KLAX(Arcade) FAQ version 0.8.0 by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net copyright 2004 Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. However, if you write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about answering e-mail. Sorry. After checking various sources I believe this guide works for the NES as well. But if anyone wants to help me out with other versions and how well this guide applies to them, I'd love to hear about it. Small logistical differences, such as how fast the blocks come down or how bonuses are calculated,, make big differences in game play, of course. **** AD SPACE: **** My home page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762 ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 1-1. ABOUT THE GAME 1-2. PORTS AND VARIATIONS 1-2-1. NES 1-3. NOTATIONS 2. CONTROLS 3. POINTS AND HOW TO GET THEM 3-1. BASIC PITTANCES 3-2. VERTICAL 3-3. HORIZONTAL 3-4. DIAGONAL 3-5. END OF LEVEL 3-6. COMBINATIONS 3-7. THE BEST WE CAN DO 4. LEVEL LAYOUT 4-1. OUTLINE 4-2. WARP PATTERNS, GRAPHICS, ETC. 5. LEVEL STRATEGIES 5-1. 5X+1 KLAX WAVE 5-2. 5X+2 DIAGONAL WAVE 5-3. 5X+3 TILE WAVE 5-4. 5X+4 POINTS WAVE 5-5. 5X+5 HORIZONTAL WAVE 5-6. SECRET WARP WAVES AND GENERAL STUFF 5-7. MAKING YOUR OWN INSTRUCTIONALS 6. VERSIONS 7. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION 1-1. ABOUT THE GAME Klax is a very simple and cramped block-drop game, but it still affords opportunity for strategic manipulation. The playing field is a conveyor belt in perspective above a 5x5 well. You control a platform between the two, and your job is to catch the blocks before they fall off the edge of the conveyor and into some egress or other. If a specified amount of blocks falls into the gaps, or if you fill up the well completely, then you lose. You can hold up to 5 blocks on a platform before it's full, and you can drop the top block on any unfilled column you wish. The way to vanish blocks is to get a 'klax' which is accomplished by getting 3 or more of the same color in a row, with 4 counting as 2 klaxes and 5 as 3. Horizontally, diagonally, or vertically, you can get big points for this. The game is divided into cycles of five waves with different objectives. First, any general klax will do. Then you have a 'diagonal wave' and then a survival wave where you need to let X tiles appear. After that is a 'points wave' and finally there's a horizontal wave. At the end of each five-scene set, you have a warp scene where you can choose between the next five-scene set, the one after, or the one after that. There's also a chance to warp from level 6 to level 50 by creating two diagonal 5-klaxes. This is only possible with 'wild' tiles but is not as impossible as it seems. Klax is a fun game when you don't have to pay for continues, and you'll surely mess up many times along the way. Unfortunately that's due to some nasty randomization. Sometimes you won't get the right colored tiles, and other times they start pouring down at the start of the level without any explanation. It's not clear if the computer responds to you doing too well by speeding things up, or if it seeks passive aggressive revenge for you trying a bunch of vertical klaxes(the easiest way to do things.) But it does happen and as a challenging arcade game it can gobble quarters faster than Smash TV or a fighting game. With a gauge to tell you how difficult things will become, and why, Klax would seem to be a much fairer game. The other problem with Klax is that some of the waves have cutesy solutions which aren't satisfying, and others are very pedantic. The main factor seems to be how fast the pieces come down. Although the computer speeding tiles up as the level goes on is good--forces the person to be efficient--the random starts aren't. 1-2. PORTS AND VARIATIONS 1-2-1. NES The NES version of Klax doesn't have the speed adjustment problem. And it has a game called "Blob Ball" which is useless and ultimately gets you, but it's fun. You're a block defending a ball that bounces randomly off walls from the spikes behind you. There are other differences such as 5-diagonals being worth only 15000 points and a 5-horizontal being worth 6000 and a 4- being 2000. The background graphics start out with a Klax sign on a space station and then move towards the arcade as well. The warp bonus is 60000 & goes 50 levels not 45. Also tapping a controller one direction doesn't necessarily move you, which is irritating. 56=police The controls slip a bit and it's a bit harder to catch a tile in the general area. The colors are: 1 Y/R/P/LB 2 Add green 3 Add blue/white 6 Add grey Also, on the 'total points' wave you don't get 5 for each tile that lands on your platform and there are no rounding errors. 1-3. NOTATIONS Klax notations will be pretty simple. I use first letters of colors, yellow, red, orange, blue, purple, green, light blue(L), dark green(D), and silver/grey(S) to show a diagram of blocks. An asterisk works for the wild card, and blocks that can be part of a klax are linked together with the following characters: / \ | _ X. A period marks an empty square. The platform will be represented by =, with up to 5 colored blocks above it. I also may use coordinates with (0,0) being the bottom left(DL--d for down) and (4,4) being upper right(UR) and (4,0) being DR. (0,4) then is UL. 2. CONTROLS Klax's controls are pretty straightforward. You can move left and right, and pushing up kicks a block halfway back up the conveyor belt. Up is only an emergency action as it's possible that you'll kick one block directly to the side of another, meaning one of them will fall anyway. But you can chuck as many as you want in a row and fairly quickly too. Pushing a button drops a piece down. You can also pull down to speed tiles up, but watch out. Tiles can increase speed greatly without warning, and although the game gives you a good deal of leeway to catch a piece, letting things come too fast is the most common unforced error. A clinking sound is heard if 1) your platform is full or 2) you've filled up a row, which is a good audial clue that you are pushing things in the heat of playing the game. The critical part of Klax's controls, though, is that, after creating a Klax, the blocks coming down the belt freeze, and you can place your platform under the one you want to get next. You can also drop a block in a non-full column. Let's look at the example below. P P P R = . . . . . . . R-R B |X| R-R Y Here you could drop the three purples right away and get a klax. But you could not drop the red, because the column is full--even though it's with klaxes that are about to vanish. You can, however, move right one and drop the red klax, thus getting a small bonus into the deal. We can do a bit better, though. After the vertical purples drop, we can go two right and drop the red. There is even a better way, though. We can drop a purple, move right, drop a purple, move right, drop a purple and then drop the red on top of that. The bonus for a horizontal klax is a bit bigger, and we won't have the rush to get the 2x multiplier for the diagonal. The controls seem simple enough, but I'd love a 'vacuum' button feature where you could pull a tile down from the conveyor--especially when they are frozen--to give you a bit of extra time for thinking ahead, or make it so you don't have to zag back and forth. Oh. There's one other component, but it's slightly MAME-specific. Note that you can hit PAUSE whenever you want. Sometimes even this won't help. The tiles are coming down too fast. But it can help you through the tough waves when you know your pieces are pretty well aligned but you're not quite sure how to do things. And one thing to notice about the 'drop' button is that it also bypasses a level's introductory screen. If you flake out and click the button to be in a hurry, the game also drops the piece on your platform, which is almost always a terrible move. Because bad pieces should stay on the platform, good ones should be placed at the edges, and the center column where you start a level is where you'll most frequently drop a square for big points or major Klaxes. One final small example of how blocks can be ordered to drop in Klax: say a red and then a blue are coming down the conveyor belt, and your well looks as such: R R . R R B B . B B Collect the R and then the B and drop the B and R on top of each other for a big bonus. It's not always necessary or even good to have a clear platform. In fact you may hold 'junk' squares there for a bit--there's a reason it has a capacity of 5. 