Tips and Hints: Get Eleven Solitaire

The Get Eleven Solitaire Trophy Challenge is underway, so it seemed like the perfect time to share some hints and tips I’ve learned for winning big at Get Eleven Solitaire.

Here’s how the game works – you’ve got a pyramid of cards that need to be cleared. In order to clear the cards you need to create groupings of 2 or more cards that add up to the number 11.

If you need help, click on the draw pile to get additional cards…but be careful! The cards from the draw pile will be added to your pyramid, which means more cards to clear before you can pass the level.

Here’s a look at the game in action:

The game is timed, and the higher the level you reach, the less time you’re given to clear the board. If you run out of moves or time, the game is over.

 

So now that we’ve taken a look at how to play Get Eleven Solitaire, let’s talk about a few hints for reaching higher levels and getting a better score.

The first thing to know is how to use the “Bonus Cards.” Bonus cards appear in the column on the right side of the game.

You earn Bonus Cards by clearing 5 groupings in a row without clicking on the draw pile.

When you earn a Bonus Card, you’ll hear a special ringing sound. The card will pop up in the Bonus Card column, and it’s now available to be used to help clear the deck.

You do NOT have to use the Bonus Card in order to pass the level. However, unused Bonus Cards will disappear at the end of each level. Also, you do not have to use the Bonus Card before you can earn additional Bonus Cards. It’s possible to save them up and even use multiple cards in one grouping.

In order to pass the higher levels of Get Eleven Solitaire, you’ll need to be fast. One way I’ve been able to speed up my game is to memorize the pairs that add up to eleven. For example, if I know that 8 + 3 = 11, then whenever I see an 8 I’ll look for a 3 and vice versa.

Memorizing the four pairs below will help you clear your pyramids much faster:

One last tip I have for Get Eleven Solitaire is to just forget about the clock.

Focus on adding up the cards as quickly as possible and don’t worry about how much time you have left. In a game like this, even the seconds count, so you don’t want to waste valuable time looking up at the countdown.

Other than those tips and hints, the best advice I can give is to just keep trying. 🙂 If you keep practicing, you’ll definitely see an improvement in your score.

What tips or hints do you have for Get Eleven Solitaire? Let me know in the comments!

 

New Game: Zingoz Zangoz

Hello my fellow Webkinz fans! I’m sure you’ve seen by now that a new game was recently added to the Arcade. The name of that game is “Zingoz Zangoz,” and it debuted on February 14th.

As  you can guess from the name, this new Webkinz Arcade game features two fan favorite characters: Zingoz and Zangoz…and it also stars Wacky!

Currently Zingoz Zangoz is only available for Deluxe Members, but the good news is that it will be available to everyone on any day that it’s featured as the “Game of the Day.”

Zingoz Zangoz is very straightforward in terms of instructions and overall game play:

Fruit falls from the left side of the screen. Your goal is to “catch” the falling fruit with the trampoline so that it can bounce over to the right. On the right side of the screen is a meter that tells you how many fruits you need to catch/bounce:

There is also a timer. To keep moving forward in the game you must catch enough fruit before the timer runs out. If the time runs out and you haven’t hit your goal, then the game ends.

Even though the game sounds pretty simple, Zingoz Zangoz can definitely get very crazy and hectic as the levels progress.

Over time, new fruits are added. Each fruit “behaves” in a different way. For example, the watermelon must bounce twice before it launches to the right. The pineapple, by contrast, hovers up in the air and then drops straight down:

Also, each fruit has a different point value. You want to score as many points as possible because the first time you reach 300,000 points you win a trophy! 🙂 (More on the trophy later.)

