About the project

Plinko is a casual mobile game where you guide a ball from the top to the bottom of a level full of sloped platforms and spikes and land it in the basket at the bottom of the screen. The game is built for short sessions: a level takes just a few seconds, and the controls come down to a single tap.

The challenge

In casual games, the interface shouldn't get in the way: players open the app to start playing right away. We needed to design the game screens and menus in a single bold style, make the mechanics clear without lengthy instructions, and give players a reason to come back every day.

Gameplay

A level is a vertical field with a pink-to-purple gradient. The ball rolls down the sloped platforms, and the player taps the screen at the right moment to make it bounce. The first level doubles as a tutorial: a highlighted zone and a "Tab to jump" hint appear next to the ball, and an arrow above the basket shows where to aim. The dark triangular spikes on the platforms instantly read as danger.

From there, the levels get harder: side walls appear, along with long rows of spikes and platforms arranged so the ball has to be steered in a zigzag. The top bar always shows the heart-shaped lives counter, sound and pause — nothing else is on screen, so nothing distracts from the field. The platforms and walls are drawn in light lines, and the ball is the only three-dimensional object, so the player's eye always stays on it.

Level menu and bonuses

The level select screen is laid out as scrollable columns: available levels are in white, the selected one is marked with a dot and colour, and locked ones are dimmed. A large Play button at the bottom launches the selected level.

To give players a reason to drop in every day, we added a daily bonus. Rewards are arranged as a ladder by day, and the number of hearts grows with each day. Past days are shown as tiles with a number, today's reward is highlighted with a frame and a "Take" button, and future ones are semi-transparent — so you can see what's waiting tomorrow.

The result

The result is a cohesive casual game with one-tap mechanics, a tutorial built right into the first level, and gradually increasing difficulty. All the screens — gameplay, level select and bonuses — share a single neon style, and the daily reward gives players a reason to come back.