Bellball user guide
This guide collects the texts of Bellball's How to play screen on one page. You can move between headings with the VoiceOver headings rotor, or jump to a section from the list below.
1. Goal
Bellball is a goalkeeper and shooting duel you play by ear. The aim is to stop the ball coming from the right, left or middle and to score at the other end. You take turns: you keep goal, then you shoot. In goal, listen to the ball and cover the side it comes from. When it is your shot, pick a corner and score. With headphones you hear the directions much more clearly.
2. Tutorial
New here? The tutorial walks you through step by step: first you learn the three spots of your goal, then you save balls whose direction is announced, then balls whose direction is not; you take two shots and learn how to check the score and time left. No rush and mistakes are fine; you can leave whenever you like.
3. Playing with VoiceOver
With VoiceOver on, Direct Touch must be on for your touches on the playing area to reach the game. Turn two fingers on the screen like a dial to move the rotor to Direct Touch, then swipe up or down with one finger to turn it on. If Direct Touch is not in the rotor, add it in Settings, Accessibility, VoiceOver, Rotor. If it is off and you double-tap the playing area, the game warns you.
4. With your ears, not your eyes
The ball never appears on screen. Put on headphones: the ball's sound comes from the left, center or right. On a speaker directions are weaker; listen for each zone's own sound instead.
The line under the score tells your role: in goal, your shot, or picking the corner. On your shot the bar below shows the time left. In defense the screen is split into faint zones; the zone you tap lights up.
Once the call is made, the zone the ball came to lights up in the goal: green is good, orange is bad. If you concede, the text in the center tells you why.
5. Defense
You save by touching the side the ball comes from. There are three defense layouts: Columns is the default, and there are also Rows and Flick. You change it under Defense layout in Settings. All three are described below.
Column layout. Think of the screen as three parts side by side: the left part is the left zone, the middle is the middle, the right part is the right zone. As the ball comes, touch the part the sound comes from; the keeper moves there the moment you touch. To change your mind, slide to another part without lifting your finger. This works the same upright or sideways.
Row layout. With the phone upright, think of the screen as three bands stacked: the bottom band nearest you is left, the middle band is middle, the top band farthest away is right. With the phone sideways it is left, middle, right from left to right. As the ball comes, touch the band the sound comes from; to change your mind, slide to another band without lifting your finger.
Swipe layout. As the ball comes, swipe toward the sound: swipe left to cover the left, swipe right to cover the right. To cover the middle, swipe up or tap briefly. It doesn't matter where on the screen you start. You don't need to be fast; the keeper moves the moment your finger starts moving. If you change your mind, slide the other way without lifting your finger. Swiping down does nothing while defending.
On iPad with a keyboard: As the ball comes, press the arrow for the direction of the sound: left arrow left, up arrow middle, right arrow right.
6. Attack
When it is your turn, shooting takes two steps. One: swipe down on the screen to get the shot ready. Two: within two seconds swipe where you want the ball to go; left, up for the middle, or right. You have three seconds to shoot; you hear a beep in the last two, and if time runs out the turn passes to your opponent. Tip: the keeper learns your habits, so don't always pick the same corner.
On iPad with a keyboard: When it is your turn, shooting takes two steps. One: press the down arrow to get the shot ready. Two: within two seconds pick a corner with the left, up or right arrow. You have three seconds to shoot; you hear a beep in the last two, and if time runs out the turn passes to your opponent. Tip: the keeper learns your habits, so don't always pick the same corner.
7. During a match
While playing: tap with two fingers to hear the score. Swipe left with two fingers to hear the time left. Hold two fingers for three seconds to pause and open the options; status, last announcement and leave match are there, swipe right to move through them. Double-tap to return to the match. With a keyboard on iPad the Mac keys work too: arrows, Space, T, D, R and Escape.
On iPad with a keyboard: Space: score. T: time left. D: match status. R: repeat the last announcement. Escape: pause or resume.
8. Rules
There are two kinds of match. In a goal-target match the first to 5 goals wins; match point and sudden death are announced. A timed match lasts 90 seconds: two 45-second halves with a 15-second break; the clock stops after a goal. When time is up the leader wins. If level, friendlies, league matches and group matches end in a draw; knockout matches go to golden goal, where the next goal wins. You have three seconds to shoot and hear a beep in the last two; if time runs out the turn passes to your opponent. Ball speed never drops during a match. Save or goal is decided by the moment you hear the ball reach the line and the real time of your touch.
9. How a match flows
- On the pre-match screen you read who your opponent is and the match rule. Every match has a coin toss that decides who shoots first.
- When you start the match, 3-2-1 is counted and the whistle starts play. You take turns in goal and shooting.
- In a timed match there is a 15-second break at half time. The second half also starts with 3-2-1 and a whistle; whoever shot second in the first half shoots first.
- Golden goal: if it is level when time is up, the final whistle blows and golden goal is announced. You hear who shoots first, 3-2-1 is counted and the whistle restarts play. The next goal wins.
- When the match ends the result is read out and the post-match screen shows the summary.
10. Level and pace
A match doesn't stay at one pace: your opponent plays calm spells and pressure spells. When calm you get slower, placed shots; under pressure, hard shots with short gaps. The pace rises a little as the match goes on, but no ball is ever slower than the first.
11. Ways to play
- Friendly: a single match. You choose a goal target or a 90-second timed match. A timed friendly can end in a draw.
- Friendly tournament: a 32-team single-match knockout. The loser goes out; a draw goes to golden goal.
- Club career: you pick a country and a club. A season has the league, the national cup and the continental tournament. Career matches last 90 seconds.
- League: a win is 3 points, a draw 1. League matches can end in a draw.
- National cup: ties are two legs decided on aggregate; if level, the second leg ends with a golden goal. The final is a single match on neutral ground; a draw goes to golden goal.
- Continental tournament: 16 teams play in four groups; group matches can end in a draw. Group winners reach two-leg semi-finals. The final is a single match; a draw goes to golden goal.
- Training and the pitch study have no score: you practice defense, attack or both, and the pitch study helps you learn the touch area. Play with a friend lets you play a friend or a random opponent through Game Center.
12. Sounds and commentator
- In Settings three volumes are set separately: Effects, Stadium background and Commentator. You can also turn each one on or off.
- The commentator describes the match. You choose how much they talk: Off, Low, Normal or High. Score and time are still announced with the commentator off.
- The commentator language can differ from the app language: Turkish, English, Spanish, German, Arabic, Italian, Korean, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Indonesian.
- Ball sound: there are five sounds each for the left, middle and right zones. Pick the ones that sound least alike to tell the directions apart more easily.
- In the sound library you listen to the game's recordings by event and turn off the ones you don't like; a recording you turn off is not played in matches.
- While the ball is in the air the crowd goes quiet and the commentator stops, so you hear the ball clearly.
13. Other settings
- Vibration: a short vibration on zone choice, shots, goals and saves. It never gives away the ball's direction.
- Goal reason: when you concede it says whether you were in the wrong zone or the right zone but late. Choose Automatic, Always say or Never.
- Each setting is also explained in Settings, in the note under it.
14. Progress
- In My career you see your statistics, match history and season history.
- Collection holds your trophy cabinet and achievements; the goal is to beat all 166 teams in the world.
- If you sign in to Game Center your achievements show there too and you can play with friends.
15. Free and full version
- Accessibility, announcements and VoiceOver support are always free; there are no ads.
- Training, the pitch study and the first half of the career are always free. The Full Version and Sound Pack options are described in the Store.