Zuma Blitz: Double Gap Challenge

Since I've covered this board in a previous post I've decided to make a new challenge of obtaining as many double gap shots as possible.

Double Gap Strat: Place a ball or two near the end of one track and do gap shots on the other track as normal.

Playthrough: Hack Slash Crawl

I could do this all day. (and get more than 10+ million hs while at it, if I had more time.)

Hack Slash Crawl: A game that gets its name from Hack and Slash / Dungeon Crawl, and the game plays like Diablo II.

High Score? Werewolf + Figher for Strength / Stanima boosts. When leveling up go all Stanima and later on Strength. Spells are useful in early levels but are particularly useless later on, with the exception of Charm (can save you from death) and Crit Hit. *Charm actually converts enemies to your side for a few seconds, which means you can either run or fight fewer enemies.

Keep upgrading your equipment as you go along, and battle only one ice knight at a time (the only real thing that can kill you). Once you get over 100 ice resistance, there's no way to lose unless you try, so go for any score you feel like. (Note there isn't a shop in the game, but if there was one, the loot dropped at this point is probably a lot better than in the shop.)

Oh, and at around 50 or so levels down, you level up every 10 monsters killed. Have fun.

Lazer Tag, Blue Side

And suddenly, there's the idea of getting some pics inside the Zaps Zone laser tag arena itself and making a fps-like image.

This might give me some idea on how to model one of my art design works (Imma Firin My Lazors).

That One Iron Frog Board

Dr. Mojo said that there would be a few corners and two tracks... he didn't say however that this week's board was a modified Iron Frog board.

TIP: It's hard to get gap shots here without risking death, so unless you're very skilled, explosive powerups would be better off here to get curve clears. But after finding out the points gained from that is relative to how long you've been playing in the current game, and that balls move slightly faster with each curve clear, you might want to wait until the last 30 seconds or so before doing them.

If you do decide to do gap shots, let the inner ring fill up to around 3/4 of the track and try to make gap shots from there.

Overall, it's either you set them up correctly and get lucky with the ball order or you don't and get low scores.

Oh, and I don't have a vid to prove I got that many points, so here's a score breakdown instead. (Note the recently added 'more' tab which actually gives you an accurate score breakdown.)

Unrelated: At this point (lvl 56) I have gotten a gold Goat Sprit Animal.

(Sorry, no video this week due to the rising bandwidth caused by more people visiting than originally expected. May put a vid up once every other week.)

Third Round of Questions

These are questions that have been moved from the level up table because the discussion there became too long. As well as providing a explanation to common problems that people search for.

Sometimes when you click the out of life you get to flip the coin. Any idea how often the coin flip comes up or have you figured out a pattern?

It should be 50/50 according to many users however I have not done enough to tell. It can only be done once a day, however. (Note that when you flip the coin, if it's the first time you hit a skull (no revive) your first life restore is free* but is 15 idols afterward.

how/where do i use idols to buy treasure or powers early?

A bit ambiguous on the treasure part.

Powers: Go to powers and click on the power you want to unlock.
Treasure (slots): Hit a treasure chest and at the end of the game while it's still spinning, click on one of the locked slots to unlock.
Treasure (mojo): Click on Store and buy some there.

NOTE: They will still be unlocked the next time you go through mastery.

Questions related to slow leveling?

The XP bar on the top right is an approximate percent, not an exact one. The approximate number of games to play to advance one level is a bit more to your current level. (ex. I'm at level 70, it takes around 80 games to level up. every 4 of 5 games I play it goes up by 1 percent.)

To determine how much percent XP you earn in one game, take your current level, multiply by 4, and divide your XP earned by that number. Round up / down to see what XP you get. From the above example, 350/280 = 1.25, so you will earn either 1 or 2 %.

What do the spirit animals do for you if anything, as you upgrade them?

They're just trophies, like star medals from bejeweled blitz. They are sharable for 2,500 mojo however.

what are the locks in the shop?

Placeholders. They're probably more special abilities in the shop that might be in a future release of the game.

Added by BlueViper02: There is nothing behind the locks :) That's just generic coding. The shop is controlled via an xml file, so they can add/remove/rearrange items without coding. Not saying they won't add something, though I can't think of what it could be.

Don't want name on right side?

Also known as the game bar, where it tells you who is playing which game. If you hover over the post saying that you're playing a certain game, a small 'x' will pop up on the right hand side. a small window will pop up left to it, with a square on the top-right of that window when you hover over it. You can choose to remove the post or not show anyone that you're playing the app.

