Fairly Beating Faerie Bubbles

     So you've found yourself far above the clouds - oh, excuse me, far away on the ground - in the middle of Faerieland. You're desperate for something to do, despite being surrounded by things to do. Well, might I direct your eye to the fascinating, frustrating, fantastical game we here in Faerieland call Faerie Bubbles! (Yes, I live here now. That's how long it took me to get the avatar.)

     The game is deceptively simple: there are orbs called faerie bubbles that come in six main colours. You control a cannon that shoots randomised faerie bubbles. Make a group of three matching bubbles to pop them. Pop everything on the screen and clear the level. If you make a group of four or more bubbles, you make a combo that comes with some extra points! There are some caveats, however, that have to do with the colour of the bubbles you make a combo with:

     Fire (orange) bubbles burn away all bubbles they touch except water bubbles before they disappear themselves.

     Light (yellow) bubbles change the bubbles they touch into one random colour of bubble before popping.

     A combo of water (blue) bubbles makes all water bubbles on the screen disappear.

     Air (light blue/white) bubbles will fill all empty spaces on the screen with random bubbles, up to the closest air bubble from the bottom, before the air bubbles pop.

     Dark (purple) bubbles turn into random bubbles and don't even pop after that!

     And earth (green) ones add one row of bubbles to the top of the play area before disappearing.

     There are also two special bubbles that appear randomly in your cannon: the nova bubble, which will pop any bubbles it touches in a 2-bubble radius, and the rainbow bubble, which will adopt the colour of the bubble it touches. Both can be very useful in clutch situations. One final thing to note is that if you shoot a bubble into either side of the game area, it will bounce off at an angle. This is how you can get bubbles into places you wouldn't normally be able to reach. There are red guidelines for your shot that will disappear after level 1, but don't worry - you'll be good enough at aiming soon that you won't need them.

     As you can probably tell, some of these bubble combos are worse than others (~COUGH air, earth, dark COUGH~). There are some combos you should gravitate towards, such as fire and water, and others you should avoid at all costs, like earth and air. Light and dark can either help or hurt, depending on the level you're on.

     Speaking of levels, let's walk through the game together. Take my haaaand...

     Level 1 starts us off easy. Most levels come in a few different flavours, with different starting bubbles on the screen. The flavour we want here is mostly fire bubbles with water in between. If you end up on Earth, it's easy enough to restart the level. Try to get as many fire bubbles into the fire combo as you can. Also, try to end up with 90-100 points upon finishing this level. As you've probably noticed by now, there's an intimidating blue wall that drops down every 5-6 shots you take, reducing your play area. In the earlier levels, it's not much of a problem, but it will be later on. If the bubbles reach the bottom of the screen, it's game over. Luckily, you can type 'slumberberry' once per game to reset the height of the wall. Try to save it for a tricky level. I should also tell you about the codes 'bubbles' and 'faerieland' - the former turns all bubbles in the level to a random bubble colour, and the latter turns your current bubble into a rainbow bubble. You might find that these come in handy during playthroughs, but I will say that I rarely find myself using 'faerieland'.

     Levels 2, 3, and 4 are largely the same - just don't activate the earth or dark combos that may be there! If you were fortunate enough to get some fire or light bubbles in front of them, make a combo and use them to burn off the bad bubbles or change them to something else. There is a chance that the light bubbles change the bad bubbles into something WORSE like air, but it's generally better to activate a tiny row of air bubbles than a tiny row of dark bubbles.

     Levels 5, 6, and 7 are fairly straightforward. Level 8 is where it gets interesting. If you end up with a pair of three bad bubbles, try to use light or fire to remove them as usual. A dark combo will just make a bunch of different bubbles that will be hard to get rid of.

     Levels 9, 10, and 11 should be doable with all you've learned so far. Make sure you have good aim - a well-placed bubble can worm its way past a tight squeeze and save you! Also, remember to practice ricochet shots. It helps me to trace the path the bubble will take with my finger before I take the shot.

     Levels 12 and 13 are more entertaining than difficult. Three rows of the same-coloured bubbles await you. If you're lucky, the correct bubbles will appear right away. If you're unlucky, you'll have to shoot the incorrect bubbles into a far-off area as you wait for the right one. You might end these levels with only a few points, but at least you're past them. Also, don't be afraid to activate the air combos on these levels. Sure, the air bubbles will spawn more bubbles into existence, but they all fall off right after! Nice!

     Level 14 is one of the tougher levels. Composed of a bunch of single bubbles, it's very difficult to set up combos here without the wall coming down on top of you and ending your game. It's entirely possible to pass this level the way you've been doing, but level 15 will test your limits. If you want to have a slightly easier time, you can type 'stardust' to turn your current bubble into a nova bubble! You can get rid of about half the bubbles this way, making your job much easier.

     The rest of the game should be pretty straightforward, especially with all the skills you'll have gained from playing the game dozens and dozens of times (trust me, you will). At this point in the game, you should have a high enough score that all you really have to do is keep chugging along and hoping you get lucky with your bubble colours. Level 17 especially involves a lot of luck with its slanting diagonal bubbles - now would be a good time for any codes you've saved! It's a rare opportunity for 'faerieland' to shine. If you aim well, you can get some of those annoying diagonal bubbles to match and fall. Level 18 is a notable level: it's an inverted pyramid with two water bubbles at the very top of the screen, taunting you. Just one more water bubble would make the whole pyramid come toppling down! If you're lucky enough to get a water bubble first and you have near-perfect aim, you can do just that. Don't worry if you miss that perfect shot, though, as you can always just play through normally and still pass the level.

     Like many avatar games, Faerie Bubbles is 40 percent skill and 60 percent luck. You'll get the avatar score of 2000 eventually!

     Fun fact: you don't actually have to finish the game (beat level 20) to get the avatar. If you even just reach level 20, you'll get 250 points! Just make sure you have enough points to reach 2000 after factoring this in.

     Well, that's it for me. I can't promise that you'll be out of here in an hour or two - in fact, you'll probably be here for weeks. It'll be your new job. (We're not the home of the Employment Agency for nothing!) But it's worth it; you'll walk out of Faerieland with an awesome new avatar!

     (Huuuge thanks to /~faerieful for guidance and the avatar! If you're stuck, I recommend that guide for a full level walkthrough.)