Amazing Bubble Connect

Amazing Bubble Connect scores by colour rather than by picture. Bubbles of one shade are linked together, and the size and shape of the group decide what the move is worth. What Is Mahjong? walks through the same rules from the start.

Four in a row, a column of four, or four arranged as a square all pay more than a plain pair, and stretching a link to five leaves a wildbubble behind, which is the piece that rescues a board with no obvious colour runs left in it. Chasing those shapes rather than taking the first three bubbles you see is what separates a decent score from a short one. Xmasjong is catalogued beside this board.

Bombs supply the pressure. They tick away among the bubbles and have to be defused in time, so a run that ignores one to build a square tends to end abruptly. The board is 960 by 540 and takes a pointer or a fingertip. The Fruit Connect 3 layout was filed here for the same reason.

1. Look for a run of bubbles sharing one colour.
2. Connect them, remembering that four in a line or in a square pays more than a pair.
3. Link five to leave a wildbubble on the board.
4. Deal with any ticking bomb before its time is up.

• Build squares — four bubbles arranged in a block score above the same four in a line in Amazing Bubble Connect.
• Push for five — the wildbubble is worth the extra reach, and it is what saves a board short on colour runs.
• Check the bombs first — one left ticking while you extend a link is the usual way a good run ends.
• Watch the shades — the pieces differ by colour alone, so a misread group breaks the shape you were building.