Clox(Famicom Disk System) FAQ/Walkthrough version 1.0.0 by schultw.andrez@sbcglobal.net(spam spoonerism) Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if you'd like to post it on your site. ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS AND POINTS 3. PIECES AND STRATEGIES 4. GAME B WALKTHROUGH 5. CHEATS 6. VERSIONS 7. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION Clox is an innovative variant on Tetris where you need to chain the two hands of consecutive clocks so only bends are at the center. You'll know what I mean once I illustrate it later, but basically, you have clocks in 4 different positions, with transpositions--45, 90, 135 and 180 degree angles. They fall as in Tetris, and you can rotate them and shuffle them. You even get a few "breaks" with each level, after which the blocks drop faster. Breaks allow you to undo a mistake you made, by crushing the clock below the falling clock. Clox has two games: the free-form high-score one, and the 50-level challenge where you must solve one level before moving to the next. Given that there are only four blocks, randomness plays a relatively small factor in either game, and it is more likely you just won't be fast enough. If you want something totally mindless, this is not for you, but if you like block drop games where you build something unusual, I think you will really like Clox. It doesn't try to be profound, but it is ambitious enough to be worthwhile. 2. CONTROLS AND POINTS You can drop the clock into a 7x11 well, so you have lots of spaces to fill. Down makes a clock move faster. You can crush a clock below when pushing yours down. This should be done with care. I've sped through a lot when I said "Oh! This clock goes here! Let me speed it up!" and I've messed up my whole pattern. Once a clock crushes another clock below, you can move it as before, rotating or moving it. You can even crush several clocks below, although each clock square crushed is another break you lose. Moving left and right has some nuances. Obviously, most of the time, you can just move left and right, but especially in the challenge game you may have to move through a horizontal tunnel. The rules here are 1. you can move all the way through a tunnel, even on fast speed 2. the tunnel has to be tight at pretty much any speed Example: .... > will drop left ... .... > can get through ...... This just means you nee to waste a few pieces. You also have the ability to rotate before something gets locked into place--twice on slow, once on fast. Because the blocks are regular, you can rotate freely as a block moves down, and on later levels it is often a necessity. B rotates counterclockwise, A clockwise. Start pauses, and select does nothing. You may notice you have time to move and rotate before a piece is locked in. This is good for last minute stuff but a potential pitfall when you 1) want to move the next piece quickly left/right and 2) don't want to break what's below. So ease up pushing down 1/2 square above, and let go of the movement until the clock hands extend slightly to the edge. I didn't find points to be terribly important, but you get about 600 points for each part of a polygon you complete. If you complete a few polygons in a row with just one piece, the Nth polygon gets the points from the 1st to (N- 1)st. 3. PIECES AND STRATEGIES There are 28 different pieces if you do not count orientations as equivalents. 45 degree pieces: \ | | / / \ *-- --* * * \| |/ / \ \ / /| |\ * * *-- --* \ / / | | \ 90 degree pieces: | | *-- --* | | | | *-- --* | | / \ / \ * \ / * * / \ \ / \ / / \ * \ / 135 degree pieces: / \ | | / \ | | * * * * | | \ / | | \ / / \ / \ --* *-- --* *-- \ / \ / 180 degree pieces: \ | / \ | / \ | ----- / \ | / \ | / There are 2 ways for the game to determine blocks: either by picking 1 of the 28 possibilities(8 choose 2) of the possible pieces, or by choosing 1 of the 4 possibilities for angles, then 1 0f 8 angles for the hand with noon closer behind, clockwise. I think the second occurs in practice, as I found 1-2 straight lines per row if I filled up the board. 1.75 would be expected for the second case, 1 for the first. I don't have any statistics, but we can assume the angles occur with equal frequency, especially given the information I found in the cheats below. Given the relative uselessness of the straight line, this is not the more favorable of the configurations. You can see 2 1/2 blocks ahead in the "next," which may sound odd, but you can really only see the bottom half of block #3. That includes half of if one of the initial hands is horizontal, and that is a big help. If you can't see any hands(6/56 chance,) 2/3 chance it is a 45 degree and 1/3 it is a 90. There is a majority chance you can only see 1 hand, and in that case you may not be sure what to expect. However, you have a 5/8*4/7=20/56 chance of seeing both hands, which can be a boost, and if only one hand is down, you know the piece is a 135 or 180. Similarly you can tell if something is not a 180(horizontal and vanished) or not a 45(angled and vanished.) This probably isn't critical to know at the start, but you will develop the intuition. What sort of shape you get depends on the pieces you get. In