2-5. BASIC POINTERS If you have a square coming down the belt you want to use and a full platform, chuck the top square and use it quickly. Any klax freezes the game for you to try something else, and you need to use that time. Note that you don't have to drop items in the order they come down the conveyor belt. Also you can wait to see if several of the same color come down at once--this is like Tetris's "next" only it's more powerful--and potentially more dangerous. If you need to spring a piece back, try to spring it back near another piece. Otherwise you'll have two too far apart to catch. On a survival wave you may want to wait before dropping the final tile into the pit. Often you can juggle things and escape. Always remember the sort of klax you want: for general klaxes, don't try anything fancy. For specific ones, go for the right fancy stuff. Your platform is pretty good at picking up tiles that come down the screen. So you can shift pretty liberally around. The big problem with the game is visualizing diagonals in time pressure. You'll want to leave spaces open and remember which color you need to drop in which column and try to hold out until then. If you get a lot of a color or two you can't use, just make a quick vertical. Sometimes you'll get overwhelmed with useless stuff and it's game over, but you often have to plan for big breaks in Klax or you'll never get any. If you get 3 in a row of a color--or a few wild tiles--and you have a lot of well space, set them up to try for 4 in a row. 3. POINTS AND HOW TO GET THEM 3-1. BASIC PITTANCES There are many ways to get points in Klax. As you would expect, the harder ways get more points. Combining rows/columns/diagonals gets points, too. But the most important thing to note is that there's a huge gap between the point totals for each action. Wild pieces may cause more combinations than you think to appear, but they don't affect point totals in any other way. You get 5 points for a tile landing on your bouncing platform. This reoccurs if you kick the tile back. 3-2. VERTICAL You get 50 points for completing a vertical column of 3 Klaxes. This is the easiest combination to perform, and thus you get the least amount of points for it. But it's not the way to make a living. It's like this MAD magazine comic I remember showing some slobbering fool excited about slipping two Canadian pennies into a roll of 50 US ones. A column of 4 Klaxes is probably the trickiest of the 4-groups to get, so I'll demonstrate how below. B B | | B B | | R-R-R or R | |\ B B R | | \ B B R Filling in the reds below causes the two B's on top to fall on the ones on the bottom. The result is a 4-column. 3-3. HORIZONTAL Horizontal/row klaxes are a bit more difficult to achieve. You need to keep a level field for three blocks to drop and although you have 5 columns, things can fill up quickly if you do things wrong. Often you'll want to look into starting pieces off diagonally and undercutting one, and using wild pieces works well, too. R-R-R gives 1000 points and 1 horizontal klax. R-R-R-R gives 5000 points and 2 horizontal klaxes. R-R-R-R-R gives 10000 points and 3 horizontal klaxes. The ways to get horizontal klaxes are shown below. You can't get 3 in a row and tack on a fourth, so there is risk involved, although you can often bail out and get 3 in a row anyway. Generally you don't want to go in directly for 4 klaxes unless you can see a bunch of one color or wild tiles coming down at you, or it is at the beginning of a wave. 4 klaxes ----------------- R | R v | v R- -R-R | R-R- -R 5 klaxes ----------------- R v R-R- -R-R 3-4. DIAGONAL Diagonal klaxes are the toughest to visualize and understand, but they get the most points, and you will need to learn to create them to get far in this game. While combinations of 4- or 5-diagonals may seem impossible at first, they in reality just follow the same pattern horizontals do, but you may have less space for operations. You need to set up 'stairsteps' to get the diagonals working. 3-diagonals give 5000 points and 1 diagonal klaxes. 4-diagonals give 10000 points and 2 diagonal klaxes. 5-diagonals give 20000 points and 3 diagonal klaxes. R / R B / R W G To create 4- or 5-diagonals, it is a bit trickier and requires a bit of depth perception. The process is similar to the horizontal. An example of each is below. Againn, a quick 3-diagonal when you have 4 set up is a common blunder, and you only want to execute 4-or 5- diagonals if you have the pieces for it. This includes storing 'wild' blocks or the right color blocks on your platform. R B R Y G / R P O G 3-5. END OF LEVEL The arcade game has a weird bug where, if your bonus is above 5000, you seem to lose a point per 5000 that the game says you gained. I'm not sure how or why it works, but it happens. Bonuses are given at the end of a points wave for how far you went over the exact total. You get 200 for each space left open and 25 for each block on the conveyor belt or on your platform. If they just fell off but didn't disappear, you get points for them, too. And you don't get a strike against you. There is no extra bonus for leaving the complete playfield clear. This is most workable on the first level. You can kick pieces back--or go for a 4- wide set of pieces with a vertical on the side if you have, say, one extra orange after a 3-match. This situation is near impossible in the normal course of things, but you can always have a shot at it, even in diagonal waves. R Y | B Y \ R B B | v R Y You get a 1000000 point bonus for completing the game. There's a 100000 point bonus for warping 5 levels and 200000 for warping 10. You get these after completing a level. You'll generally get more points just working through the levels: 1000*(horizontals required) + 5000*(diagonals) + (points wave requirement) is the minimum for each 5-set and on levels 1-5 the action is so slow that you can create some pretty big combinations with a bit of thought and practice. Also a warp to level 50 via the X gets you 500000 points. 