Month: August 2014

This level starts with a square setup in the right section and blocks blocking the way on the left section.

Clear the lines above the blocks on the left, at least making a path through, before using the square in the right section.

The fire’s back, but it’s isolated to start. The lone left column is always consumed by fire. The right open area is mostly random, and occasionaly a square appears available for your first move.

You can start working the ice in the open area first, but once you let that first fire appear in the open area, you need to focus on clearing the dots in the left column of the open area as efficiently as possible.

Once the fire starts dropping into the open area, make sure to clear dots next to the fire as much as possible as well.

Squares, as usual, are a huge help, but don’t let the fire get out of control in the quest for square set ups.

The teleporting in Level 129 is from the bottom of column to the top of the next. This means that vertical clearing pretty much maintains order, but horizontal lines “scramble” your patterns: Everything will shift down to the left relative to the column to the right of it.

Be wary of isolating a single dot in the bottom right corner and having it surrounded by anchors. You’ll pretty much doom yourself. Try to maintain an escape route in the bottom right corner at all times.

It’s a long way down for the anchors, so completing squares is pretty necessary, but don’t block the exit in your effort to make squares. You’ll then have to make a match of that color dot just to free the anchors.

Level 128 is easy enough to clear as long as you make squares.

Don’t forget the weird wrap around from the outside columns into the middle columns. Dots on the outside left column appear at the top left on the middle column and similar for outside right column and the top right on the middle column.

 

This level is pretty easy compared to a lot of its neighbors.

Still, it’s *much* easier when the board starts out with a square ready to be cleared on the first move.

I cleared with plenty of moves to go with mostly squares, but I did a few two dot moves to realign the board to make a square appear.

This is also one of the boards where making a square with a bomb in the middle doesn’t mess up the board for you… the biggest race is to clear the way for the anchors. The colored dot quota comes pretty much automatically.

You won’t get through this level unless you’re clearing a square almost every move.

You should be able to get to a square setup in the few 3 moves.

The good news is that if you get to that point, you should be able to make square after square and clear the quota of anchors.

This level seems to be made or lost in the first two moves.

Clear the column of two dots on the right side first. About a third of time, you will get a square as a result.

Getting a run of square matches will allow you to meet the quota of colored dots.

If you have to clear down to the fire, try to only open one channel at a time and use squares to fight the fire back.

This level is one where you *don’t* want to focus on clearing the blocks before focusing on squares. Make sure you start with a square or restart. Otherwise, you’ll eat a couple of moves getting your first square.

Don’t forget that the column in the middle is completely independent of the other two. You’ll have to make squares to clear any space in it.

I’ve had good luck with the following combo:

1. First line in the left column.
2. First line in the middle column.
3. First line in the right column.
4. Work your way back up clearing from the bottom.

Top down seems obvious, but it leaves you with far fewer moves by the time you clear the last block, and you need all the open spaces you can get open for clearing lines with squares.

Also, if you have a pattern like the following

..
.r
.rr.
r.bb
  ..

you’ll find that clearing the ‘bb’ row will form a square because of the teleport.

There are probably other patterns to look out for that don’t occur on other boards, but the diagonal ‘Y’ straddling the columns was the first one to set off a light bulb for me.

Clearing dots horizontally or in groups of 3 near the bottom is a good way to get “shuffle”, which helps when you’re nowhere near making a square. Clear squares from the top when you have them and work from the bottom when the board looks hopeless.