A Guide to Destruct-O-Match III

     I imagine most people reading this article are here for one or both of these:

     The avatar:

     The trophy:

     I have been playing Destruct-O-Match for years, and it's one of my favourite games so I have compiled a few tips to getting the avatar/trophy you're going for.

     To get the avatar you need a score of 2500+.

     First off you should be playing in classic mode, and the game works by double clicking on sets of the same coloured boulders.

     The power-ups in this game are:

     Fill Boulder - this adds a layer of boulders on top

     Multiplier Boulder - earn three times the points for the set of boulders you destroy

     Explode Boulder - all boulders surrounding this one will be destroyed

     Timer Boulder - these count down starting at 15 until they reach 0 & become indestructible (destroy this as soon as possible)

     Indestructible Boulder - you can't destroy it without an explode boulder

     Overkill Boulder - destroys all boulders of the same colour as this one - it only awards you points for the original click though, not all the blocks it destroys.

     Morph Boulder - constantly changes colours until you destroy it

     Wildcard Boulder - counts as a block of any available colour (if there is only 1 blue next to it for example you can use this block to destroy it)

     Undo Boulder - gives you a power up that will allow you to undo your last move

     Shuffle Boulder - gives you a power up that will allow you to shuffle the boulders

     (You can see images of these power ups by clicking view instructions on the main menu of the game)

     Once you begin your game you will see two grey fossils at the bottom of your screen (in the middle), the one on the left is your undo power up and the one on the right is your shuffle power up. When you start your game they will be light grey and not usable, you will need to break an undo boulder for the undo power up and a shuffle boulder for the shuffle power up. Once you have broken the relevant power up boulder the symbols will appear dark grey. You can click on them to use them at any time in the game.

     General tips:

     1. If there is a timer boulder try to destroy it first

     2. Try to get as many same coloured boulders to touch as possible through getting rid of colours of boulders that there are less of first. I usually do this one colour at a time, whilst keeping in mind not messing up higher levels of the boards by making things un-matchable, use your judgement whilst doing this. You get more points for destroying large combos of same coloured blocks at once.

     3. If there is an overkill boulder either wait until the end to use it (but make sure it's still usable by being connected to other same coloured boulders) or destroy all of the boulders with the same colour as the overkill boulder and then use it.

     4. If you have a fill boulder and overkill boulder on the same level, destroy all of the boulders with the same colour as the overkill boulder and then use it before using the fill boulder. The fill boulder will only add colours that are on the board so it makes it easier to get matches from the fill boulder by using a overkill boulder first if you have one on the board as well.

     5. Wait to use explode boulders until the very end

     6. Save shuffle power-ups unless you really need to use them to complete the level or there is another shuffle boulder on the board. If there is another shuffle boulder on the board don't break it until you've used your current power up, unless you know you can clear the entire board without using the power up.

     7. Once multiplier boulders start appearing you should focus on getting as many same coloured boulders as the multiplier boulder as possible to connect for the biggest possible multiplier bonus. I try to save shuffle power-ups for if there is a multiplier boulder I cannot get to connect with enough same coloured blocks. I rid the board of as many other colours as I can and then reshuffle the board in the hopes the multiplier boulder will end up in a better position to maximise the points I will get.

     8. Aim for 300 points per level and restart the game if you don't get a minimum of 300 points on each of the first 3 levels, past level 3 just keep going and doing your best.

     9. You get bonus points at the end of the level based on how many boulders you have left:

     0 - 100 points

     1 - 90 points

     2 - 80 points

     3 - 70 points

     4 - 60 points

     5 - 50 points

     6 - 40 points

     7 - 30 points

     8 - 20 points

     9 - 10 points

     10+ - 0 points

     Try your best to take advantage of the bonuses for clearing the board as much as you can.

     10. It's usually best to work from top to bottom since your moves will not affect any boulders that are connected at the bottom, whereas starting from the bottom can mess up connected boulders at the top, but use your judgement with this since every situation is different & this won't fit for every board you are presented with

     Now for the levels:

     Level 1 - Blue, Green, Grey & Orange Boulders, 10x14 board.

     For this level you should aim for 300 points minimum and restart the game if you get any less than that. Start by destroying colours that there are less of on the board but try to make sure the blocks still line up nicely. If there is a Overkill Boulder (paintbrush symbol) wait to use it until the end (destroy all other colours).

     Level 2 - Blue, Green, Grey & Orange Boulders, 12x14 board.

     For this level you should also aim for 300 points minimum and restart if you get any less than that. Do the same as for level 1.

     Level 3 - Blue, Green, Grey, Orange & Yellow Boulders, 13x15 board (all boards onward are 13x15)

     This is usually where multiplier boulders start appearing and the tips listed above should start coming into play & helping.

     For the following levels you just have to do the best you can with your own judgement and some of the tips I've given since you'll start seeing a variety of power-ups and the variety of boulder colours increases which makes it harder to clear the board and hit that 300 point goal for each level.

     Level 4 - Blue, Green, Grey, Orange & Yellow Boulders.

     Level 5 - Blue Green, Grey, Orange, Yellow & Black Boulders.

     Level 6 - Blue, Green, Grey, Orange, Yellow & Black Boulders.

     Level 7 - Blue, Green, Grey, Orange, Yellow, Black & Red Boulders.

     Level 8 - Blue, Green, Grey, Orange, Yellow, Black & Red Boulders.

     Level 9 - Blue, Green, Grey, Orange, Yellow, Black, Red & Brown Boulders

     Level 10 - Blue, Green, Grey, Orange, Yellow, Black, Red, Brown & Steel-Grey Boulders

     Patience is key, it's tempting to just click away and hope it works out but it probably won't. Take it slowly and think about what effects the move you're about to make will have on the board.

     Good luck to everyone trying for the trophy or avatar, I hope this helps some people. It may take a while to get there but keep trying and eventually you'll get there.