What You Will Build
Develop a score-chasing game where the player catches falling coloured dots for points. Follow the guide below to build the project, then open the official Raspberry Pi page for starter files, worked examples and extra help.
🍓 This project is on the Raspberry Pi Foundation website. Click the orange button above to access the full guide, starter Scratch project and extension activities on projects.raspberrypi.org.
What You Will Learn
- Move a catcher sprite horizontally with the mouse or keys
- Clone falling dot sprites that drop from a random x position at the top
- Score points when the catcher touches a dot
- Lose lives when a dot reaches the bottom uncaught
- Increase dot speed and frequency as the score grows
Step-by-Step Guide
- 1Create a colourful backdrop.
- 2Add a catcher sprite (a basket or tray). In forever: x position = mouse x.
- 3Add a dot sprite. Set it to a random x position at y:170 on start. In forever: change y by -3.
- 4If y < -160: change lives by -1, reset dot to top with new random x.
- 5If touching [catcher]: change score by 1, reset dot to top.
- 6Increase fall speed every 10 points: change the -3 move value by -0.5.
- 7Add 3 dot colours using costumes. Gold dot = 3 points, red dot = -1 life, blue = 1 point.
- 8Use create clone to spawn a new dot every 3 seconds — difficulty increases with clones.
- 9Add a lives variable set to 3. Game over when lives = 0.
- 10Add a high score variable that persists across rounds.
Extension Challenges
Finished the main project? Push further:
- Add a magnet power-up that moves all current dots toward the catcher for 3 seconds.
- Add wind: a random horizontal force that nudges dots left or right as they fall.
- Create timed challenge levels: catch exactly 10 gold dots before red ones appear.