Australian developer Crystal Pug released the Ninja Warrior-esque obstacle course platformer Oopstacles (Free) back in the spring of 2017 and have been updating it constantly ever since. Now they’re on the brink of finishing up their next game Battle Bowls, a mobile take on lawn bowls, and they’re looking for some beta testing help. In case you’re unfamiliar, lawn bowls is a popular sport in Australia that’s similar to bocce ball where you take turns against an opponent throwing weighted balls in an effort to roll your ball closest to a “jack" ball out in the field. It’s actually more involved than that but those basics are all you’ll need to know for Battle Bowls.
Throwing out your ball is a simple two-part process where you’ll drag back on the ball to set the distance of your shot, and then tap the screen while an aiming arrow moves back and forth to set how straight your shot will be. Each player gets to throw 3 balls and whoever ends up closest to the jack wins. In addition to online multiplayer, Battle Bowls will feature a single-player Challenge mode where your goal is to collect coins spread around on the field as well as the ability to play matches against an AI bot. Tons of unlockable avatars and items will be available as well as various power-ups which you can use to either help yourself or mess up your opponent.
Battle Bowls is shooting for release next month likely on February 21st, but ahead of then Crystal Pug would like to get some players testing out the game to iron out any last minute issues. If you’re on iOS you can click this link to get access to the Testflight version of the game, and if you’re on Android you can click this link to sign up on the Google Play Store for beta access. For more information about Battle Bowls, as well as to some insight on distilling down the game of lawn bowls into a game that’s well-suited for mobile, check out this developer blog from Crystal Pug and look for the game’s official launch next month.