Another thing that makes Zingoz Zangoz tricky is Wacky. From time to time, a Wacky (or two or three) will fall from the sky. Your goal is to avoid Wacky and let him hit the ground. Sounds a little crazy, right? But that’s how it works:

If you “catch” Wacky he will break your trampoline and the game will be over:

 

The good news is that you get a warning that a Wacky is about to fall. Check out the gif above…see the red flashing exclamation point? It appears a few seconds before Wacky falls, and it also indicates where Wacky is going to fall. (When you’re playing the game, the flashing exclamation point is accompanied by a buzzing sound.)

As the game progresses, the Wackies start to fall more frequently, and groups of up to 4 Wackies will appear at a time:

So, you can see that there’s a lot going on when you play Zingoz Zangoz…but there’s still more to talk about!

Notice on the top right side of the screen, near the meter, is a count of how many fruits you’ve caught in a row:

If you can catch 60 fruits in a row without letting any hit the ground, a special event called a “Starfall” happens:

Stars rain down from the sky, and when you catch them you earn lots and lots of points!

Another bonus to know about is the Shield. Shields fall from the sky. They’re blue and shaped just like a shield:

You can tell if you have the Shield in place because you will see a white shield symbol over your trampoline, like this:

The Shield is a layer of protection. If a Wacky falls on  your trampoline while you have the Shield in place, then your trampoline won’t break and your game play will continue. However, the Shield is only good for one hit. After it’s hit, it will disappear, and you have to wait for another Shield to fall from the sky.

As I mentioned above, you earn a trophy the first time you reach 300,000 points:

As you can see, the trophy looks just like the game:

Here’s a look at the Zingoz Zangoz trophy in my trophy room:

 

If you’re not Deluxe but you can’t wait to play Zingoz Zangoz, you do have one other option. If you play Webkinz Mobile on your phone or tablet, you can use eStore points to unlock Zingoz Zangoz. Note, though, that the game will only be accessible through the Webkinz Mobile app, not on the website.

So what do you think of Zingoz Zangoz? Have you tried playing this new Webkinz Arcade game yet? Let me know in the comments!

More ways to enjoy the Wacky Zingoz Celebration!

The Wacky Zingoz Celebration kicked off on August 1st, and so far it’s been lots of fun. You can win really cute clothes by playing WackyER Zingoz, and you can earn an unlimited number of trophies if you can hit 600 in Wacky Zingoz.

I love collecting clothes, so I’m really excited about the random prizes awarded when you hit 11,500 points in WackyER Zingoz:

Take a look at my Panda Cub Jasmine modeling the Wacky Ballroom Gown and Wacky Ballroom Shoes:

And here’s my Mohawk Puppy Vint wearing the Wacky Tuxedo:

Speaking of Wacky themed clothing, did you know that there is an adorable Zingoz Celebration Dress available in the Ganz eStore?

Here’s a look at the Zingoz Celebration Dress on my Blue Persian Kitten Audrey:

And here she is strutting her stuff on the runway:

Do you like the Wacky Zingoz arcade game? If you do, then you’re sure to love Wacky Zingoz Extreme!

Wacky Zingoz Extreme is a Webkinz arcade game you can unlock by purchasing the game in the Ganz eStore. The Wacky Zingoz Extreme Game is available for 4000 eStore points.

The main idea of the Wacky Zingoz Extreme game is the same as the original Wacky Zingoz. The big orange Zangoz uses a club to send Wacky sailing. Your goal is to hit Wacky just right so that he travels as far as possible.

What makes the “extreme” version different is a few things. First, there are 3 different types of clubs to choose from:

 

As you can see, the two new and extreme clubs each have a special power up so you can make Wacky bouncer higher or fly farther!

Another way that Wacky Zingoz Extreme is different from the original is that you have the ability to hit Wacky twice and get an even higher score!

Of course there are also the floating Wackies to click on and earn a soda – either Zangoz Orange Fizz or Wacky Lemon Fizz. If you’re lucky, you just might win one of these really cool fridges:

To increase your odds of winning a fridge, you can actually buy a 6 pack of soda from the Ganz eStore. There’s a case of Wacky Lemon Fizz or a pack of Zangoz Orange Fizz to choose from.

