Fireworks Simulator is won by lighting eight different cells on a 5×7 night-sky grid within ten total launches, earning exactly 800 points. The rules are intentionally visible and deterministic: every previously unused cell creates one colored burst worth 100 points, while launching twice at the same cell burns a shot without adding any score. The panel always reports your current score, unique bursts, and shots used, so you can plan each move from the numbers on screen rather than from animation guesswork. There is no timer, no random spectacle, no in-game purchases, and no hidden scoring effect from the color of a burst, which is derived purely from its grid index. A deadlock detector also stops a round as soon as completing eight unique bursts becomes mathematically impossible, freezing input and offering a Restart control. Because the entire state lives in your browser, the same starting position always produces the same sequence of colors when the same cells are selected.
The Core Rules of Fireworks Simulator at a Glance
Fireworks Simulator distills a fireworks display into a compact placement puzzle with three numbers you can watch the whole time: current score, unique bursts, and shots used. The win condition is fixed at eight unique bursts and 800 points, and the budget is fixed at ten total launches. Everything else in the rules follows from those three numbers.
Each cell of the 5×7 grid (35 cells total) can host at most one burst. The grid is rendered with DOM elements and the site's CSS color variables, so each burst picks a deterministic color based on its index. That color is purely cosmetic: it carries no scoring effect, and the same cell always lights up the same color if you restart and select it again.
| Trigger | Score change | Unique bursts | Shots used | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch on an unused cell | +100 | +1 | +1 | Round continues |
| Launch on a cell already used | No change | No change | +1 | Round continues |
| Reach 8 unique bursts | Final score 800 | 8 | 8 to 10 | Round complete, input frozen |
| Deadlock condition met | Locked at current value | Less than 8 | Less than 10 | Round over, input frozen, Restart offered |
The 5×7 Grid and How the Cursor Moves
The play surface is a 5 by 7 night-sky grid, which holds 35 distinct cells in total. The cursor starts near the center of the grid when a fresh round begins, and every move keeps it inside that boundary. Arrow keys step the cursor one cell at a time in the matching direction, but movement clamps at the edges instead of wrapping around. Pressing Left at the left edge does nothing, pressing Up at the top row does nothing, and the same logic applies to Right and Down at their respective borders.
Space and Enter are the launch controls. Whichever cell the cursor is currently highlighting is the cell that launches when you press either key. Both keys do the same thing, so you can use whichever is comfortable. Because the cursor must always rest on a valid grid cell and the grid has exactly 35 cells, there is no chance of launching outside the playing field.
Every cell is also a regular button, so pointer and touch users can tap a destination first and then use the Launch Firework control. Focus styling, readable status text, and semantic buttons keep the grid accessible to assistive technology rather than hiding it inside a canvas image. The game does not require a mouse, microphone, camera, speakers, or motion sensors.
Scoring, Bursts, and the 100-Point Formula
The score formula is the simplest part of the rules. Each previously unused cell adds exactly 100 points and counts as one unique burst. Each duplicate launch adds nothing to the score and does not change the unique burst count, but it still consumes one of your ten shots. Because a complete display is eight unique bursts and every valid burst is worth the same fixed amount, 800 is the only possible completion score.
The relationship is strictly linear: 1 burst equals 100 points, 2 bursts equal 200 points, and so on up to 8 bursts equal 800 points. Chasing an unbounded total is not a goal here, because the game does not reward anything beyond eight unique bursts. Restarting begins the count from zero again, so any best score tracked in local browser storage is also bounded by 800.
Burst color is derived from the grid index of the cell, not from your score or any random roll. That makes the game reproducible: the same starting cell, the same arrow-key path, and the same cell choices always produce the same sequence of colors when you launch. It also means color carries no hidden scoring effect, so two players who hit the same eight cells will always end on 800 points regardless of which colors appeared.
How to Play Fireworks Simulator Step by Step
- Open the Fireworks Simulator in your browser and let the 5×7 grid load. The cursor will appear near the center and the status panel will read score 0, 0 unique bursts, and 0 shots used.
- Use the arrow keys to move the cursor to a cell you have not launched on yet. If the cursor refuses to move further in one direction, you are already on the matching border and the key is clamped.
- Press Space or Enter to launch. Watch the panel update: your score should rise by 100, unique bursts should become 1, and shots used should become 1.
- Arrow to another new cell and launch again. After two new launches you should see score 200, 2 unique bursts, 2 shots used.
- Repeat the move-and-launch pattern until you have launched on eight distinct cells. Once unique bursts reaches 8 the panel will lock the score at 800 and freeze further input to signal completion.
- At any point during the round, if the deadlock detector fires, press Restart to begin a clean round with the cursor back at the center, all bursts cleared, and the counters reset to zero.
- Need a quick cover for your screen? Press Escape twice in quick succession to toggle the Boss Key overlay; press Escape twice again to return to the grid.
Deadlock Detection and Why Rounds End Early
The deadlock detector is the rules engine that keeps a failed round from dragging on. After every launch, the game compares two numbers: how many shots you have left and how many new cells you still need. If the remaining shots fall below the number of unique bursts still required, completing eight unique bursts is mathematically impossible, so the round ends immediately and input freezes.
The formula written out is: declare deadlock when (10 − shots used) is less than (8 − unique bursts). As soon as that inequality becomes true, the game marks the round out of launches and offers Restart. This is why some rounds stop before you have used all ten shots; the budget is not just about total count, it is about the gap between the budget and the work left.
Worked example: suppose you launch four times on the same cell. Shots used = 4, unique bursts = 1. Remaining shots = 10 − 4 = 6. New cells still needed = 8 − 1 = 7. Because 6 < 7, the inequality (10 − 4) < (8 − 1) holds, and the deadlock detector ends the round at that point. The status panel will explain the condition and surface the Restart control so you can start fresh.
Restart, Boss Key, and Round Management
Restart is the cleanest way to begin again in Fireworks Simulator. Pressing the Restart control recreates the initial state: the cursor returns to its starting cell near the center, the score and shot count go back to zero, every burst disappears from the grid, and any completion or deadlock state clears. There is no carry-over from the previous round, so each Restart is a true reset rather than a partial recovery.
The Boss Key is a privacy convenience shared by the surrounding game shell. Press Escape twice in quick succession to cover the game with a neutral work-style screen; press Escape twice again to bring the grid back. The overlay is intended for the current screen only and does not erase browser history, hide the tab title from the operating system, or act as a security boundary. State still lives in the active tab while the overlay is showing.
All gameplay data stays local to your browser. Grid moves, launches, score, and round results are not sent to a server, and the small best-score value stored locally can be cleared with site data. The game requires no microphone, camera, speakers, or motion sensors, which keeps keyboard play as a first-class path and removes any hardware dependency that might block a quick round.