Those bubbles you see in the game with question marks (?) and exclamation marks (!) are Powerup Bubbles.  You drive through those to pick up the Powerups you've arranged in your deck.

There are three different types of Powerup Bubbles:

  • Single (?) - Pops one Powerup into an available slot
  • Double (?)(?) - Pops two Powerups into both of your slots.  If only one slot is available it will just fill one (but you still take away the double from whoever's behind you :-) )
  • Fast (!) - The Bubbles with an exclamation point are Fast Bubbles.  When you pick up a Powerup from a Fast Bubble, it charges twice as fast, which means you get to use it sooner.

Oh yeah -- look out for the Fakes!  Those are the upside-down question marks, and they can be singles or doubles.  If you pick up one of those, it will fill up one of your slots and prevent you from using a Powerup in that slot.