3-6. COMBINATIONS A big key to gaining points in Klax will be combinations. These occur when you have several klaxes at once. You can also manufacture a combination by dropping one klax and then another while the first is matching up. The rule for combinations is as follows: (# of combinations up til then) * (total # of points for the klaxes) Also you can have two klaxes happening at once, but if you drop one tile for a klax and then drop another for what looks like a klax, the game shifts tiles before calculating things. For instance: (drop B, then O) O O G B Y R B Here the orange would drop to the bottom and you wouldn't get any diagonal points. Some simple examples are below. R v -R-R | R G Y | R Y G Here you have a horizontal(1000) and a vertical(50) with a multiplier of 2, making 2*1050=2100. * v Y-*- -*-G Here you have a 4-klax of both yellow and green. This makes 5000 for each, but you also get the multiplier of 2. Thus, 2*10000=20000. You also get 4 horizontal klaxes for 2 4-klaxes. Very useful on horizontal waves. B O = Y G B-B Y G O | | | Y G O Here you can get 1000 for dropping the blue. If you sit and wait, the yellows and greens will match up for 50+50, and the multiplier is 3, not 2. But you can drop the orange tile while you're waiting, and that makes 4* (50+50+50). Not a huge difference, but it shows what can be done. The next example shows where Klax allows a bit of intellectual dishonesty to help you gain points. It doesn't add to the number of diagonal klaxes you get, but it's quite fun nonetheless and nice in a pinch in points waves. G R = R / R G Y / / G Y B Here you can drop the G and then the R. You get 5000 for the green diagonal and, if you dropped the two quickly enough, 2x5000 for the red diagonal. 3-7. THE BEST WE CAN DO I'm pretty sure the maximum for points waves is listed below. You can only have klaxes in 7 directions from the center, and splitting up klaxes on a diagonal for a higher multiplier doesn't as worthwhile as positioning them horizontally. Note that you can only have 2 wild squares touching the center one as well--any 3 would mean that 2 are 1 square apart, causing any square between them to have already vanished. The exception is, squares UL and UR of the center, but then you can only place a wild square below the center, and that's not useful. R P \ * / R v P \ / G-*- -*-Y / \ P O R / | \ P O R Here we get 20000 for each diagonal chain, 5000 for each horizontal, and 50 for the vertical. 5*(50+10000+40000)=250250. There are other possibilities for getting a big score. Let's see what happens if we position the wild cards on top: R P \ * / * v * \ / G-G- -Y-Y / \ P O R / | \ P O R Now the multiplier is 7. The UL and UR get 5000, the left and right get 1000, the DR and DL get 10000, and the bottom gets 50. 7*(10000+2000+20000+50) = 7 * 33050 = 231350. There's one more legitimate possibility. B P \ * / * v P \ / G-G- -*-Y / \ P O R / | \ P O R Here, the diagonals net us 20000, 10000, 5000 and 3 klaxes, we get the vertical for 50, and we get 5000 and 1000 for the horizontals. Thus: 42050*6=252300. This is the best way to do things, a sort of stilted combination of the other two--neither of which is particularly lame. Note with eight directions from any given square, and one unused because we drop the piece, the initial blast can give no more than 7x. Also, there are no automatic residual combinations after our big blast because the picture afterwards would have, at most, the following blocks: ? ? . ? ? ? ? . ? ? If you are very lucky, you might be able to slip one more block in. In the cases above, a 7x would work better overall than a 5x to get a 5-klax--the difference would be 20000. But the probability against this is very high. As for getting the multiple to 9--you'd need a LOT of things to go right. I suppose you could get a massive lucky streak with ? ? * * = Y Y . R R O O . G G ...for 11x, but I can't see much above that. 4. LEVEL LAYOUT 4-1. OUTLINE After the first five introductory levels, the game follows a certain pattern. Every five-wave set contains: 1. Klax wave(get X 3-in-a-row Klax in any direction, where 4 in a row count as 2 Klax and 5 count as 3 Klax. 2. Diagonal wave(X diagonal klaxes) 3. Tile wave(let X tiles pass without losing) 4. Points wave(score X thousand points) 5. Horizontal wave(X horizontal klaxes) I present the outline below noting the tutorial levels and when new colors appear. level 1: orange, yellow, red, green tiles level 2: add blue tiles level 3: add purple, white tiles level 6: add light blue tiles, "wild" tiles level 60: dark green tiles appear level 90: grey tiles appear Level 1 requires 3 klaxes. Level 2 requires 5 klaxes. Level 3 requires 3 diagonals. Level 4 requires 10000 points. Level 5 requires you to survive 40 tiles. Levels 99 and 100 are switched. 99 requires 6 tiles and is very fast. 100 requires 250000 points and is relatively trivial. The tiles are slow. You just need patience. F indicates a warning that the level is fast. This usually accompanies a steep drop in the number of klaxes needed. Lev|Klx|Lev|Dia|Lev|Til|Lev|K's|Lev|Hor| ---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 6| 10| 7| 6 | 8| 55| 9| 25| 10| 5 | 11| 15| 12| 13| 13| 75| 14| 25| 15| 10| 16| 15| 17| 13| 18| 75| 19| 30| 20| 13| 21| 20| 22| 13| 23| 65| 24| 35| 25| 13| 26| 30| 27| 13| 28| 80| 29| 35| 30| 15| [slow] 31|f30| 32|f13| 33| 80| 34| 40| 35| 5f| 36| 30| 37| 13| 38| 90| 39| 40| 40| 15| 41| 35| 42| 13| 43| 90| 44| 50| 45| 15| 46|?35| 47| 13| 48| 90| 49| 55| 50| 18| 51| 30| 52| 13| 53| 90| 54| 60| 55| 18| 56| 30| 57| 5f| 58| 90| 59| 60| 60| 18| 61| 30| 62| 15| 63| 90| 64| 70| 65| 13| 66| 30| 67| 15| 68|100| 69| 70| 70| 15| 71| 35| 72| 13| 73|100| 74| 75| 75| 15| 76| 22| 77| 6f| 78|100| 79| 80| 80| 20| 81| 40| 82| 20| 83|100| 84|100| 85| 5f| 86| 30| 87| 20| 88|100| 89|100| 90| 20| 91| 25| 92| 13| 93|100| 94| 70| 95| 15| 96| 30| 97| 6f| 98| 50| 99| 6 |100|250| * see above 4-2. WARP PATTERNS, GRAPHICS, ETC. Graphic backgrounds repeat every 30 waves. They are the same for each 5-way set. Levels 1-5 have circles in the background. Levels 6-10 have a forest in back. Levels 11-15 take place on a space station/ship carrier. Levels 16-20 take place on an aircraft carrier. Levels 21-25 have a car lot with the Klax hand(forms K-L) sign featured prominently. Levels 26-30 take place with a hand under the conveyor belt. For warp patterns, you can advance from 6 to 51(i.e. 45 levels) or 11 to 56 for the same amount. I'm not sure about 16 and on. After any fifth level, you can warp six or eleven levels ahead...up to the maximum of 91. To get through the game in as few credits as possible, I recommend going to level 11, trying to get a warp(fail a few times--it's no problem--it will take less than plowing through) and then going up to 61 before warping to 76 and 91. Then just clear the final ten levels, which aren't notably tougher than the previous ones. 5. OTHER GENERAL STUFF 5-1. 5X+1 KLAX WAVE The basic philosophy for this wave is that, near the end, you should just settle for vertical Klaxes. The hints mention as much. But I think it is a good idea, while things are slow, to try for multiple klaxes with one blow. A chain reaction isn't as important as four in a row. The key thing to remember is: each 4-klax or 5-klax saves 2 or 4 tiles, respectively, which is a big help in staving off when the tiles start coming down quickly. The points aren't a big deal but survival is. Also, if you get a ton of same colored blocks in a row, you can combine the two in several ways i.e. O /| O O / | O G O Here you've saved a tile, in essence, because usually a klax takes 3 tiles but here you get credit for 2 klaxes with 5 tiles. Every little bit helps, as you will find out near the end of the wave. 4-klaxes save 2 tiles because they give the same results as 2 3-klaxes which require 6 tiles. 