Have you ever thought about designing a Wacky themed room? Right now I have a jumbled up collection of Wacky Zingoz items in one of my rooms:

The Ganz eStore has lots and lots of really cool Wacky Zingoz furniture right now. You can get everything from beds and pools to trophy stands and growing seeds.

All of the Wacky Zingoz items can be purchased with eStore points, which you can buy here. If you love the eStore as much as I do, then check out the bonus eStore points you get for purchasing a Deluxe membership!

What have you been doing to participate in the fun of the Wacky Zingoz Celebration? Tell me in the comments for a cool Wacky Zingoz prize via kinzpost! 🙂

 

Ant Mania Trophy Challenge: Tips and Hints

If you read Webkinz Newz, then you probably know that there’s an Ant Mania Trophy Challenge coming up this month. The Ant Mania Trophy Challenge lasts from July 28th to July 30th.

I’m not very good at Ant Mania, so I started looking for some tips and hints at how to get a better score. I came across some pretty helpful information, so I thought I would share it with all of you. 🙂 Maybe it will help you get the trophy a little faster!

Let’s talk about the game itself – you’re a large black ant trying to pick up pieces of food on a picnic blanket…while avoiding smaller red ants. The more pieces of food you pick up, the more red ants that appear.

Eventually, after you’ve picked up a certain number of foods, a spider appears. (The number of food pieces that triggers the spider’s appearance varies according to whether you’re playing on easy, medium or hard.

If the spider or one of the red ants touches you, the game is over. You don’t get multiple lives or multiple chances – one touch, and the game is done.

There are three boosters or “Power Ups” that will also appear on the blanket:

To collect a “Power Up,” just run over it the same way you do when picking up a piece of food. Don’t wait too long or the Power Up will disappear. Like collecting a piece of food, collecting a Power Up also adds to your score.

Each Power Up gives you a different type of advantage and lasts only a few seconds. A power bar at the top of the screen shows you how much time you have left with your Power Up. It starts out green when it’s full, then goes to yellow, then orange and finally red just as it’s about to end.

Here’s the snail in action – you can see that it slows down the red ants (it slows down spiders as well):

Now here’s the tennis shoe – it makes the black ant (you) much faster:

Last is the lady bug armor – this protects you from the “enemies,” like a shield. If  you’re wearing the lady bug armor, you can touch a spider or red ant without losing the game:

Now that we’ve covered the basics, here are the tips and hints that I found:

1. The red ants are faster than the black ant, so don’t try to outrun them. Only when you have the tennis shoe/speed “Power Up” are you faster than the red ants.
2. The spider moves faster if you stay still. Once the spider appears, you want to keep moving at all times because the spider’s speed increases when you’re standing still…meaning it can reach you much faster.
3. You can move diagonally. You’re not limited to up/down, left/right. You can move in a diagonal line as well by using two arrow keys at once.
4. When wearing the lady bug armor, don’t waste time trying to hit the ants. There’s no real benefit to purposefully running over the ants while you’ve got the lady buy shield. They’re only stunned for a split second. It’s better to use the time getting as much food as possible.
5. The lady bug armor will start to flash/blink when it’s about to run out. This is helpful because you don’t have to look at the bar up top in order to know when armor will disappear.
6. You get a lot more points per food when you play on hard mode. Playing on easy and medium modes can help you get more comfortable with the game so you can play on hard mode and (hopefully) get a higher score more quickly.
7. You don’t have to run directly over the food. All you need to do is graze the side of the food in order to collect it.

Those are all the tips I have for playing Ant Mania. Do you have any hints for getting a higher score? Are you looking forward to the Ant Mania Trophy Challenge? Let me know in the comments!

