BUBBLE SHOOTER

History

The original Bubble Shooter

The line I am willing to print

I rebuilt the timeline on 23 October 2026 from Wikipedia, a history article, and Ilyon's own guide, and I kept the conflicts visible. Taito's Bubble Bobble is 1986. Puzzle Bobble arrived in Japan in June 1994 and overseas as Bust-A-Move that December. Bubble Shooter, the browser and PC clone, is Absolutist's game from 2001–2002. iOS and Android ports are dated 2010 and 2012 in the Wikipedia summary, with other write-ups disagreeing on the exact port years.

In 2015 Absolutist sold the IP to Ilyon Dynamics, an Israeli studio. Pocket Gamer reported 50 million downloads on 27 March 2018. That historical figure is not a 2026 series total. Current store install bands apply to specific app packages, not the entire lineage; the download guides link to those packages without presenting a changing counter as a fixed fact.

What original play feels like

The 15 January 2018 gameplay video shows a full board, a cannon, and a next-bubble preview. The Ilyon guide still describes drag aiming, a wall bounce, a next-bubble preview, a bomb charged by a chain of 10 or more, two-color bubbles, and classic versus arcade modes, plus offline play in the apps. That is as close as I can get to the original without claiming I booted a 2002 executable.

Original concept diagram: connections between abstract circles. Not a game screenshot.
Original illustration by bubble-shooter.xyz: connections between abstract circles. A generic concept only, not a game screenshot, official artwork, or a depiction of a specific product.
Original concept diagram: an independent editorial symbol, not a game logo. Not a game screenshot.
Original illustration by bubble-shooter.xyz: an independent editorial symbol, not a game logo. A generic concept only, not a game screenshot, official artwork, or a depiction of a specific product.

Game video

Bubble Shooter Gameplay by Absolutist Games. Absolutist Games' 2018 recording of its classic HTML5 Bubble Shooter. This historical example is not footage of the Levels embed or current mobile apps. The cover is an original illustration, not a frame from the video.
Bubble Shooter Full Walkthrough Gameplay by GoGy Games. GoGy Games' 2014 complete walkthrough for the classic game at gogy.com. Its boards and scoring belong to that recording, not to other variants. The cover is an original illustration, not a frame from the video.

Questions people ask

Who made the original Bubble Shooter?

Absolutist developed it from 2002 to 2012 and published it through 2015, according to Wikipedia. Ilyon has developed it since 2012 and published it since 2015.

Was it 2001 or 2002?

Wikipedia says 2002. A Google knowledge panel has been reported as 26 March 2001. Both dates are in print, so this site says 2001–2002.

Sources checked 2026-10-23

Checked on 2026-10-23. Ratings, install bands, and file sizes are store snapshots, not live counters.