5-klaxes save 4 because they give the same results as 3 3-klaxes(9 tiles.) However the latter part of your level will largely be spent trying to tread or bail water. Dropping verticals may not seem terribly demanding, but it is important to get things right. We'll assume that there are 8 colors--anything less than that and there should be no problem. In fact, you should be trying for big combos. The first thing you want to do is wait for a few tiles to show up. If two of one color show up, dump them in some column or other. I.e. if tiles come down orange-green-white-orange, drop the orange, pick up the green and white and dump the orange. The point of all this is to keep as many 2-high almost- klaxes as you can so that if you do seem to run into a snafu there are ways out. Note that, if you have 4 columns filled up with 1/2 of the same color and 4 blocks on the conveyor belt, with the platforms of different colors(if they aren't, you could have matched them up before hand,) and then you can wait for the next 4 squares to see if any one matches up with the columns. Say they don't. With 8 distinct colors now the next one must be something on your platform or in the well. If it's the same as something on the platform see if you can bounce something back up and place the two tiles together somewhere. You also want to be on the watch for many of the same color tiles coming down the conveyor belt. If you see, say, three blues, then you may want to form an impromptu vertical. Or if a blue, orange, blue, red and blue are coming, dump the blues as you go to pick up the orange and red in the meantime. With three of one color on the conveyor belt it's also possible you may be able to create a diagonal match. And wild squares re very important. With the following well R B O R B O and G, *, G, B, O coming down the pike you can do very well by dropping G on B, G on O, B on the one B, O on the other O, and * on the reds for a big helping of klaxes. The important thing to remember here is not to waste a wild square where it isn't needed. There's probably not an easy way to get an extra 4- or 5- klax in unless you have something like this: * R B R B R (B) but the point is, you can bail out a color you haven't been able to match for a while and open up space for another one. You can also just drop a wild card in a critical square that is next to a lot of different colored tiles, thus increasing the chances for a match dramatically. You'll always have a move--even with 10 different colors, you can have up to 5 on a platform, 5 1- or 2- deep color columns, and whatever comes down the conveyor belt can be matched. You may have to temporarily ditch a color or line it up for a later horizontal or diagonal match and pray for a combination later. But it can be done, and the best policy is to let bricks stack on your platform until you get something that matches below and then dump it. And to reserve one column for "junk" colors. Preferably an edge one. Also if you can use a wild tile to get 2 klaxes that is helpful, i.e. * G G R R ...so save it for such occasions. You should always be planning whenever you get a Klax, and remember that it's better to drop a tile from your platform in an unoccupied column and get a Klax with the piece under it than to let things pile up. And near the end you of course always have the resource of letting a tile slip through or even bouncing it back. In general when an odd color comes up you may want to try to get it via a horizontal klax and try to build up combinations under it. This may get the whole board cleared or it may cause a game-over if you don't get the piece you want. However other options are just treading water, so you may as well try to clear the board and start over again, especially with wild pieces floating around. 5-2. 5X+2 DIAGONAL WAVE General strategies include just placing two squares of the same color diagonally next to each other. This seems obvious, but you can tread water getting a vertical to see where that wild color or third that will make the diagonal can fit. Often you'll need to junk pieces here to get a diagonal. You should ALWAYS go for a diagonal when you can and not worry about buildup; if what's left is cluttered, you weren't going to make it anyway. Also, don't worry too much about style. Just get a diagonal when you see it, clear out verticals constantly, and realize the bumpy terrain doesn't disfavor creating diagonals as much as it gets horizontals in trouble...but that's a later wave. Note that you may want to let the platform get weighed down before dropping anything. If two pieces of the same color come up pretty quickly, you can drop them as shown below. Start the diagonal in the corner and work your way to the center. You can maybe even bounce a piece or two back up while you're waiting, just to get one. And if wild ones start pouring down, use them at the corners and start working up for long diagonals, which are killers with multipliers for the points wave as well(5-4.) L Y <= a good start. / \ Drop future 3-fers L P G Y in center column. Then you will want to place a neutral piece above the light blues or yellows and see about placing a yellow/light blue opposite. So the next piece of the puzzle is: Y L R . O L . Y / \ L P . G Y Thus the center square works very well for a wild square to come down. It's worth waiting for. In the beginning you have a chance to set things up. Do so. A nice touch here is to align squares so that, when the structure collapses, same color squares touch diagonally. Note that the squares in the diagram below with the same letters will be touching like that--capital letters mean it's useful. But there are bigger things to think of first. . A . B . c . . . d . . . . . A . . . B . c . d . Note that if you're in the points wave you may want to try for a horizontal deal on row 3. But in the diagonals wave you may want to just create space by dropping vertical Klaxes. However for all this dreaming there is a very practical way to go about things. When you're scrambling to find diagonals you will probably note that twso of one color are coming down the conveyor belt, or better yet, there's a wild piece. Often this is enough to get things going. Find where you get a triad and then set up the terrain so you have a diagonal. R B G O Y P W W Y G In the diagram above, first of all note the yellows--they're diagonally spaced but they'll never make a diagonal. This is something you'll want to avoid. But this is a tangent; the main point is, if you have two oranges coming down the pike, you'll need to drop a brick on the blue before doing so. If the sequence is O then O then Y, collect the O's and drop the Y, then drop the O's. The method of having three pieces and dropping two of the same color to make a diagonal is important--always drop the odd one out to support the other two. You can also try for a 4-klax if there are enough pieces of the same color. You still need to create a staircase and there's nothing wrong with dumping a few pieces to get it--the extra klax recorded is worth it. Just don't fall into the trap of going straight up the ladder, as it were. 5-klaxes probably aren't worth your time unless you get a LOT of wilds as even then you may have to build up a pyramid just to get everything to land correctly. 