A Closer Look at New Spree Prizes: Trampoline, Cake and Pizza

New prizes recently debuted in the Spree Mall, and I was able to pick up a few last week. With the mall credits I had saved up I bought the Fun Floor Trampoline, the Pile of Pizza and the Platter Birthday Cake.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these new Spree prizes!

Fun Floor Trampoline

The Fun Floor Trampoline is a cheerful green color and really quite large. As you can see, the Fun Floor Trampoline is made to look like it’s set into the floor. It’s interactive, as you probably guessed. One fun thing about this trampoline is that your pets twirl in the air when they jump on it, rather than just bouncing up and down like they do on the regular trampoline that’s available in the WShop.

Pile of Pizza

The Pile of Pizza is a stack of pizza boxes with the Pizza Palace logo on them. Like several of the new Webkinz items that have been added recently, the Pile of Pizza can be turned for 4 different looks:

Here’s the way the Pile of Pizza transforms when you turn it:

Platter Birthday Cake

The Platter Birthday Cake looks sooo yummy! 🙂 It’s a white cake that features 4 blue candles that light up when you click on the cake. Here’s a gif that shows the candles turning off and on:

I’m close to reaching the Spree Mall on my  TreeHuggerJess account, so hopefully I’ll have more new prizes to show you very soon! Which of these three prizes is your favorite? What are you saving up your mall credits to buy?

If you just can’t wait to get to the Spree Mall to check out all the new prizes, you can purchase extra turns at the Ganz eStore using your eStore points! You can purchase a 5 pack or a 10 pack. 🙂

Jumbleberry Fields Trophy Challenge

The 2017 Webkinz Berry Fest kicked off yesterday, and one of the activities to enjoy is earning a Jumbleberry Fields Trophy. To win the trophy, you must feed your pet 12 jumbleberries, 8 pickleberries and 5 moonberries.

There are a few different ways to get your hands on these berries. The first way, of course, is to play Jumbleberry Fields. Because moonberries are harder to win, you could consider buying some moonberry seed packets from the Ganz eStore.

Then there are the floaty clicky events. You’ll find different types of berries floating around Webkinz World all during Berry Fest (which lasts through June 28th). Also, be sure to stop by Webkinz Newz and find the floaty clicky berry there each day, too.

And remember to check the Daily Activities. There will be berry giveaways during Berry Fest, and you can earn more berries when you spin the Wheel of Yum.

If you get down to the last minute and still don’t have all the berries you need, you can use eStore points to “skip” a task. (You can purchase eStore points online at the Ganz eStore.)

I’ve earned the Jumbleberry Fields Trophy on my GABirdGirl account because I had enough berries saved up to fulfill the tasks. You see, all of my jars in Jumbleberry Fields are currently full, and I’ve been leaving them full so I could trade them in for the newest prizes.

Here’s the Jumbleberry Fields Trophy, front and back:

And here’s how the trophy will look on a pedestal in your trophy collection:

When you win the Jumbleberry Fields Trophy, you also win a Moonberry Gift Basket:

Drag the Moonberry Gift Basket into your pet’s room, and you’ll be awarded 5 moonberries:

Are you excited about the Jumbleberry Fields Trophy? Do you have lots of berries already saved up or are you going to have to win them? Let me know in the comments for some Jumbleberry Fields via Kinzpost. (Friend me on my TreeHuggerJess account. My GABirdGirl account is full right now.)

A couple of trophies and some Thoughts from the Treetop: May 2, 2017

Sometimes the real world keeps me busy and I get behind on my Webkinz blogging. 🙂  I’m having an easy day today, just enjoying the beautiful weather and watching the birds at the feeders on my back deck.

I’ve got some fun news and some random thoughts to share, so I figured I’d do a Thoughts from the Treetop post and just collect it all in one place.

First I want to share my exciting news (well, it’s exciting to me, anyway) – I finally got a Pet Party Parade trophy! 🙂 I got the trophy a few days ago on my TreeHuggerJess account, and it’s really cute.

