Bejeweled Online

Hi Maria,

I'm sorry I didn't see your comment earlier! Any time you click your mouse outside the Bejeweled 2 window, or minimize the window, the game is paused. I think this is to give you a better idea of the "real time" spent on the game rather than the time you have the game open.

Julia G.

re: Marie Little

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:56:38

Apologies first if this has been addressed. I have just started playing. This morning I moved my monitor during a game and the game screen went gray with the words "game has been paused" (something like that) "click to continue". I could replicate it only one more time. I have no clue what caused the game to pause. Thanks.

If you want to save your hypercube, then you need to go into a defensive mode of playing when you get one. You need at least one gem (the non-sparkling ones) in between your hyper cube and a power gem (the sparkling ones) to keep the hyper cube safe.

The power gem destroys any gem next to it, so match gems away from the hyper cube so that you have a lower chance of losing it.

Julia G.


P.S. (My guide gives you several strategies to protect your hypercubes and increase your scores.)

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe Guide

re: Jane

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:58:24

Help! When I finally get a hypercube I try to save it but it gets wiped out if I hit a match near it where one of the jewels is sparking. How can I save my hypercube?













 

Hi All,

After playing the addictive Facebook "Bejeweled Blitz" game, I have some observations that can help you get the multipliers faster and increase your scores.

The “good,” “excellent,” “incredible” comments while you’re playing are misleading. You’d think that they should make those multiplier gems fall, but they don’t necessarily, so it can be confusing.

The way to get the multiplier gems is to make a move that causes a resulting match to explode a power gem, or make a move that makes at least a 3-cascade move afterward, because it’s a combination of speed and increased points due to higher point cascade matches that bring the multiplier gems into play. (I’ve included some examples!)

So… if you see a power gem, look for a move that you can make that will make the power gem match the second one in the same move.

Here are three pictures...

Don’t explode the green power gem and then the red one, because they won’t create a higher point match for the red one. You’d want to explode the red one which will cause the green one to explode with a higher point score.

If you make a green gem match by moving the arrowed gem to the left, the red gem will fall and make power gem match as the second one in the cascade and probably cause a multiplier gem to drop.

Move the blue gem up to make a blue gem match, then your second match in the cascade will be a power gem.

It’s hard to keep an eye on these but if you train yourself not to automatically match the power gem without looking for a move that will cause the power gem to match second, then your scores should improve.

Once you have a multiplier gem, try to match it as soon as possible, but don’t get caught up in matching it for too long. If you make more matches like the ones I’ve shown you, then other 2X gems will fall, and as soon as you match one 2X, the other one will become 3X. etc.

And interestingly enough, using a hypercube doesn’t always make a multiple-X gem fall, but I usually use them quickly anyway to make other moves show up, and I use them on the color that has the most gems on the screen.

And the last clue... don't watch the scores - just play. When your eyes go to the score, then you're taking seconds away from your play.

Happy Gem Matching!
Julia G

PopCap Prepping New Bejeweled Title for October Launch Bejeweled Twist™, First New Installment in Casual Game Leader's Flagship Franchise in Nearly Four Years, Will Put New Spin on Match-3 Genre

SEATTLE, Washington - September 29, 2008 - PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced that it will be launching the next entry in its flagship franchise Bejeweled next month. Titled Bejeweled Twist™, the new game has been in development for more than three years and will bring a completely new perspective to the "Match-3" genre of puzzle games that the original Bejeweled pioneered eight years ago. PopCap plans to formally unveil the game at a gala event at Seattle's Experience Music Project Sci-Fi Museum and Hall of Fame on the evening of Monday, October 27, 2008 — the first such launch event in casual games history. The game will carry a retail price of US$19.95 and will initially be available exclusively via Web download from www.popcap.com.

"As our first and most popular game, we're particularly dedicated to Bejeweled and wanted to make sure that our next offering in the lineup delivered as much innovation, polish, and sheer pleasure as possible," explained Jason Kapalka, co-founder and chief creative officer at PopCap. "We spent a long time conceiving and prototyping a totally new direction for Bejeweled Twist. The game will be immediately recognizable to Bejeweled fans, and as accessible as earlier titles in the series, but with far more depth and flexibility. Previous versions of Bejeweled appealed to a pretty broad audience, but we're confident Bejeweled Twist will offer a compelling experience for everyone, from the novice gamer to the seriously hardcore player."

From PCs and Macs, PlayStation and Xbox consoles to mobile phones, PDAs, iPods and iPhones, Bejeweled is available for more than a dozen devices and platforms and is the most popular casual game of the 21st century. More than 350 million copies of Bejeweled/Bejeweled 2 have been downloaded from the Web, accounting for nearly a third of the 1 billion-plus downloads of all PopCap titles. Tens of millions of copies of Bejeweled have been installed on mobile phones worldwide, and more than 25 million units of the game have been sold across all platforms, amounting to over $300 million in consumer spending over the history of the game.

