How to Make a Fruit Catching Game in Scratch | Step-by-Step Block Programming

Introduction – Fruit Catching Game in Scratch

Welcome to a super fun and educational Scratch game tutorial! Today, you’ll create your very own Catch the Falling Fruit Game in Scratch — a colorful, exciting, and easy-to-make project perfect for beginners, students, and kids learning to code.

The goal? Catch falling fruits in your basket and try not to lose your lives. Ready to dive in?

Watch this tutorial on Kodex Academy YouTube Channel – Catch the Falling Fruit Game in Scratch | Easy Scratch Game Tutorial by Kodex Academy

Why This Game Rocks for Young Coders

This game is a shining example of how kids or beginners can learn core programming concepts in a playful environment. You’ll:

Understand how Scratch projects are structured
Learn how to use sprites and backdrops
Add multiple costumes to a sprite for variety
Create and use variables (score and life)
Use conditions, and random positioning – Win when score hits a target; Game Over when lives run out
Event-Driven Programming: When green flag clicked, If touching, Broadcast, When I receive, and more
Loops: Forever loops for continuous gameplay
Randomness & Positioning: Random starting X positions for fruits
User Controls: Control a basket sprite with arrow keys
Make sprites move and detect collisions
Trigger “You Win” and “Game Over” events with broadcast messages
Sound Integration & Visual Feedback – Add background music and sound effects
Display score and life values on screen
Enhance the game with difficulty levels, special fruits, and timers

Step-by-Step Coding Guide using Scratch Block Programming

1. Game Overview

In Catch the Falling Fruit, fruits fall from the top of the screen at random positions. Your goal is to catch them in a basket to score points. If you miss a fruit, you lose one life. The game ends when:

You win: Your score reaches the target (default: 10 points)
You lose: Your life reaches 0

2. Setting Up Your Project

2.1. Choosing Sprites and Backdrop

Delete the default Scratch cat sprite.
Choose sprites:
- Fruit sprite (with multiple costumes: apple, banana, orange)
- Basket or ball sprite (player-controlled by arrow keys)
- Red line (to detect missed fruit)
- Text sprites for “You Win” and “Game Over”
Choose a colorful, bright backdrop like “Blue Sky” from the Scratch library.

This foundation ensures your Scratch fruit game tutorial looks polished and is easy to follow.

2.2. Adding Multiple Costumes

Go to the Costumes tab of your Fruit sprite and:

Keep the default apple
Add Banana and Orange from the “Food” category
You now have three costumes for variety
Use “Next Costume” to cycle, ensuring visual variety

2.3. Creating Win and Game Over Screens

Use the Paint option to create text-based sprites:

You Win: Blue font, large size
Game Over: Red font, large size

These will remain hidden until triggered.

3. Variables: Score & Life

Create two variables:

Go to Variables > Make a Variable for each one.

Score → Tracks points earned. Increments with each fruit caught in the basket
Life → Tracks remaining lives. Decrements when fruits hit the line

score = 0
life = 3

These are core to “Add lives in Scratch game” and tracking player progress.

4. Coding the Fruit Sprite

when green flag clicked
set score to 0
set life to 3
go to x: (pick random -180 to 180) y: 180
forever
  change y by -5
  if <y position < -170> then
    change life by -1
    go to x: (pick random -180 to 180) y: 180
    next costume
  end
  if <touching [basket v]?> then
    play sound [chomp v]
    change score by 1
    go to x: (pick random -180 to 180) y: 180
    next costume
  end
end

Explanation:

Initial Position: Fruit starts at the top with a random X position.
Movement: Constant downward motion.
Miss Detection: If Y < -170, you lose a life.
Catch Detection: If touching the basket, score increases and sound plays.
Costume Change: Switches between apple, banana, and orange for visual variety.

5. Win and Game Over Conditions

5.1. Win Condition:

when green flag clicked
hide [You Win v]
forever
  if <score >= 10> then
    broadcast [You Win v]
  end
end

when I receive [You Win v]
hide [Fruit v]
stop other scripts in sprite
show [You Win v]

5.2. Game Over Condition:

when green flag clicked
hide [Game Over v]
forever
  if <life = 0> then
    broadcast [Game Over v]
  end
end

when I receive [Game Over v]
stop all
show [Game Over v]

Explanation:

Broadcast Messages allow different sprites to respond to win/loss events.
“You Win” stops the fruit from falling and shows the win message.
“Game Over” stops all scripts and shows the loss message.

