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NOT ONLINE Sholly73

Sholly73 has been a member since 11/9/05 and was last logged in on 10/2/18

SHOLLY'S TIP SHEETS, CHAPTER XV: Zuma 9/5/08 5:22 PM

Ah, the little stone frog. The origin of the shoot-3 genre finally makes it to King. If you've played Luxor, you already have a good idea how to play Zuma. For that reason, this Tip Sheet will make many comparisons between Zuma and Luxor, just so you know.

Zuma is a creation of PopCap games, the people who brought us Bejeweled and several other casual game hits. Zuma is five years old this year, and in that time, has inspired several other games in this new genre; games like Tumblebugs, Sparkle, and the best known of the bunch, Luxor. The idea is simple: Shoot colored balls into the oncoming line of balls to prevent them from reaching the end of the track.

Though it's faithful to the retail version in many ways, including using boards from the retail game, King.com Zuma has several differences, which will be discussed in more detail as we go along.

King.com's version of Zuma is four levels long. You control the stone frog, which rotates and fires colored balls, but doesn't move from its original position. Put the pointer where you want to shoot, and click to fire. The color of the next ball available appears on the back of the frog's head; if you'd rather fire that one next instead of the one in the frog's mouth, press the space bar to switch them. A continuous string of colored balls appears from the entrance (usually off screen, except on the Zumaic Exodus stage), or entrances, on two-track boards. You must prevent these balls from reaching the skull at the end of the track, by firing colored balls into the line and making groups of three or more of the same color. Keep collecting points by removing balls and hitting coins until you fill the progress meter, then eliminate the rest of the balls to complete the level before time runs out. You have one minute to finish the first level, 1:20 for Level 2, 1:40 for Level 3, and two minutes for the last level. The first two levels contain red, yellow, blue and green balls; purple is added in Level 3, and white in Level 4, for a total of six colors.

Each ball you shoot will travel in the direction shot until it hits another ball or leaves the screen. If it hits another ball, it will stick and be added to the line, which will push the balls ahead of it forward a bit if there's no empty space in the line. If the fired ball creates a group of three or more of the same color, the entire group will be removed and the progress bar will fill a bit. Whenever a gap is formed in the line, the balls ahead of the gap will stop moving until the balls behind reach them, unless the balls on either side of the gap are the same color, in which case the group in front will be pulled back to close the gap. If this pull-back creates another group of three or more, it will be removed as well, and will knock the rear group back a bit farther. This will continue as long as the balls on either side of a gap in the line are the same color, which is a very important strategic point that will be discussed later.

You have a few power-ups to help you get through the line. The power-ups are similar to the equivalent power-ups in Luxor, but unlike Luxor, the power-ups in Zuma appear on the balls themselves, and are activated by forming a group containing that ball, if hit before the power-up disappears. There are three kinds of power-ups in Zuma (the Slowdown Ball didn't make it to the King version): The Accuracy Ball, which speeds up your shots and shoots a ray of light out from the frog's mouth to show you where your shot will go; the Backwards Ball, which will reverse the line for a few seconds, starting with the forward-most balls; and the Explosion Ball, which will destroy a circular area of balls around it when it's removed. Unlike the retail version, the Explosion Ball will NOT activate any other power-up balls caught in its blast radius; those power-ups are lost. Oh, and the Backwards Ball will only reverse the line of balls on the track it's on; on two-track boards, the other line will continue to move normally.

In each level, you must fill the progress meter in the upper right to complete the level; once you do, the meter will turn green, you'll hear the game shout "ZUMA!" and no more new balls will be generated. You still have to remove the remaining balls on the screen to finish the level. You fill the meter by scoring points--I don't know exactly how many points it takes, but you score by removing balls and hitting coins, which will appear every now and then in various spots on the board. Coins usually appear in areas that require you to make a gap in the line first, then shoot a ball through it.

You play through four levels this way, or until you run out of time on a level or a line of balls reaches the skull. As the balls get closer to the skull, its mouth will open as a warning. It takes very little contact with the open mouth to suck the balls in and end your game, so be very careful when the balls get close. Also, if the timer drops to 15 seconds, it will begin to pulse in the upper left as a warning. In both of these circumstances, you'll also hear a warning heartbeat, which will get faster as you get closer to dying.

