Balloons Around is a bubble-popping game that offers a fun deviation from the classic versions of bubble shooters that feature hanging rows of bubbles on a vertical, rectangular playfield. With this version, the game places a mix of solid-colored balloons in connected rows along the edges of a hexagon-shaped grid with an arrow shooter in an otherwise empty central area. The player wins the game by removing all balloons from the field.
To remove the bubble-like balloons, the player must pop three or more in a cluster. The group of balloons must at least contain two connected ones and a matching shooter projectile. When the player pops a cluster, they receive points that the game displays in the upper-center area above the field. If they pop a cluster in rows above any non-matching ones closer to the shooter, they receive higher points for an avalanche maneuver. With every popped cluster, they reveal a dark grid of indented circles that looks like a pop-it object.
Balloons Around penalizes the player if they fail to pop a cluster of balloons four times by adding an extra row of mixed-colored ones to the edges of the hexagon. The player can track shots that don't end in popped balloons at the upper-left area of the screen. They can track the number they pop each time at the upper-right area.