Going GaGa for Goparokko

     For a quick premise of Goparokko, in this game you're playing as a Yurble from Mystery Island who believes he has the magical powers of a witch doctor. After discovering an ancient ruin, you discover you can make coloured tiles disappear! Now isn’t that fun?

     Gameplay

     There are 3 levels of difficulty for Goparokko: Easy (4 points), Medium (6 points), and Hard (8 points). If you're going for the avatar (score 8,500+ points) I recommend the medium mode. It will definitely get very fast once you're in range of the avatar score, but it's still manageable (unlike hard, which gets crazy fast! and much faster than easy mode which will take a long time). If you're just looking to practice switching tiles though, easy is a good place to start since you'll have the longevity of the timer on your hands.

     Once you're in the game, you'll be revolving a 2x2 tile block clockwise (indicated by the white border). Keep that in mind, since it's important to know which block you sound be expecting in which direction. Each time you click on this 2x2 block, you'll be making one 90 degree rotation.

     Pro tip: While there isn't a bonus for clearing blocks greater than 2x2, there IS is a bonus when you clear a block then clear the new tiles that replace them! These multipliers will multiply your score, by 2 or 4 which will greatly impact your score at the end.

     Keep in mind you’re playing against the timer bar (on the right). If the water reaches the bottom, it’ll be game over. If you clear a block, the timer will jump back up. If you are moving tiles around the board, you’ll slow down the timer considerably. The timer will drop quicker and quicker as the game progresses, so be sure to move as quickly as possible!

     Types of Tiles

     Aside from the 6 colours of regular tiles (Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue and Purple), there are also several special tiles in the game that either work in or against your favour. These are:

     - Bomb Tiles: This one’s awesome! It blows up all of the tiles that are this colour on the board. Only exceptions are the bonus and locked tiles

     - Bonus Tile: 2x or 4x tiles, they will do just that to the number of points you would earn from that block

     - Combo Tile: The outer tile colour is the colour of this tile when clearing, but after it’s cleared the small tile colour in the middle will replace this tile once it’s used in a block

     - Hourglass Tile: More time will be added to your timer

     - Locked Tile: This tile can’t be moved around, so be wary of having too many of these on your board! You can still clear these by moving other similar-coloured tiles next to it.

     - Wildcard Tile: Can be any colour of tile on the board. It changes quickly enough that it’ll become one of the 6 colours you’d need in a block.

     Strategy

     - As you play, I recommend not checking the timer at all. You’ll only psyche yourself out. However, it’s good to make a note of it because otherwise, you might be moving a lot slower than you think and the time will run out (game over).

     - Use a mouse that works well, on a surface that won't make your mouse jump or difficult to use. You’ll want as much accuracy as possible as you play.

     - Constantly look for your next move. It takes some time to switch tiles into position for points, so I recommend while you’re setting up a block you should be looking at the rest of the board for your next move. This way, you’ll be saving tons of time since you’re basically one step ahead of yourself.

     - …which goes into my next point. Keep moving blocks no matter what! This slows down the time tremendously. The worst thing you can do is freeze and not switch any blocks. Sometimes it’s best just to keep moving tiles, and eventually, you’ll see a block that you can use (and make your timer jump back up).

     - 2x2 are usually the easiest (and quickest) blocks to set up. Since there’s no difference in points, I’d just do 2x2. Look for patterns of 2 blocks of a colour in a row, or if there are already 3 in an L-shape how you can quickly get a fourth one in to make a complete square.

     - Save dynamite and timer blocks for when you really need them. It’s not advantageous to blow up all of the tiles of a colour when there aren’t many of them on the board. If you can, save these tiles when you really need them in the later levels.

     - Those dynamite blocks are also great if you can use them in succession! The less variety of coloured tiles you have on the board, the easier it’ll be to quickly spot and make those blocks and clear them.

     - Clear locked tiles as quickly as you can. Especially later in the game, they start piling up if you don’t clear the ones from earlier. This makes it extremely difficult to form even basic tile blocks since locked tiles cannot be moved.

     - As always, practice practice practice. It took me just a few days to get the avatar, but I really don’t think this one is as hard as it looks. Once you start seeing the patterns, you’ll be a Goparokko expert in no time!

     If you follow this guide and continue practising, you’ll be well on your way to scoring above the 8,500 points for an avatar (and maybe a trophy!) Good luck my friend, and happy gopping!