i've noticed a bunch of you have discovered that the ball will disappear if it goes between a brick and ceiling after they've dropped one row (actually they drop half a row at first). i lost a 200K point game and a 300K point game from that and almost threw my phone against the wall.

this is low tech, but a guaranteed way to avoid the problem... starting on the secound round (after you've beaten all 34 levels the first time), the screen drops by one row every time the ball hits your paddle. so, on any level with bricks at the very top, bounce the ball off your paddle at least twice before you send up towards the top. this will drop everything down enough that the ball can't disappear out the top.

the trick is remembering to do it every time you start a level. after a while it becomes habit.