6. Basket Movement Controls

when green flag clicked
go to x: 0 y: -140
forever
  if <key [right arrow] pressed?> then change x by 10
  if <key [left arrow] pressed?> then change x by -10
end

Explanation:

Fixed Y Position: Basket only moves horizontally.
Arrow Key Detection: Moves left/right by changing the X coordinate.

7. Displaying Life on Screen

Code (on Red Line Sprite):

when green flag clicked
go to x: 0 y: -160
forever
  say (join [Life: ] (life))
end

Explanation:

Keeps the life counter visible throughout the game.

8. Sound and Visual Enhancements

when green flag clicked
forever
  play sound [drip-drop v] until done
end

Explanation:

Looping background sound adds immersion.

Full Code Snippets (for clarity)

// Fruit Sprite
when green flag clicked
set score to 0
go to x: (random -180 to 180) y: 180
forever
  change y by -5
  if y < -170 then
    change life by -1
    go to random x, y: 180
    next costume
  end
  if touching basket? then
    play sound [chomp v]
    change score by 1
    go to random x, y: 180
    next costume
  end
end

when I receive You Win
hide
stop other scripts in sprite

when I receive Game Over
hide
stop all

// Game Controller
when green flag clicked
set life to 3
hide [You Win v]
hide [Game Over v]
repeat forever
  if score ≥ 10 then broadcast You Win
  if life = 0 then broadcast Game Over
end

// Basket
when green flag clicked
go to x: 0 y: -140
forever
  if key [right arrow] pressed? then change x by 10
  if key [left arrow] pressed? then change x by -10
end

// Background Sound
when green flag clicked
forever
  play sound [drip-drop v] until done
end

9. Enhancement Features & Customization

9.1 Increasing Difficulty Over Time

Increase falling speed gradually: change y by -speed, then slowly increase speed.

when green flag clicked
set [speed v] to 5
forever
  wait 5 seconds
  change [speed v] by 1
end

Replace change y by -5 with change y by (-speed).

9.4 Combo Score Bonus

if score mod 5 = 0 then
  change score by 2 // bonus
end

9.3 Adding Power-Ups or Special Fruits

Add rare fruits that give extra points or slow down drop speed.

Duplicate fruit sprite, make it golden.
Catching it gives +5 score.

if <touching [basket v]?> then
  change score by 5

9.3 Visual Animations

Animate “You Win” or “Game Over” sprites with spinning or scaling effects.

repeat 10
  change size by 10
  wait 0.1 secs
  change size by -10
end

9.4 Timer Mode – Adding a Countdown Timer

when green flag clicked
set [timer v] to 60
forever
  wait 1 second
  change [timer v] by -1
  if <timer = 0> then
    broadcast [Game Over v]
  end
end

9.5 High Score Tracking

Use cloud variables (if available) or local storage to display and track high scores.

9.6 Responsive Design

Resize sprites dynamically based on device screen or window size for mobile compatibility.

10. Testing and Full Gameplay Flow

Once everything is coded:

Test the game thoroughly:
- Does the basket move smoothly?
- Are collisions and scoring accurate?
- Do win/loss conditions trigger correctly?
Make adjustments to speeds, sprite sizes, sound volume, or messages as needed.

Click green flag → Score = 0, Life = 3, Fruit drops.
Catch fruit → Score +1, change costume.
Miss fruit → Life -1.
Win at Score ≥ 10 → Show “You Win”, stop fruit.
Lose at Life = 0 → Show “Game Over”, stop all scripts.

11. Conclusion

You’ve just built a complete fruit catcher game in Scratch using:

Variables for score and lives
Conditional win/loss events
Broadcast messaging for sprite coordination
Sound effects and costume animations
Keyboard controls

This is an excellent Scratch project for students to learn loops, events, conditions, and variables — and you can customize it endlessly!

Call to Action

Don’t forget to check out the full video tutorial by Kodex Academy here: Catch the Falling Fruit Game in Scratch | Easy Scratch Game Tutorial by Kodex AcademyAcademy
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Happy coding with Kodex Academy! 🚀

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At Kodex Academy, we’re passionate about helping students learn coding in creative ways. This project teaches more than Scratch—it empowers young minds to build tools that work in the real world.

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