It's a lovely sunny day on the archery field - just the right weather to have a tournament. In this fun online archery game of Balloon Hunter, you control the bowman in his quest to pop the ballons with his arrows.

To start, choose by clicking on Practice or Tournament. You can also click on Options to make alterations to the way the game looks, the information that is displayed, and the way of controlling your bowman.

The Practice option will give you an unlimited number of arrows to allow you to test out the controls. If you use the default method of keyboard controls, your up and down arrow keys will allow you to aim your bow. To fire your arrow, press and hold down the space key to draw your arrow back in your bowstring until you judge that you've got enough power. Then to release the arrow, let go of the space key and the arrow will fly away, hopefully toward the balloons. If you choose, via the options, to use your mouse to control your bowman, his direction of aim will point toward your mouse position. When using the mouse instead of the space bar, click on the left mouse button to draw back the bowstring and let go of the button to release the arrow.

Whichever contol method you use, remember to take into consideration the wind direction and windpower. This which will affect not only the direction that the balloons sail in their journey up into the air, but also the trajectory of your arrow.

When playing in the tournament you have five arrows to start with. If you fail to hit a balloon with any arrow, that arrow has gone and your supply of arrows reduces by one. If you hit a balloon however, you'll be given another arrow to replace the one you have just shot. You can see how many arrows you have left at the top of the game - the crossed-off arrows indicating how many misses you've made, and the arrows without a red cross through them indicating how many you have left in your quiver (if you're new to archery, that's the thingy on your back which contains your arrows).

At the end of the game a message saying that your score has been saved will be displayed. This feature is intended to be programmed in for Springfrog members in the future although isn't currently activated yet.

Good luck in the archery tournament and with popping those balloons!