Bubble Mania Pirates, also known as Bubble Pirates Mania, is a bubble-popping game with an adventure-on-the-high-seas theme. Against the backdrop of the deck of a pirate ship near an island, the player clears colored bubble balls hanging in patterns. Their goals for each level are to remove bubbles, collect gold coins and perform other tasks that earn them points, stars and other booty.
The player pops bubbles by hitting a cluster of two or more bubbles with a projectile shot from a ring shooter that features two swappable bubble-ball projectiles. Although the game provides a color-matched dotted aiming line as well, it doesn't extend off the side walls during angled shots. Additionally, it doesn't automatically appear on the screen. That said, the game displays the entire field pattern by slowly sliding it up from the bottom of the screen at the start of a level, which allows the player to guess where to shoot without the extended line.
When the player performs a valid hit in Bubble Pirates Mania, any unmatched bonus bubbles and other items below a popped cluster drop to the bottom of the field, bounce along the tops of water barrels, and then burst to distribute points and tools. Dropped tools include booster bubbles that contain weapons like bombs, electricity and rainbow balls.
The player doesn't use the weapons in booster bubbles via projectile hits. Instead, the bubbles drop to the barrels and burst to release the boosters to areas at the bottom of the screen. The player then selects a booster whenever they need one.
