The Parent (and Gamer) Guide to the Roblox Game Slap Battles
Though it sounds a bit ridiculous, Slap Battles is a surprisingly fun game that kids love.
The premise is simple — your Roblox avatar equips gloves and then enters an arena to slap or be slapped. Since its creation in February 2021 by developer Tencelll, Slap Battles has amassed over 1.3 BILLION visits while growing into an unexpectedly complex experience.
And where there’s complexity, there’s learning!
Yep, even a game full of chaos and slapping has knowledge to impart. And we’re jumping into all the details. So glove up — it’s time to explore the kid-favorite Roblox game, Slap Battles!
What kind of game is Slap Battles?
At its core, Slap Battles is a fighting game in the action genre. The player battles other gamers, earning slaps and completing challenges to unlock new gloves.
If you’re wary of violent video games, but your kid loves them, Slap Battles is a nice compromise. Though there may be the occasional explosion, and a couple of gloves use sword animations, Slap Battles keeps the violence quite mild. There are no guns, blood, or gore in Slap Battles.
It’s not violence-free of course — there is A LOT of slapping. But the animations stay kid-friendly (like flying through the air when you’re slapped), keeping the game more silly than scary.
Is Slap Battles appropriate for kids?
Slap Battles is rated for ages 9 and up due to mild and repetitive cartoon violence (lots and lots of slapping) along with some mild crude humor.
Of course, whether or not it’s appropriate for your kids is completely up to you to decide. When exploring Roblox games, you’ll find many are far more violent than Slap Battles. Some games are full of guns, bloody bodies, or disturbing imagery. Compared to those games, Slap Battles feels pretty tame.
But if you’re looking for non-violent games for your child, you’ll want to skip this one.
Our best advice — log on and play Slap Battles yourself. Or ask your child if you can watch them play for a while. Just be prepared to spend the next 10 minutes learning all about their slap count, favorite gloves, and coolest abilities. 😉
How do you play Slap Battles?
You’ve joined a Slap Battles server — now what?
When you first join a game, you’re loaded into the lobby. This is where you’ll pick your glove before entering an arena (a door-shaped portal close to where you spawn).
Every glove has a Power and Speed stat to help you choose. Though what really sets them apart are the different abilities they offer (more on that below). But, no need to worry about all that now. If you’re brand new you only have one choice — the Default glove.
The Default glove is very basic with a Power of 30 and a Speed of 10. And a funny, though not very effective, Fart Blast ability. Yep, you read that right. This game was made with a certain demographic in mind. 😉
Now, all that’s left to do is head into the arena and start slapping.
The many gloves of Slap Battles
As you collect slaps (which consist of getting close enough to someone and clicking to slap them — sounds simple, but easier said than done), you unlock new gloves. The next glove after Default requires 45 slaps. Then you continue to unlock gloves as you go — at 70, 105, 150, 195 slaps, and so on.
As you gain slaps (slaps accumulate and save every time you play in a public server), you’re able to unlock better, more powerful, or more entertaining gloves.
Each glove has different stats and abilities. But there are definitely some favorites (and one in particular that is hated — an overpowered, pay-to-win glove called Overkill). Some gloves kill with a single slap, others allow you to slow down other players, and some just look really cool. And all of them add to the chaos that makes the game so much fun.
Here’s a brief overview of a few kid-favorite gloves in Slap Battles:
- Nightmare
The Nightmare glove’s ability darkens the slapped player’s screen, showing spooky imagery for a few seconds. - Shukuchi
This glove’s special ability teleports you behind a nearby player, where you slap them as part of a fairly elaborate, anime-style scene. - Replica
If you’re looking to double up on your slap count, this is the perfect glove. The ability spawns a clone that will slap nearby players (and those slaps add to your total slap count). - Bus
This favorite is only unlocked after obtaining the “To the moon” badge (more on badges below). When the Bus glove’s ability is activated, it sends a bus driving across the map, knocking over players as it travels. - God’s Hand
This overpowered glove’s ability can stop time and be used to fling one slapped player off the map. - Reverse
When equipped and slapped, you can activate this troll glove’s ability to reverse the slap back onto the slapper. This is a great defensive glove. - Slicer
Looking for a ranged attack. The Slicer ability swaps your glove for a sword that sends a bright pink energy slash toward a nearby player, pushing them back. - Error
Error is a hidden glove you can find and equip after reaching 20,000 slaps. When slapped, the victim is sent flying into a glitchy void. - Defense
As you can guess from its name, the Defense glove provides great protection. This glove’s special ability creates a barrier around you, all while playing a peppy tune from the game Undertale’s soundtrack. - Home Run
This one looks like a baseball glove and includes a bat-swinging ability. Activate your ability, charge up your bat, and send people flying across the map (accompanied by some classic baseball sounds).
There are many, many more gloves in Slap Battles, of course. Each one with something fun to add to the game. If you want the full low down on all of the available gloves, we recommend checking out the Slap Battle’s Wiki page.
Badges and Achievements in Slap Battles
We’re not going to spend time detailing all the different Badges available in Slap Battles (you can find them here). But as a parent, it’s important to realize the extra level of learning these optional challenges provide players.
If your child enjoys a game, badges can take their play to the next level. A badge helps your child set achievement goals. And as detailed in this blog, this practice in setting and achieving goals is easily transferable to everyday life.
For example, some gloves (like Bus) are only accessible after obtaining certain badges. And many of these badges require a surprising amount of critical thinking or teamwork to achieve.
The Bus glove requires the “To the moon” badge. When you search Slap Battle’s badges, it says the way to get this badge is a secret. But it gives you a hint — you have to go to “space”.
So, if your child wants the Bus badge (and they will when they see other people using it), they first have to figure out how to get it. With a little research, they’ll realize they need the Space glove. Then the next step is to recruit a friend who already has Bus to use its ability to fling you into space.
And that is just one example of a multi-step, complex badge. See — we told you this game went beyond simply slapping. 😉
What can your child learn playing Slap Battles?
As shown above, there is a surprising amount of learning in this crazy and chaotic game. Yes, your child is running around and slapping other players. But once they get a hang of the game mechanics, the gameplay and goals can get a lot more complicated.
And that means a lot more learning (all while having fun)!
On top of the critical thinking, research skills, and teamwork needed to obtain new gloves, experienced players will also develop favorite strategies for increasing their slaps.
As discussed in the Gloves section, some gloves are more defensive. Others have ranged attacks or special abilities that can be used to trick other players. Working out creative ways to use these abilities is part of the learning fun.
And on top of it all, younger players are also practicing basic math skills. They’re excited to watch their slap number increase, and you can have many conversations about how many slaps they need to get to the next cool glove. Or help them differentiate place values and their meaning (1,000 slaps is 10 times more than 100).
When you’re able to look beyond the silliness, it’s pretty amazing how much learning you can find in Slap Battles.
Discover more ways to learn in Roblox with Kinjo!
Roblox games are often dismissed as being just a waste of time. And while that is sometimes true (not every game passes Kinjo’s review process), there are many that kids already love that are also great for learning.
If you feel lost when it comes to Roblox, don’t worry! It’s definitely different from the gaming systems we grew up with, but you can figure it out. Check out our Complete Guide to Roblox for all the info you need on this popular online gaming platform.
Then sign up for Kinjo’s Parent Insights for real, actionable information detailing your child’s gameplay. It’s the best way to keep up with their favorite games AND the skills they’re learning from them.
It’s time to ditch the screentime guilt and plug into your child’s gaming life with Kinjo!
