Bubble Dropper is a bubble-popping game that features a unique method of play. Instead of having a classic layout with a pointer-style shooter that targets bubbles hanging in rows, it has a top-center hole that drops colorful standard and power booster bubbles onto a central post that rotates like a wheel.
The player doesn't target and shoot the bubbles on the wheel. They look for match-3 and booster opportunities and then turn the wheel by making left and right sliding motions on a horizontal chain along the bottom of the screen. These actions prompt two cloaked figures to move the chain with manual hand winches. The player's goals are to remove all bubbles from the post and earn the highest base and time bonus scores across 100 levels.
Bubble Dropper presents the player with many different obstacles, such as ice that hides bubble colors and solid, unpoppable stones. Although power bubbles help solve some of these challenges, the boosters aren't generated by the player's actions or offered as separate options.
The game drops power bubbles at random from the same hole as the standard colored bubbles. Common powers include flames that burn away clusters of mixed bubbles, lightning bolts that remove all color-matched bubbles, portals that pull one or more bubbles of any color away from the play area, rainbow-colored whirlpools that transform into matching bubbles, and stars that clear all remaining bubbles and other objects.