Here are the top seven tips/tricks/cheats you need to know for 1010!
1. Always Leave Room for That Tricky 3×3
Gram Games
• We all know that moment. Everything is going great. You’re clearing lines like it’s nobody’s business. The board is almost full, but you’re on a roll and then you get a 3×3 (or, in our own special version of hell, a 5×5). You don’t have any space on the board, and you know that unless by some act of magic you manage to clear a large enough space, you’re screwed. We’ve all been there. Just when everything was looking perfect, the game is over. Always, always, leave a spot for those monster pieces. They could come along at any time, and nothing is worse than losing a high scoring game over one piece and besides. If you happen to fit them in just right, you could score a whole lot of points.
2. Take Your Time and Think…
• It’s tempting to clear lines as quickly as possible, but we actually found that a ton of mistakes came about when people put pieces on the board too fast. You’ll actually end up scoring higher if you look at the three pieces, think about where they would best fit, and strategize. Think about which block will be the most difficult to place, and try and use that one first. Though the game might take a little longer (but we think that’s a good thing!), taking your time, and thinking through your moves will pay off a huge amount in the long-run. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare…?
3. Be Flexible
• We know, we know, it’s easy to set your sights on clearing either the rows or the columns, and to forget about the other but yeah, don’t do that. You’re much more likely to score higher if you keep an open mind, and keep an eye out for how to clear blocks both horizontally and vertically. And besides, it’s more fun if you mix things up.
4. One Thing at a Time
• We know the feeling. You clear four lines all at once, and they all disappear – super, super satisfying but as it turns out, it’s way more efficient to focus on one line at a time. Though the massive line clear might seem more efficient, you’ll actually end up getting a higher score if you clear the lines one by one. Multiple lines shouldn’t be the goal – think of it as a bonus.
5. Don’t be Afraid to Crowd The Board
• Especially for the anal retentive among us, it can be tempting to keep the board as clear as possible. It seems more manageable but somehow, we’ve actually found that our scores jumped higher when we weren’t afraid to let the board fill up a bit and focused instead on just fitting pieces in open spaces when they cropped up. By doing this, you can focus on multiple rows at the same time, rather than just one or two. And oddly we found that by adopting this strategy, we actually ended up with more spaces on the board for the large pieces rather than just a bunch of unfinished rows.
6. Work From the Corner Out
• The corners of the 1010! board can be a death trap for players. Rather than starting with your pieces in the middle of the board, start by putting them in the corner. Clearing lines from the corner in the beginning of the game will allow you to score a lot of points quickly and to set up your strategy for the rest of the game. Face your fears in the beginning of the game and they won’t come back to bite you later on.
7. And Finally, Keep on Keeping on!
Gram Games
• Perhaps this is a no-brainer, but the most effective strategy to get a high(er) score in 1010! is to keep playing. You’ll pick up a rhythm as you go along and will figure out your own personal tricks for game play. Learn from your mistakes and try and keep an open mind. The more you play, the faster your score will rise. Before you know it, you might be a world champion…