When you complete all 30 levels of the game, you’ll see this message:

Then because it was my first time winning the whole game and earning a trophy, I got this message:

Last, here’s a look at the trophy in my Trophy Room:

Have you won the Pet Party Parade trophy yet? How many levels have you been able to beat so far? Do you have any tips for winning Pet Party Parade?

It’s the beginning of a new month, and that means a new Deluxe Monthly Challenge. In order to meet this month’s challenge, you’ve got to earn 150 kinzcash playing Color Storm.

I’ve actually got some tips for playing Color Storm. To read the tips, click here for the blog post I wrote during the Color Storm Trophy Challenge.

Speaking of trophies, I finally won the Candy Bash 2 trophy – and I won it on both of my accounts!

The Candy Bash 2 trophy looks like a chili pepper:

Here it is in my trophy room:

(And there’s my Grumpy Cat giving us a photo bomb!)

The Candy Bash 2 trophy is actually pretty easy to win once you know the secret/trick to unlocking it. The trophy is awarded randomly, BUT the only way you can have a chance of winning the trophy is by first getting “4 in a row” while you’re collecting the falling candy.

That means “catching” four of the same type of candies/sweets in a row, like this:

Once you’ve collected four in a row, keep playing and wait for the cat (named Gato Loco) to float by across the top of the screen. If Gato Loco is holding a trophy, hit him with a bean – the trophy will fall, and if you catch the trophy before it hits the ground, then congrats! You now have the Candy Bash 2 Trophy! When you catch the trophy, you’ll hear Poncho say “Arrrrrribe!”

The random trophy counter will reset after each appearance by Gato Loco. So if you see the cat but don’t get the trophy, you need to do another four in a row in order to have another chance at the trophy.

Have you won the Candy Bash 2 Trophy yet?

I’ve adopted a couple of pets recently. One of them was the Baby Bunny. The Baby Bunny was a special pet in the month of April because Baby Bunny owners got a extra activity each day. (Like the Reindeer Games in December and the Lovely Fox bonus activities in February.)

I named my Baby Bunny “Gidget,” and I think she’s a cutie:

Here’s Gidget wearing the Farmer’s Wife dress you can sometimes find at the Ganz eStore. (The clothing selection changes frequently.)

If you want your own Baby Bunny, the plush is still available at the Ganz eStore.

The Flower Collection Event just kicked off – if you want some tips on collection event success, click here for a blot post with advice on how to collect flowers quickly.

I’ll wrap up my Thoughts from the Treetop with a picture of the Super Token I recently won – this Super Token was worth three wish tokens!

Have you ever had a Super Token? What did you win? (Deluxe Members get to spin the Wheel of Wishes every day!)

Well, I guess that’s all for now. Thanks for reading and for visiting my blog. I hope you have a wonderful day and a fantastic week!

 

The Great Trophy Chase: Scrambled

When I first came up with the idea of The Great Trophy Chase I didn’t plan on trying for a Scrambled trophy, but this weekend I won a Scrambled trophy on both of my accounts!

The trophy looks like a folded omelette:

It’s also animated and bounces up and down:

Scrambled, which is actually called “Webkinz Scrambled” if you’re looking for it in the arcade, is a lot like Pizza Palace. Instead of pizza, though, you’re cooking up omelettes for a line of customers.

Here’s what the basic game play looks like:

(That’s my Strawberry Cloud Leopard named Lila – I also got the high score that day!)

You blend up one or more eggs plus one or more ingredients, depending on what type of omelette the customer has ordered. You put the omelette on the grill, pick it up once its cooked and put in on the customer’s plate.

Scrambled sounds deceptively easy because it’s more challenging than it first may seem. There are only 10 levels total – when you pass the 10th level you win the trophy. Levels 1 through 4 are pretty simple; even Level 5 isn’t too hard. It’s around Level 6 when some new challenges start to get thrown your way.

