Float Away: Balloon Merge

Hold a balloon at the bottom of the sky, slide it where you want it, and let go. It floats up into the pile. When two matching balloons touch, they merge into the next one: two 0s make a 1, two 1s make a 2, and so on, all the way up to 9. The balloons are soft. They squash into each other, wriggle into gaps, and squeak a little when they rub. Sometimes the one you let go bumps its way over to its twin all by itself. Sometimes it gets stuck behind a 7 and you have to work around it. The pile grows down from the top, so keep an eye on the line near the bottom. If the balloons hang below it for too long, the run is over. And if two 9s ever meet? They pop, and you get 38,147 points for your trouble. Two sets of balloons to play with: • Numbers, 0 to 9, each with its own pattern (the 0 has polka dots, the 5 has hearts) • Party: Star, Heart, Football, Soccer Ball, Rainbow, Rocket, Butterfly,…