============================================================================== JezzBall for PC/Windows FAQ/Strategy Guide By: AlaskaFox(Ronan Murphy) Version 1.0 01 March 2005 ============================================================================== This guide can be accessed on: www.gamefaqs.com www.ign.com Contents ======== 1. Disclaimer/Legal 2. Contact Information 3. Version History 4. About JezzBall 5. Strategies & Walkthrough 6. Cheats 7. Frequently Aksed Questions 8. Outro/Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Disclaimer/Legal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This Game Guide/FAQ is created for personal use only. You must not use it for anything that gains profit. Specifically Magazines, Game Guides, Commercial Web Sites, unless you have my written permission. You’re also not allowed to rip off part/s of this Game Guide/FAQ and put it on your own Game Guide/FAQ. Anyone doing this is guilty of plagiarism", the act of stealing and passing off of ideas and words of another as one’s own without crediting the source. You also cannot use this Game Guide/FAQ as a guide for you to make your own Game Guide/FAQ, you must do everything there is to do in the game yourself or have others give info about your game and give them proper credit. You can copy the layout though. You can put this Game Guide/FAQ on your non-commercial or non-profit web site provided that not a single character has been edited or removed and you MUST have permission from me in order to do so. You can also, print a copy of the entire FAQ/Guide or a part of it, provided you only use it for personal purposes. Remember "You don’t have to steal, just ask." - B.O.F.III ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Contact Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you wish to ask me a question or make a suggestion, email me at frozenfox[at]hotmail.com - and include "Jezzball" in the topic title. Do note that I can not respond to every email I get, but I will try my best to. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version 1.0 =========== -About JezzBall Completed -Strategies & Walkthrough Completed -Submitted: 1 March 2005 -Created: 1 March 2005 -File Size: 15kb ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. About JezzBall ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ About ===== JezzBall was created by Dima Pavlovsky of Marjacq Micro Ltd (now known simply as Marjacq). Windows bought the JezzBall trademark in 1992, and packaged the game as part of the Microsoft Entertainment Pack. The Microsoft Entertainment Park (or Windows Entertainment Pack, as it is often known) is a compilation of some very basic games, which are usually very simple to get into. The WEP often came with Windows 95 when buying a new computer. It was also possible to buy the Microsoft Entertainment Pack seperately. Back Story ========== Every good game should have a back story, and JezzBall is no different! This is the story which accompanies the game: "On a far-off world, a new kind of atom has been discovered. It's called a Jezz, and you get paid galactic credits each time you trap one for shipment back to Earth. The Jezz atoms preserve their energy best when tightly confined, so the smaller the chamber you trap them in, the more galactic credits you acquire. The game begins in a large capture chamber with two Jezz atoms bouncing around. With a click of the mouse, you can build a new chamber wall and trap the Jezz atoms in a smaller space. But be careful, if you don't build your wall completely across the chamber before it's hit by a Jezz atom, it won't withstand the impact. Be forewarned, JezzBall is not just challenging and great fun, but also strangely soothing and satisfying. Once you start trapping atoms, you won't want to stop!" Playing The Game ================ The object of JezzBall is to trap Jezz atoms in the smallest possible chambers. You make the chambers smaller with the wallbuilder. The wallbuilder is the name given to the cursor, with which you can divide the arena. By pressing the left mouse button, you can create walls. Pressing the right mouse button switches between horizontal and vertical wall building. Watch the Jezz atoms closely. The challenge is to gauge enough time to anchor your wall on both sides of the chamber before it is struck by an atom. If only one side of your wall anchors before being hit by an atom, a partial wall is left behind but the cost is one chamber life. You advance to the next level when the walls you build reduce the chamber by at least 75 percent. If you reduce the chamber more than 75 percent, you are awarded extra points. Each time you advance a level, an additional Jezz atom is placed in the chamber. The more atoms you work with, the higher your points. If the atoms are moving too fast, you can slow them down, but you'll only earn half as many points. There is a time limit for each game level in JezzBall. The more atoms at play in the capture chamber, the more time you are allotted for trapping them. The countdown clock is shown in the upper-right corner of the screen. Rules of the Game ================= -Trap the Jezz atoms into smaller spaces in order to make at least 75 percent of the chamber disappear. You can check on your progress by looking at the area cleared at the bottom of the screen. -The wallbuilder can sustain only a limited number of atomic hits. Each time it is hit, it loses one chamber life. The number of lives left is displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen. -If two atoms are free in the chamber, a wall in progress can be hit once. On level one, a second hit by a Jezz atom ends the game. You are allowed an additional hit for each atom in the chamber. For example, at level 7, the wallbuilder can sustain six hits, with the game ending on the seventh. A game ends when the wallbuilder is destroyed by atoms or when you run out of time. -The time left in the game is shown in the upper-right corner of the screen. Playing time is increased for each level of complexity. The more atoms in play, the more time you have to trap them. -Each time you succeed in eliminating at least 75 percent of the chamber, you advance to the next level and an additional Jezz atom pops into play. Scoring ======= JezzBall computes your score based upon how much of the capture chamber you can eliminate. The chamber is divided into squares. You get points for each square that you eliminate, including those squares knocked out by the wallbuilder and empty areas that are cut off from the chamber. At the beginning level, with two atoms, and at slow speed, you receive 3.5 points for each square eliminated, 70 points for each vertical column, and 98 points for each horizontal column. At fast speed the points are doubled. The greater the number of atoms in the chamber, the more points you are awarded for each square that you eliminate. Bonus points are awarded at the completion of each level based upon how completely you eliminated the squares of the capture chamber. The first level of bonus points is given for each percent of space eliminated above 80 percent. The second level of bonus points kicks in for each percentage eliminated above 90 percent. These bonus points increase according to how many atoms are in play. To see the highest scores: access the Game menu, and select High Scores. Options ======= New Game: Press F2 to start a new game, on level 1 with 0 points. Pause: F3 pauses and unpauses the game, in case you need a toilet break or something. Speed Level: You can select Slow or Fast. This makes the atoms move slowly or quickly, it also applies to the wallbuilder, and also the countdown timer. Beware however, you will only earn half as many points on Slow as you would on Fast. Sound: On or Off - This is self-explanatory ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Strategies & Walkthrough ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Level | JezzBalls | Lives | Time --------------------------------- 01 | 2 | 2 | 1500 02 | 3 | 3 | 1800 03 | 4 | 4 | 2000 04 | 5 | 5 | 2300 05 | 6 | 6 | 2500 --------------------------------- 06 | 7 | 7 | 2800 07 | 8 | 8 | 3000 08 | 9 | 9 | 3300 09 | 10 | 10 | 3500 10 | 11 | 11 | 3800 --------------------------------- 11 | 12 | 12 | 4000 12 | 13 | 13 | 4300 13 | 14 | 14 | 4500 14 | 15 | 15 | 4800 15 | 16 | 16 | 5000 --------------------------------- 16 | 17 | 17 | 5300 17 | 18 | 18 | 5500 18 | 19 | 19 | 5800 19 | 20 | 20 | 6000 20 | 21 | 21 | 6300 --------------------------------- 21 | 22 | 22 | 6500 22 | 23 | 23 | 6800 23 | 24 | 24 | 7000 24 | 25 | 25 | 7300 25 | 26 | 26 | 7500 --------------------------------- 26 | 27 | 27 | 7800 27 | 28 | 28 | 8000 28 | 29 | 29 | 8300 29 | 30 | 30 | 8500 30 | 31 | 31 | 8800 --------------------------------- 31 | 32 | 22 | 9000 32 | 33 | 23 | 9300 33 | 34 | 24 | 9500 34 | 35 | 25 | 9800 35 | 36 | 26 | 10000 --------------------------------- 36 | 37 | 37 | 10300 37 | 38 | 38 | 10500 38 | 39 | 39 | 10800 39 | 40 | 40 | 11000 40 | 41 | 41 | 11300 --------------------------------- 41 | 42 | 42 | 11500 42 | 43 | 43 | 11800 43 | 44 | 44 | 12000 44 | 45 | 45 | 12300 45 | 46 | 46 | 12500 --------------------------------- 46 | 47 | 47 | 12800 47 | 48 | 48 | 13000 48 | 49 | 49 | 13300 49 | 50 | 40 | 13500 --------------------------------- If you complete Level 49, you will not get any Game Complete screen or ending movie, but you will just get another level - Level 49 again, and again and again. Strategies ========== -When starting out, play the game on Slow speed just to get used to it -On the earlier levels, the best strategy is to split the area in two, sepearting half the balls into each side. And then keep repeating this strategy in each smaller area. When you're left with one ball in a single area, it is very easy to reduce the size of that area. -Trapping balls in funnels or chimneys is a strategy used by many JezzBall players, as you can get many balls stuck in these, thus freeing up lots of space -Another tactic is to create rooms or boxes to trap the balls in. This is done by sacrficing one or two lives to create the rooms. -These tactics can be seen by watching the Demo part of the game -Build vertical walls first. Because the screen is rectangular, vertical walls aren't as long as horizontal walls, and you get a little more bounce time to complete the span. -The game help gives this strategy "Keep the wallbuilder away from the sides of the chamber. Since walls grow in two directions at once, take full advantage of this by centering the wallbuilder." - Note that this is only applicable for early levels, as you have to lose lives to progress in the later levels -Try to divide the group of balls with each wall you build. This is especially important when playing at levels with multiple balls. If you don't divide the balls into smaller groups, each wall becomes more difficult to build because the same number of balls are bouncing through an ever smaller space. -For higher scores, take your time on the lower levels. Remember that you get bonus points for eliminating more than 80 percent of the chamber, and additional bonus points for eliminating more than 90 percent. So on the early levels, see how precisely you can isolate the balls. It is much harder to gain points in the later levels. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Cheats ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Skip Level ========== Press Ctrl, Shift, and F12 on any level to finish the level, and jump to the next level. This is especially useful when you have only one life remaining. Infinite Lives ============== (This is unconfirmed) Type in "Lives" while playing the game ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Frequently Asked Questions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are none currently, so ask them! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Outro/Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Next Version: -Some Frequently Asked Questions -Whatever you request Credits: -"A" Tadeo for the Disclaimer -CJayC for putting this FAQ on his site, www.gamefaqs.com -SNg and Hil for putting it on www.IGN.com -Someone or other for this Game -Microsoft for Windows and Notepad -You for reading it -And not reading the credits, personally I don't blame you -They are rather boring ___ _ ___ ______ _____ ____ ____ _ _ / _ \| | / _ \/ __/ |/ / _ \| __| | \/ / | ___ | |__| ___ |__ \ | ___ | __| || || | |_| |_|____|_| |_|___/_|\_\| |_|_| |____|_/\_\TM ©Ronan Murphy - AlaskaFox 2003