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CONTROLS · TOUCH OR GAMEPAD

Controls

Five touch layouts, a layout editor with shareable codes, three steering styles, gamepad support, and accessibility settings from colour-blind palettes to reduce motion.

BonnetBall is built for thumbs. You steer with a stick under your left thumb and jump, boost and air roll with buttons on the right, and every part of that can change: the layout, the steering, the size of the buttons and where they sit. Or connect a controller.

The in-game layout editor, editing the PRO layout: joystick on the left; jump, boost and two air-roll buttons on the right

Picking a layout

The first time you play, the game lets you try each layout for ten seconds before you choose, with the default marked RECOMMENDED. PRO is the default because it has dedicated air-roll buttons. You can change at any time in SETTINGS › CONTROLS › LAYOUT, where HANDED mirrors the whole layout for left-handed play and BUTTON SIZE and OPACITY change every button at once. Not sure which suits you? Read the layout guide.

The first-run CONTROLS screen: STANDARD, PRO, CASUAL and CLASSIC STICK, each with TRY IT

  • PRO

    The default. JUMP and BOOST, plus ROLL L and ROLL R buttons for air roll.

  • STANDARD

    JUMP, BOOST and DRIFT. Hold DRIFT and steer to air roll.

  • CASUAL

    Big buttons and a one-tap AERIAL button that jumps and boosts together.

  • CLASSIC STICK

    A fixed stick that stays in one place, with the standard buttons.

  • CLAW

    Phones only. BOOST and the air-roll buttons move up for your index fingers.

Steering: DIRECT, CLASSIC or TILT

Steering is separate from the layout, so any layout works with any style. With DIRECT, the default, the car drives towards wherever you push the stick on screen. With CLASSIC, left and right turn the car, like a controller. TILT, an experimental option, turns the phone into a steering wheel while the stick still drives, reverses and controls the car in the air.

Settings › Controls › Scheme: STEERING set to DIRECT, with free-view steering, wall steering and sensitivity

The layout editor

Pause a match and go to SETTINGS › CONTROLS › LAYOUT › EDIT LAYOUT. The match freezes behind the editor, and you drag a button to move it and pinch to resize it. Buttons snap to a grid and to each other, and a red ring warns you if one sits too close to another or over the scoreboard. TEST lights up whatever your thumbs would press. Hidden buttons such as FLIP and AERIAL wait in a tray, ready to drag onto the screen.

Built-in layouts never change: SAVE puts your version in one of three CUSTOM slots. COPY CODE turns a layout into a code starting BB1: that you can send to a mate, and PASTE CODE loads theirs.

The layout editor during a match: EDIT PRO, saves as CUSTOM 1, with CANCEL, SAVE, UNDO and TOOLS

Jumping and flipping

SETTINGS › CONTROLS › JUMP & FLIP decides how a second tap of jump picks between a flip and a double jump. You can also flip by swiping off the JUMP button, make every tap a full-height jump, and choose whether the air-roll buttons powerslide on the ground. More in how to flip and double jump.

Settings › Controls › Jump & Flip: flip input, flip neutral, swipe to flip and jump slide-in

Camera

Choose a camera preset, PRO, CLOSE or WIDE, or set the field of view, distance, height and angle yourself. BALL FOCUS keeps the ball in view and is on when you start. Tap the button at the top right to look where your car points instead. When the ball is out of shot, an arrow at the edge of the screen points to it.

Settings › Camera: preset, field of view, distance and height

Playing with a controller

Connect a gamepad to your iPhone or iPad and the game shows CONTROLLER CONNECTED. Matches and menus both work with it, using the buttons below, and the touch controls stay on screen in case you want them.

The default mapping. Matches and menus both work with a controller.

ACTIONBUTTON
SteerLeft stick
Accelerate / reverseRight trigger / left trigger
Tilt the nose in the airLeft stick up and down
Jump (tap again to double-jump or flip)Bottom face button
BoostRight face button
Powerslide and air roll (hold)Left face button
Air roll left / rightLeft / right bumper
Ball focusTop face button
Look aroundRight stick
PauseStart

Accessibility

Settings › Interface › Accessibility: team colours, shape cues, text size and reduce motion

  • TEAM COLOURS

    Green and red by default, or blue and yellow, or purple and yellow, for colour blindness.

  • SHAPE CUES

    A circle marks the home team and a square the away team, next to the team colours. On by default.

  • TEXT SIZE

    100%, 115% or 130%, in the menus and the match HUD.

  • REDUCE MOTION

    Turns off camera shake, the speed zoom, screen flashes and replay zooms.

  • HANDED

    Mirrors the whole touch layout for left-handed play.

  • BUTTON SIZE AND OPACITY

    Scale every button from 85% to 130%, and set how solid they look.

  • HAPTICS

    Full, light or off, with a strength setting.

  • NIGHT SOUND

    Evens out loud and quiet sounds for low-volume play.

Watch and learn

  • VIDEO · 0:19

    How to air roll

    Air roll spins your car in mid-air: jump, hold an air-roll button, and let go when your wheels face the ground.

  • GUIDE · BEGINNER · 4 MIN

    Best touch controls: picking and editing your layout

    Five touch layouts on iPhone, four on iPad, three steering modes and a layout editor with three CUSTOM slots. Which to pick, and how to make it your own.

  • GUIDE · INTERMEDIATE · 4 MIN

    How to air roll

    Jump, hold ROLL L or ROLL R, and let go when your wheels face the ground. How to air roll left and right on every touch layout and on a gamepad.

More of the game