Triplet Hills - Levels 385 - 390 (Region 65)

[Phaedrakiki]

Level 390: Dig 20 meters in 65 moves (4JC.) Super dirt, ice/white blocks, windows, and the shape of the board add difficulty to this level. It has an hourglass shape in a couple areas, narrowing to just 2 wide twice.







Tried it like, 6 times, but I'm only getting to about 14 meters (15 once, ooh! ) Basically, when the large window splits it into 2 sides, progress slows way down. And when it comes back together as you get to the narrow part again...it's really slow. I think this is another one of those levels where you need the right special jewels/opportunities at the right times... It's a fun challenge; awaiting energy to try again!

[Phaedrakiki]

Wow, 390 really was a toughie! Been at it all day--finally passed. That area with the large window seemed to be the real holdup for me most rounds. What I'd do is try to dig down on only one side (the more promising-looking of the 2) and blast or set off a combo from there. If you try to work on both sides, your moves will disappear quickly. (They still seem to vanish rapidly anyway, lol...but still. ) On the round I passed, I had lots of diamonds. And at the very beginning, there was lots of "self-matching" or bonus matches. You know how you make a move and the whole board starts going nuts digging for you? Love that! During the round, I got what I needed at the right times. Like using a few diamonds to set off blasters or bombs in key locations (couldn't combo them w/o wasting moves.) Then I swapped 2 more diamonds right after the screen scrolled--when I had a full board onscreen to clear. So, it worked out really well, though I still only had 2 or 3 moves left when I passed. Only got one star, too (gotta improve that!)

Although this was a fun level and island, I'm happy to be finished. I did rather poorly, though--one star on most levels. So I'll def be back to fix that problem. For now though, I'm eager to move on to the next island. Monkey Treetop looks like a lot of fun...

[pastasplace]

Wow! 386 is a toughie! They've upped the time to 45 seconds, but it's still really difficult. I think there are too many colours on the board (5JC) I'm spending ages looking for matches, invariably they're at the top of the board where it's not a help to the situation, and I've had a few reshuffles early on in the game a few times - which is tough when there's such little time on the clock.

I've got it down to 2 flames a couple of times, but that's a rarity! The positioning if the windows means that even if you do clear a path to the lower section, there's not much room for matching...