Anyone want some Bejeweled help in preparation of W3Games?

[Jacob]

I've got some spare time for the next couple weeks and I wouldn't mind helping people out with Bejeweled 2. If you're looking to compete in the W3Games for BJ2 and you average 6,000 or lower, I can definitely give you some advice on how to improve your gameplay.

Just post up your vids on YouTube and I'll critique! Don't worry about properly tagging them on the forum...I'll fix it for ya if you don't know how.

[houseofpwncakes]

YES OMGZ <3! I am trying to do better in WOF, Big Money, and bj2, and would love help. Would you be available for taping p2p challenges?

And if you or anyone wants SR help, let me know. If I don't respond right away, just bitch slap me and make me pay attention lol.

[Renaldo Moon]

I'll trade you help in any of those games for help in Solitaire Rush.


Send me challenges of whatever game you want to practice, and I'll record my game for you.
I'm not the best at Big Money yet, but I'm definitely in contention for making it to the W3 tournament.

[Jacob]

YES OMGZ <3! I am trying to do better in WOF, Big Money, and bj2, and would love help. Would you be available for taping p2p challenges?

And if you or anyone wants SR help, let me know. If I don't respond right away, just bitch slap me and make me pay attention lol.

I can cover you for BJ2, but on WW people don't get the same setup in a challenge so taping p2p games wouldn't help you much.

Anyway, put em' up and I'll "critique" your shitty gameplay.

I'll pass on SR...no way I can be competitive in that game for W3G when I don't play it at all.

[Grengoddess]

Amy can you help me out in SR
Johan (but especially ezorn) can you help me out in WOF

[houseofpwncakes]

Hey Johan, here's the video of the second challenge. To you and gamergoddess and whoever else wants assistance--would you prefer if I post the links for the videos first so you can imitate how I play, or would you rather have them afterwards?



Edit: This is me sucking at bj2. Help! Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Renaldo Moon]

The advice I give you for Bejeweled will probably differ a lot from what else you'll hear on here, but I firmly believe I can help you get better.

First off, I notice that your playing speed is pretty quick-- you're in a good spot, from that perspective. What's restraining your score, then, isn't the time between moves, but the processing between moves (I.E. Planning, strategy.)

What I gather is that you're employing strategy, you're noticing moves that can be played that trigger other combos, as well. I want to stress, though, that this should be idle strategy, and your focus should not resolve here. It's a distraction that will prevent you from getting hypergems.

Which brings me to my next point, hypergems is where all your focus should be for Worldwinner's bejeweled. It's not enough just to tell you this (That would be like telling someone, "To get better at Solitaire Rush, you just have to complete the board as quickly as possible." That's the goal of the game, but it certainly doesn't help anyone get better.

Consider the following: Every set of 3 that can be swapped is also a potential setup for a hypergem-- It's just a matter of pursuing the ones which are most plausible. Virtually every move should be working towards making a hypergem, this is the foundation of the strategy, not speed. Speed is simply an agent to allow you to complete more hypergems in the time limit.

This is what I propose to help you get better:
In warm-up games, do not play quickly. In fact, play slow enough to allow time to process the moves you're making. Scan the board for the most worthwhile pursuits, and pursue them. From doing this, you're not only training your mind to notice these things quicker (and thus, allow you to play this strategy faster), but you're learning a lot about the trends that occur and what is and isn't likely. For practice, I think it is OK to devote so much attention to the hypergems, since that's going to be what matters most, but in an actual cash game, DON'T get overwhelmed by this and waste time. If you need to advance to the next level or the board is getting stagnant, just pump the speed up and get out of there ASAP. If you have a hypercube, that is the time to use it.

Cases in point:
Very beginning of the game, you see the group of 4 whites and take the power gem. Not a bad move, but consider that as a hypergem possibility, the next thought should be, "Is there another white gem I can bring down to make it a hypergem setup?" You would then look up, and see there's a white gem 5 spaces up. Now that you recognize the potential, you need to ask, "Is there a way to bring that white down to the bottom?" Again, you would look, and find that there is. Swap the green on the right with the yellow, to make a group of 3. The greens disappear, the blues fall together to make another group of three, and then the white falls into place.

At 0:28, you have a group of 4 whites together again, vertically. You can't see another white above it, but it's near the top-- So the possibility is present. This one's a little trickier, but with practice, you'd notice it too. If you clear out the set of greens right above it, the two reds fall down, allowing you to clear out the reds right above it. If there was a white gem ontop of the reds, you'd have a hypergem already, but in this case, there isn't. Instead, there's a blue ontop of the red. Fortunately, there's a set of blues waiting right there too. You would swap the blue with the white gem, moving the white gem up, just for it to fall back down with another white gem ontop of it. This *would* set up a hypercube, but in this unfortunate instance, another white happens to fall down, making a set of three whites, messing up the whole thing.


I won't list all of them, it would be way more than you'd want to read, but I think this illustrates the idea. I know this sounds like it's too long and impractical to bother with in a cash game, but once you're used to it, the connection is made in your head before you can make another swap, and it becomes very intuitive.

[houseofpwncakes]

Thanks for the tips! My problem is, I know how important hypercubes are, but I have a very hard time seeing combinations for them. I'll be all ooh look 3 of a kind when there's even a perfect setup already on the board for one, and then realize after the fact that I messed it up lol. Do you have any strategy for getting better at seeing the setup for a hypercube? I understand that practice would help with that, but still.

Oh another question for you, I SWEAR, over half the time I manage to get a hypercube formation set up, the game jacks with me and messes it up lol. Like at around 2:13, with the greens in the middle. I'm sure a big part of that is me not knowing how to manipulate the board to get the hypercube, but do you have a recommendation for how to prevent that from happening?

I really appreciate the feedback, thanks.

[Renaldo Moon]

It's not so important to know you need to practice as it is *how* to practice. Since a warm-up score doesn't matter, find a setup that seems plausible and spend as much time as you need to make it into a hypergem, or until you find that it's not possible.

If there's something in the way, consider every possible move in the vicinity to see if it can fix the problem, and if not, just take what you get and move on.

This is the sort of training that should seem tedious, cumbersome, and uncomfortable. If you feel "comfortable" while training, you're not learning anything-- you're just practicing what you already know.

As for avoiding problems like the greens at 2:13, look a few steps ahead. There might be a possibility to get fix the problem early on, but if you're too hasty and go for the hypergem immediately, you might pass up the opportunity to play it through correctly.

[Grengoddess]

the second part of this video is my hypercube training course XD so check it out if you want to see the multiple ways you can make hypercubes

YouTube - Gamergoddess - WW Bejeweled 2 guide

watching your vid you missed a hypercube with the whites when the game started. see if you got the greens first...it would give you a chance to make a vertical 3 with the blues...which would bring the white down just where you needed to make a hypercube. everytime you see 4 think "possible hypercube potential" and dont go for the bomb right away until you checked that there are no similar colors of the 4 around it to manipulate into a hypercube. doing this strategizing takes practice but the right kind of practice