Zuma Blitz - Tips and Tricks

Today is a new week and so the Zuma Blitz board has been changed.  Every Tuesday the board changes and this week it's pretty challenging.  I figured since I have been playing a lot lately and I'm up to level 42 that I would share with you all some tips and tricks I have learned along the way.

Shot of the new rollout

As I said in my previous Zuma post when you level up you get new things, more mojo, and more golden idols.  Not only do you get new power ups when you level up, but you also get stronger power ups when you level up as well.  For example if you look above I am using a power up called Mega Hurrah.  It used to be just a Last Hurrah, but now it's a Mega Hurrah and at the end of the game you get double the amount of points for special balls left on the rollout at the end of the game.  The only downside is that it cost 1,000 Mojo to use the Mega Hurrah as opposed to the 500 Mojo it used to cost.

New Fruits

As you level up you also get new fruits.  As you can see in the upper left hand corner the new fruit looks like a miniature pineapple as opposed to when you start off with what looks like a green apple.  The new fruits have a higher amount of points.

Large Chains

Tip #1: Try to get large chains for more points by never missing a combo.  Above I have a Chain of x63.  I hit a combo with every ball for the entire game.

Tip #2: Always keep in mind the coloured ball you have coming up next.  You can swap the ball you are about to shoot with the one that comes after it by either right clicking with your mouse or by using the spacebar on your keyboard.

Tip #3: Try to shoot between the gaps.  You get more points for hitting balls between the gaps.  Also the smaller the gap the higher the points will be.

That is all, but keep checking back for new Zuma Blitz tips and tricks.

Tweet

Snow Out East

As many of you know it is snowing like crazy in the northeast.  Well I decided to venture out into the storm and check it out.  The wind was ridiculous!!!  I live on the water so I walked into my backyard to see that the tide was so high!!  In fact as I stood out there the tide probably rose an entire 12 inches after only 15-20 minutes of being out there.  The waves were nuts.  I tried to snap some photos, but they are hard to make out, because of the huge amount of snow that was falling.

It's hard to tell in the picture above, but that is actually a shot of the creek.  The two little orange lights in the background are houses across the water.  The image below is a shot of the snow on top of the water.

The image below is of a part of the dock covered in snow.  The snow was everywhere... I mean is everywhere.

Below is another image where I was trying to capture the water, but the snow was just falling way too hard to even make out anything besides the reeds and the pole of the dock I was standing on.

Here is a picture of one of our boats completely covered in snow.

The three pictures below of the bamboo I thought were really nice.

Let's see how crazy it is tomorrow.  It's still snowing as I write now and the I can hear the wind roaring outside my window.  Hopefully I will get some time to play in the snow tomorrow!!

Tweet

Zuma Blitz

So... I have a new obsession.  Yes, I'm still pretty obsessed with Bejeweled Blitz, but my new obsession is Zuma Blitz.  It is absolutely addicting and is made by the same company PopCap Games.  You get one minute to get as big a score as possible.  You play as the frog in the center and have to try and shoot the coloured balls at groups of the same coloured balls to make matches.  The larger the chain of same colours the more points.

Cannon Powered Frog Shot

After every game you collect Mojo and XP.  You can use the Mojo you collect to buy power ups and the XP you collect goes towards gaining levels.  The hearts at the top of the screen represent how many lives you have.  If you run out of lives you have to wait to get another.  As you gain levels, there is less time you have to wait for a new heart and as you gain higher levels you are given more hearts.  After every level you are rewarded with a full life refill and a bonus amount of Mojo and Idols (these are used to buy items in the Zuma store).  You also open up new power ups as you gain levels.  For example above is a screen shot of me using the Cannon power up in which you are given three balls to shoot anywhere you choose.

Collect Fruits

During the game you also try to collect fruits.  The more fruits you get the higher your score will be and for every fruit you collect you get 50% more points than the one before it.  Collecting fruit can be hard, especially when layers of balls are covering it.  The best way to collect fruit is to shoot quickly at a matching colour in front of the fruit and immediately shoot again to get the fruit before the chain either catches up to itself or snaps shut because of same coloured ends.  Another good way to get fruit is if you have the canon power up.  Quickly obtain the power up from the rollout and then use the three balls to aim at the fruit.  Also if you have bombs on your rollout and one of them explodes close to the fruit, you can obtain the fruit that way as well.

