Throwing Games Tips: Aim Better and Hit Every Target

Throwing games come in many forms: tapping to hit a spinning target, pulling back a slingshot, putting a ball into a hole or shooting hoops. They all reward the same skills: good timing, the right amount of power and learning from each miss. Here are the basics, then tips for each big family.

How it works

Every throwing game asks you to send something toward a target. In spinning target games, you tap at the right moment and your object flies straight ahead. In slingshot games, you pull back, aim and let go. In mini golf and basketball games, the direction and length of your swipe set where the ball goes and how hard.

The secret is the same everywhere: look before you throw, change one thing at a time when you miss, and repeat what works.

Spinning targets: time, don't aim

In our spinning target games, you can tap anywhere: your object always flies straight to the bottom of the target and sticks there. If it hits an object already stuck in, you miss. So forget aiming and watch only the bottom of the target. Tap when a free gap is coming, not when it is already there, because your throw takes a moment to arrive.

Targets get trickier: they speed up, slow down, turn the other way or stop dead and start again without warning. Some have guards flying around them in the opposite direction, and your object must pass between them. Bonuses stuck on the target, such as cherries, stars or snowflakes, give 3 coins each, but only go for them when the way is safe.

Every 5 levels, a boss target with a face waits for you, in 2 or 3 rounds. Missed? A second chance costs 20 coins and gives your object back, once per level. Candle Chicks has a cake that changes direction, Cosmo Flags a planet that stops and starts, and Frosty Carrots robins guarding the snowball.

Slingshots: hit the weak spots

Pull back from anywhere on the screen and follow the dotted line: it shows where your hero will fly. Before you aim at the villains, look at what holds the hut up. Ice breaks fast, wood holds a little, and stone never breaks but can fall. Hit the supports under a hut so it collapses on the villains: one that falls or takes a hard knock is beaten.

In our slingshot games, the same shot always gives the same result. If a shot almost worked, try again with a tiny change in angle or power. Kitten Sling throws a heavy kitten that hits hard. In Pirate Boom, tap while the bomb is flying to make it explode where you want, or it blows up by itself shortly after its first hit.

Mini golf: power control

A common mistake is hitting too hard. In Dino Mini Golf, pull back from anywhere: the arrow's length and color, from green to red, show your power, and a dotted line shows the path until the first bounce. The ball has to reach the hole slowly enough to drop in.

Use the walls and logs for bank shots, and play safe near water: it sends you back to where you hit from and adds a shot. Sand slows the ball down. Finish within par for three stars: two calm shots beat one risky one.

Basketball: find your swipe

In Panda Hoops, swipe up toward the hoop: the direction of your swipe aims, and its length sets the power. A guide shows the shot as you aim. When you find a swipe that scores, repeat it, and only change it a little when the hoop moves, which happens after every basket.

A shot that touches nothing scores 2 points instead of 1 and earns an extra coin, and from the third basket in a row you start a streak. Three misses end the level, so a safe shot is better than a fancy one. Later, wind and floating obstacles join in.

Try our throwing games

Pick your style: Candle Chicks, Cosmo Flags and Frosty Carrots for timing, Kitten Sling and Pirate Boom for toppling forts, and Dino Mini Golf or Panda Hoops for careful aim and power.