The start of the round[edit]
Each round will start, with a formation of exactly forty-two balloons: twelve red ones in the first row, twelve orange ones in the second row, ten yellow ones in the third row, and eight white ones in the fourth row. In order to proceed to the next round, you have to destroy every one of them with your cannon - which can be hit and destroyed any number of times, but will always be resurrected a second later. Try to use this to your advantage as much as possible, especially in the later rounds where more balloons will break away to attack your cannon at a time.
When balloons attack[edit]
After a short while, the balloons will start to break away from the formation and descend upon your cannon while firing a hail of bullets down at it. It is necessary to eliminate them with your fire, because if one manages to land under the castle battlements where the King is randomly walking back and forth, it will pick him up and try to carry him away. If it succeeds, it will cost him a life when he reappears - and because he only gains one extra life in the game (at 10,000 points by default), you should try not to let this happen by any means possible.
Save the King (if you can...)[edit]
The only way you can stop the King from being carried away by the offending balloon is by shooting it down - and if you succeed, the King's umbrella will open as he descends down to his position underneath the battlements. All the remaining balloons will then stop attacking momentarily and give you a clear shot at the whole formation, so you should try to pick off as many of them as possible before they resume their assault on both your cannon and the King. It is also possible to destroy all the remaining balloons while they have stopped attacking.
The danger of giant balloons[edit]
Occasionally, three of the balloons (each one a different color) will meld together in order to create a giant balloon that takes three hits to destroy. Hitting it once makes it become a medium-sized balloon, and hitting it a second time reverts it back to being a normal balloon. However, if you haven't destroyed it by the time it lands under the castle battlements, it will split back up into its original form of three normal balloons (or two, if you've only hit it once). If you've hit it twice, the resulting normal balloon will land under the battlements and pick up the King in their usual way - however, you will still have to shoot it down as it is carrying him away, because if it succeeds, it will cost him a life (or the game, if that life was his last life).
Advanced Strategy[edit]
The expert player can easily top 100,000 or more on this game using two basic tactics; maximizing the points available, and ensuring the cannon is always best placed to pick off any balloon that grabs the king. Since all cannons are expendable, success in the latter depends on their deliberate tactical destruction.
Start each round by quickly picking off the entire bottom row of balloons. This ensures that any giant balloons that appear will be composed of the other three colours, and worth the most points. From then on, shoot as little as possible. Stay in the center and ignore all charging balloons that come down either side, unless the king is close to where they will land - this is more likely when the balloon comes down the centre. Taking the king's position into account, and without shooting any charging balloons (because you want the maximum number of giant balloons to appear), anticipate where and when the king will be grabbed, then in the few seconds before this happens, let your cannon be destroyed. Two things will then happen; there will be no enemy bullets fired for a number of seconds, and your cannon will respawn in the middle of the screen, in the right place to nail an abducter with the first shot (regardless of where the king is grabbed, he will be dragged towards the middle when the balloon lifts him away). This is by far the safest strategy to employ - what you categorically do NOT do is try to avoid enemy fire and let the chargers herd you towards the edge, giving you no time to reach an abducted king on the other side, or respawn before he's lifted off if they get you.
Giant balloons never appear by themselves - there will always be at least one small charger on the screen at the same time. As soon as you see a giant balloon start to form, let a charger destroy your cannon IMMEDIATELY. This will give you enough grace time when you reappear to whack three hits at the giant for an easy 3000 points, and then position yourself when the charger carries the king away.
Now, just keep the level going as long as possible unless you're down to your last half dozen or so balloons, at which point there are too few to form a giant along with the chargers and you can just clear them away quickly to begin the next round. It's no uncommon to wipe out five or six giant balloons by this time, leaving you close to 20,000 points at the end of the first round alone.