Note added 10/16/2009: This message was originally written when the first Bejeweled Blitz Game was in play. With the new version, much higher scores are possible. I have had scores in the 400,000s and someone commented that she had a score of 511,000.

It is still possible to cheat, and a score of 511,000 is very rare, so scores above that may be suspect.

Julia G

Comment from DeeDee:

"It says on my score board that one of my friends got 12 MILLION some odd tonite on Blitz. Have you ever heard of that?"

Well, to be blunt, a score of 12 million is an indication that your friend cheated with a program that automatically plays the game.

I don't know if PopCap disqualifies people who cheat from receiving their weekly prizes, but IMHO, I think they should. Any score over 300,000 is suspect (I would even stretch that to 350,000, but I've never heard of a score that high).

If Blitz is ever changed to store the replay of the highest scoring game, this might be easier to detect in the future, because a "bot" would be easy to spot during a replay.

If I were you, I'd make sure your team score was over a million without your "friend's" score.

Julia G

 
 

Wow... five million Bejeweled Blitz Facebook players? Amazing!

And it looks like the idea started as a joke:

PopCap Bejeweled Blitz Press Release

Julia G



 
 

Hi All,

I just recorded a short video that shows you how
to get the most out of the new Bejeweled Blitz
Stats:

http://www.bejeweledlover.com/bjbstatsp/

Julia G

 
 

The PopCap Bejeweled Blitz development gang have been busy!

For one thing, Bejeweled Blitz has gotten so popular that it overloaded the servers, and they had to upgrade.

Over the last several hours, the game has been taken offline several times, and they mentioned that some of the scores from early play this week were lost, but I didn't notice any lost scores from members of my team.

The other thing is that they are adding new features to the game.

I caught a glimpse of the ability to click on a new "star" icon for your teammate and see a comparison of your top weekly scores vs. their top weekly scores for the past five weeks.

They are still working on that, because a subsequent release didn't have that, but it's something to look forward to!

I know they've been up all night working on these enhancements and server upgrades so we can have the best Blitz gaming experience.

Julia G

 
 

If you haven't seen the PopCap Tips and Tricks page yet, check it out here:

Bejeweled Blitz Tips and Tricks

About halfway down the page, they write:

"Looking for even more info?
For more detailed strategies on getting a high Blitz score, check out this unofficial strategy guide from avid Bejeweled fan Julia Gemstone."

I'm way excited!

Julia G

 
 

Comment:
Stupid question maybe...but how do you explode the 2x gems? Or \"match\" them I should say. Thanks!

First of all, there are no stupid questions. I know that I get caught up in the jargon and don't realize that people are being introduced to Bejeweled 2 and Bejeweled Blitz every day.

A gem "match" is lining up 3, 4 or 5 of the same color gem in a row.

In Bejeweled Blitz, if one of those matched gems has a 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, or 6X on it, then after the match is made, your scores will be multiplied by the multiplier gem that's matched.

So if you have a 3-gem match, and one of those gems has a 2X on it, then every successful move you make after that will be double the points. When you match a 3X gem, then the scores are tripled, etc.

In the picture below, if you move the green gem in the 4th column on the second row up to the first row, a multiplier gem match is made, and the scores after that will be doubled.

Julia G

Picture
 
 

I received this question from a Facebook friend, and thought it might be useful information for everyone.

"Say, I have a research question for Julia Gemstone. Relating to using a hypercube as time is running out. Are the points really still accumulating after it hits the :00 mark, or does the action continue, but the counter is off already? It is a question that requires keen attention from someone who plays a lot of games ;-) I know that the last 5 seconds has a lot of points, but as I watch the score, I'm not sure that it is continuing "into overtime." THANKS! GG"

The answer is:

Yup... as long as the gems are still moving, the score will still go up even after the time hits zero. Here's a quick sample. I waited until the last second to use a hypercube, and after the gems were zapped, two more gem matches continued to add points to the total:

http://www.bejeweledlover.com/afterzero/

Happy Gem Matching!
Julia G

http://www.bejeweledlover.com/bjsales.html



 

 
 

Congratulations on your high game, Matt!

Actually, last week the game *was* slower than it is now. A new version was loaded Monday night that returned it to its former speed and pace (which is GREAT news - it was really difficult to hit any kind of high scores last week!)

Julia G

Blog Comment From: Matt G

Wed, 13 May 2009 12:45:53

I've just managed to prove that wrong.
Got my best score ever of 215,700 with the new changes. :D



 
 

Give it a try now... it looks like the old, faster Bejeweled Blitz is back!

Julia G

 
 

Has anyone else felt this way? I looked for differences in the way the game plays, and can't find any.

My high game is 160,200 so far this week and usually I can get at least one or two games in the 175K-200K range, and so far that's the high game on my Facebook team, which is also unusual.

I think I'm going to reserve judgement on not getting "good" games anymore for a while and keep an eye on things.

Julia G

************
from: Alisa

Sat, 09 May 2009 12:50:03

Well, to me it seems Impossible to play a good game since that statistic thing showed up. Are you sure they didn't change anything? Like, i used to get *lucky* games sometimes, where stuff just kept on falling and exploding all by itself; It doesn't happen anymore and it kinda ruins teh game for me actually :/ Well, more time for food and sleep now :)