All twelve items
Items turn a calm rally into chaos. They float inside the cube as glowing icons, and the ball collects them. Here is how they spawn, who gets them and what each one does.
How items work
An item is collected when the ball flies through it – your paddle never touches items directly. The item goes to whoever touched the ball last. If nobody has touched the ball yet after a serve, it flies straight through without collecting anything. That one rule creates most of the tactics: a good return is also a shot at the item that floats in the middle of the cube.
New items appear at random positions inside the cube. In the settings you choose how often: Rare (about every 14 seconds, at most two in the cube), Normal (about every 8 seconds) or Chaos (about every 4 seconds, up to three at once). You also choose where items are allowed: Off, Multiplayer only (the default) or Everywhere. In solo only the six items that make sense for a single player appear, and a solo run with items does not count for the leaderboard.
Active effects are shown as small icons with a countdown in the corner of the screen, so you always know how long a giant paddle or a freeze lasts.
The three kinds
Help yourself items make your own defence stronger. Attack items weaken every opponent at once – or, in the case of Freeze, one random opponent. Chaos items change the ball for everyone, including you, so they are a gamble that pays off when you are the calmest player in the room.
Every item in detail
Shield
Your walls block one missed ball and send it back into the cube. Stacks up to two charges.
until usedGiant paddle
Your paddles grow to twice their size.
10 sSlow-mo
The ball flies at half speed – perfect for saving a hopeless rally.
5 sMagnet
When the ball heads for your walls, it is pulled gently towards your paddle.
6 sExtra life
+1 life in versus (up to 5), +1 team life in co-op.
instantFireball
The ball flies 1.8× faster with a flame trail until someone hits it.
until next hitMini paddles
All opponents’ paddles shrink to half size.
8 sFog
Opponents lose the red aim dot and the ball’s tail.
6 sMirror
Opponents’ controls are flipped: left is right, up is down. Computers too.
5 sFreeze
One random opponent’s paddle freezes in place.
2 sMultiball
Two decoy balls appear that look exactly like the real one, aim dot and tail included. Only the real ball counts; a missed decoy just vanishes.
10 sTurbo
The ball flies 1.5× faster and computer paddles move faster too.
6 sQuick reference
| Item | Type | Duration | In solo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🛡 Shield | Help yourself | until used | yes |
| 📏 Giant paddle | Help yourself | 10 s | yes |
| 🐢 Slow-mo | Help yourself | 5 s | yes |
| 🧲 Magnet | Help yourself | 6 s | yes |
| ❤️ Extra life | Help yourself | instant | no |
| 🔥 Fireball | Hits opponents | until next hit | no |
| 🤏 Mini paddles | Hits opponents | 8 s | no |
| 🌫 Fog | Hits opponents | 6 s | no |
| 🔄 Mirror | Hits opponents | 5 s | no |
| 🧊 Freeze | Hits opponents | 2 s | no |
| ⚽ Multiball | Chaos for all | 10 s | yes |
| 💥 Turbo | Chaos for all | 6 s | yes |
Notes and edge cases
- Shield charges stack up to two. A shield saves a miss on any of your walls and sends the ball back into the cube.
- Extra life can raise your lives above the usual three, up to five in versus. In co-op it adds one life to the team pool.
- Multiball decoys are perfect copies, with aim dot and tail. They bounce like the real ball, but missing one costs nothing – it simply vanishes. The trick is to guess which ball is real before it reaches your wall.
- Mirror and Freeze also affect computer players, so they are useful in rooms with bots too.
- Fireball ends on the next hit, whoever makes it. Returning a fireball is the best way to stop it.
- Effects of the same item do not stack in duration; collecting it again restarts the timer.
New to the game? Start with the how-to-play guide.