🎨 Cartoon Tank Adventure

Meet Tanky

Cartoon Tank Adventure stars Tanky, a small, round, bright green tank with big googly eyes and rosy cheeks. Tanky doesn't fire shells: Tanky fires paint. The grumpy grey robot blobs that wander the levels are just in need of a little colour, and one splash turns each of them into a twinkling star. It's a cheerful platform game made for younger children, and it plays in any web browser with no download.

Each level is a colourful run from left to right. Roll along, hop over gaps, climb steps, jump across fluffy cloud platforms and ride moving platforms, and at the end, roll into the giant paint bucket to finish. Along the way are paint drops to collect, three big paint pots tucked away up high, and red springs that launch Tanky over walls too tall to hop.

Gentle rules for little players

There is no game over in Cartoon Tank Adventure, and there are no lives to lose. If Tanky rolls off a ledge, he simply bounces back to the last checkpoint flag he passed, with a cheerful boing. If Tanky bumps into a grumpy blob, he bounces back and drops a few paint drops, and that's it. Every level can always be finished, so the only question is how well: did you find all three paint pots, and were you quick?

That makes it a good first platform game. The controls are simple, the hop is forgiving (you can even hop a moment after rolling off an edge), and holding the hop button longer makes a higher hop, which children quickly learn to use.

Three colourful worlds

Candy Hills is the first world: pink hills, yellow paths and gentle gaps. Toy Town opens at 8 stars, with blue blocks, more blobs and moving platforms. The Cloud Kingdom opens at 18 stars and floats in the sky, with more clouds to hop across, springs and the busiest blobs. Each world has five levels, and later levels are a little longer with a few more things to hop over.

Stars and paint pots

Every level gives up to three stars. Finishing the level earns the first. Finding all three big paint pots earns the second; they float up high, so look for the steps, clouds and springs that lead to them. Reaching the paint bucket under the par time earns the third. There are 45 stars to collect, and you can replay any level as often as you like to find a missed paint pot.

How to paint a blob happy

Robot blobs roll slowly back and forth on the ground. Face them and press F or the PAINT button: the paint balls fly in a little arc, so fire from a short distance away. One splash is enough. Or hop and land right on top of a blob for a bouncy pop. Just try not to roll straight into one, or Tanky gets bounced back.

What's in a level

Every level is made from a handful of friendly pieces, and each one teaches a small skill. Gaps teach the run-and-hop. Steps teach hopping up one level at a time. Cloud platforms float over a pit, and you can hop up onto them from underneath, which feels a bit like magic the first time. Moving platforms slide back and forth over a wide gap, and the trick is to wait at the edge until one comes close. Springs sit at the foot of walls that are too tall to hop, and give Tanky a huge bounce. And robot blobs patrol the long flat stretches, waiting to be painted.

Levels get a little longer and use more of the trickier pieces as you go, but they never ask for anything that hasn't been seen before. The paint drops act as a trail: they're always placed where Tanky can reach, so following them is a good way to find the right path, and the paint drops arcing over a gap show exactly how to hop it.

Why a cartoon tank?

Lots of children love tanks for the same reasons they love diggers and fire engines: they're big, they're strong and they roll over anything. Cartoon Tank Adventure keeps all of that fun and none of the fighting. Tanky's cannon sprays rainbow paint, the bad guys are grumpy robots who just need cheering up, and the whole game is about exploring, hopping and collecting.

Controls

On a computer: the left and right arrows or A and D roll Tanky, Space, the up arrow or W hops (hold for a higher hop), F or X fires paint, and P pauses. On phones and tablets, big buttons under the game roll left and right, fire paint and hop.

Tips for grown-ups

Cartoon Tank Adventure is designed so that young children can play on their own: there's no reading needed to play, no way to get stuck for good and nothing scary. If a child finds a level tricky, the checkpoints in the middle of every level mean they only need to repeat a short part. Older children can race the par time for the third star.

Free, safe and made for kids

Cartoon Tank Adventure is free to play, with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. There is no chat and nobody else online, and there are no adverts inside the game. Progress is saved only on your own device. See the Parents & Safety page for more.

More tank games

Love toy tanks? Drive a wind-up tank across the kitchen table in Toy Tanks Tabletop, or roll through a hundred years of tanks in Tank Evolution. Every tank game is on the Tank Games page.

Frequently asked questions