All of the boards from the retail version of Zuma (except Space) have been incorporated into the King.com version. Each board has been assigned to a "level pool", meaning that it will only appear in one particular level of a game. This is a listing of all the boards that appear, in roughly increasing order of difficulty. The board names don't appear on the screen in King.com Zuma, but you can look them up if you have the retail version, and in case you don't, I've provided a brief description of what it looks like so that you'll know it when you see it. Without further ado, here's the board list:

LEVEL 1: The following boards will only ever appear in Level 1 of your game, listed from easiest (for me) to most difficult
Zumaic Exodus (reverse spiral, with balls coming out from the center toward the skull in the bottom left)
Spiral of Doom (circular spiral)
When Spirals Attack (an oval-shaped spiral)
Osprey Talon (shaped like a giant letter C)
Switchback (somewhat resembles a giant number 3)
Riverbed Mosaic (looks like the head of a serpent or a golf club)

LEVEL 2: You'll get one of these boards, listed in roughly increasing difficulty
Breath of Ehecatl (balls start at lower right, move across the bottom to the upper left, then turn around and spiral the other way)
Mouth of Centeotl (looks like a giant letter U, or a mouth...duh)
Landing Pad (a sort of triangular spiral)
Long Range (another giant C, but you have to shoot the balls all the way across the screen)
Rorschach (balls start at the top right, move down to the bottom right, come back across the top to the bottom left, then spiral toward the bottom center)

LEVEL 3: Board selection, again from easiest to toughest
Altar of Tlaloc (red background, balls start at upper left, circle the board passing under the original path, circle around again to the upper right, where they go under the path again and circle back the other way)
Codex of Mixtec (squared-off board, balls move from upper right to upper left, then double back and trace a rectangular path around the bottom portion of the screen)
Snake Pit (Level 3's only two-track board--not hard if you don't let it get out of hand)
Sand Garden (balls come from the upper right straight at you, then circle around the board with an S curve at the end, partly in a tunnel)
Mud Slide (balls come from the upper right straight across to the middle left, then loop around--the initial straight path is beneath the loop, making the line hard to hit at the beginning, which is what makes this board so difficult)

LEVEL 4: Finish it off with one of these, if you can
Sun Stone (balls travel around 2½ ovals--rather easy board if you keep it under control)
Lair of the Mud Snake (looks kinda like a beak stretching across the board)
Shrine of Quetzalcoatl (another somewhat squared-off board, with a dark beige-ish background)
Mirror Serpent (two-track board on a reddish background)
Dark Vortex (two tracks, two intertwined spirals--easily the hardest board in the game. I seldom finish this one in time)

Let's talk about how you get those points:

Every shot that removes balls is worth 10 points for each ball removed.
A combo, which is formed when a single shot causes multiple groups to be pulled back and removed, is worth 100 points for the first pull-back, with each subsequent pull-back worth 100 more than the last.
A chain, which occurs when consecutive shots each remove a group of balls, is worth bonus points once you reach five in a row. If the next shot scores, 100 bonus is awarded, with each successive scoring shot worth 10 more than the last.
Note on combos and chains: The meaning of these two terms is reversed from Luxor. Keep this in mind if you're comparing notes.
Gap bonus is awarded when you shoot a ball through a hole in the line and remove a group on the other side. This is worth anywhere from 10 to 500 points; the smaller the gap the ball goes through, the bigger the bonus. Note that multiple gap bonuses are possible, if the ball goes through two or more gaps; in this case, the biggest of the gap bonuses is multiplied by the number of gaps.
Coins are worth 500 points.
If you complete a level, you receive distance and time bonus. 100 points Distance Bonus is awarded for every 60 pixels the last (farthest ahead) ball cleared is from the skull. Time Bonus is 10,000 points times the percentage of time remaining.

I normally score between 45-50K in a game, but if my reflexes and accuracy are on, I can often break 50K.

Now, let's talk about how you too can break 50K:

The most critical part of scoring well in Zuma is the Distance and Time Bonuses. Yeah, combos, chains, and gaps are all nice, but unlike Luxor, the scores for them are not worth the time it takes to set them up. Take them if they're there, of course, but don't go out of your way for them.