order to make a full polygon you need a set of pieces whose bends add up to 360 degrees, or a multiple thereof. Bend = 180 - actual angle. However, the only legal bend is at the center of the clock. So below does not work. * / \ \ / * But you can tack stuff on so it does: * * * |\ / \ /| |/ \ / \| * * * A tighter example of this is the bow tie, 4 45's: *- -* \ / / \ *- -* Note either the bottom or top half would be a figure, but one bend would be in the link between two clocks. In general you want to look for small shapes that have either 1) a variety of pieces or 2) have the pieces you can clearly see in the "next." If you can get all but one piece of a 45-90-45(called a 3-triangle in the walkthrough) then you should. * |\ | \ *- -* Another small polygon which you can make quickly is the square, if you get a lot of 90s. *- -* | | | | *- -* There's also the parallelogram. *- -* \ \ \ \ *- -* But the 4 which may be the most useful is the 4-triangle. * |\ | \ * * | / |/ * In game B, polygons of more than size 4 aren't really necessary unless they are forced by where the blue pieces you need to zap are positioned. In game A, you may note that a lot of the shapes above have a lot of 45s and 90s. I've found it's useful to have one side of the board dedicated to these and the other to an octagon. You can fill in the center of the octagon, which vanishes(anything in the interior of a formed polygon does,) which means you can drop a lot of straight/junk pieces in there while working on the left. Of course, this is not an exact science, and you will wind up breaking a lot to make things perfect, and you may want to cut an octagon off to make a bigger/smaller shape if the opportunity arises. But you need several polygons to work on at once. And you need to use breakage for when something piles up. 4. GAME B WALKTHROUGH Game B consists of 50 levels of clocks and blocks positioned at the start, and your object is to get rid of all the blue ones. There may be some orange blocks, too, that fall after everything else is in place. You have unlimited continues, and if you fail, you get to restart at the slowest speed. You just get your score and bonus multiplier reset. Round 1: The only way to get through this is to use a 135, 45 and 45. It's highly unlikely you'll go for more than 5 turns without clearing 1, and that leaves you a place to dump a whole bunch more pieces you can't use. If you place a bad piece, you can just break it, but you shouldn't have to waste breaks here. Round 2: This time you need a 90 and a 135. This is probably a bit easier than level 1. But you need to hook the 135 into the side of the right figure. The 90 should be facing down, like a caret. Have the 135 rotated before you slide it in. Round 3: For the DR, the easiest way to get something done is to form a 3-wide triangle *- -* | / |/ * And this may take a bit of time. If in the meantime you get a lot of 135's and 180's, chuck the 180's to the side and build the 135's on the structure in the center. Note it is a loop, but it is not concave. If you get a bunch of 45's at the start, then *- -* \ / But if not, and you get 2 135's, then | | * * \ / That allows for you to place a 180 and 45 on one side, 135 on the other--or 2 more 135's. * |\ | \ * * | | If you get a couple 45's quickly, go with the first, but otherwise, the 2nd, or another option below: place 2 90's like so, or wait for a 90-135-45 like the 180-45-135 mentioned above. Below won't win but will get extra points. / \ * * \ / If too many 90's fall, of course you can make a square, but you should be able to do something with anything except the 180's, which go off to the side. But in general this is a nice level where you can adjust based on what falls. Round 4: The left requires a 90 and the right, a 180 and a 45. It's also possible to use a 135, 45 and 135. Or a 90, 45 and 90. Those require a different order to fill things in, and you need to take that into account. For instance if you get 135-45-135, place the 135 on the right so 45 is next. Round 5: 45 in the UR, 135 below and either 2 90's or 2 135's in the left. Again you can waste pieces before and after clearing part of this out, and you need to see what is next before moving on. Round 6: Here you have a piece on the ledge, but it is not so bad. Place 4 blocks to the right of it, wait for a 90, and wait for a 45, and that should do it. The board is partially blocked but you still have plenty of places to dump pieces. With 20 spaces and 4 pieces, it should happen. Be sure to slip stuff in on the very bottom once you've clogged up the right. Round 7: This is your first really free form level. You have to make a loop of some sort. Again you can adjust to the first pieces dropped. If they are 2 45's you can go for a 4-triangle. If 2 90's you can make a big square. Fill up the square above the blue V with a nonsense piece if you don't know what to do with it. Another possibility is the following loop, which uses some of each piece. In general the line should be chucked as it may make your loop longer. *- -* | \ | \ * * * \ / \ / (blue) * You could however just as easily make a parallelogram if you want, but the important thing is to decide a shape--5 units if wide