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Matching minigames have the same basic format, rules, power-up and blocker tiles, and strategy for play. The
Copper Mining Minigame pictured, at right, is just one example. It does not matter what job you are Matching for, the play is the same. The text and graphics, and the shape of the board/grid is all that will change.
This game is a grid of tiles that must be manipulated to collect the resource tiles, and get the blocker tiles to the bottom row of the grid where they will fall off. Collecting of normal tiles is done by chaining them together, as described in the next paragraph. For special tiles, in
Mining and
Forging, they must be moved to the bottom, just like blockers, where they will fall off the board.
To do this, you must form chains for three or more tiles by holding down your left mouse button on the first tile, then dragging the mouse to vertically or horizontally adjacent tiles, forming chains. When you have as many as you can connect, release the mouse button and they will be removed. You have a limited amount of time, but certain actions can add additional time. Speed is important, but strategy is more important.
There are certain special tiles that have specific effects on game play.
Star - This tile is a wildcard and will match any other non-valued tile on the grid. Use this to connect tiles that would otherwise be unreachable. Special tiles may not be chained using Star, and you must start on a non-Star, valueless, tile.
Solid Stone Blocker - These will make creating matches difficult. This tile cannot be chained together with any other tile, not even other solid stone tiles. The only way to remove them is to drop them to the bottom row, or blow them up with dynamite or C4.
Lock - Unlock these by including them in a chain. Unlocking them does not remove the tile under the lock, but it does remove the lock. You will still need to match the tile that was under it on a subsequent move, so keep this in mind. A good strategy is to break up a longer chain which includes a locked tile into 2 moves; the first unlocking the tile, then the second removing it.
Shooting Star - Creates several new Star tiles scattered across the board.
Tornado - Randomly shuffles tiles on the board. Save these for when you cannot find any chains that will advance your objectives. The Tornado tile turns into a Star when used.
Dynamite - Destroys several nearby tiles. Try to drop these down lower on the board before detonating them. Excellent for clearing solid stone blockers.
C4 - Destroys a bunch of tiles scattered across the board. Not as precise as the dynamite, but it might help you. Generally, when time is low, blow up every C4 you have in the hopes that it will get what you need.
This page last modified 2009-05-18 22:51:29.
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