Full Screen?

Possible, but NOT recommended until they optimize it, since you will experience severe lag on almost any pre-built consumer PC. If you still wish to do so though, you can (at least on firefox and the latest version of IE) zoom in until you notice part of the game is missing. Please not that the quality of visuals (except text) will not improve.

Slow Game?

It's probably more computer-spec than browser problem. It's GPU and CPU consuming, so anything less than a 2-core processor (under 2 Ghz) will very likely receive lag. As well as any integrated video card.

Locked Items in Shop

There's nothing behind those locks (for 9+ months), would you prefer them to be blank spaces instead?

10000 spirit animals?

What appears at the end of the game when you get a high score and it falls into an score bracket which you have a gold animal (ex getting 2+ million with a gold Quetzalcoatl). The value actually is 1000000 (one million) not 10,000 so don't expect to pass it.

Best Powers?

Multiplier / Time balls are a must. The third is depending on what you aim for: Epic Fruit (if fruit is easy to reach), Hot Frog (If curves can be cleared easily) or Warp Speed (If you find it hard to get double gaps). Personally I have tried games without a multiplier but it never seems to get high scores.

Level Up Cap Increase?

(in my opinion) Balance issues - the way the powers were introduced were specifically designed for a lvl-80 layout - by increasing it, you'd have to introduce powers or upgrades superior to lvl 70ish stuff, other powerups introduced might not be suitable on that lvl, etc.

But if we restructure the leveling up process (give upgrades at different levels) users will have no idea what powerups they have available - first they have timelord, now they don't. The only solution at that point is to either reset everyone's level to 1 and compensate levels gained with mojo/idols or introduce the 100 lvl cap on the next level of mastery.

Extra Permissions

Occurred in January 2012 with the merge to EA. It basically allows the game to publish new high scores / achievements onto the game ticker (which hasn't been implemented right now). You can't remove this permission but you can limit who sees these posts under App Settings.

Zuma Blitz Board Flipped

Playthrough @ Level 52 with Chrono Balls + Sun Frog + Tiki Bombs boosts. 5 Hot Frogs / 8 Curve Clears. Total score: 1,222,380

Well it looks like I've seen this board before... but it's flipped and has a new background. I don't want to do a video demo in the same way as I did last time (gapshot), so I decided to try a red frog / curve clear method combined with sheer speed.

TIP: Using hot frog a lot is a viable option here. Due to the size of the playing field, three well-placed explosions should wipe out an entire curve (and maybe both curves with a fully upgraded Inferno Frog).

See this playthrough for an idea of how to get a high score on this board using gapshot methods.

Zuma Blitz Scoring Mechanics

Note: The following information has been updated for the new island. This is a brief summary for each scoring mechanic - For a detailed breakdown of each one with definitions, please see the Scoring Mechanics Guide.

See Scoring Mechanics (Classic) for the mechanics pertaining to the old island (historical reference only)

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Want to know where all of those points are coming from? Look no further.

Note: For all values mentioned below, this is on a frog without food or powers equipped, before multiplier is calculated. Also indicates the total score bonus if only that food (or power) is equipped. Does not include drinks.

Mechanic	Score
Basic Matching	10 per ball
Speed Bonus	+10 per match in quick succession, up to +120 With Speed Shot I: +13 per match, up to +156 With Speed Shot II: +26 per match, up to +312 With Speed Shot III: +35 per match, up to +420 With Spirit Turtle: +20 per match, up to +240 (can stack with speed shot for a total of +40/480 effect) Total speed bonus multiplied by number of balls cleared in a single match
Combos	1000 for 1st combo, 2000 for 2nd, etc. With Combo Corn: 1150 for 1st combo, 2300 for 2nd, etc.
Chain Bonus	110 at 6 chain, 120 at 7 chain, etc. 500 bonus at x10 chain, 750 at x15 chain, etc. With Hasty Pudding: 750 bonus at x10 chain, 1100 at x15 chain, etc. With Cookie Chain: 1000 bonus at x10 chain, 1500 at x15 chain, etc.
Hot Frog	1000 +100 per ball destroyed With Ignition Sauce: 1500 +200 per ball destroyed With Blue Velvet Cupcake: 1200 +150 per ball destroyed
Gap Bonus	9450 for 2 ball gap, -1100 per additional ball gap width, max gap score 11,000 With Gapple Sauce: max gap score 14,000
Fruit	3000 +50% each fruit collected, cumulative (max 22,800 per fruit) With Kiwi Kebab: 3750 +50% each fruit collected, cumulative (max 28,500 per fruit) With Spirit Eagle: 6000 +50% each fruit collected, cumulative (max 45,600 per fruit)
Curve Clear	1000 +100 per second elapsed in-game With Curvy Fries: 1500 +100 per second elapsed in-game
Consolation Bonus	1000 when Cannon is active, a lot more for Hot Frog / Time Balls (relative to score)
Bomb / Chain Blast / Cannon	10 per ball destroyed With Spirit Weasel: 400 per ball destroyed with Cannon With Canned Cran Blast: 500 per Chain Blast
Color Nuke	10 +50 per ball destroyed With Gummi Nukes: 500 +50 per ball destroyed
Wild Shot	+50 on match
Last Hurrah	+1000 per powerup, +100 per ball destroyed With The Last Bite: Additional 10,000 per powerup and +1000 per ball destroyed
Monuments	+7500 +250 per blue ball (Spirit Cat) +7500 +250 per red ball (Spirit Beetle) +7500 +250 per purple ball (Spirit Turtle) +15000 +500 per yellow ball (Spirit Weasel) +9500 +800 per green ball (Spirit Eagle) With Animal Crackers: Additional 750 +25 per ball from Spirit Blast

Comments

They pertain to the Classic version of the game so it will most likely not be relevant.

Zuma Blitz Scoring Mechanics (Classic)

NOTE: For historical purposes only

Putting this up as a reference sheet in order to figure out how to get the best score.

Note: The following information has been left 'as is' for archive purposes, and only applies for the old island. See Scoring Mechanics (Kroakatoa) for the mechanics pertaining to the new island.

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WARNING: Very technical stuff ahead, and it's a bit long / detailed as well.

For all values mentioned below, this is before the multiplier is calculated.

Basic Matching:

Matched balls are worth 10-130 points each (as in per ball destroyed), depending on how far the red frog meter is filled at the time the ball was launched. (If it's more than three quarters full, it's 130 points.) Matching a time ball will add an additional 100 points. *this is similar to the speed bonus in Bejeweled Blitz

If you're very early in the game or reset and didn't unlock hot frog yet, you only get 10 points per ball since the speed bonus is directly tied to the hog frog meter.

Combo Bonus:

Occurs when a match is made which makes another match (or more) when the balls slide together. The 2nd match made from the 1st gives a bonus of 1000 points, the third 2000, the fourth 3000, and so on. The number of points that would normally be gained from a match (as mentioned above) is also added to this total.

Chain Bonus:

The bonus for the 6th shot in a row would be 200, the 7th would be 210, the 8th would be 220, and so on. (Combo Bonuses do not add to a chain bonus.)

There is a assumption by many people that chains can maximize your score. While this is true in previous Zuma games (after 50x chain it's worth more than a gap shot), you'll need to reach 980x chain in Zuma Blitz to do the same (which is by far impossible in any game).

Gap Bonus:

The Gap bonus ranges from 100 to 10000 points. Score gained is proportional to the gap size in a linear fashion as shown below.

If your first match created a gap and your next shot goes through that gap and makes a match within a second after firing your previous shot, it's almost guaranteed to be 10,000 points, regardless of gap size.

In the event of a double gap (or higher) the gap size / score is determined by the smallest gap the ball went through, and is multiplied by the number of gaps it passed through.

Gap Size    Points
(in balls)
10+         100
9           120
8           1320
7           2520
6           3720
5           4920
4           6120
3           7320
2           8520
1.5         9120 (you need to fire the ball at just the right angle!)

Of course, the game doesn't always register each gap shot as one...

Wait, what?

Consolation Bonus:

This occurs if a time bonus ball is matched (due to firing it or combo) after time is called. All balls within a four-ball radius of the time ball are destroyed, and you gain 500 per ball destroyed + 1000 per time ball collected in that game.

This was revised sometime in September 2011 so it does not destroy nearby balls and only awards 5000 points.

Curve Clear Bonus:

This occurs when a curve is completely cleared, in which case balls will (but not always) rapidly come back up. The bonus is 2000 + 100 per second that elapsed from the start of the game when you made the curve clear. (Note: The elapsed time in-game is not visible, so in short, the longer you've been playing in the game, the faster the balls will move, and the more points you get for a clear.)

Fruit Bonus:

The fruit bonus score value is on the right side.