3 A 4 B C 2 D E F 1 One nasty thing about diagonal waves is that often you can get stuck despite having some good matches going on. Basically, with 14 or fewer tiles you can't be stuck. See below for getting stuck with 15 tiles. The main thing to do is--pause the game(via emulation interface so the pieces don't vanish) and look for 1) any possible horizontals or verticals that can make things vanish and 2) if there would be space left over from there. R . O B . G . Y W . P . L R . O . B G . Y . W P . Here no horizontals are possible, and verticals make no progress. You can't link diagonals either. With one square gone at the top the game is salvageable. Then you can knock off something from the center or left column. The orange and yellow diagonals could fall. In fact if we've filled the square with 14 blocks there is always a way out. Search for "*PROOF" twice below here to skip this, but I find it interesting. *PROOF* First we note that if we have a column with 1 open square it cannot have a column of 2 or more open squares next to it except at an edge. This should be pretty clear. Z . . Y . U X W V We can get a diagonal of color X, then Y, then Z. We can then possibly stack 2-colored verticals nicely to take out V or whatever and start chipping away. Doesn't matter if it's probable--just possible. In fact we can't even have a column with 2 open squares 2 away. . A . . B C D E F Here we can get rid of color D. Drop a D and if it doesn't create a 3-klax, get rid of A horizontally and then D vertically. We can carve B diagonally and get going then. If the D's do vanish(i.e. a D below the D we see) we can just drop in an E and zap B and A diagonally. So if we have a column of one open square in the center then we can have at most 1 free square in every other column. But if the center has more than one open square things are equally as hopeless. No other column can have a single square open! Let's place an open column of >1 open space in row 2. Then rows 1 and 3 are off limits, as is row 4. But we can place whatever we want in row 5. Similarly if we place a column of >1 open space in row 1 we see that rows 2 and 3 can't have anything in them. We could place 5 in one or rows 4 and 5. There's a pretty easy generalization here in ((X+2)/3)) rounded down = max # of rows you can fill in, and if you do that you can't have anything else. And putting in completely empty rows cuts out more space than just one square on top. You only need four colors to make this work actually so you can try it on level 1 if you get bored. The process of elimination should serve you well here. . Y R . G . O G . R . R Y . O . G O . Y . Y R . G But 3 colors aren't enough. Note that if block A is 2L/R and possibly 2U/D across from an open column from a block of color B, block A can't be color B, or we'd have a possible match. Assume that two colors are as follows: open columns v v . ! . . ! . ! . . ! . ! Y . ! . ! R . ! . ! . . ! (note: either 2,1 or 2,3 must be different from 2,2 or we would have a Klax.) We can always keep the columns clean after operations so (3,2) must be Orange or else (1,2) or (1,0) could be matched up with Y or R respectively. Same for (3,1). . ! . . ! . ! . . ! . ! Y O ! . ! R O ! . ! . . ! (3,0) can't be red or orange. (3,3) can't be yellow or orange. . ! . . ! . ! . R ! . ! Y O ! . ! R O ! . ! . Y ! (2,0) can't be orange or yellow. (2,3) can't be orange or red. . ! . . ! . ! Y R ! . ! Y O ! . ! R O ! . ! R Y ! (0,0) through (0,3) can't be yellow or red. So they are all orange. But then they would already be klaxes. *PROOF* The moral? Don't rely too heavily on verticals. A quick horizontal thrown in there may give you a lifeline to where you can get a diagonal 2-pair you couldn't quite convert before. Also you want to be careful with collapsing diagonals. G R B Y O B R G No matter here if you get the red or blue diagonal, the other one will collapse and you won't have anything. A better formation for combinations is as follows: . R . . B O . . R B . Here you just need to dump two random blocks on the side below the blues and then you can get the red diagonal later. Obviously this entails some risks but it's doable. A much better way to go about getting serial diagonal klaxes is as follows: B R O P B R O G Y Here, you can get a blue, red and then orange if the pieces fall right, but even if red or orange comes first, you still have an orange or blue possibly in your future. In fact you can save one color and wait for another for a bit if you'd like. Just remember that if, say, a blue and red come down, drop the blue first. 5-3. 5X+3 TILE WAVE Each of these has a different formation at the bottom, and I've listed a brief strategy of how to work around them below. However, the important thing to realize is that this can be handled a lot like a Klax wave. You just keep piling on vertical tilings and look for quick triples. See section 5-1 for the details on the main procedure; however, you have one advantage you don't have with Klax waves. You can bail out at the end and not even worry about Klaxes! What I mean by this is that, if the walls seem to be closing in, you can collect and place blocks until all squares but one are filled. The game counts each block once it appears on the top, and you can take advantage of this by scrambling to hold blocks off for the last few seconds, when they seem to be pouring down--sometimes you'll need to let one drop strategically, but often you can solve the level and leave a mess behind! Of course you should look for particularly obvious matches in the meantime. But you first want to let your platform be filled up if there's nothing obvious to do. If you just have a few blocks left then to avoid, you can fire off the blocks currently on the platform. The computer will still be ticking off blocks as they come down the screen. But you will have a second or two's respite to go collecting blocks. You might even be able to shoot them back and juggle them briefly and let a few fall while you have one lane where you continually shoot back blocks. While not a long term survival mechanism, this is an effective way to squeeze through the tile wave. Remember that points aren't what's important here, and sadly with some of the original set-ups the block that's on your platform, or the first few, can go a good way towards guaranteeing success or failure. As can how fast blocks come down, or if a lot of warp blocks rain down during critical segments. At the start of the wave you should have the time to be finicky and throw back certain blocks to switch their order around, just to keep things going smoothly. It's not always a good idea to count the number of blocks left, but if you have a 80% clear board you may want to look at how much you have to do. If there are 20 blocks left to go and 20 open spaces, then just randomly dumping blocks will leave you with space at the end. In fact, if there are 24 in that case and you have nothing on your platform, you're set there too. You also want to make sure, when you are dumping blocks, that you take into account that you don't want to fill the play field. That ends the game. Leave one space open. Look at how many squares you have left when you're near the end and determine if you can just pile them on the platform or even bounce them back--or if you need just that one more drop. Level 5: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R R . R R Here, don't get too antsy if you don't get any reds to come down right away. You