How to play Marble Shooter
The game people here played as Zuma, in a Kathmandu courtyard: a chain of marbles rolls towards a well, and a temple lion shoots marbles into it to burst three of a colour.
- Players
- 1
- What you need
- A temple lion, a track and a chain of marbles
- How long
- Five to fifteen minutes a game
What Marble Shooter is
Marble Shooter is a game for one. A chain of coloured marbles rolls along a channel cut in a brick courtyard, towards a well at its end. A gilded temple lion sits in the middle and shoots marbles into the chain. Three or more of a colour touching burst, and the game is to keep the chain from reaching the well.
Most people here know it as Zuma, from cyber cafes and old Java phones. Here it is played in a Newar courtyard, the kind found in every Durbar Square, with a lion like the ones that guard the temple gates.
Playing it here
- A game waits for your first touch or click, so you can get ready before the chain rolls in.
- Press on the board and the lion turns to your finger, with a dotted line showing where the marble will go. Lift your finger to shoot. With a mouse, point and click.
- Tap the lion, press Swap or the space bar to swap the marble in its mouth for the one on its back.
Pause, or P, stops the game, and so does opening the menu or leaving the page. A touch sets it going again.
Shooting and bursting
A marble you shoot joins the chain where it hits, on the side it came in on, and pushes the marbles ahead of it on. If it makes three or more of a colour touching, they all burst. Each marble burst is worth 10 points.
Shots that each burst something, three or more in a row, earn a little extra every time. A shot that misses the chain flies off the board and breaks the run.
Gaps and combos
A burst leaves a gap in the chain. If the marbles at the two ends of the gap are the same colour, the front of the chain rolls back to close it, and if that makes three or more they burst too. That is a combo, and it is worth double. A second combo straight after is worth three times, and so on.
If the ends are different colours, the front of the chain waits where it is until the rest of the chain pushes up to it.
The signs on the marbles
Every colour carries a sign of its own: a lali guras on red, the sun from the flag on yellow, a peepal leaf on green, the moon from the flag on blue, a lotus on purple and the Himalaya on white. You can match by sign as well as by colour.
Powers
Now and then a marble in the chain glows with a mark over its sign. Burst it within a few seconds and its power works:
- The arrow rolls the chain backwards for a moment.
- The hourglass slows the chain for a while.
- The sight shows where every shot will go, and makes shots fly faster, for a while.
- The star bursts every marble close to it as well.
Lives and stages
You start with three lives. When the front of the chain reaches the well, the whole chain rolls in, you lose a life, and the stage starts again.
Each stage brings a set number of marbles. The bar under the score fills as they come in, and once all of them are in and burst, the stage is cleared for 1000 points. A game is six stages on three channels, each faster than the last. Clear all six to win.
The game of the day
Each level has a game of the day. The chain comes in the same way for everybody in Nepal, so the luck is the same for everyone, and a new one comes at midnight Nepal time.
Once you have played it, the page opens on a new game instead. Your best score at each level and today's score are kept as your records.
A few tips
- Watch the front of the chain. A burst near the well buys the most time.
- Look for gaps whose ends match. Bursting the marbles between them sets off a combo.
- Swap when the marble in the lion's mouth fits nowhere useful. The one on its back may.
- Do not shoot just to shoot. A marble that bursts nothing makes the chain longer.
Settings
The only setting is the level, which is the number of colours and the speed of the chain together. Today's game or a new one is picked on the game page.
| Setting | Standard | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Level | Easy, four colours, slow | Medium has five colours and a quicker chain, hard six colours and quicker still. |
Words
- Chain
- The marbles rolling along the channel towards the well.
- Combo
- A burst made when a gap closes, worth double, triple and more.
- Streak
- Shots in a row that each burst something.
- Well
- The end of the channel. A life goes when the chain reaches it.
Every rule on this page is the one the app plays by. Change any of them on the game's own page before you start.