The wall is not uniform
Blocks have between one and three hits in them, and you can see which is which by how dark they are. The solid black ones at the top take three and score the most. The pale ones at the bottom go on the first touch.
Which means the sensible route is not to clear the bottom rows first, even though that is what everyone does. Punch a channel up one side, get the ball above the wall, and let it work down through the dark rows on its own.
Angles
Where the ball hits the paddle decides where it goes. Dead centre sends it straight back, the outer thirds kick it out at a slant, and the very edge is how you reach the corners. The ball keeps its speed, so you are steering rather than adding power.
It used to live in image search
Searching a certain arcade title rearranged the picture results into a playable wall, score in the corner. That was 2013, for the game’s 37th anniversary, and it stayed up for years before being taken out.
Which is the usual story. Zerg rush went the same way, so did the snap. The playable maze at google pac-man is the exception that stuck around.
