Outsmart the Bots (2026)

1. What you are actually playing

Bomb Blitz is a single-screen maze game on a 17 by 13 tile grid. The border and every other row and column are indestructible walls; the rest of the grass tiles are either empty or hold a destructible wood block. You and the bots walk on grass, plant bombs on your own tile, and the blast travels in four straight lines until it hits a wall or destroys a wood block. The goal is simple: be the last one standing. In single-player mode you face three bots; in two-player mode two humans share the keyboard and face two bots.

There is no timer, no score and no level progression. A round ends the moment only one side is left alive, or when everyone is dead. The bridge records a win only in single-player (or when a human wins the two-player standoff). The only thing that persists between rounds is nothing — each restart rebuilds the maze and re-hides the power-ups.

2. Reading the maze

The layout is fixed by the rule, not by a level file:

• Indestructible walls sit on the border and on every tile where both coordinates are even (x%2==0 and y%2==0). These never move and never break.
• Grass tiles are everything else inside the border.
• Wood blocks occupy most grass tiles, except the 3x3 corner zones around the four spawn points: (1,1), (1,12), (15,1) and (15,12). Those corners are always open so every player and bot can move on the first second.
• About 16% of wood tiles hide a power-up underneath. The wood must be destroyed before the power-up is visible.

This means the maze has natural corridors along the odd rows and columns, and the wood is what turns those corridors into a puzzle. Early in a round the field is crowded with wood; as bombs go off it opens up and the game gets faster and more dangerous.

3. Bombs: fuse, blast and chain reactions

• Fuse: 2 seconds. The bomb ticks for about 100 frames at 50 fps, then detonates. You cannot pick it up or move it once planted.
• Blast radius: 1 tile in each of the four directions by default, plus 1 per fire power-up.
• Blast stops at an indestructible wall and destroys the first wood block it meets in each direction, then stops. It does not pass through wood.
• Chain reaction: any bomb lying in the blast path detonates immediately, even with time left on its fuse. This is the single most important mechanic in the game — a well-placed bomb can clear a whole corridor.
• Self-damage: your own bomb kills you if you are standing in its blast when it goes off. The escape window is the 2 second fuse, but you must already be moving when you plant.

Practical rules:

• Plant, then leave. Never plant and stand still; the fuse is short and the blast is wide.
• Use wood as cover. A wood block between you and a bomb stops the blast, so plant on the far side of a wood block and let the blast eat the block and anything behind it.
• Count the chain. If two bombs are within one tile of each other, planting one detonates both. Use this to clear clusters; avoid it when you are nearby.
• Do not plant in a corridor with only one exit. If the blast blocks the exit you are trapped until it fades.

4. The three power-ups

Power-ups are hidden under wood and are revealed only when that wood is destroyed. They are distributed so each quarter of the map gets a fair share (about 16% of its wood tiles), and the types cycle speed, bomb, fire in that order, so you can predict which type a tile holds if you count the cleared woods in that quarter.

• Speed (+0.8 movement per pickup). Your walk speed starts at 2; each speed pickup adds 0.8. This is the strongest power-up early, because it lets you plant and escape in time.
• Bomb (+1 to your bomb stock). You start with one bomb; each pickup lets you have one more on the field at once. More bombs mean more chain reactions and faster clearing.
• Fire (+1 to blast radius). You start at radius 1; each pickup extends the blast by one tile in every direction. This is the strongest power-up late, when the field is open and long blasts clear whole rows.

Priority depends on the round:

• Early, when wood is dense: speed first, so you can plant and get out of dead ends.
• Mid, when you are clearing: fire, so one bomb eats more wood.
• Late, when the field is open: bomb stock, so you can box in bots with multiple bombs.

5. How the bots think

Bots use the same movement speed, bomb stock and blast radius as you, and they never pick up power-ups (they walk over them without effect in this build). Their AI is readable once you know the rules:

• They wait a random 0 to 60 frames after spawning before moving, so they do not all charge at once.
• They move one tile at a time to an adjacent grass tile, avoiding tiles that currently hold a bomb.
• When they reach a tile they check the four neighbours. If a neighbour is wood, or a player is adjacent and they feel angry (50% chance), they plant.
• They prefer safe tiles: 70% of the time they filter out tiles inside any bomb's blast radius before choosing; the other 30% they take the risk.
• While one of their own bombs is on the field they wait in place until it goes off, then resume. This makes them predictable: a bot that just planted is standing still for 2 seconds.
• They die to any blast, including their own and yours.