might want to establish diagonals meeting at (2,0), the middle point of the bottom row. It's a good idea to proceed as in most horizontal waves in the future: put two matching colors together on the edges, and if a red doesn't show, pitch a block between them to get a quick match. You can also use the center column for a quick vertical. Leave one side two-high for a quick vertical as well--or do as follows: OY OY BB RR Level 8: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G . . B G B G B You have potential for diagonals early on. This isn't inherently useful but with a quick blue and green you may want to try something like: G v . B G Y . B G B G B Yahtzee, a double combo that gets you points and time. The left side is cleared out and you can pile up verticals. Level 13: . . . . . . . . . . . G . O . . O . G . Y G . O Y There are no immediate matches here, but you can place an O on the left or G on the right to get things started. That allows for you to place a piece in the center and then get a horizontal match. You'll probably have to kill the yellows vertically but killing a green or orange horizontally sets up diagonal possibilities and reduces the problem to verticals. Level 18: . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . P B P . P W P W P This is a level where three different color squares could work out. With a blue down the middle, or a quick purple to polish off a diagonal, this level gets a quick start. Two purples of course work great and allow for a combo- klax dropping them one after the other. The whites are probably best done vertically unless you get quick blue/purple. Drop excess stray pieces in columns 2 and 4 until you get what you want. Level 23: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Y . O . Y R O R O R Here you're waiting for reds or oranges to show up. Again, you can place a red and an orange such that you get a chain reaction. Don't place them on top of each other but rather junk another color. . O Y P O R Y R O R O R Two reds or two oranges also work out well, of course. . O Y O O . Y R O R O R R Y R O R O R Level 28: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B . B . B B . B B Pretty clearly you need to start vertical stacking until a blue appears. Other than that this level is relatively trivial. Don't try to get cute and go for a diagonal--if two blues come up, reduce them quickly down the center and proceed as normal. If blues don't show up for a while, note dropping two of one color down the center allows for two diagonal blue klaxes, so that is an escape valve. Level 33: . . . . . . . . . . . . Y . . . O G O . Y R O R Y Start building verticals on top of the red, for when an orange shows up-- junk a color over the yellows before, of course. Green doesn't really work well as a diagonal orange will sink the center green. Just try to keep one side clear for an orange when it shows up. If you get lots of yellows, form a horizontal/vertical combo. to make space. Y Y Y Y O G Y R O Level 38: O . . . O Y . . . Y O . . . O Y O . O Y O O . O O Obviously, this sort of diagram cries out for an orange to drop in the center, and it might be worth flipping a few tiles to get it. An alternative, if you become too cramped, is to drop a Y in columns 2 or 4 and wait for another Y to come. You have some outlets to get vertical klaxes, but you will have to ride your luck a bit. Once you get rid of the oranges, the yellows are also tough. They may need to be vanquished horizontally. This is a feast-or-famine level that forces you to rely on luck. Level 43: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L O L O L The column that's disappeared shouldn't cramp you too much.Trying to pick off diagonals is a bad idea, but you may be able to do something horizontally after getting your first two orange/light blues. It might even be advisable to save a light blue or orange on the platform and kick the other tiles up to the belt to get things started. Level 48: . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . O W O . Y O W O Y Here you have a lot of choices of where to drop vertical stuff. You should probably place blues horizontally as there are two outlets for oranges. A wild card above the blues, or above two yellows--wait to get a horizontal-- works great as well. There are many possibilities for a vertical 4-klax and you can even try for a diagonal if one color comes up frequently early on. Level 53: . . . . . Y . . . Y B . . . B Y . G . Y B G B G B The B's are the keys, again, but there is a chance to push a yellow diagonal across, too, and that should not be missed. Two 'junk' tiles will allow this, and you have two sides to do this on. Randomness figures more than it should in here, but juggle the tiles a bit and you should not take too long to get to where you drop verticals. Level 58: . . . . . . . . . . O . . . O R G . G R Y B W B Y With a glut of R's or G's you can get diagonals to start things off, but the best bet with G's is to get something horizontal and get started. O's can also go horizontal to set up a chain reaction. Place a Y over a G if you see a green coming down, or if you'd like to cut out the bottom first. Also you can put 2 of a kind above the orange because you can get horizontal oranges. Level 63: . . B . . . . Y . . . . Y . . . . R . . . . O . . Note that you can use red as the middle of a diagonal Klax, and you really should be looking for diagonal klaxes for blue and yellow if nothing turns up early on. Try to keep one side free for pieces you want to junk. You should have enough tiles after 12 drop to take care of one side or the other, but basically, you should spill the 5 colors not in the original board into verticals, and keep the blue/yellow/red/orange on the platform until there are two, and you can create a Klax. This looks tricky but there's a lot less of waiting for the right piece than you'd think. Level 68: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . G . L O . G . L This level presents very little problem as you're already starting with the sort of formation that you want to achieve, and the main question is--will similarly colored pieces fall right away to get you where you want to be? Level 73: O . . . O R . . . R Y . . . Y G . . . G B . . . B This is a really tough level, which tempts you with the possibility of a 5- across. That is a bit too glamorous, though, barring a perfect and almost unfairly favorable start to the level, and you're probably better off placing the first of yellow or blue that you see at (2,0) so that you can get a diagonal or horizontal. Keep in mind here that you want to reduce the sides as quickly as possible, so focusing on (2,1) to drop a red or green is also necessary. Diagonals will help a ton here and, if bending down towards the center, possibly even save time over the normally slightly easier horizontals, so you want to take them into account. Of course you can also come back after, say, a red diagonal with a green diagonal pointing up, and you need to watch for this. Pay attention to what's on the top of each side so that, when one sinks down two, you have a shot at sinking it with a quick drop of two of whatever color. Level 78: . . . . . . . . . . O . G . O G . O . G O . G . O You'll need two of orange or green to advance in this wave but the question is, where to begin? Sadly there's a good possibility you may be wiped out without having done anything wrong, so you need to take your