Quinn's Aquarium ways to win using fewer power ups

[cafedelon]

There is no doubt that Quinn's Aquarium Mahjong game involves power ups to complete a game more often than most other games here at Pogo. Each time this game is chosen for a Pogo challenge or badge, this complaint comes back to the Answers HQ page as people are frustrated by this fact.

You sometimes will be able to complete the game without power ups but not very often. If you cannot afford to buy a gems to buy power ups, then I would consider passing on this game. Quinn's Aquarium has a story line that makes it more entertaining that most Mahjong games, so buying the power ups might make it worth the price if you enjoy games with a story.  I have some suggestions on how to perform better in the game so less power ups are needed.

1. Select the tiles to match carefully, as a general suggestion.  The first 2 similar tiles seen are not always the best match to use.  We want to finish the game quickly but it helps to look around the board to see if one match is better than another, especially if you don't like using power ups.  See specific tips below for selecting tiles to match.

2. Before clicking on a tile, look carefully to be sure there is another similar tile available to match, as a general suggestion. Once a tile without an available match is selected, the mistake can be reversed, but at a price. One option is to use the only free Undo move. Another is to use a power up like Shuffle to allow you to continue to make more matches. We all lose our concentration or make moves too fast now and then, but try to avoid selecting a tile that has no matching tile available on the board.

3. When trying to match 2 similar tiles, there are sometimes darkened tiles that have to be removed first to reach these 2 similar tiles. Look around the board for tiles that match the darkened tiles and slowly work your way closer and closer to the reaching the 2 similar tiles you want to match.

4. Chose tiles that are stacked on top of another tile where possible, rather than single, unstacked tiles. This makes more tiles available to use to keep the game going before no matches are available, and also makes it easier to remove blue (shell) tiles when they are later placed on the board. Once the game board is reduced to single tiles without stacks, the game is yours to win.

5. Focus on lowering the height of the tall stacks of tiles so that it's easier to gain access to the tiles below, especially when blue tiles are placed under the tall stacks.

6. Similar tiles that are located next to each other even when one is darkened can be both removed as a match.  By removing the first tile, the second one becomes undarkened and available to match.  Some Mahjong games require both similar tiles to be undarkened before matching them, but this game does not.

7. Two tiles in the same stack might both be the same kind of tile, especially if the other tile is not visible or available anywhere on the board.  If the number of stacks on the board is small, clicking on the top tile might reveal the same tile underneath it.  In one game I found 3 matches by removing the top tile on a 2-tile stack while hoping the tile below was the same.  In another game I found a stack of 4 tiles where the top 2 tiles were the same, and the bottom 2 tiles were the same.

    
8. As with any Mahjong game, flower tiles and season tiles that look different can still be matched (flowers with flowers and seasons with seasons).

    
9. If you are trying to match as many blue tiles as possible in your game, start early on removing the tiles necessary to expose both blue tiles and keep the focus on removing blue tiles. After removing a pair of blue tiles, then then try to lower the multi-tile stacks so it's easier to reach the new blue tiles when they are placed.  The best opportunity for matching several blue tiles is the "Challenge Round" where a large number of tiles are on the board. One word of caution, if you use the undo button during the game, the blue tiles become unavailable for the remainder of the game. That is important early in the game if you are trying to match lots of blue tiles, but less important if you have already matched lots of blue tiles.

10. If you reach a point where no matches are showing and you chose to use a power up, the best choice is the Shuffle power up. Not only does it shuffle the tiles so you can continue the game, but it usually makes several new matches available and it often makes it easier to reach the blue tiles.

Good Luck, and if you have learned other ways to win at this game, please feel free to post it so others may benefit from your discovery.