I’ve gahtered up some tips for Webkinz Scrambled that I think will help you pass the higher levels and eventually win that cool trophy. 🙂

First, there are two very important things to keep in mind while playing Scrambled. One is that every second counts. Two, stay calm and don’t panic when the customer starts to get angry.

What do I mean by an angry customer? Well, just like in Pizza Palace, a customer will start to show signs of anger (frowny face, puffs of smoke) when they’ve been waiting for a long time.

Here’s what an angry customer looks like in Scrambled:

There’s some good news, though. Customers may seem to lose their temper pretty quickly, but they actually stick around for quite a long time even after they’ve started to let out puffs of smoke/steam. It can be tempting to keep looking up at the customer or to get frazzled by their impatience. If you want to win the trophy, though, you have to practice ignoring the signs of anger and just keep playing the game calmly.

My next important tip is to only take care of two customers at a time. Now, there are five plates total, which means in the higher levels you’ll always have five customers waiting to be served. If this was Pizza Palace, I would suggest that you multitask and take several customers’ orders at once.

However, in Scrambled, you can’t really multitask – there’s only one blender, and you can’t buy more blenders, a faster stove, etc. Click on the first customer in line. Take their order and start blending up the ingredients. Once that omelette is on the grill, take the next customer’s order and blend it up while the first omelette is cooking.

That’s it. Just two customers at a time. Keep using this strategy throughout the whole level on every level. Just ignore the line of customers that start to crowd up in the back. I promise you can win the trophy with this strategy.

Staying calm and sticking to your strategy is how you earn your trophy. However, that doesn’t mean you can go slow or just take your time. Like I said before, in Scrambled, every second counts – even a split second counts!

So here are some tips and tricks I’ve learned to keep you from wasting any valuable time.

1. Keep your egg tray full

In the higher levels customers will start asking for four and five eggs in their omelettes, which will empty your tray of eggs quickly. Click on the stack of egg cartons to refill your tray – you don’t have to wait until the tray is completely empty.

Fill up the tray any chance you get or you could find yourself with an empty tray and having to wait to fill the next order. Also, don’t stop to watch the egg tray fill up. Just keep moving on with the order.

2. Dump in the ingredients as quickly as possible – you don’t have to go one at a time.

You see the cheese, onions and tomatoes in the bowls above? Those are the three ingredients you have to work with. Just go click, click, click. You don’t have to wait for one of the ingredients to fully empty into the blender before you can click on the next one.

3. The omelette only needs to go one shade darker

Scrambled is different from the Cooking Class where the pancakes must go two shades darker before they’re ready to be served. As soon as you see the omelette go one shade darker, that means it’s done and ready to be served.

4. You don’t have to babysit the blender

Once the ingredients are in, and you’ve clicked the button to start up the blender, it will do all the work on its own – including stopping on its own when the mixing has finished. So just start up the blender and focus on the next task.

5. Be precise about where you click

I’ve found that being sloppy with your clicking, especially when cooking and serving the omelettes, will waste valuable time. The game doesn’t give you much leeway in where you click in order to perform a task. Click directly on the omelette to serve it, and click directly in the middle of the customer in order to put the omelette on the plate. For me, this has been one of the most important time savers I’ve developed.

6. From Level 6 onward, each customer wants all 3 ingredients

You’ll notice this one on your own, but just remember that in Levels 6 through 10, each customer is going to ask for all three of the ingredients, so you only have to worry about the number of eggs.

One last important tip – serve the customers in order of arrival!

As I mentioned above, there are 5 plates on the counter. In the first few levels, the customers go to each plate in order from left to right, so it’s really easy to keep track of who you should serve next.

Unfortunately, this gets trickier in the later levels. Instead of lining up neatly from plate 1 to plate 5, now each customer will simply appear at the counter wherever an empty plate happens to be. This means you can’t just keep moving left to right and still be serving the customers in order.