chances. If two greens come immediately, take out the horizontal bit on the bottom. Even if only one appears, take your chances by dropping it there. There's a possibility you can get oranges on a diagonal(3, 1 and 1, 3) leaving open some horizontals for greens, etc. You may need to place 2-high of the same color in rows 1, 3 and 5 to get things started and you may even need to take a chance stacking 2-highs in the other rows, hoping you can match them quickly or get a wild card. If you do get two quick oranges, you may not want to use them right away. Rather, place one at (1,1) and one at (3,1) with junk under them to get a horizontal match working. With three quick ones you can go for a 4-klax on the diagonal from (0,3) to (3,0). This opens two rows to vertical Klaxing. Level 83: . . G . . . . G . . . . O . . . . G . . . . G . . With two oranges quickly this is a real walkover, but otherwise you may be waiting for a while. Fortunately you have a lot of bins where you can place pieces, and if you don't find two oranges right away, your best option may be to create 2-high blocks of the same color and try to get oranges across to collapse the greens. If two greens come quickly, it may be best just to go with an immediate horizontal just to get column 3 reduced. But any wild cards should be used to get the 4-high green klax. Level 88: . G . G . . G . G . . O . O . . G . G . . G . G . Another level where you may have to juggle several pieces for a while before getting the right once. Bouncing pieces back at first seems critical as you really have to leave the center strip open for dropping stuff down. Once it is, though, and you get that orange, the rest is pretty trivial. Level 93: . . . . . S . . . S L . . . L G . . . G L . . . L This shouldn't be much of a problem despite the new color being introduced. Light blues are at a premium and if you get two in a row you may want to conside dropping them at (1,0) and (3,0) to create a drop spot for a 5- horizontal. But again, if light blues don't show up, you can kill off a green with a horizontal or a silver with a diagonal depending on which comes quickly. Try to junk squares on one side at a time in case favorable pieces do start to appear, and keep the center open--or stacked with two of a kind. Level 98: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This last one is surprisingly and almost disappointingly easy. There's nothing to start, and it's a pretty simple survival wave. The tiles didn't even seem to be that fast when I ran through it. 5-4. 5X+4 POINTS WAVE Points waves have many quick ways through them. Note that, since each diagonal is worth at least 5000 points, a wave of 5k thousand requires at most k diagonals. In reality they can take much, much less. If you can get a 5-diagonal(very possible when you have lots of wild cards) or even get combination diagonals, things get a lot easier. You probably will want to get diagonals to make progress, though, as vertical klaxes, 4-klaxes aside, won't get it done. Getting enough long horizontals--or ones in combination--can work, too. Let's say you get one with a combo for 1000 points x 3. Then you only need two more for the equivalent of a diagonal. As I've played through, I've found I get maybe 800 points via verticals and dropping klaxes, and this is not enough to make up for one horizontal. So the trick here is to prioritize and find diagonals at the tail end of combinations. I've listed some in the points wave, but depending on how much you need, there are different good strategies. The ideal shown in 3-7 is fun, but I want to build on combinations by skill. In later levels diagonals are critical, so I refer you to section 5-2's initial discussion of how to build a structure. For only 10000, in wave 1, it should be pretty easy, but you can do things in one swoop as follows. G B = G B / | G B Note the appearance of a vertical klax which doesn't in itself get many points. But it manages to set up a horizontal one. A slightly more complex trap might be here: G R B = R-R G B / | G B Drop all three. You get 15000 now! Well, 17000, because of the horizontal bonus. For 25000, it's a bit trickier. A quick and dirty strategy is to get a 4- klax as shown below, propped up by something diagonal. O | O P P v O | O B P 5k for the diagonal, 10kx2 for the 4-klax. This is really quite safe as you may notice that one color can come up a lot, and there will probably be a 'wild' on the way. I'm not sure of precise probability, but odds are, one will. The first one that comes down, put two squares vertically in the corner (0,0) (0,1). If another color comes up twice, then drop it at (0,2). Wild cards work well at (0,0) and (0,4) and, in fact, they can help create the structure. Just beware that if you use a wild at (1,1) it will turn the 4-klax you want in a 3-klax. You can also create a similar structure on the other side if one of your favorite colors is funking out, or you can just dump things vertically. If things take too long, just collapse the structure and start hunting for diagonals, which your square at (2,0)--the same color as (0,2) hopefully-- should allow for. 40000 or such can be quickly zapped by a 5-diagonal or crossing a 4- diagonal with a 3-. The 5- is worth 20000 points, but just drop a wild square in the center, and be sure to have two same colored squares at (2,1) and (2,0) and it'll be easy. You can also use the center as a vertical klax drop zone if you have a horizontal klax set up at (1,2) and (0,2) but the vertical bit is cheap and dirty. Just remember--all wild cards go to the diagonal. Above that, you may want to risk setting up two diagonals. It may just flat out not work some times. But eventually you'll get wilds early, and then you'll get two tiles of the same color. From there you can create a great big cross and, if you have the vertical prepared, a cross of 4 diagonals will net 60000. With horizontals set up it's even more. The important thing when building these crosses is to be aware of how many points you have and that a cross each way should work well. A 5-diagonal with a 3-diagonal works great, and if other parts can come together--especially with wild squares horizontally--you can win these waves quickly. The one detriment while setting up your big-points structure is--you might accidentally set something off that causes part of it to collapse and disrupt a long diagonal that hasn't appeared yet. Note that, when you have two wild squares next to each other, that will cause a collapse. In fact, if they are two squares apart with something between them, that will happen too. However, they can often be useful when you are creating a long diagonal. The key is to save them for the top bits. Let's look at a big long huge diagonal and see where they'd be best. * * \ / * * R-R G-G Y B O / | \ Y B O Again I've constructed an ideal cloud-nine scenario, but it shows that if you place wild squares in the right spots, they won't interfere with other places. So. In the corners and on the tops. And don't drop two of the same color on top of them. I would however advise, while you are treading water to get the right pieces dropped, that you leave open lanes on the left and right edges to drop three in a row--or have two dropped to buy time. And use (1,4) and (3,4) too for stray pieces. 5-5. 