How Do You Play Gardenscapes?

[Obtuse]

Are you sure you don't want to relive Level 77?

I loved that level, first level that taught me about moving lemonades and showed me that I needed to focus on the goal and not about clearing everything on the board. Godspeed old 77. And godspeed moles. You are missed.

[Honor]

I loved that level, first level that taught me about moving lemonades and showed me that I needed to focus on the goal and not about clearing everything on the board. Godspeed old 77. And godspeed moles. You are missed.

That's a good point. I'm not sure when that "aha" moment happened for me, but I'm glad it did. Made the game so much more than the average match-3.

I kind of miss the moles, too. I had just started to get used to them. Ah well, onward I suppose.

[Scedona]

Agreed. I preferred the moles over every other obstacle because with a little strategy you could use them to your advantage. Obtuse, do you think all boards are winnable? Each board has it’s distractions and strategies and it’s fairly easy to figure out what they are, so sometimes I feel like I am spinning my wheels while I wait for the (insert correct techie speak here... algorithm maybe?) to drop a beatable board. Very unsatisfying. What do you think? (Poll answer: mobile platform)

[Obtuse]

Agreed. I preferred the moles over every other obstacle because with a little strategy you could use them to your advantage. Obtuse, do you think all boards are winnable? Each board has it’s distractions and strategies and it’s fairly easy to figure out what they are, so sometimes I feel like I am spinning my wheels while I wait for the (insert correct techie speak here... algorithm maybe?) to drop a beatable board. Very unsatisfying. What do you think? (Poll answer: mobile platform)

Hey Scedona, so sorry for the late reply, somehow I missed your post on this thread. Who knows if you'll ever see this but hey if do here are my thoughts. Interestingly enough Kali1 and I were just discussing something to this nature in another thread.

Do I think all boards are winnable? Yes, I do.

I think there is no way to guarantee that players will play the same board the same way. To say a board is winnable does not guarantee victory. And I have still never had a board that using all 3 boosters off the start couldn't crush with me completing it with 10+ moves left. Now, are there boards that are 'unwinnable' without the use of boosters? Hard to say, but probably. Do I think they're programmed to be unwinnable. No. Do I think the algorithm that randomizes/decides which fruits will fall onto the screen can screw us once and awhile. Oh yeah, no doubt. But that's the luck portion of the game. I've said it before that so much of Gardenscapes comes down to planning for luck to work in your favour. I never see any posts of any one saying things like 'Wow, I had 1 move left and 2 gnomes to clear plus a lemonade to drop out and I moved one piece and suddenly everything fell into place and I beat the level!', I never see it, but I guarantee it's happened to many of us. We just don't post about things that work out in our favour. We often feel like we deserved to have something go right because so many other times things went wrong.

I have had times where I feel unstoppable, I'll clear 7 or 8 levels in a row, first try, like nothing. Then get stuck on a level for ages. Often when I'm stuck on a level it's because I'm doing the same thing over and over. I feel like my tactics are correct and that the game is just not working out for me. Often it takes me switching my tactics completely to realize that the level can be completed in a different way. When it feels like the pieces just aren't falling into place like I want them too, it's often worth trying something completely new.

No one can predict the flip of a coin 100% of the time and no one player is going to win every level on their first attempt every time. But I honestly believe that if multiple players played the same board, with the same algorithm deciding what pieces would fall, some players would lose and some players would absolutely win, because no two players would play it the same.

[Southrnbelle]

I play on my iPad.