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Zuma Blitz Weekly Board: Gap Shots and Fruit

Shark Lady Games — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 22:02:03 +0000

It’s a new week of Zuma Blitz, boys and girls, and we have a new board. This week’s board is rather fun, and has a great potential for high scoring (I already scored 1 million points on it). Here’s how it looks:

As you can see, the balls roll in in two long paths. You need to prepare for long shots as well as close ones, but the keys for scoring big on this week’s Zuma board are fruits and gap shots.

Fruits are usually located in hard-to-reach areas of the board, but this week they are much easier to grab. If you blast the balls quickly out the way, and prevent them from getting too close to you, you can snatch 4-5 fruit each game – which can get you some serious points.

For really mastering the fruit grabbing, you need to learn how to quickly launch two balls, one after the other – one to create the gap in the balls that allows you access to the fruit, and the next one to actually get the fruit – BEFORE the rest of the balls rush in and block the juicy treat. I call it “Tap-Tap” – because you need to do a quick double-click on the mouse in order to get it right. You WILL miss sometimes, but if you master this technique, you can get much more fruit while playing Zuma.

Because of the long, parallel lines in which the balls roll this week, you can get many gap shots if you are smart and quick enough. A great way to make gaps is the inferno frog. Match the balls quickly to gather heat, and when you get the inferno frog (that spits 3 fire balls), make holes in the lines of balls. This way you can get plenty of gap shots until the balls close the gaps.

Recommended powers for this week’s board

For this week, my top choice of powers would be:

Time (as always)
Sun Frog
Epic Fruit (optional)

You can also go with bombs or chain blast, instead of the Epic Fruit, but personally I think that too many blasts make you lose opportunities for combos, which can get you tons of points.

The Sun Frog is wonderful for making gaps in the lines. If you make a big enough gap, you can get great scoring gap shots for quite a few seconds.

If you need more general tips, check out the Zuma Blitz Guide.

Good luck and have fun!

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Zuma Blitz Tips, Tricks and a High-Score Guide

Shark Lady Games — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:02:48 +0000

After a few weeks in closed Beta, PopCap has finally released Zuma Blitz on Facebook to the general public.

The original Zuma game was released exactly 7 years ago, on December 2003, and became one of the most popular casual games around. PopCap has created many hits after Zuma, of course, but it remained one of their most famous games.

Following the success of Bejeweled Blitz, PopCap has created Zuma Blitz – a one-minute social game that will take many hours of your spare time.

The purpose of Zuma Blitz is simple – score as many points as you can in one minute. You start out with just a few Lives (represented by hearts), and each time you play – you lose one. When you have finished all your lives, you can wait for them to reload (takes some time) or purchase new ones at the store. This limitation, which doesn’t exist on Bejeweled Blitz, for example, isn’t there because PopCap is worried about your productivity and wasted hours, but because it might tempt you to buy more lives using Facebook coins and/or real money.

Leveling up is meaningful on Zuma Blitz – unlike Bejeweled, where the badges are just for show. When you level up on Zuma Blitz, you get more lives, they recharge faster, you accumulate more Mojo and you get access to more power-ups.

If you need a basic guide for Zuma blitz gameplay, click here. This post is mainly for users who know how to play, and want to better their scores.

Zuma Blitz Tips and High Score Guide

WORK FAST

This may sound obvious, but it isn’t just because you have only one minute on Zuma Blitz. Taking out as many balls as you can, as quickly as you can, will get you the Inferno Frog – 3 shots of balls that blow up, get you many points and give you the bonuses you need (mainly Chrono Balls and Multiplires). Try to get at least two Inferno Frogs in a game.

MULTIPLIERS ARE KEY

Just as they were on Bejeweled Blitz, multipliers are very important on Zuma Blitz, as well. You can get dozens of chains, blow up balls and grab fruit, but if you didn’t catch those multipliers, you won’t get that high score. A good game is usually one when you get at least to X7 or X8. More is the better, of course. If you can get a multiplier without breaking the chain – good. If not, consider braking the chain for it – it’s usually worth it.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

You start out on Zuma Blitz with one minute, but you can substantially extend this time. You do that by taking out Chrono Balls – each one is worth 5 more seconds. When you level up, you can also use the Chrono Ball power up, with which the Chrono Balls give you 6 seconds each. You can easily add 30-40 seconds to your game with the Chrono Balls. A longer game usually means more point.

