Zuma Blitz + Tips

So... at the start of Bejeweled Blitz, I managed to stumble upon Zuma Blitz. And it's just as addicting as Bejeweled Blitz. In fact, they imposed a limit on how many times you could play in a short period of time (represented as lives). That didn't stop me, however, from playing ~180 one minute games and reaching level 25 in a period of two days. Three months later, I reached lvl 80.

At the time I started the game, none of my friends have found out about this game, so I had a decent head start.

The game was in a beta state until they removed that status on January 25, 2012. They relaunched the game under the title "Krokatoa Island" featuring two additional powers, a reworked coin and XP system (not for the better), and the ability to use food.

The Gameplay

It's like Zuma, but you get only one minute (typically more than this). Basically it was one board, 60 seconds to get as many points as possible. The thing that kept me in for quite a while, however, was additional perks upon leveling up, such as Additional multipliers (at lvl 34 / 79), time balls (can extend your play time to well beyond two minutes) as well as the Double XP Potion (Level 12), I got to a million at around lvl 34 the first time through.

In the end, if you want a high score, playing fast isn't all that matters; you've got to play skillfully.

Playing through 2nd level of mastery, one year later

Gameplay Tips

I have found official tips to be of some value, but likewise, once my friends start to play this, they'll probably be asking me for some pointers, just like on Bejeweled Blitz. So here are my tips:

General Tips

• Go for multipliers first, then timer bonuses. If you are short on time, go for the timer ball. If necessary and possible, you may discard balls off the screen rapidly until you get a color that you need to get that bonus.
• If any bonus disappears, you can still get it if you destroy the ball that used to have the powerup.
• Either play fast or play strategically. Since additional points are rewarded based on both your chain bonus and how close you are to the red frog bonus, it's helpful to work fast.
• If you're fast enough, it's best to keep making matches until you get a red frog for curve clears, then when you have a high multiplier base, work on gap shots. The multipliers gained instead will more than make up the difference from those shots.
• If you're strategic, make sure you don't miss. Each ball that doesn't hit its intended target (either to set up a combo or hit a powerup) is costly and you might not get the correct ball you want for a while.
• As you approach the red frog bonus, the balls you fire will speed up significantly. The speed bonus will be preserved after you fire your hot frog shots.
• Gap shots are key to high scores, especially very close gaps. They typically add five (and sometimes six) digits to your score if pulled off right. You can set them up in a way to continuously do this. See this post on gapshots. Don't do this too early though - if you can't get to time / multiplier powerups easily, which could be anywhere on the board, it is usually not worth setting them up until around x5.
• On boards with lots of gap opportunities, don't be hasty into blasting every single ball right away - sometimes the best option is to wait until you can shoot two balls in a row and get a gap bonus on the second.
• Don't invest in ball-clearing powerups when going for gap shots, they kill these opportunities easily. Additionally they do not provide as many points.
• Go for fruit if possible. Hitting them won't break your chain bonus, and they are rewarding over time, especially with the Epic Fruit power.
• If you hit a time bonus via a combo when the timer is up, you get a huge 'consolation bonus'. Same goes with remaining in Hot Frog when time is up, as well as in Cannon Mode (though you get significantly less points in this case)
• XP points are based only on curve clears / hot frog / fruit / gaps / extra time, which is discussed in the level up table.
• Red Frog + Cannon Shot = three explosion balls.
• The red frog meter takes 18 ball matches to fill up (15 with Ignition Sauce). If you wait more than a second between matches, it will start decreasing slowly.
• Try playing with no sound; it can help you concentrate better during the last 15 seconds of the game. Not looking at your score counter either until after the game also helps.
• Keep playing for XP. For returning players, they're essential to giving you coins... and that's about it. (Also, for new players, leveling up gives you better powers to earn more points easily and dominate the board.) A near comprehensive list is listed on this post.

• And one more thing... SHARE. Every daily spin, spirit animal promotion, monument, high scores (this includes a high score of zero) - each has the potential of giving others 1k in coins. TIP: If you've got lots of extra lives, at the start of a new week, start a new game (no powers), immediately quit the game, and you can share your high score of zero to others for the sole purpose of giving others coins. Repeat as many times as FB will allow.
• Also, collecting other friend's feeds might help too. Link to filter only Zuma Blitz posts

List of Levels

This is a comprehensive listing of all Zuma Blitz Kroakatoa levels since its release (Sept 23, 2012). A list of classic Zuma Blitz levels can be found here.

See also: Current High Scores.

