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Jewel Quest II (Web)

Status: Stopped playing - Got Bored
I started playing this game on Wednesday 18 February, 2009  //  I stopped playing this game on: Sunday 27 December, 2009
Current opinion of this game
Addicting. But you know that already. Would you believe me if I told you that there is skill involved as well? (I don't have that skill...yet...)

March 3, 2009 09:37:04 PM
My and I have been playing (on separate computers) for a while now. We just discovered that our friendly over-the-shoulder competition was a tad misguided. When you play online (tournament mode) you are ranked. This is a score (between 1 and 1500?) that goes up and down. Both of our scores had steadily been dropping with my wife's reaching about 100 and mine at 550. We figured that lower was better. Apparently, HIGHER is better. This kind of makes sense in retrospect because we both lose so frequently. :-)

Most curious is that we've been unable to find any information on HOW the score is calculated and what it means (if anything).


February 24, 2009 09:30:20 AM
I've been playing this for about a week now thanks to a special offer on Amazon that let me download the game for free. I've also just noticed that it's available for free on iWin's website which is kind of odd, I guess.

The concept is so simple that EVERYONE has already played this game a million times. Seriously. There's obviously something to be said about simple game mechanics and a high level of polish that somehow manages to suck you in. You really don't notice as time flies by and you sit there, clicking, and telling yourself that "one more game" is all you'll really do. Pfah!

So much is known about this kind of game that I was genuinely surprised to discover something I hadn't realized. JewelQuest II has a "tournament" mode that is basically a "speed race" against someone else. There isn't gameplay interaction though you are granted an abstracted view of your opponents game board in the lower left of your screen. Whoever gets the highest score, wins the match. For all its simplicity in gameplay, I've learned that this game most definitely REQUIRES some level of skill and strategy in order to win. I haven't yet developed that skill. You might have though that a large amount of the game depends on luck. Will the right gems fall in order to trigger a nice combo reaction that nets you more points? You would be wrong. My performance record bears witness to the fact that there are people out there who will win consistently and constantly. I have yet to figure what the "trick" is and I have yet to hone my skills. I am awed however by those who do. To give you a sense of how lacking I am, of the 110 or so games I've played, I've only been able to win 9.

Ouch!


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria