Gem Drop - Strategy Guide

Bill Kendrick
March 2015 (yes, 17.5 years later!)

Under construction...

Gem Drop is an action puzzle game, similar to Klax or Tetris. The further you get, the faster-paced the game gets. Once you reach level 15, the game slows down, but you have a greater variety of shapes to contend with.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Once you've grabbed a particular type of gem, you can only grab more of the same, or throw what you have back up towards the top.
• You cannot grab special items: bombs, wildcards ("?"), or clocks.
• You only need two gems to match with a special item; the special item counts as the third item in the match of 3-or-more.
• Keep the bottom clear — play just like you'd play Space Invaders; in both games, your games end when things reach the bottom of the screen.
• One match containing 6 gems is worth a lot more than two matches that each contain 3. When you have time and space to do so, go for larger chains.
• Remember that, while you must get 3 or more in a row vertically to make a match, additional matches can occur horizontally. e.g., if you have this:
  XXOX.O
OXX.OX
.OO.XO

  and throw a pair of "X"s in the vertical gap, to match the "X" at the top, you'll end up matching almost all of the "X"s shown, like so:
  **O*.O
O***OX
.OO**O

  
• Sometimes, especially in levels 15-20 (where there are more types of gems, and therefore far fewer opportunities to make matches), you need to treat the board kind of like Towers of Hanoi. To make a match, you may first need to move pieces around between different columns. e.g.:
  ZOX$MX
OX$OZZ
$MXOMM
......
......

  Grab and match the "M"s:
  ZOX$MX
OX$OZZ
$.XO*.
....*.
....*.

  Stack those two "X"s:
  ZOX$MX
OX$OZZ
$X.O..
......
......

  Now stack the two "$"s:
  ZOX$MX
OX$OZZ
.X$O..
......
......

  Let's try to match all four "O"s, so first move the pair:
  ZOX$MX
OX$.ZZ
.X$.O.
....O.
......

  Match the "$"s:
  ZOX*MX
OX.*ZZ
.X.*O.
....O.
......

  Match the "X"s:
  ZO..MX
O*..ZZ
.*..O.
.*..O.
......

  Match all four "O"s:
  Z*..MX
**..ZZ
.*....
......
......

  ...and so on.