My Experience with Going Balls
I grabbed this game one slow Tuesday night after seeing it pop up in a Reddit thread about time-wasting apps. My Pixel 7 handled it fine, no crashes or weird lag. The concept is dead simple: you tilt or tap to roll a ball through obstacle courses while dodging traps, spinning hammers, and weird crumbling platforms. For the first week, I was honestly hooked. I played while waiting for my coffee to brew and during my lunch breaks at work. The difficulty ramps up fast though. Around level 35, I started hitting the same obstacle over and over, and that’s when I noticed the ad frequency creeping up. You get a free continue after watching a 30-second video, which feels fair at first, but by week three, I was watching an ad every two minutes. I never paid a cent, and I made it to level 52 before I put it down. Not bad for something free.
Features Worth Noting
The controls are responsive on my Pixel 7, either tilting the phone or tapping left/right. I stuck with tilt since that felt more natural. You can unlock different ball skins using coins you collect in levels, but the basic ball works just fine. The environments change up every ten or so levels, from a neon city to a lava world, which kept things from getting boring visually. There’s a leaderboard system where you compete with random players worldwide, but I never bothered with that since I’m not trying to impress strangers. The power-ups are actually useful: there’s a magnet that pulls in coins and a shield that blocks one hit. You earn these by collecting enough coins during a run, no purchase required. The game saves your progress automatically, so I never lost my place when I closed the app.
What Needs Work
The ad situation wore me down fast. After level 30, you’re lucky to get two full minutes of gameplay before an ad interrupts you. I get that developers need to make money, but this felt excessive. Also, some levels have what I call “cheap deaths” where an obstacle appears from off-screen with no warning. That’s not skill-based difficulty, that’s just annoying design. The coin economy is also weird. You earn maybe 10 coins per level, but unlocking a new ball costs 500 coins, so you’re grinding forever unless you watch more ads for bonus coins. The game also lacks any kind of practice mode. You can’t replay a specific section of a level you messed up on; you have to restart the whole thing from the beginning.
Pricing
I downloaded this for free and never spent a dime. There’s no upfront cost and no subscription. But there are microtransactions if you want to remove ads permanently (I think it’s around $4.99) or buy coin packs ranging from $1.99 to $19.99. I tested every free feature before considering payment, and honestly? The ads are annoying, but not annoying enough for me to pay five bucks. If you’re someone who hates ads with a passion, that price is reasonable. But for me, I’d rather just play until the ads get too much, then delete the app and move on. The coin packs are completely unnecessary since you can earn everything by grinding with ads.
Developer Notes
Supersonic Studios seems to update this app regularly. I saw two updates in the month I played, each adding about 10 new levels and fixing some bugs. The update descriptions are vague though, just saying “bug fixes and performance improvements.” I appreciate the new content, but I wish they’d balance the difficulty curve instead of just throwing more levels at us. The app store reviews mention crashes on older phones, but my Pixel 7 handled everything smoothly. Some reviews also complain about the developer tracking data, which leads me to my next point.
Security & Privacy
This app asks for permission to track your activity across other apps and websites. I declined that permission when it first asked, and the game still worked fine. The privacy policy mentions they collect device IDs, IP addresses, and gameplay data for ad personalization. That’s pretty standard for free games, but it did make me pause. I used a VPN a few times while playing just to be safe. There’s no login required, no account creation, and no social media linking, which I liked. You’re just a random player number. For a free game with ads, the data collection is about what I expected, nothing shocking.
How do the tilt and tap controls work in Going Balls?
You can control the ball by tilting your phone or tapping left/right on the screen. The tilt option feels more natural for most players, and both methods are responsive on devices like the Pixel 7.
What power-ups are available in Going Balls and how do you get them?
There's a magnet that pulls in coins and a shield that blocks one hit. You earn these power-ups by collecting enough coins during a run, with no purchase required.
Why are there so many ads in Going Balls after level 30?
The ad frequency increases significantly after level 30, often interrupting gameplay every two minutes. You can remove ads permanently for around $4.99, or choose to watch 30-second videos for free continues and bonus coins.
How can I avoid 'cheap deaths' from off-screen obstacles in Going Balls?
Some obstacles appear from off-screen without warning, which can feel unfair. To minimize frustration, try memorizing level patterns after a few attempts, and consider using the shield power-up to survive unexpected hits.
How does Going Balls compare to other free obstacle course games like Rolling Sky?
Going Balls offers tilt and tap controls with a more forgiving difficulty curve early on, but Rolling Sky has fewer ads and a practice mode for specific sections. Going Balls also features unlockable ball skins and a leaderboard, but its coin economy and ad frequency may feel more grindy.
