I decided to add one more hints page for the IWON series and in particular hints for the SpongeBob Squarepants Collapse game. This is a fun a game and with these few simple tips your score should improve dramatically. Like all IWON games be sure to resize the window so that you only focus on the game and don’t get distracted by those annoying advertisements. Resize the screen so at least the one under the board (the one that keeps changing) is out of view.
First a few of the basics. The game builds a row of colored squares at the bottom of the board then pushes them onto the playing field and by doing so raises all the other squares above it to the next higher level. The object then is to clear the squares before they reach the top of the playing field. This is done by clicking on a group of three or more squares of the same color. Each level has a certain number of rows that must be played without going over the top in order to proceed to the next level. Each higher level has more rows to be played and the speed with which the rows are added increases as the game moves on. Sounds simple enough, let’s play.
First points, since it is always about the points, we need to know what are the things we can do to get the most points possible. Two simple things to remember. 1.) the higher the level played, the higher the point values given and 2.) the more squares cleared with a single click the higher the point value given. In other words a string of four like colored squares will give you more points than a string of three like colored squares. Likewise a string of 20 like colored squares will give you a boatload more points than just a three square combination.
So how do you get too have large numbered combinations? There are a couple of ways. One is too wait for the squares to build up a bit before attacking them. Of course the squares aren’t going to automatically group themselves together by color so we have to help them out. In the early levels (1 through 3) there are only three colors. A fourth color is added for levels 4 on up. Pick a color you want to work with and then try to eliminate the other colors. As those colors are removed the color you picked will start to be grouped with other colors of its kind. Just continue to remove the other colors where possible and then at the last minute, when the squares have reached the top level, click on your color and you will get a mega combo bonus. This will clear a lot of space and you can start working on the next color.
You may have noticed two other objects that appear on the board from time to time. The first is the squid. It acts and sounds like a bomb and will take out several squares that surround it regardless of color. It can be useful at times and will generate bonus points based on the number of squares it takes out. To get the most squares don’t be too anxious to click on it when it first appears. If you wait for a few new rows to appear under it then it will remove the squares not only above it and to the sides but those below it as well. This is the way to get the most points from the squid. Practice with the squid in the early levels but you will soon find that there are better ways to gain points by avoiding the squid, or only using him in special situations.
The better way to gain points is to use the other bomb. It is the round colored balls that will appear from time to time. By clicking on these balls, all the squares of the same color on the board at that time will be removed giving you a mega combo bonus as if they were all connected and selected at once. This is how the real point gains are made. Again, it is important to wait before selecting the colored ball bombs. The more squares of that color on the board at the time you click the bomb the bigger the bonus, so I try to wait until there are squares on the top level and I have to hit something or it will be game over.
With that in mind, let’s say you have a red ball bomb showing. I would start focusing on the other colors and removing as many of them as possible. As I remove them there is more room for new red squares to take their place as the rows advance. As soon as I get as many red squares on the board as possible, and there are no more combinations of other colors to be removed, and the squares are in the top row ready to go over, then I select the red ball bomb and clear all the red squares at once. This gives me the largest number of squares combination possible and I have just received the largest bonus point total possible and now I can set up for the next color combination.
There is another reason to wait for the last possible minute and that is to combine different color ball combinations in an effort to clear the board. This is easy to do if on one of the early levels. Say you are on level one and you have a red bomb and a blue bomb. Since there are only three colors, after you hit the red bomb and then hit the blue bomb the only color squares left will be the green ones that will now be conveniently grouped together and you can click them and clear the board gaining the cleared board bonus. You can sometimes get the cleared board bonus more than once on a level, but the higher the level the harder it is to get. Level one cleared board bonus is 10,000 points, level two is 20,000 points and so on. You can get the clear higher levels but it gets harder because you have four colors to work and the rows are coming faster. Remember that you have to clear all squares on the board before the next row advances.
A couple of rules to remember about the squids and the bombs. Using a squid will remove all items near it including the color bombs. If you want to keep and later use the color bomb make sure that it is far enough away from the squid when it is set off, otherwise it will be gone.
Using the color bomb on the other hand will remove the squid no matter where it is on the board. My opinion is no big deal. Once you start using the color bombs, you will seldom use the squid. In fact once you get into the higher levels, you may only be using the color bombs. That is because the rows will be advancing so fast you will only have time to search and click on color bombs. Of course, that is where the points are.
One other note about the color bombs is to be sure you select it and not something next to it. There are times when you are about to click on the bomb and the rows advance and you get the next lower square. If the square is the same color and adjacent to the color bomb it will treat the bomb as a regular square and only remove the group, not all squares of that color. If you are near the top when this happens then you will have to click like crazy to clear enough squares before the next row advances.
When the rows are advancing fast then you will want to play the color bombs and they usually will come up pretty fast as well. If you are getting near the top and there are no bombs in sight, the only thing left to do is to start clicking like mad. Sometimes all you can do is sweep your cursor over the board and click as you go. Sweep back and forth and just keep clicking. Precision is great if you can do it but once it gets moving you will have to try for luck.
The last two things to leave you with are the play advance secrets. When you are ready for faster play and the lower levels just don’t excite any longer try pressing the number 4 or the number 8 when the level is in play. This will immediately jump you to that level. Remember that you can only go up to that level; you cannot go back down to that level.
The other secret I just learned today. You can click on the screen just below the preview box where the new advance row is being built. Each time you click it, it will advance that next row. This way you can quickly fill the screen with the new rows and then start clicking away. This works well with the early levels especially if you have a color bomb in play but by the time you reach the upper levels, you’ll be too busy to worry about speeding things up.
Once you have SpongeBob Squarepants figured out you can try the regular collapse game. It is very similar but adds a twist with squares that change color and you have to try to synchronize your click so that it matches up with the squares around it.
Practice makes perfect and these tips will have you scoring in the millions almost every time and in no time at all. This really is a fun game and judging by the number of people who play it, it is worth the effort to learn a few tricks. Happy clicking.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Click here to go to IWON Tips Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.
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