angle pieces, 4 if you get 45s--then wait for the right pieces to drop. Round 8: Here you need a bigger loop and, where you can, you'll wawnt to make a diagonal, but obviously you also need a 90 at the bottom as a V first, before placing a 135(that is easier than making a 180 and a bigger loop) and junking pieces you need to. 90 180 90 < (here 90-180 can be replaced 180 180 with 180-135 and 45 on top) 135 135 90 You may have to make some side loops while finishing the bottom center bit, probably using the 45s that you can't use for the main loops, so try and make triangles or bow ties on the side. Round 9: This one is a bit messy as you need to use a few breaks to get going quickly. However, you can try stuff like: --make a parallelogram in the DR --make a small triangle in the DL, or a 4-triangle with a straight line on the bottom --make a small triangle in the bottom center. You can also make an extended trapezoid in the bottom center if you get a bunch of right angles--or even a full rectangle. Use a break or two to get out of this quickly. Round 10: Do stuff in order here. You need a straight line for the upper triangle, then a 90 degree angle, then a 135. Use the sides to dump pieces. Unfortunately you need pieces n a certain order so if you have bad luck you may need to break. However, barring astoundingly bad luck, you should be able to clear one area, which opens up the next, then the next. And you can use one side to make small triangles or bow ties for a while if you want. Round 11: A tricky level where you may have to break things again. You need a few 90s and 135s to make your way across. 45s are not useful in the center and they should be placed at the edges when you get them, then next to the edges. You will want to hold off on placing junk next to the sides til you have to, as that is the area to break if need be. A lot of straight pieces may gum things up, though. Once you clear the center bit, you should have enough pieces to dump so that you can get to the sides. If you have a choice between dropping something in the center to break and on the sides to break before crushing the center, go with the center. If playing for the long term, you may also wish to place something above the center blue, which is risky, but it may save breakage later. Round 12: A bit of a trick here. Drop stuff down the center til you can place a V connecting the blue 135 and 180. Dump stuff down the other chutes til you get the 90. Use another 90 to come back, then 2 180's to the right, and build up the right chute so you can place a 45 on the right. A pain to wait for the right piece, but you have several chances to make small triangles. You can do so with whatever pieces there are, since the blues will not fall. Round 13: A somewhat surgical level where you will need to use a lot of 135's/180's and 90's. The 135s/180s need to be slid in UL DL of the center piece, but along the way you may want to drop 2 junk pieces and a 90 below the blue vertical. You should have one route to below the blue open for the first bit, and even if you need to junk pieces, do so on the upper side to keep flexibility. It will be hard to build an actual polygon as the pits are so staggered. 135s are slightly nicer than 180s as you need fewer pieces to get things going, but it is probably best to have a variety. *- -* / | / | * * | | | | *- -*- -* Right side can't be changed--need 2 90's. Left side can be 180-90-135-135 or 180-90-180-90-180 or 135-90-135. Just see what pieces there are and make a 45 or 90 degree turn for your shape accordingly. Round 14: Fill up the center and drop a 90-degree in to bridge the gap, and if you need to bide your time, fill the left and right gaps. Probably the best way to get through is to have: *- -*- -*- -*- -* \ / \ / * * \ / \ / * Then, on the side, * /| / | * * \ | \| * But because the pieces needed for the side are the same as for the center, what you want to do is have the above pushed up one square, so that when you connect the center, the pieces fall into the right position. In the meantime, fill the rest of the center up with garbage. And try to complete the sides, if you start them, before the center, or you will have a lot of breakage. Round 15: A 2-part level where you need to chop up what gets done when. It's possible to break stuff on the sides if you want to get through quickly. Use a 45 or a 90 and then a 135 and 90(90) or a 135 and 45(45). Again, see what you have, and tinker with it. The other way is a bit longer but a bunch of 90s and 135s can do the trick. There's no reason you have to do things the same way each side. You can even make right triangles with the hypoteneuse on the sides, length 4. Then you have to get through the bottom bit. 90 degree turns are best to start with here, and then you have the option of 180s or 135s to get to the row above. Wait to place anything in the very center--leave the junk on the sides. Round 16: You obviously need a 90 in the middle, and you want a 135(good) or 90(best) in the 2nd-left and 2nd-right. You may have to build your way up here, but it is no problem as you can junk clocks under whatever structure you want to build. Again, preserving symmetry is a fruitless task, so don't bother. Round 17: The stuff in the compartments matches up with your first polygon, so don't worry about it. You need to complete either side with a 180 wedged between the blues, and then assuming you get a variety of pieces, you may wish to use the following: *- -* | | | | * * | | | | * * | / |/ * With a rectangle on the other side--you can also put a 135 at the top but that requires calculation and junking pieces. Whichever, put the first of 45 or 90 that you find under the verticals and work from there. The center is great to junk pieces. You should have enough to junk, but there may be some nerves waiting for the verticals unless you are quickly able to establish diagonals. Round 18: This level looks impassable, but you can get rid of the center, then push pieces into the bottom. Rotate the 45s as you push them into the corners to make the triangles. You may have a bit of a wait for getting the right pieces to make the diamond around the block, so make a bow tie on top of the blue vertical with 45s. You also may want to place clocks 1R and 2R of the block to dissolve so you can slip the right piece in--in fact, slip piece in 1L of the center so you don't have to worry about finesse when you slip the final 90 in. The next part is very tough. You probably want to create the upper part with 135s, the bottom with 90s, and the side with 180s. Chuck a lot of pieces below for support, then 135 - 90 / | 135 180 | | 180(blue) 180 | | 90 - 180 - 90 Round 19: With a bit of quick thining, this one is easy. Any triangle you form gets the job done, so just junk stuff on the left side til you have a small triangle in the DL. You also have the DR to chuck things. You only need 2 different pieces, so it should be pretty quick. Round 20: This one is hard. You need to either make quick triangles on the side tops and work down, or ride your luck building stuff and chucking clocks in the center. The best bet is to make small triangles at the very bottom. Things got a bit crowded for me here, and I had to break a lot of clocks to get what I wanted in the end. I can't really see any other way to do things. Round 21: Crush the 90 in the DL with a correctly rotated one of your own. Put a bow tie in the UR, then you will want to use a 45-180-45 for the new UR piece, followed by 2 45s and then you need to deal with the 135. Break the 180 to the left with a 90 or 45 to make the loop tigher and work from there. As you go along there are increasingly more columns you can move to junk pieces. Round 22: You'll want to place 3 90s quickly here, then you'll need to do it below-- placing the left then the right(you may want to slam other blocks against the walls first) and then placing a block on top of the V, then another 90. The side gutters below should give you time to get the right pieces. Round 23: Make a small triangle in the UL with 45 and 90, and build up a horizontal string on the bottom. You can use a 180, 135 and 45 to link the left bit with the right. 2 90's on top should clear out the big bottom structure. Then a 90 and 45 will take care of the UR. The order you do these in is not important, but you will need to fill up the areas you know you are not going to use--the upper left and right, then whatever bottom areas you cleared. Loop out the small-triangle stuff(45-90- 45) if you have an opening. Round 24: You need 2 180s right away and then it is best to put a 90 in the center facing down so you have one big long link. You'll want to form a sort of diamond across the top, and you may need to junk pieces to do it. First, place a 135 UL of the UR most 90, then make a walkway across to it where you drop 180s in, with a 135 at the end. Getting lucky and waiting is the hard part. You may need to do this on slow speed just to get it right. Round 25: Another level you can't do at once. Two 180s get the first of the DL, and a 90 and 45 clear the DR. You can then use 45/135 to make a DR parallelogram. The bottom part, as in similar situations before, can use 2 45's or 3 90's depending on what is there. Round 26: Note that if you are lucky enough to get a 90 and 2 135's early on, the DR bit will fall with the extra orange. What you want to be concerned with here is the upper isolated bit. There is only one way to go-- 135-135 / \ 90 90 \ / 135-135 Fortunately after covering the bottom bit with 135's you have a lot of space to dump the bad stuff. You can get the UR part of it and then you will have to break a few things for the last bit, but you shouldn't run out of luck or breaks. Just be careful not to get anything stuck in the tunnels. Round 27: Throw stuff down the left -- you can move to the 2nd left, but only break stuff on the far left--and the 45 degree piece sets off a chain reaction that nakes a blue triangle in the DR. You get 200000+ points for this. Round 28: Wait for a 90, then use 90's/135's and use the left and right to dump pieces. Note the first blue diamond opens up passages left and right to drop a bit more. If you get a bunch of 135s in a row you can place them as follows on the left: \ *- -* / / A -* NY Otherwise there is a bit of a wait but you have 20-30 places to dump things, so that should be okay. Round 29: You need 90's on the left and right of the V/caret on the left. Then you need a 45 in the DR. The chain reactions take care of the rest. If you have to, you can drop stuff down the chutes and break it later. Round 30: You need to make squares in the DR and the DL. But note how things will fall into place--if you put something in the very DL and DR first. Then you need to pile up in the center and get a couple 135s with a 90 between them. That will link up the middle successfully. Here you can use the side shelves a bit to dump pieces so that you can place a 135 and increase your chances of winning/needing fewer breaks. Round 31: You need to break up the star in the center, which should give you enough time to take care of the rest. You can make a diamond and 2 4-length right triangles in the bottom, but for the top you need to put clocks along the bottom(1R and 2R of the left, and the reverse on the right) to slip in the 45s that will fall. Junk stuff on top of the figure--but don't block the 45s you have to put there. If 45s come before the bottom is set, put them on the top. Round 32: 2 90s clear out the left, and a 90 and 45 clear out the right. There's no better way to do this, so junk the pieces you don't need. Once you clear one area, it frees squares to junk til you get the other area's pieces. Round 33: You can define a pretty explicit purpose for every piece on the board, which makes this easier. 45s: place in DL and DR 135s: place 1L or 1R on ledges so 90s can get across. Also at bottom and 1L and 1R. If you get a 135 and 45, place them next to each other on a ledge so you can make *- -* * | \ /| | / \| *- -* * 90s: make squares on the side. 180s: place above 45s and UR/UL, and 2UR/2UL as well. Then place 45s to complete the triangle. You may need to break the bottom bit a lot. And you need to be accurate placing the 90's. You will probably need to do this at slow speed. Round 34: The bottom part needs a 4-triangle. You can leave a lot of junk around once you've gotten the various components in place. From there you have a tough challenge to put pieces in place. You have to waste a few pieces, but you will have the space to do so. * / \ / \ * * / / / / *- -*- -* You probably want to build the left first, as building the right can cut off a lot of empty squares. Round 35: Here you will use the 135/180 for the UL/UR and a 90/45 in that order for the DL. You need to be careful along the tunnels. Rotate as the piece falls. Use the center as long as you can and only work on 1 of the UR/UL at a time. *- -* | \ | \ * * | / | / *- -* For the UL. Round 36: You need a few 45s fpr the DL and DR. a 90 can make a triangle in the center, and 180/135 can start the loop you will need around the 2 blocks just above. Another 45 gets the parallelogram in the DR, and then you need to build up a tower with a 180 and 135 at the top to get the UR bit. Note you can also make the tower in the UR at the start, but then you have to use a few breaks. Again you need to be exact with moves here, as pieces go down chutes a lot, so you may need slow speed. Round 37: Get a 90(>) and place it in the right. No, really, that's it. Round 38: 45 goes to the right edge. 90 goes in the center as a ^. 45 goes to left edge. Slip a 135 in the right edge area. Now don't disturb the original pieces on the left--they will fall in once you box out the center. If you could keep the stuff on the right, it would be great, but you probably have to drop a piece in there so you can get to the bottom of the diamond figure to complete the level. So you will have to break a few things to clear the DR--no really big deal. Round 39: Jam a piece below the left and right oranges, then drop a 90 left(less to clean up later--worth leving a mess for), 135 in the right when you get them, 90/45 in the bottom and left/right. You can leave the bottom til last and often make a parallelogram instead, but it will require some breakage. Round 40: Make the diamond and then place a 180 at the bottom and a 90 on it. Break what you need once the left and right sides get filled. You are waiting for a 90, 45, 90, 45 to fill the left and right. Round 41: Basically you need to junk a lot of 180s and 135s except for the parallelogram at the very bottom. Place the first 90-45 in the DR and try and make a bowtie out of the DL. The 90's can be used to make a square in the DL as well, and then you need to make a trapezoid or at least a sharply bounding piece to take out the UR- diagonal blue square remaining. For that, prepare in advance with the stuff to the right and then drop stuff down the center as needed. Round 42: Another level where you slip a 45 on the left and off you go. Just don't break anything you didn't drop. Round 43: Make a bowtie in the DR and a square in the DL. Now you just need to stack up the center bit with 3 straight lines on the UL UR and DL, 1 line R of the D remaining bit, a 135 and a 90 down the right to make a big loop. Then take care of the remaining vertical. Your best bet is probably to go with 45 and a thin trapezoid or 4-triangle, as the way under with a 90 is probably blocked by stuff you had to junk. Round 44: Place a nonsense piece right of the 90. Break/dump DR what you need so you can place 2 horizontals at the bottom. Then dump something above the 45 and place a 135 UR of it--the right is great for breaking, again. Then get a 180 and a 90 and you are done. Rotate as you zigzag--you can do so while moving in the row as you'll only need three rotates max(if you go the wrong way the first time.) Round 45: A rather random looking assortment. You have to kill off some before others work. If a blue points to another blue bubble it doesn't link to, you can't kill it yet. Kill the left 45 ASAP, with a 90--90, 180, 180. That opens the lft 135. You can use 4 90s to kill the top 90(^) which doesn't stop you from killing anything, but it opens up easy possibilities. Further 45s can go to the DR and also below and 1R of the DL blue 90. That opens the blues on the bottom. You need to make a thin parallelogram or trapezoid to take them out. Then you can take out the 45 in the right. Through this be careful not to place anything that will get stuck under a blue bubble so that you can't crush it as you position stuff. No one step is difficult but each part has places for you to mess up. Round 46: That orange in the center is an apparent nuisance but you can get rid of it with 2 45s. Then make 4- or 3-triangles(or get ready so one piece will make them) along the sides to pick off the 45s in midair, followed by the V in midair. You can junk stuff 1L and 1R of the center, and you should try to place, at the bottom, pieces that will connect the square 1R of the corner with the one 2R1U.(45 and 135 are good so you don't have to junk 135's right away.) With 45s in the corners you can junk a lot o nthe edges, too. You will need to drop 3 pieces down the center, maybe all 180, but you can also go with 135 in the left and right nooks, garbage and 90. Round 47: Lots of diamonds to make here, so start with the ones in the lower center. You need to take out the inner one first, then cut off the top of the second- bottom one. Slowly you'll get space and usually you will want to loop two blues together at once in as tight a loop as possible. Be prepared to junk a lot especially down the center, and while you are filling areas up, be sure to get the right clock in under a block or blue clock. Round 48: Make a bow tie or small triangle in the center. Then along the bottom, make a polygon: * /| / | *- -*- -* * / / / / *- -*- -*- -* You can take out the other side with a simple parallelogram. For the blue horizontals on top a 4-triangle may work best. You may have to break stuff before closing off the edge, but in any case, get the inner part of the 4-triangle first and work out from there. Round 49: Here you just need to get 90s as you replace the diamonds. Junk things to the side and get the UL diamond. The UR can go next. Then clean left and right, just below that. You then have to drop stuff down the sides and you will need 3 90s for the lone >, then 2 more, then 2 more. Place blocks wherever you know you won't need to place a > below while you are waiting for refills. One thing you may wish to do is fill up the left or right temporarily when working on the other side, move junk pieces across to the UL, and break everything. For the last bit you can pile on everywhere that should be vacant, and you can make it. You really have about 26 breaks since you will advance ~7 levels. Round 50: You need to make 2 loops and for the top one you have a choice between something like *- -*- -* | | | | * * | | | | *- -* and * / \ / \ * * \ | \ | *- -* (The problem above is you may place the top 90 wrong, but it's a risk worth taking.) More likely a combination of the two. For below, you want to drop in a 45, so the next 45 you get is a winner. You also want to keep the lower row free as long as possible, so you can push pieces in each way. You may be able to junk a piece 2U of the bottom L if you have a 135 next to it, so if you get a 135, slip it in. If you can get a 90 1U1L of that too, great. But in any case you need to swerve pieces around. You can always leave a piece on the edge and break it with the next one down. You may however be in a no win situation if you ran out in level 49. You can afford to block up one side with junk to complete the first loop, as you will probably get enough space in the second loop(above the blue L, after you place the first 180/90 or 135). Eventually you will get lucky with a few good pieces after the first match. *level 10 = go slower *make <30 breaks 5. CHEATS 0x14 = round - 1 0x88 = level # 0x6a = # of breaks The well starts at 0x300. 00-03 and 0b-0f in each row of 16 are the edges. 80-87 = 45 degreers, starting with U/UR 88-8f = right angles, starting with U/R 90-97 = 135s, starting with U/DR 98-9f = 180s, starting with U/D. There is no difference between [98 99 9a 9b] and [9c 9d 9e 9f] for the purposes of game play. ================================ 6. VERSIONS 1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 12/18/2007, complete 7. CREDITS Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of mine. Thanks to odino for suggesting this game to me. Thanks to the NES completion project people for keeping it going strong enough that I could explore these side passages like the FDS and still know there was a project to go back to.