What happens if you serve the customers out of order? Well, as we saw above, customers get angry when they have to wait. If the customer waits too long, POOF! They disappear. You only get so many “tries” on each level. If you lose too many customers in one level, the game is over.

So what’s the solution? There’s two parts. First, use your peripheral vision to see what animal has stepped up to which color plate. By that, I mean look from the corner of your eye while still working on blending and cooking up the omelettes. Second, if you’re not sure who’s next, look to see who’s starting to get angry. If a customer has started “smoking” or “steaming,” then they’ve been there the longest and that’s who you should serve.

Whew! I know that was a lot of information, but I hope it was helpful. When you pass Level 10 you’ll see this message, and you’ll know you won the trophy:

So what do you think about Scrambled? Are you going to try to win the Webkinz Scrambled trophy? Let me know in the comments!

The Great Trophy Chase: Zingoz Pop

Zingoz Pop is all about matching colors and popping bubbles. It’s a simple game, and  you can earn lots of kinzcash by playing it. Here’s my overview of Zingoz Pop, as well as some tips for playing the game.

First, and this is very important, if you want to win the trophy, you have to play in “normal” mode. You cannot win the trophy in “easy” mode. Easy mode only has 10 levels. Normal mode has 30 levels, and you must pass all 30 levels to win the trophy.

If you need to get more familiar with the game and get a feel for how you can bounce the bubbles off of the wall, spend some time playing in easy mode.

At the beginning of each level in easy mode, you’ll get a yellow line that shows you exactly where your bubble is going to go when you shoot it. Sometimes in order to make the most efficient moves, you need to bounce a bubble off one of the side walls. Using the line guide to practice will help you learn how the bounces work.

So what is Zingoz Pop all about?

The basic idea behind Zingoz pop is simple. You start with a formation of colored bubbles. As time goes by, the bubbles slowly descend downward. You must clear (or pop) all of the bubbles before they pass the “game over” line near the bottom of the screen.

In order to clear bubbles, you must group bubbles of the same color together. Connect three or more bubbles of the same color, and the bubbles will “burst” or “pop,” clearing them from the board.

Bubbles are shot out of a cannon at the bottom of the screen. You use your arrow keys to move the cannon left and right.

You’ll notice a colored ball on the cannon – that tells you what color the NEXT bubble will be, so in order to plan your moves you must remember the color one move in advance.

Don’t worry, though. This isn’t as tricky as it may sound. Once you’ve played Zingoz Pop a few times you’ll get the hang of it.

At the beginning of the game, you’ll be given the chance to choose one of four boosters.

Each booster does something special that will help you clear the board faster.

In order to earn a booster, you must clear a group of sparkling bubbles.

Sparkling bubbles look like this:

Sparkling bubbles appear randomly, and lose their sparkle after a few seconds. Once the sparkle is gone, so is your chance to earn a booster!

My favorite booster is the Burst Bubble, the one that looks like a rainbow.

The Burst Bubble’s special power is to clear all of the bubbles of the same color. For example, if you use your Burst Bubble to hit a yellow bubble, all of the yellow bubbles will disappear.

Here’s the Burst Bubble in action:

There’s also the Bowling Ball, which really does look like a bowling ball.

This booster will allow you to blast through a line of bubbles. The Bowling Ball can be a big help if you’re stuck in a jam, particularly if your bubbles are getting really close to the “game over” line.

Take a look at the Bowling Ball being used in game play:

Now let’s talk about the Super Bubble.The Super Bubble is the one with the star.

This booster pops all the bubbles it touches. I also think the Super Bubble is good for quickly getting out of a sticky situation.

Here’s how the Super Bubble works:

Last is the Line Guide. The Line Guide is the same  yellow line that you get at the very beginning of the game.

It guides you in pointing the cannon the right direction in order to get your bubble to land in a certain spot. The Line Guide is my least favorite booster because it won’t get you out of a jam or clear a lot of bubbles instantly. Everything the Line Guide does is something you can learn on your own with a bit of practice.