Supply Drops: A supply drop of one power and food item will be released each week, and will be publicly available upon final approval of Popcap. Until then, it will display what the daily gifts were for that week. They will be highlighted green if they are collectible and you haven't collected them yet. All goods are provided 'as is'.

On the other hand, there is the daily gift that you can send to other players...

• Scores with links contain actual video proof of that particular score. Powers that were used in that game will be displayed if info is available. Most board screenshots show the best way to get high scores on that board.
• Board Specific Tips / Video replays are highlighted in green/blue text. Board changes every Tue 4PM PST.

Level Image	Level Name	Introduced	Recordholder	Supply Drop
	Eagle Eyes	September 18, 2012	Radek Domański 14,888,200 (Fixed Gap Scoring) Jerome Ooi 37,021,980 (Old Gap Scoring)	None
	Journey to Kroakatoa	September 25, 2012	Jerome Ooi 173,110,520 (Old Gap Scoring)	Candy Lei (x20) Warp Ball (x20)
	Bronze Board	October 2, 2012	John Chan 17,060,870	Gapple Sauce (x20) Epic Fruit (x20)
	Crab Board	October 9, 2012	黃柏雯 11,743,060	Kiwi Kebab (x20) Wild Shot (x20)
	Roots Board	October 16, 2012	Brendan Chan 17,055,010	Neil's Strongarm (x20) Inferno Frog (x20)
	Platter Board	October 23, 2012	Brendan Chan 12,528,010	Curvy Fries (x20) Epic Fruit (x20)
	Halloween Board	October 30, 2012	Brendan Chan 12,592,900	Combo Corn (x5) Sticky Apple
	Hot Springs Board	November 7, 2012	Tle Athimon 15,181,410	None
	Gold Mine Board	November 13, 2012	John Chan 18,941,330	4000 Coins Gapple Sauce Hog Wild Sliders Hasty Pudding 10x Bombs Hog Wild Sliders
	Thanksgiving Board	November 20, 2012	Brendan Chan 10,311,070	10 Pound Turkey (5x) Canned Cran Blast (5x) Whipped Taters (5x) Hasty Pudding Kroakatoa Wave Key Lime Pie The Last Bite Candy Lei Smokin Hot Links
	Clockwork Board	November 27, 2012	Brendan Chan 15,949,090	Kiwi Kebab Animal Crackers Pyro Popcorn Igntion Sauce 1x Bomb Gapple Sauce Hog Wild Sliders
	Sea Turtles Board	December 4, 2012	Suzanne Freeman 13,989,460	Spirit Turtle 50k coins Hasty Pudding Kroakatoa Wave
	Reef Madness	December 11, 2012	Bembenk Flash 12,028,710	Nothing
	Winter Board	December 18, 2012	Brian Santiago 15,191,480	3x Christmas Cake 3x Candy Spin 10k coins
	Christmas Board	December 25, 2012	Suzanne Freeman 17,416,250
	Lava Board	January 1, 2012	Marío Herní 15,838,890
	Gold Board	January 22, 2012	Brendan Chan 22,123,240
	Fireflies Board	January 29, 2012	César Bobadilla 13,277,010
	Heartwood Board	February 12, 2012	Brendan Chan 22,838,800
	Shamrock Board	March 12, 2013	Bembenk Flash 29,054,030
	Progressive Board	March 19, 2013	TBA > 27.9 million
	Major Mouthful	July 2, 2013	Suzanne Freeman 36,891,850
	Zulu Bravado	July 16, 2013	Radek Domanski 40,338,750
	Dig It!	November 5, 2013	Savas Topal 35,519,730

Questions or comments?

Questions here will be either answered on future posts, or can be answered by another reader's comment here.

Answered: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Revision: Oct 2012 (First version posted in Dec 2010)

Zuma Blitz on The Other Side
General	Level Up Table · Scoring Mechanics · General Tips · Questions Part 1 · Questions Part 2 (Gapshots FTW) · Questions Part 3
Levels	(See above table)
Video Examples	Playthrough: 1200k · 2 million at lvl 33 · 4.7m on Above and Below · 10m Technical Demonstration · 4 Million (90 Degree Nightmare) · Beach Ball - 6.1M at lvl 67 (most points per second record)
Articles	Detailed Point Breakdown · Death by Curve Clear · Game Recording · Malware Issues · 2x or 3x Mojo? · Double Gaps - Sliding Gaps · On Mastery Mode · Multiplier Powerup Frequency Study · Triple Rollout Board (beta) - The Other Zuma Blitz Guide (completed, pdf) · Making the most out of Fortune Cookies