DON’T LET GREED GET IN THE WAY

Fruit. They are tempting. They look so juicy and pretty, and they can give you a large amount of points. Treasure chests are also very appealing – who knows what kind of bonus you’ll get! Problem is, these fun items may mess up your game – they tend to appear behind ball lines and in many cases you will break chain because of them. Also, they tend to distract you and attract your attention – thus interfering with your concentration and game flow. Take out a fruit or chest only when you are sure you can hit them, and don’t sacrifice the chain for them.

KEEP UP THE CHAIN

With some multipliers, chain score can get very high. Make sure you don’t break the chain and try to get as high as you can – you can get X50 and more when it comes to chains – and that’s a lot of points.

FUCK UP AT THE BEGINNING

A game can start out lamely, but end up in a nice high score. That’s because most of the bigger points are accumulated towards the end of the game – after you got yourself some multipliers and turned on some chains heat. So, if you fuck up or need to sacrifice the chain, do it at the beginning of the game.

A CRISIS IS ALSO AN OPPORTUNITY

You will mess up, of course. We all do. If you missed a ball or hit the wrong spot and broke the chain – use this chance to grab some multipliers and Chrono Balls. Since your chain is gone anyway, the seconds after your mistake can be used to gaining some advantage and maybe salvaging the game.

USE THE POWERS

But sparingly. You don’t want to be dependent on powers for a good game. In fact, I got my best scores without any powers. Still, powers are fun and can help you through the harder boards. There are many possible power combinations, and they change as you level up, too. Mind you – tons of blasts (Canon, Bombs) won’t guarantee high scores on Zuma Blitz – they will most likely break the chain and give you very little in return. Useful (although not as flashy) power-ups include the Multiplier (gives you X2 at the beginning of the game), Chrono Balls (makes your Chrono Balls worth 6 seconds) and Last Hurrah (blows up any remaining bonus balls at the end of the game).

DON’T BE HASTY

Speed is essential, but plowing along without paying attention will get you into trouble. The most common mistake is not failing to compensate for the speed in which the balls move when they close a gap of two same-colored balls. If you aren’t careful, you will miss your next target, because the balls are moving at greater speed, and you might break the chain and lose important points.

CLEAR THE CURVE

Completely clearing a curve will give you many points. Use Inferno Frog or just plain fast work to clear a curve, if you can.

RIGHT CLICK IS YOUR FRIEND

On a perfect game, every ball has a great target and you never break the chain. On an average game, you might not always be happy with your current ball. You can right-click in order to switch to the next ball. It might be very useful – you lose half a second, but you keep the chain and bonuses going. If the balls are the same color, it won’t be very helpful, though.

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Bejeweled 3 Official Game Trailer

Shark Lady Games — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:49:09 +0000

PopCap has just released the official Bejeweled 3 game trailer.

The long awaited sequel to Bejeweled 2 will launch on PopCap.com on December 7, 2010.

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The Next Facebook Hit Game? PopCap Preps Zuma Blitz

Shark Lady Games — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:46:00 +0000

PopCap Games, the evil people responsible for some of the worst time-wasters ever (also known as casual video games), announced that Zuma, its second best-selling game, with nearly 20 million units sold worldwide, will soon be debuting on Facebook in a free, social form. The new games will be called Zuma Blitz, and will include a host of social-centric features new to the game.

Zuma Blitz is expected to roll out gradually via Beta launch in approximately three weeks.

