Why You Should Play Attack of the Marblemen!

The Basics

The object of the game is very simple; put all the colored Marblemen into their matching colored boxes, before time runs out. The game board is set up like a large checkerboard grid, with each box being cut into two triangles. The marbles will continue to move in a straight line until they hit something. So to direct the marbles to their boxes, you place triangle bumpers in their path. Depending on where you place the bumper is how the marble will move. (It makes a bit more sense once you give it a try.)

Simple right? Just direct the yellow marbles to the yellow boxes, green marbles to the green boxes and so forth and so on. In addition, there are bombs and shields; you don’t want to run into a bomb without a shield on. A few levels have green arrows, which if your Marblemen passes over the arrow it will turn in the direction that the arrow is pointing. Most levels have square bumpers in the field that you must navigate around.

You earn points by completing the levels; how much time is left over is your score. Plus you get 10 points for each smiley face you pick up, and some levels contain quite a few. (Which is how you can gain a lot of points quite easily)

The game has almost 70 different levels, and you start with three lives. Every 5 levels (you know, 5, 10, 15, 20, etc) you will get a secret code that will allow you to start from a higher level. If you're going for a high score, you don’t want to use these, but if you are just practicing, these are great. Now then, for the fun stuff!

The Game Play

The game starts off easy, starting with just one marble and just one box. Gradually there will be more Marblemen per level and finally different colored marbles. Because of this, you’ll be able to learn how the game works before having the hard challengers.

Anyway, since the game has so many levels it would be silly to give a walk through for each round. But trust me, once you finished all the different levels, you will wish there were more!

Here are the quick and easy steps for conquering any level.

1. Identify what Marblemen are on the field and where the boxes that they need to go in are located. Trace the path they should follow and begin placing bumpers. The early levels will be pretty much straightforward, but the later ones might require some quick footwork… hmmm finger clicking work…

2. For most levels there will be several marbles moving all at once. Remember that you can place as many bumpers as you want, so while you are waiting for one marble to reach its box you can be directing the second one at the same time.

3. Multi-task! Closely related to step number 2 is multi-tasking. It is a must for the higher levels.

4. Since how fast you complete the level is a factor in your score, try to work fast. If you place a bumper with the vertical or horizontal side to the marble, the marble will simply bounce back in the direction it was coming from. This helps if you want to keep the marble in about the same area, rather than having it travel the entire screen. This saves valuable time.

5. The triangle bumpers are rather small so play the game on the biggest screen you can.

6. Each bumper only stays in place for one bump, so be sure to replace them if they are needed for multiple uses.

With levels with Bombs:

Make sure you get a shield before hitting bombs. Each Marblemen can only have one shield at a time, so if a shielded marble runs in to a second shield, then runs into a bomb both shields will be lost. This will result in losing the level, so be very careful. Also, make sure the right colored marble gets the shield. In some levels it is important which marble destroys the bomb.

With levels with Green Arrows:

Those green arrows are most often your enemy! Be careful and if need be follow the path the marble will travel if it hits an arrow.

With levels with Smiley faces:

Before going for a trophy, try all the levels at least once so you know what to do on each round. If you are going for a high score however, be sure to collect all the smiley faces. They are worth 10 points apiece and are vital to your score. Any color marble can collect the smiles, so think about which marble should get each smiley in the shortest amount of time.

The Hard levels

Yes, certain levels are harder than others. So here are a few tips for those especially hard ones.

Level 17 – Not that hard once you learn the “secret”. The box for the marbles is right next to a bomb, so how do you win? The marble must pass by the bomb and the box, then place a triangle next to the box so that the marble enters the box.

Level 27 – Just destroy all the bombs before directing the marbles to their box.

Level 36 – Level 36 looks like a large spiral. It has one red marble man, with one red box, with a very long way to travel in a very short time. If you have dial up, or are just having troubles completing this level, here are a few tips. Make sure you place every bumper in the exact right location. While it may be tempting to put all the bumpers in early, and then just watch the marble run its course, don’t. This seems to slow down the game. Never have more than 4 bumpers on the screen, and only place them right before you need them.

Level 45 – This one take some quick work to get the red one in. Bring the red marble up on the left so that hit bounces off the side of the red box. As soon as it hits the red box, place a triangle bumper so the marble moves upward. It takes a little practice, but you’ll get it.

Level 62 - Use the yellow marble to destroy the bombs. (Just have the green one destroy the one right next to it.) You should be fine.

Level 64 – It’s basically random if you haven’t played it before. To save you a few lives and some time, the red should enter the maze of green arrows at the top. The blue, right in the middle. Yellow goes under blue. And green goes under yellow, also know as the bottom. Once the Marblemen have entered the maze, just sit back and watch them run.

Level 69 - You’re going to learn to hate this level, because it continues to repeat itself…. You will need to play it many times to get a trophy or high score.

How to earn a lot of cash fast!

Now then, getting to the good part, here’s how you can earn 1000 NP in less than 5 minutes.

Step one: Play the game till you get to level 45. Write down the level code for level 45.

Step two: Start a new game using the level code. You will start on level 45. Collect all 4 smiley faces and complete the level. You should have about 45 points.

Step three: Again, collect all the smiles (4 again) on level 46. You should have about 90 points now.

Step four. Complete level 47. Only one smiley here, and you should end with about 100 points.

Step five: (can you guess?) Complete level 48. We are almost to the good part! You should have about 105 points.

Step six: The important step. Level 49 has a ton of similes, 9 to be exact. That’s 90 points, right there. So what you do is collecting all the similes, then lose the level. (Run out of time, send the blue marble to the red box, whatever.) Do this again and you’ll have about 285 points! Once more and you're well over the 300 points needed to receive 1000 neopoints!

Levels 45-48 look a little hard, but once you try them a few times it becomes super easy.

What next? I’d like to see a Marblemen avatar, but then I think I might be a tad bit obsessed with avatars… or marbles… I can never be sure which…

What about a new game, Attack of the Marble Women?

What are you waiting for? Get out there and play some Attack of the Marblemen. It’s a great game that you need to try!

Author's note: I’d love to hear your comments and questions! Just do NOT ask me for level codes, because you won’t get any! That’s all the fun anyway, challenging yourself to each and every level.