5X+5 HORIZONTAL WAVE Although the klaxes on the horizontal wave are easier to visualize, they're not so easy to improvise--you need to keep a flat surface, and sorting through junk can cost precious time--so I'd say this is the hardest wave. You'll want to let the platform sag until there are two of the same color. Bounce stuff back up if you can judge the timing, but otherwise you need to keep one side clear(i.e. dump tiles you MUST drop on the side) and prepare the bottom with two of the same color as follows: B B . . . If things are relatively open and wild squares are coming down, you can risk B B . B . Which leaves open the possibility of a five-fer if the colors are really going your way. I generally like to stack horizontal waves with blocks of the same color on each side. An 'ideal' situation seems to be below. . . . . . R R . G G Y Y . P P W W . B B L L . O O Here, up to level 90, the next tile will have a match--or we can drop squares under it so it does. We can get to this position relatively easily, too. If a 3-drop of squares appears, we could already have liquidated it. The big thing to watch out for may be wild squares. Replace the inner O with a wild square and drop another wild square down the center. Great move, right? It's 3 klaxes after all! Well, that depends. The right side is now disrupted. You won't be able to get anything out of it. If you can liquidate either the right or left side afterwards, do so. But it might actually be more favorable to block up the bottom, use the wild to take out the white and blue klaxes, and reclaim the center later when the right colored triad comes along. I often find myself buying time during these waves. That's because while the landscape is naturally chaotic and you can easily build a diagonal based on that, horizontals aren't so easy from a non-clear board. A vertical Klax leaves a huge gap which takes longer to fill in horizontally. So when things start going astray, they can get really bad. However, if the playing field is relatively flat, you can build up steam at the beginning. Just remember how to create 4-klaxes and you should be OK. Also, if you have a horizontal stretch at the top, drop a wild card in the center. B B . B . <=Leave that space! I think a big thing to beware of here is forgetting which wave you're on. After the points wave I often keep trying for outrageous diagonals. This is not constructive. I also often wind up shutting out outlets that might lead to possible horizontals. It's really critical to keep the center column open if there's no immediate prospect for a horizontal because you really should have something like the above operating. It's the only way to have a possibility of horizontals at any time. However whenever you have a chance for a horizontal I wouldn't blame you if you gummed something up immediately. Note also that if you try for 4-klaxes you will want to try for a few or you may get disruption: G G . Y Y B B . B R Here getting a blue 4-klax will render your yellows inoperative. If you start to scramble then you may have to create an impromptu horizontal. Note that vertical klaxes are relatively unconstructive unless they carve out a possibility for a horizontal klax that was formerly hidden, but diagonal klaxes on the other hand work well because they don't make the terrain any more lumpy. So you want to search for a horizontal whenever you can and constantly be on the lookout for several tiles of the same color in a bunch. There's nothing wrong with going for 4 here: . . B B . R Y R Y O G O G O Y P W P W W With 2 blues coming down the pike it's almost necessary to slap one blue at the left edge and another blue in the second-left column. You've still got a mess but there's the possibility of a yellow coming up. There's also a possibility you can use a diagonal in a chain reaction as below. . . . . . B B G G R The position above looks a little messy but you can place a G in the second column or a blue in the center and create a blue or green diagonal to drop the tile you just placed into something horizontal. In this case it's worth something like this: . G B . . B B G G R ..even though only one of these will give a horizontal. Because the next green/blue assures you of a horizontal after a diagonal. Often my strategy here is just to start out well and hope for a few breaks getting the right colored tiles and scramble for a few more. Whenever you see a horizontal, go in for it, and keep the center column cleared and horizontal pairs together as long as you can. Scramble for a 4-klax if many tiles of the same color are lumped on the conveyor belt. And don't dawdle with too many verticals, or if you must, establish horizontal pairs quickly in the gaps. 5-6. SECRET WARP WAVES AND GENERAL STUFF It's really worth it to go through with the secret warp waves. The strategy is mostly the same as on the diagonal or points wave but you need to remember several things: 1. you just need to last, not make points, so you don't want to get involved with horizontal klaxes leading to the center. Just buy time by dropping 3- groups down the sides or even down the center, where you can always eventually dump two squares anyway. Then fill up the sides. This strategy may make it better to leave one corner wild square-free because you don't want an accidental klax that either drops one of your squares intended for a diagonal or makes it vanish outright. 2. you just need to last, not create diagonals, so don't worry about how messy things look. Sometimes the strategy just won't work, but it'll save a lot of time in the long term to proceed that way if you are actually looking to finish the game. Even if you lose 5 quarters trying it. Just take an afternoon on level 6 to 1)get a 5-klax, 2)get crossing 3-klaxes in the center and 3)combine them. Despite a cross being worth 80000+ points, this strategy is not point- efficient, but if you just want to get through the end of the game or just try anything it's rather fun. 5-7. MAKING YOUR OWN INSTRUCTIONALS The first few levels are great places to learn the details and ups and downs of creating a 4-diagonal or a 5-diagonal or even some of the trickier klax combinations(i.e. 4 verticals.) Sure, it's possible just to breeze through these waves, but you have the opportunity to shuffle around blocks by actually using the springer, and with fewer colors you can try a lot more things, including the tricky horizontal 4- and 5-klaxes. One thing you can't do is use wild squares, but that's no huge loss. You can use level 6 and such for that. Many of the later levels are just earlier ones, but longer. And by the time you get through the later longer levels you'll be ready for the faster ones. If you're playing on an emulator then feel free to use save states as well. It helps create the level of challenge you want when you get pretty good at the game and can't wait to slog through it for the good stuff. End of FAQ proper ================================ 6. VERSIONS 0.8.0 sent to GameFAQs 7/25/2004. Tile and point levels complete along with initial strategy through but I think there's still a lot to do with other types of levels. 1.0.0 sent to GameFAQs 8/9/2004. Complete more or less. I'm not happy with how I detailed things, but oh well. 7. CREDITS Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, daremo, falsehead, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, and others I forgot. Retro especially for telling me I'd like Klax. Despite its faults, I really did. War Doc for pumping out a ton of old arcade game FAQs. That's motivation there, it is.