Boulder Basher

Boulder Basher was one of those physics puzzles you'd find during the Flash era. It came out in 2004, made by a developer called Nitrome. You'd play it on a browser, a simple concept that could eat up a good chunk of time.

You control a little villager who can't move. Your only tool is the mouse, which you use to draw thick, white lines directly onto the screen. These lines act as solid barriers. The core loop is watching boulders roll down from the top of the hill, then quickly sketching ramps and walls to deflect them. Your target is the group of green giants lumbering toward your hut at the bottom. The challenge is in the timing and the angles; a poorly drawn slope sends a boulder harmlessly off to the side, while a well-placed one sends it crashing into the invaders. The game starts calmly but the pace picks up as more giants appear and the boulders come faster. It feels like a frantic, improvised game of defensive doodling.