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The New Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook: Review, Tips & Tricks

Shark Lady Games — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:06:45 +0000

After a lot of promos and quite a wait – it’s here. No, I’m not talking about the new iPad. Who cares about that?! What I mean, of course, it the new and improved Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.

What’s new on Bejeweled Blitz?

Bejeweled Blitz now presents a new big feature – Boosts. These are five different upgrades you can “buy” with virtual coins you collect during gameplay.

The game is still played as we all know it – you have one minute, align the gems, create chain reactions and get special power-up gems.

The new Blitz, though, now presents you with coins – they appear as a yellow gem and have the number 100 written on them. If you align 2 yellow gems and a coin – you get 100 coins for future Boost purchases. These coins appear randomly throughout the game, and at the end of the game you also get 1 coin for each multiplier you’ve collected.

The Boosts

There are 5 different boosts you can buy on the new Bejeweled Blitz. Each gives you different bonuses or upgrades, and each also has a different cost.

Detonator (2,500 coins) – This boost will detonate all power gems on the board – so you don’t have to align them yourself.

Scrambler (3,500 coins) – This boost can be used twice per game, and will scramble the board. Useful for when you have no good moves and need a fresh start.

+5 Seconds (5,000 coins) – Adds 5 seconds to the game, so you get to play 65 seconds.

Mystery Gem (5,500 coins) – A cool boost for gamblers. This gives you a random power gem at the beginning of the game.

Free Multiplier (7,500 coins) – No wonder this boost is the most expensive – it will give you a X2 multiplier right at the start of the game. This greatly increases your chances to get a higher score.

Even More Medals

If you already filled up all your medal bars and reached Gold Level on all scores, the new Bejeweled Blitz presents you with new challenges. There are now medals for 300K points, 350K, 400K, 450K and even 500K points. If you are the competitive type, this is sure to keep you busy for a while. Here you can read a guide for getting a high score in Bejeweled Blitz.

It seems that PopCap assumes that you can reach higher scores in the new Blitz, because of the boosts. So, start clicking away and see if they’re right.

Higher Scores, More Addiction

It’s clear that the new Bejeweled Blitz was designed to make it more addictive. The ability to get upgrades via the coins, will make you come back more often. The new medals are also guaranteed to make the more competitive players try harder and waste more minutes (and hours) in order to get higher scores and all the possible medals.

The New Bejeweled Blitz – Tips, Tricks and Strategy

The basics are the same – if you are looking to score big on Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook, you still need to work fast and make use of your 60 (or 65) seconds. Here’s a guide for scoring big on Bejeweled Blitz.
Boosts X3 – when you buy a boost, you actually get it for 3 rounds. You can have up to three boosts active at any time.
The Best Boost – the Free Multiplier boost is obviously the best one. It gives you a X2 right at the beginning, and if you can activate it right away, you won’t even need the 10 seconds rule.
The Best Boost Combo – that would be a Free Multiplier, Mystery Gem and Detonator. You can also switch the Mystery Gem with +5 Seconds.
Don’t chase the coins – all the coins that are left on the board are added to your total at the end of the game. If you can get them easily – that’s great, but don’t go out of your way to collect them, even though they can be a bit distracting.
Multipliers are still the key – not only for the game itself, but for the boosts as well – each multiplier grants you a coin at the end of the game.

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Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook: A High Score Guide

Shark Lady Games — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:21:42 +0000

Bejeweled Blitz – Intro

Bejeweled Blitz is one of the most popular games on Facebook. Currently, over 8.5 million users play it monthly. The purpose of the game is to score as many points as possible – in the time frame of one minute. This is a special version of the original Bejeweled by PopCap. As with most PopCap games, Bejeweled Blitz is tons of fun, full of effects, colors and options, and mainly – very addictive. If you have been playing Bejeweled Blitz for a while now, and want to better your game, here’s a few tips and tricks on how to get that high-score. This post isn’t for those “playing just for fun” – it’s a strategy guide for scoring 300K points and more, and being the first among your Facebook friends.

My personal all-time best score on Bejeweled Blitz is 476,950 and here’s the screenshot to prove it (click to enlarge). How did I do it? A bit of luck, a bit of patience and some important things to remember:

Bejeweled Blitz – The 10 Seconds Rule

The most important gem on the game is the multiplier gem. Without it, you can’t get really high scores. You have to reach a multiplier of 4 for a decent game, and a multiplier of 6-7 or more for a great game. This means your game centers around the multipliers. And here’s the simple rule – if you don’t get the first multiplier in the first 10 seconds of the game – it’s not going to be a good game. So, abort and restart. Basically, since you have only 60 seconds in the game, you have to nail a multiplier every 10 seconds or less. It won’t happen every game, and that’s why you don’t need to spend time on games that are doomed to be low-scoring from the get go. You can continue playing if you need the practice – but otherwise, there’s no reason to waste time on mediocre games.

Multiplier gems appear when you make 12 gems or more disappear in one swipe. This can happen through chain reactions or multiple explosions of fire gems. If the board is weak, and you are not getting a lot of fire gems or chain reactions, you need to consider restarting the game. When a multiplier appears – do everything you can to get it. It’s your top priority.

Work Fast

This might seem obvious, but what you are really aiming here is Blazing Speed. This mode is not easy to achieve, but once you reach it, every move you make created explosions and destroys many gems. If you are already in a multiplier of 5-6 – it’s a great score boost.

Play at the Bottom

Chain reactions are more likely to happen if you work at the bottom of the screen. Concentrate your attention there, and go to the top of the screen only when you don’t have any more options at the bottom. A board that has no bottom moves right from the start is likely to produce a mediocre game – so skip it and restart.

Use Hints

Even skilled players, playing regular 250K games, night find themselves stuck for a few seconds. Since you don’t have much time on Bejeweled, getting stuck is a bad idea. If you don’t find your next move real quick, get a hint. It’ll get you going again and save you a few distracting seconds of searching for the next move. Of course, if all you do is get hints, this might not be the best of games, and you might wanna restart.

Kill the Sounds

There’s a bit of a debate about this, and of course each player has their own taste and preferences. Should you turn off the sound on Bejeweled? I say YES – I scored my best games while playing on mute, or listening to music or the TV. It’s good not to hear the annoying sound of the last 15 seconds, and avoid the distracting sounds of the gems blowing up and the narrator telling you how SPECTACULAR you are.

Kill the Firegems

Don’t wait or save the bonus gems. The second you get a chance – blow them up. If there are few firegems grouped together, it’s even more important to destroy them, because they can give you a multiplier.

Don’t Wait for the Gems

This is a nice feature in Facebook’s Bejeweled – you don’t have to wait for your move to finish, in order to start the next swipe. So, don’t wait for the gems and just keep swiping, as fast as you can. Remember – work mainly at the bottom of the screen, get the multipliers and try to achieve Blazing Speed.

Don’t Wait for the Go

You can actually start playing before the announcer says “GO”. Try it out – it gives you a few more seconds of game time.

Good Luck!