PopCap plans to continue evolving Zuma Blitz over time, in a fashion similar to the ongoing addition of major new features and functionality in Bejeweled Blitz. New features available at the introduction of Zuma Blitz next month are expected to include:

Weekly tournaments and leader-boards
New levels introduced regularly
An “experience points” system to unlock additional features and capabilities
A “Treasure Chest” virtual currency-based system for obtaining in-game power-ups
New features such as time extenders, score multipliers and the “Hot Frog” speed mode
Additional information on friends’ in-game performance and status such as medals won, achievements earned at various point thresholds and experience level

Zuma Blitz joins Bejeweled Blitz as PopCap’s second full-fledged social game on Facebook. Bejeweled Blitz has attracted nearly 30 million users since its introduction 18 months ago, and more than 100 million sessions of the game are played each day by consumers worldwide.

More Addictive Casual Games by PopCap

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Bejeweled Blitz World Record

Shark Lady Games — Sat, 01 May 2010 10:51:45 +0000

Getting a high score on Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook is one thing – but this world record is something completely different.

PopCap games announced that a California steel contractor named Mike Leyde played a single round of Bejeweled 2, for 2,205 hours and 51 minutes over the course of three years.

In that time, he collected 4,872,229 gems, earning the game’s highest possible score, 2,147,483,647. Not only that – the score was apparently so high, that the score display got mad and went blank – maybe because it couldn’t take it anymore.

According to PopCap, Leyde is the first person to ever “beat” Bejeweled 2.

Here’s a video displaying his achievement:

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Gyromancer – The New Addictive Game on the Block?

Shark Lady Games — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:27:13 +0000

If you are into Bejeweled Blitz, you know how much time it rob of your life. If you love RPG games as well, you are in deep trouble, because here comes Gyromancer, a new addictive game from PopCap and Square Enix.

This game will be a combination of puzzle and role-playing games. Here is the official trailer:

The main character is a mage named Rivel who’ll have to work his way through more than 10 stages of puzzles, while collecting more than 50 different beasts to aid him in battle.

Gyromancer Features

- 12 Exhilarating Stages
- Addictive Puzzle Gameplay
- Deep RPG Leveling System
- More than 50 Monsters to use in Battle
- Online Leaderboard

Gyromancer will be released next week, on November 18th, as part of Wednesday’s Xbox LIVE Arcade game.

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Zuma’s Revenge is Out There

Shark Lady Games — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:04:42 +0000

If you are planning on having a life for the next few days, do not continue reading! Zuma’s Revenge, the sequel to the huge hit from PopCap – Zuma.

Zuma’s Revenge is a great and addictive casual game. It has tons of levels and it gets very challenging.

Survive a newly evolved world of Zuma, where evil tiki bosses rule the land! Conquer over 60 levels by firing stone spheres to make matches and destroy the deadly stream of balls, then take on six tiki boss battles and guide your agile amphibian to victory!

Fire spheres to make matches, destroy the deadly stream of balls, and battle six imposing bosses. Slide and hop for sharper shots, and score explosive power-ups. Will you succumb to the perilous pitfalls, or can you conquer this ball-blasting challenge?

Get Zuma’s Revenge NOW!

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Plants vs. Zombies

Shark Lady Games — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:36:42 +0000

Plants vs. Zombies

Another wonderful creation from PopCap games. This is a very addictive game, so be careful when you start it!

Get ready to soil your plants in Plants vs. Zombies, the all-new single player action-strategy game for both PC and Mac from PopCap. A mob of fun-loving zombies is about to invade your home, and your only defense is an arsenal of 49 zombie-zapping plants. Throughout the game’s four different play modes, and across its many levels players must use everything from peashooters and wall-nuts, to mushrooms, cherry bombs and more to mulchify 26 types of zombies before they can reach your front door.

Each zombie has its own special skills, so you’ll need to think fast and plant faster to combat them all. But be careful how you use your limited supply of greens and seeds… as you battle the fun-dead, obstacles like a setting sun, creeping fog and a swimming pool add to the challenge. And with five game modes to dig into, the fun never dies.

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Zuma’s Revenge Game Trailer

Shark Lady Games — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:28:38 +0000

Zuma is one of the most successful casual games ever.

PopCap is going to try to recreate the amazing success of the original Zuma, with Zuma’s Revenge. Let’s see if they can make it. In the mean time – here’s the trailer for the new Zuma game.