Kick the Buddy is a semi-idle interactive game that allows a player to use a ragdoll puppet known as Buddy as their personal stress-relief toy.
Buddy appears onscreen as a brown canvas doll with a small body and an oversized head that features black button eyes, white cross-stitch pupils, black stitched lips, an open mouth and a red tongue. The player's only objective is to stab, shoot and blow up Buddy using a variety of weapons to earn enough coins to buy even more powerful weapons. They can also use coins to outfit Buddy with a red cap, black belt, goggles or headphones.
The playfield features a wooden stage with lighting and Buddy hanging midair. The player starts by throwing knives at Buddy. Every hit generates coins. Once they have enough coins, they can then upgrade to a submachine gun. It and other similar weapons offer a timed auto-fire feature so that the player doesn't need to shoot manually. If the player goes to another tab during gameplay, the auto-fire slows from rapid fire to one shot per second instead of pausing the game entirely.
Since the anthropomorphized Buddy swings around in the air and seems to exhibit pain with each hit, Kick the Buddy isn't recommended for small children because they might experience confusion, fear and upset.