To be more specific, each fruit has a base score value (3,000 when first unlocked, 5,100 at lvl 72+). the 1st fruit you hit is worth 100% of its base value, the 2nd, 150%, the third, 200%, the fourth 250%, and every fruit hit after that is worth 300% of its base value. (max of 137,700 points)

If playing as a Spirit Eagle (via a Monument) the base fruit score is raised by 2,000 (this means 5,000 when first unlocked, 8,500 at lvl 72). Provided that you gather all the multipliers and hit each fruit as it comes out, you should be getting a whopping 229,500 points(!) per fruit by the two minute mark at lvl 80.

Bombs

Any balls destroyed in the blast are worth 10-130 points each depending on how far the red frog meter was filled up, with 130 being a bit over the halfway mark.

Red Frog:

The explosion destroys nearby balls giving a base score of 2000 points plus 100 points per ball destroyed in the blast.

Last Hurrah:

This explodes all powerups on the board + surrounding balls, giving a base score of 1000 points for each explosion plus 100 points per ball destroyed in the last hurrah blasts. These points are doubled with the a Mega Hurrah powerup.

Cannon Shot:

10 points per ball destroyed. Unlike other explosions / matches where the game tells you how many points you earned on that shot, the game doesn't do this when you fire a cannon shot.

If playing as a Spirit Weasel (via a Monument) any balls that cannons destroy are worth 410 points.

Critical Hit:

Critical hit doubles the amount of points that you would make on a single shot. The chance of getting a critical, however, depends on your level (around 10% on Level 80). The September 30, 2011 version of Zuma Blitz had a bug which set the bonus to 1x of a normal shot, but was patched the next board change.

Monuments

Spirit Cat awards 250 per blue ball remaining + 7,500 points from Cat-astrophic Spirit Blast.

Spirit Beetle awards 250 per red ball remaining + 7,500 points from Beetle-ful Spirit Blast.

Spirit Weasel awards 500 per yellow ball remaining + 15,000 points from Weasel-icous Spirit Blast.

Spirit Weasel awards 800 per green ball remaining + 9,500 points from Eagle-tastic Spirit Blast.

Multipliers:

If a match is made containing a multiplier, the multiplier is added, then the score is added factoring in the new multiplier.

(Ball) Curve Speed:

Balls go 66% faster when they are close to the beginning of the curve, and 66% slower when you're in danger of losing. Balls come out at a rate of 3 ball widths per 2 seconds, but speed increases by 50% each minute in the game. * Not a score mechanic but something worth nothing.

Comments

View and post comments here.

Zuma Blitz: Double Danger

Board: Double Danger (name on Zuma's Revenge), Week 2's Board on Zuma Blitz
Playthrough @ Level 47 with Chrono Balls + Multiplier Boosts. Total score: 1,497,040.

Anyways, my break's over and back at school, so there's not much to blog about. But there's a new board. (And I learned the hard way - scores are not saved past 1.5 million at my level (47) so I went for anything but over that.)

TIP: This board has a much larger opportunity to make gap shots. Let the balls come past the middle on the second row on one side for best results.

Fun Fact: I have done a triple gap on this board at least once.

That One Zuma Blitz Board

Playthrough @ Level 44 with Chrono Balls + Multiplier Boosts. Total score: 1,206,880.

EDIT: Newer playthrough video uploaded with at least a 1 million score.

First Zuma Blitz board change of the year. (and a new tourney, but I find this insignificant since I don't have any competition anymore.)

IMO this is a ridiculously hard board. It's very difficult to get a million on this one. Getting lower scores than average with two of the best powerups makes me feel like a noob. (Don't worry, a lot of people are getting lower scores on average than usual.)

Tip: (as an extension to the tip given on the Zuma Blitz FB Page). In addition to the multiplier / extra time powerups, use bomb / ball clearing powerups for inexperienced gap shot players. For experienced players, however, the gap shot works quite well, although there's a different method for doing it on this board.

Let the balls reach the area where the orange zone is (picture below). Clear some balls in the green zone and then the orange zone, then rapid fire balls through the resulting gap for many gap / double gap shots (again matching balls in the green region to buy you more time before the gap closes). This is my key to success this week.

New Year, New China

It's the new year, and this will be my first post of the year, as I promised.

New China

It's a Chinese restaurant in Manteca, California. Not just any old restaurant, but a very good one. With great food, great service, and nice atmosphere, you can really tell by the amount of detail they put into the decor and food.

Personal recommendations: Crab Rangoon (there's cream cheese as stuffing), and Garlic Fried Chicken (boneless). Chicken in Foil is very delicious as well.

Directions?

1437 West Yosemite Ave, Manteca, CA. More info? See this link. Anyways, go for it. You gotta try it.