The best way to get high Distance and Time Bonuses is to clear the level as quickly as you possibly can, and to keep the line pushed back as far as you can. This requires good reflexes and accuracy, and mastery of what will become your most valuable weapon, the one I call the "Pull-Back Shot". More on the Pull-Back Shot in a bit. It's vital to keep the line pushed back as far as possible, because the longer you take to clear the level, the more balls you'll have to remove, which will eat into your Time Bonus rather rapidly. I've found that a few balls and seconds of difference can cost you over 2000 points in total bonus in some cases. That's how important it is.

Unlike the retail version of Zuma, you can start firing as soon as balls appear on the screen. You absolutely should do this--keep firing as much as practical, either to remove groups or to set up groups to be taken out. The less time you spend idle, the better. Those seconds are even more valuable here than they are in Luxor. For instance, on Level 1, every six seconds it takes you to clear the level costs you 1000 points in Time Bonus. Keep that in mind when you think about setting up 100-point combos or gaps worth a few hundred a shot.

You can fire more than one ball at a time, though this will kill any Chain Bonus you have going. If both balls are the same color and the second one removes a group created by the first one, you'll still get Chain Bonus for that group, but you'll have to start your chain over from there. Multiple shots is also the most effective way of hitting coins behind the line--when a group of balls of the same color is passing in front of the coin and you have a ball of that color ready to fire, quickly double-clicking will shoot the first ball to clear the group, then send the second ball through to hit the coin before the gap closes. Just be careful that you're not TOO quick, or else the second ball will stick to the group before it can be removed. Oh, by the way...Hitting coins does not end a chain.

If a section of balls is being pulled back and you fire a ball of the same color to hit the ball on either side before the sections meet, it will count as a combo and will push the rear section back farther than if you had waited for the sections to come together before firing. Do this whenever possible and practical.

When you keep the line pushed all the way back, it will get faster and faster, making accuracy even more important. Also, you will only receive colors to shoot that are either on the screen or about to appear, so if you can completely take a color off the board, it will make removing the remaining balls that much easier.

If you set up a combo of more than two groups, each succesive group will push the rear side back more and more. This will buy you more time to set up your next shot, but if you push the rear group all the way back off the screen, you have to wait for it to come back out, which can take up valuable time. The ideal way to finish a level is with a combo that pushes the line almost all the way back just as you hear the magic word "ZUMA!"

Once you've reached ZUMA and are clearing the remaining balls, try to remove the rearmost group of balls last. If you take out the rearmost group with an ordinary shot, it will push the rest of the line forward as it's removed. If you take out the rearmost group with a combo, it will cause the line to lurch forward as it disappears, in a way that it won't if the rearmost group isn't removed. You'll see what I mean when you've done it a few times.

A tip for increasing your accuracy: You can put the pointer anywhere along the path you want to shoot, but it will help your aim if you put the pointer on the track where you want to hit. Remember to lead the line of balls with your shot, unless you have an Accuracy Ball in effect, in which case you can just about put the pointer right where you want the ball to go.

And now, for my secret weapon, the Pull-Back Shot. Once I mastered this technique, my average score jumped up because I was getting bigger Distance Bonus by not losing control of the line of balls (most of the time).

The Pull-Back Shot isn't really that hard to do, once you get the hang of it. Whenever you create a gap in the line, pay attention to the colors of the balls on either side of the gap. If either of those colors becomes available to shoot, quickly hit the opposite side of the gap with it, which will pull the front of the line back (hence the name "Pull-Back Shot"...Get it?) Keep pulling the front section back as much as you can, and don't be afraid to throw balls away that you can't use. Using a combination of the Pull-Back Shot and the Combo Shot technique described above will give you more control of the line of balls, which will cause your scores to improve dramatically.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. I might take this Tip Sheet down and modify or add to it if I think of something else. As always, feel free to leave any questions or comments you may have. Happy shooting, take care and good luck!

Comments

  • Loukia_

    My favorite game ever! Following Zuma, I found King.com and got stuck on the site too! Haven't read all of ur instructions but I'll certainly do! Might find some more secrets lol Even I don't know u, glad to make your acquanintance. Hope you and your loved ones have the best year ever. Happy 2010!