Strategy and Tips
There are “tricks of the trade” that you will learn about as you progress through the puzzles that will enable you to achieve higher scores and use fewer marbles. Here are a few pointers to get you started:
1. PATIENCE—Take your time. Be patient! Watch where the marbles are going and which tracks are open to new marbles. This will help determine which marbles to select to drop into which funnel.
2. FOLLOW THE PATH—Take some time to map out the route the marble will take before dropping it in the start funnel. Envision exactly where the marble will go when it is dropped by tracing the track all the way to the exit bin. This is a time-consuming process, but it will pay off in higher scores and fewer wasted marbles. You have only so many marbles to lose, after all.
3. PUZZLE SPEED—You may adjust the speed of the puzzle by manipulating the pull-down menu, or by simply pressing + or -.
4. PURCHASING MARBLES—When starting a new game, you are given seven of each colored marble. As you progress to the more difficult puzzles, you may find it necessary to buy additional marbles. To purchase marbles, click on the Purchase Marble Button, designated by a “+” symbol located next to the reservoir whose color you would like to purchase. The color of the “+” will match the color of marbles in the reservoir. You will be “charged” (points deducted from your score) for each marble you purchase.
5. STEEL MARBLES—Even among marbles there are those who seem to fill no purpose but to act as cannon fodder. If you find you must sacrifice a marble to trip a switch, change a diverter, be destroyed or be caught in an infinite loop, consider purchasing a steel marble. Steel marbles cost 100 points. It is a far better thing to lose a steel marble than to risk destroying a colored marble, which carries a price of 500 points, or even a black marble, which will curl your hair at a market price of 1500 points. Note that steel marbles cannot be painted—they will pass right through a painter and retain their steel color.
6. TIMING—Sometimes a puzzle cannot be solved without losing marbles unless you time the release of the marble just so. Dropping a second marble into the puzzle while the first is still going through may be the only way to complete the puzzle with minimum losses and maximum points.
7. BLACK MARBLES—The black marble is a transforming marble, which takes on, chameleon-like, the color of the marble needed to solve the puzzle. The black marble is very expensive (1500 points) and should only be used as a last resort. If for some reason you can’t seem to figure out a puzzle and are losing too many marbles, purchase a few of these “chameleons” and drop them in. There is one glaring exception to the chameleon effect: BLACK MARBLES CANNOT FILL THE STEEL MARBLE SLOT IN AN EXIT BIN.
8. BE EFFICIENT—If the Puzzle only requires red, blue and yellow marbles, don’t drop purple marbles into the puzzle—they will be destroyed and you will lose points.
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