Developmentally Challenged

So I thought I’d go ahead and write up what I had come up with for Marble Blast Ultra multiplayer strategy. If you take two equally skilled players and put them in a match, one uses this strategy and one doesn’t, the one who does will win by a significant margin, on average. The key to this whole thing is knowing how gem spawns work. How do they work? It’s simple. When the last gem in a cluster is picked up, a new cluster spawns.

Wow, not rocket science, but it’s a deceptivly powerful tool if you use it. Think about it, for a second. More gems spawn when the last one is picked up, so now ask yourself…if you are in the lead, why should you be the one to pick up the last gem? Are they going to spawn there again? Maybe, but you probably have a better chance to score more points if you grab a good powerup and wait…and run the clock down. When a cluster spawns, and you are in the lead, you want to take the highest point gem you can, and then grab a few of the others, then let the other players duke it out for the last 2 or 3 points. The reason is this: a blue gem is way more dangerous to your lead than 5 red gems. If someone rolls over that blue, they are +5, where as it takes them longer to get 5 red gems, and they may not get all of them. Getting that +5 for your score in one hit is almost a 10 point swing. You are +5, and the next highest person now will have a much harder time making up that 5 points.

So what if you aren’t in the lead? Well understanding this tactic is important. Firstly you need to score, in order to score you have to get every gem you see. Here’s the thing, though, you want to go for the sure things. I’m not saying don’t risk a trick shot for a blue, or something, but you should go for 2 reds instead of a yellow if there is any question you’ll get the yellow. Go for the sure thing, you need points, and you need to get those clusters respawning as fast as possible. The leader, if he is using this strategy, will be trying to position himself for the next spawn. The sooner you can make that happen, the less set-up time he has.

Try it out. I think you’ll be pretty suprised how well it works.