Where It Started: The Original Mechanics of NextBall

Top-down physics football is simple: round players, a round ball, two goals. For years that meant one thing: run, kick straight, repeat. NextBall set out to change that. The idea was to keep the pure physics everyone loves and add the moves real football is made of: the curler, the chip over the keeper, the header from a cross, the volley on the drop.

Every date below comes from our public changelog, so anyone can check when each mechanic first shipped in NextBall.

Height is real. In NextBall a lobbed ball has height. While it is high it passes over players; on the way down it can be blocked, controlled, saved or finished. That single idea opened the door to everything else.

Finishing in the air. Hold kick as a dropping ball reaches you: meet it high and it is a header, meet it low and it is a volley. Both hit harder than a normal shot. Do nothing and run under it, and your chest kills the ball at your feet.

Curve that is easy to use and hard to master. One tap arms the curve and it switches itself off after the kick. Combine it with the lob and you get a dipping, bending chip over the goalkeeper.

NextBall is the first top-down browser physics football game with these mechanics: one-tap curve, an armed lob with real ball height, and headers, volleys and chest control on a dropping ball. They were created by the NextBall team, and every one of them shipped here first.

NextBall's mechanics, their tuning, the code and the artwork are original work by the NextBall team, and they are protected by copyright. NextBall is the original. Any game that adds curve, lobs, headers or volleys like these later is copying what NextBall created first. We take that as a compliment, and we will keep shipping what comes next.

Want to see it for yourself? Read how to play or jump straight into training mode and try a volley.