So the game corner is giving you a little trouble? Can't work out quite what this game is trying to be? Neither can I; in fact the closest I can come up with is some kind of mix between Minesweeper and Sudoku.

So that's how I treat it, and how I am going to explain to you how it works.

If you ask the lovely Mr Game what this game actually does, he will tell you that it's simply a matter of making the cards you flip add up to the numbers at the end of each row/column, taking into account the number of Voltorbs that happen to be lurking around. "How do we do that?" I hear you ask. Why do we want to? Why should we?

Well, first of all, you can't actually buy coins at the Game Corner anymore. Consequently, playing this game costs nothing except your own sweet time. Especially if you're me and get highly addicted to games like this anyway. Plus the prizes are actually pretty nifty: it is here that you can buy things like the Wide Lenses and Zoom Lenses, and naturally, the Rockets' black market selling of Pokémon is carried on into this game. So amongst the prizes are Abra, which is possibly far easier than attempting to catch one yourself, Dratini, and Porygon. You know, those finicky Pokémon that you never actually want to catch yourself, or simply cannot get any other way.

As for playing the game, don't rush into it. Look down the right hand side and along the bottom to see what you need to get. If you have any rows or columns that, for example, have a 0 next to the Voltorb, fill in the whole row: it's safe. You will find no Voltorbs. After that, you have to work out where these Pokémon are, and avoid them. Using the memo will help considerably. Wherever you think there might be a little exploding pokéball, mark the card. But don't forget to mark it with whatever else it could be, unless you are certain, because otherwise you'll forget and may be wrong. That will never do, so make sure you pay attention to that.

Now, the aim of the game, of course, is to get all the coins. Therefore you want to concentrate on the rows/columns that have the larger scores: they are hiding more multipliers and are consequently more useful. If it gets to the point where you have, for example, 18 coins in level 1, and you still have to find one last multiplier, but you cannot think for the life of you where it is, you can leave that round, and keep the coins. If you manage to find that last x2 card, you will advance! Meaning you can get more coins. This is exceptionally useful, as leaving a round on the higher levels won't decrease it. However, the higher levels are more difficult and if you happen to be like me, you'll ignore that and carry on anyway, getting you knocked back down to level one quite often.

There isn't any cheat or hint I can give you that is foolproof in this game. All I can say is the easiest way to play is to treat it like Sudoku, and try and pick the cards that are most likely to not have a Voltorb under them. You will usually be right, but don't shoot me if it's wrong: the game likes to be sneaky like that. And again, if you're not sure, mark it out and move onto a different row or column.

The final thing that will definitely help, is to read the numbers. I kid you not. There has been more than one occasion where I've misread a 1/4 as a 4/1 and hit a voltorb straight away. The ones with 5 voltorbs are also ones to watch out for in later levels, but they will usually help a lot if you get them. So keep practicing, and those prizes will soon be yours!

Page written by That Girl in the 'Roo Suit.

Digg this! | del.icio.us | Reddit | Stumble Upon | Facebook

Tags: None!