There are also time balls and multiplier balls that you try to aim for during the game.  Those are pretty self explanatory, the higher the multiplier the more points you will get and for every time ball you hit you get 5 extra seconds during game play.

Great Explosions

The game is full of explosions and excitement and the really cool thing is that every week there is a new board and every week the scores reset and the first, second, and third ranked scorers receive medals for gold, silver, and bronze.  Another awesome thing about the game is that the faster you make matches without slowing down, the higher your score will be and if you shoot and match extremely fast you will get the hot frog.  This is when the frog turns orange and you get 3 explosive shots.

There is so much more to this game that I haven't even mentioned, which explains why it's so much fun.  It's definitely hard to get the hang of right away and there is a lot to remember and learn.  It's a great game, so if you haven't tried it out yet check it out on Facebook: Zuma Blitz on Facebook and definitely like the Facebook page if you enjoy the game: Zuma Blitz Fan Page.  This week's board is holiday themed and actually very difficult and frustrating, but still fun none the less.

Tweet

More Knitting

How exciting, I recently knitted a new scarf.  It only took me about 6 hours I would say and I knitted it all using a loom.  It came out really nice.  Here are some pics to drool over :)

Maroon and Cream Scarf

Detail of Maroon and Cream Scarf

Detail of Maroon and Cream Scarf

Hope you guys liked it and it was finished just in time for the holiday season.  I decided I didn't want to put tassels on it... thought it looked bad when I tried.  Hopefully I will be getting some more knitting done over break.

Also there is a lunar eclipse tonight so everyone should check it out, especially because it is the first one in 372 years!!! That's nuts.  Anyway it goes from 1:33 AM Eastern and then is followed by the onset of totality at 2:41 AM.  Enjoy the night! :)

Tweet

PTV69.com

Happy Holidays!!

Haven't updated in a while.  I was pretty busy during finals week, trying to focus only on my senior project paper.  Any way if you haven't seen PTV69.com yet over break you should check it out.  It's winter and holiday themed since we are off for any entire month.

Well check it out and enjoy your break! :)

Tweet

Lots and Lots of Yarn

So I haven't updated since Thanksgiving :o!  I have been extremely busy, but one thing that has been consuming my time is knitting and indeed that means I have been procrastinating on my senior seminar paper.  I just finished two scarfs and of course I don't have images of either of them.  One of them was a present for my boyfriend and the other... well I lost it... :(  I'll describe it in hopes that it may at some point be returned to me, otherwise I feel like I wasted about 6 hours of my life that I could have been using for my paper.

The scarf had a main colour of light grey with colours that transistioned from orange to yellow to green to blue to pink.  Although the picture below does not give it much justice, that's the type of yarn it was made out of:

(Borrowed from http://www.caron.com/color_cards/cc_ssshadows.html)

Also I would like to note that the scarf wasn't very long compared to an average scarf and it didn't have any tassels on the ends or anything of that sort...  Well hopefully someone finds it and returns it to me.

Anyway I thought I would share with you some documentation of two scarves I am working on right now.

The scarf I'm currently working on for myself

This scarf is made up of four different colours; cream, pink, blue, and brown.

Close up on details

Close up of loom

I'm also working on a scarf for my mom.  I'm trying to finish it as soon as possible.  I actually started it last year, but never had a chance to work on it.  I finally got a lot finished while sitting on the train a few weekends back.

I still have a lot to do, but I'm so much closer to being finished. Here is a close up of what it looks like:

Closeup of green and purple scarf details

Green and purple yarn

To create the pattern of the scarf I use two different coloured balls of yarn.

I have some more things that I am working on or have finished that I will put up here on a later date, but for now it's getting late and I really should write some more of my paper.  I had a miniature break through last night and actually began the introduction.  The intro is always the hardest part for me.  Once I set up what I wanna say everything else usually falls in place pretty quickly.  Well wish me luck!

Tweet