All other details of Bejeweled Twist are currently under wraps and will be disclosed at the game's gala launch event in Seattle on October 27. Credentialed journalists interested in attending the event should contact PopCap PR (above) to RSVP.

Hi All,

Did you have a chance to review the screen shot in the previous blog post to see which move you would make next? If not, take a minute to look at the picture below before reading what I would do.

First of all, here's what I would NOT do.

I wouldn't move the white gem on the 5th row up, because that would remove the ability to do anything with the power gem on the 5th row.

And I wouldn't move the orange power gem on the 6th row to the right because that would destroy my left power cube on the 7th row.

I also wouldn't move the red gem - 5th row, second gem from the left - to the left because I wouldn't be able to use it on the power gem on the 5th row.

The move I would make would be to move the red gem - 5th row, second gem from the left - to the right into the red power gem.

This accomplishes three things. It detonates the red, orange and green power cubes for lots of points. It protects the hypercubes from destruction, and if the gems falling from the top don't interfere, it still allows me to have a move on the white power gem on the 4th row.

I'll try to post more of these problems to keep you thinking and improving your game!

Happy Gem Matching!
Julia G.

Hi All,

I was playing Bejeweled 2 (so what else is new?), and I came across this screen scenario and thought it would make a good "What Would You Do?" puzzle for you.

There is no *absolute* answer here, but I have a reasoning and strategy behind which move I would make next, so see which move you would make and I'll give you my thoughts tomorrow.

I did the screen shot with the "help" arrow pointing at the next move the game suggests, but it's not the move I would make.

Happy Gem Matching!
Julia G

I just got Bejeweled on on my cell phone, and I must say that I have found an additional, new addiction.

I admit that my first experience with Bejeweled was with Bejeweled 2, and I wasn't sure how I would like to play the version with no power gems or hyper cubes, but I'm here to tell ya that it's a GREAT game in SO many ways!

Much of the strategy that I mention in my Bejeweled 2 Strategy Guide still holds when playing Bejeweled, but the strategy of "positioning" the gems becomes much more important when playing Bejeweled without the "extras."

In Bejeweled 2, it's easy to become dependent on a power gem exploding or hyper cube zapping and making room for several gems to fall from the top. The chances of having more moves with power gems and hyper cubes is very high.

In the original version, the strategy needs to focus around making a move that creates a cascade or sets the gems up for another move.

The best hint I can give you when playing this version is that if you have a high-scoring gem match that doesn't clearly create another move - especially when you are down to the nitty-gritty in the game and aren't sure where the next move will occur - then go for a lower-scoring match that does create a next move for you.

I know that it's great to get five in a row, but if that move doesn't obviously allow another move, then pass it up!

Now... the BEST part about playing Bejeweled on your cell phone is that after each game, your score is posted to the "Game Lobby." They have a "Daily Leaderboard" with the top ten scores of the day, and an "All Time Leaderboard" with the top ten scores of all time. (Look for JuliaGem in the top ten - I'm #4 as of the posting of this message!)

Having the scores posted for all to see makes this game both fun and challenging for me.

Mobile Phone Bejeweled is available through EA Mobile at http://www.eamobile.com, and it looks like about 16 different Mobile Phone carriers support it, each one with several different phones. for about $1.99 a month, it's very reasonable!

I haven't tried the Action or multi-player games yet. I tend to like to compete against myself more than others, but the multi-player game looks very interesting, so I might give it a try soon.

So get the mobile phone version and give me a run for my money... ;-)

Happy Gem Matching!
Julia

YAY... my blog is back up! Weebly had some problems but it looks like everything is working again!

And I wanted to let you know about the article I wrote!

I must say that I waxed poetic about hyper cubes in an article that I wrote for ezinearticles!

It's all about my love for hyper cubes. If you haven't read it, click on the link below!

Exalting The Hyper Cube

You'll discover one of the "secrets" of my high Bejeweled 2 game scores in the article! To get all of the secrets, click on the "Improve Your Game" tab!

Happy Gem Matching!
Julia Gemstone

I used to hate the automatic "hint" in Bejeweled 2 - to me it was a sign of failure if I couldn't figure out what move to make before the automatic hint showed me.

I thought I had 15 seconds to determine where the move was, but I timed it the other day and it looks like it's only ten.

Well, since I started playing Bejeweled online in the timed version against others, I've begun to look at the hint in a different way.

When you play the timed version, ten seconds out of a couple of minutes is a LOT of time!

Big warning, though... in the timed version, it looks like every hint you take removes points from your score! You really do have to be pretty desperate to use it!

But then, if you wait the ten seconds, you lose points, too, so it's really a toss up in losing time or points... or sometimes both when you're playing the Bejeweled online timed version!

Also, when playing the Action version of Bejeweled 2, the hint can be the difference between keeping your game going, and running out of time.

I still like to try to "beat the hint" in Bejeweled 2 Classic, and try to avoid the hints in the timed games that are played for prize money, but the hint CAN be "friend" in a dire situation!

Happy Gem Matching!

Julia Gemstone
Be sure to check out my new eBook - "Bejeweled 2 Secrets!"