How to use this:

• Wait for the plant. A bot that just planted is frozen for 2 seconds; that is your window to approach, box it in, or run.
• Force the 30%. Bots take risks a third of the time. Place your bomb so that the only escape tile is inside your blast; a third of the time the bot will walk into it.
• Deny power-ups. Bots ignore them, so every power-up you collect is a permanent advantage. Clear wood toward power-ups first.
• In single player, three bots spread across the field. They do not coordinate; treat each as an independent threat and pick them off one at a time.

6. Positioning and survival

• Keep one exit. Before you plant, make sure the tile you are standing on has at least one grass neighbour that is not in your own blast. If you plant in a dead end you die with the bomb.
• Use corners. The 3x3 spawn corners stay open; a bot rarely enters a corner unless chasing you, so corners are safe resting spots between plays.
• Do not chase. Bots move at the same speed as you without speed power-ups. Close the distance with bombs, not with footwork.
• Watch the blast fade. A blast lasts only a moment; the tile is safe again immediately after. Step into a freshly cleared tile to deny a bot the power-up underneath.
• In two-player mode, humans share the keyboard (player 1: arrows + space/alt; player 2: W/A/S/D? no — player 2 uses the second control set defined in the engine, defaulting to the alternate bindings). Check the on-screen controls before starting a two-player round so neither player is surprised.

7. Single player vs two player

• Single player (1 human + 3 bots): the bridge emits game_win on a win, and the round ends when all bots are dead. This is the mode the analytics count as a win.
• Two player (2 humans + 2 bots): the last human standing wins; if both humans die the bots win (game over, lose). Humans can kill each other with their own bombs, so communication matters.
• The bot count drops from 3 to 2 in two-player mode to keep the field balanced.

8. Common mistakes

• Planting and not moving. The 2 second fuse is not long; you must be walking away the moment you press the button.
• Ignoring chain reactions. A bomb you planted three seconds ago can still detonate if your new bomb's blast touches it. Check the field before planting.
• Standing in your own blast's line of sight. The blast is straight lines; if you are on the same row or column as your bomb with no wood between, you die.
• Forgetting that wood blocks blast. A blast does not wrap or bend; if a wood block is in the way, the tile behind it is safe.
• Chasing power-ups into a bot's blast. A speed pickup is not worth a life; let the bot plant and miss, then collect.
• Playing two-player without agreeing on who takes which side. Both humans spawn in opposite corners; agree before the round starts.

FAQ

How is this different from the rules on the game page?

The game page covers the controls: arrows to move, space or alt to plant, enter to restart, escape for the menu, mute. This guide covers the layer above: how the maze is built, how bombs and blasts behave, where power-ups hide, and how the bots decide to plant. Read the rules on the page, then work the strategy here.

Does a bomb hurt me if I am standing on it when it goes off?

Yes. The bomb's own tile is always in its blast, so standing on a bomb when it detonates kills you. Plant and leave immediately.

Can I move a bomb after planting it?

No. Once planted it stays on that tile until it detonates. Plan the tile before you press the button.

Do bots pick up power-ups?

No. In this build bots walk over power-ups without collecting them, so every power-up that appears is yours if you reach it first. This is a permanent advantage, so clear wood toward power-ups early.

Why did my bomb not destroy the wood behind the first block?

Blast stops at the first wood block in each direction and destroys only that block. It does not continue through wood. To clear a line you need one bomb per wood block, or a chain reaction that eats them one at a time.

Does the game get harder as I play?

Only by openness. The maze and bot count are fixed per mode; as wood is destroyed the field opens up and blasts travel further in practice, so late rounds feel faster even though the constants never change. There is no timer and no level progression.

Is there a high score or leaderboard?

No. The game tracks no score and no best. Each round is self-contained, and the only record is whether you won. The bridge emits game_win on a single-player win for analytics, but nothing is stored for you to beat later.

Where can I play it?

Right on this site's Bomb Blitz page. The build is Matt Skala's HTML5 Bombergirl under the MIT licence (Copyright 2018 Matous Skala), with Playnesta additions: the page shell, viewport and meta tags, the analytics bridge, mobile touch controls, responsive canvas, vendored CreateJS (EaselJS 0.8.1, PreloadJS 0.6.1, SoundJS 0.6.1, TweenJS 0.6.1) and the rename from Bombergirl to Bomb Blitz to avoid the Bomberman registered trademark (Konami). Tile art by Hyptosis, character sprites by George and Radomir Dopieralski, explosion sound by Adrian Gallant (see upstream credits). "Bomberman" is a registered trademark of Konami; this implementation uses the generic public-domain maze-bomber mechanic with original Playnesta art and the product name Bomb Blitz to avoid that mark. Playnesta Games is the developer and publisher of this web implementation.