The Line Guide looks like this:

One interesting thing about Zingoz Pop is that the levels don’t necessarily get progressively hard as the game goes on. Same of the later levels are actually pretty easy, while some of the earlier levels are quite challenging. Each level is different and presents a unique challenge. There’s a lot of skill involved in Zingoz Pop, but unfortunately, there’s an element of luck, too. Sometimes you just don’t get the colors you need in order to make it work.

Zingoz Pop is a game that most anyone can master with time and practice. Levels that use to really stump me now seem easy, but I’m still a long way from the trophy. So far I’ve only made it to level 16. Level 7 is still a tough one for me, and I usually lose at least one life on Level 7.

Currently Zingoz Pop is only for Deluxe members. If you want to play Zingoz Pop and other Deluxe only games, you can check out the different Deluxe Membership options at the Ganz eStore. Deluxe Memberships come with lots of perks and free gifts.

Do you like Zingoz Pop? What level have you reached? Let me know in the comments!

The Great Trophy Chase: Dogbeard’s Gold

Dogbeard’s Gold is a Webkinz Arcade game featuring your favorite pirate – Dogbeard!

The goal of Dogbeard’s Gold is to launch Dogbeard from one spinning platform to the next, collecting jewels and gold coins along the way.

You can either press the spacebar or click your mouse to make Dogbeard jump. There’s a handy arrow that shows you which direction Dogbeard will “fly,” so you can line the arrow up with the jewels/gold coins and get as many as possible.

Here’s a look at the arrow:

Dogbeard’s Gold actually gives medals rather than trophies, but they still look great in a trophy room!

You get a bronze medal at 10,000 points, a silver medal at 50,0000 points and a gold medal at 100,000 points. So far I’ve only been able to earn the bronze medal. My highest score has been just under 28,000 points.

I have a couple of tips to help you earn your medals. First, I use the mouse rather than the spacebar. For me, the mouse is quicker and more accurate.

Second, really pay attention to racking up those jewels and coins in the early stages of the game. When you hit all of the gems/coins without missing any, you start building up a “combo.”

You can see your combo progress in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Your combo number is how many gems/coins you’ve hit in a row. As soon as you miss a gem/coin, your combo goes back to zero.

Creating high combo numbers is important because you have the ability to quadruple your score. When you get a combo of 30, you start getting 2x the points, at 60 it’s 3x the points and if you can hit a combo of 90 you’ll get 4x the points. The points start to add up really fast at 4x, and you’ll hit the bronze medal very quickly.

In the beginning stages of the game, the platforms spin more slowly, so hitting the coins/gems is a bit easier. Also, you don’t have to rush. You get a full rotation of the platform before your combo number starts over. So while you can’t just spin around endlessly, you can complete one spin without losing your progress.

A little compass-shaped clock in the lower right hand corner of the screen shows you how much time you have before your combo starts over:

Another tip – and this is something I only recently learned – is that you actually get TWO jumps per platform. If you miss the platform on the first jump, you can click one more time for a second jump. This second jump can save you when Dogbeard starts to plummet.

As the game progresses, you will come across platforms that are triangle shaped map pieces:

For me, these are a bit trickier than the round platforms, but the more you play the game, the easier it will become to time your jumps from the map pieces.

One last thing to look out for – sometimes the jewel/coin chain is really steep. Here’s a picture to show you what I mean:

In those cases, I usually focus on jumping to the next platform, and I don’t worry about trying to collect the gems/coins. Even though you lose the points, you’re still progressing in the game, and you’ll have plenty more opportunities to earn points.

Currently Dogbeard’s Gold is only available to Deluxe members. (Visit the Ganz eStore to learn about Deluxe memberships.) But, if it’s the Game of the Day, anyone can play, and you can earn yourself some medals for your trophy collection!

Good luck!