Brick Breaker Guide PDFBrick Breaker Guide by pbastien You are encouraged to share this free PDF...

Brick Breaker Guide by pbastien

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Table of Contents

Introduction..............................................................................................................................................3

BrickBreaker Guide................................................................................................................................4

Play Conservatively............................................................................................................................4

Watch the Ball Speed.........................................................................................................................4

Learn the Capsules..............................................................................................................................6

Know How to Escape When You’re Trapped Under Bricks ......................................................7

Guide to BrickBreaker Levels 1-34 .................................................................................................8

What’s Next? .....................................................................................................................................26

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Introduction

I’ve been hooked on playing BrickBreaker ever since I got my first BlackBerry. Over time I learned the ins-and-outs of the game and gradually improved my high score to 10,000, then 20,000, then 30,000. One day, I suddenly “broke through” with a huge high score: I racked up 100,000 points, and my score was still climbing!

Finally I understood how some people on the BrickBreaker leaderboard had achieved high scores over a million points: it’s all about survival. Once you get past a certain point in the game, which I call the Turn, the ball slows down dramatically and you can rack up as many points and lives as you wish. If you focus on getting past the Turn, your high score will take care of itself.

Of course, I decided to post my own high score. I settled on a goal of at least a million points. I managed to run my score past 750,000. It took me several weeks to get there, playing in every spare moment I could find! Then all of a sudden, I dropped my BlackBerry and the battery fell out — which erased my game completely. I didn’t get to post my high score on the leaderboard.

Instead of trying for another high score, I decided to spend that time writing up this BrickBreaker guide to help other people improve their own high scores. After all I did learn lots of tips and tricks during my epic game, and I know there are lots of people out there trying to beat their friends’ scores!

Good luck!

www.BrickBreakerGuide.com

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BrickBreaker Guide

The strategy to beating BrickBreaker is simple: just survive. Don’t worry about your score. Play conservatively until you’ve gone through all 34 levels — twice.

Why? Because once you get past all 34 levels twice, the ball moves slowly all the time. The game becomes much easier.

I call this point the Turn. Once you get past the Turn, you can run up your score as high as you like. In fact it doesn’t take any more skill to get a high score of 500,000 than of 50,000 — once you’ve gotten past the Turn, it’s just a question of how much time you want to spend playing and racking up points and lives.

Play Conservatively

Don’t be a hero, OK? Hit the ball with the center of your paddle, as opposed to the edges, whenever possible. Shots taken off the edges are more difficult to control, because they carom around the board at sharp angles.

Stay focused on the ball. Don’t lunge after the capsules that fall during the game. Grab capsules only when you can reach them easily, and even then only when you’re sure they will help your cause.

Play sitting down. Hold the Blackberry with two hands. Don’t play in a bouncy train or car. Don’t play while talking to someone or after drinking 27 beers. And so on.

Remember: this is a game of survival. Play it safe. Once you get past the Turn, the game becomes much easier. When you reach that point, you can play aggressively and rack up points without much effort. Until then, be careful.

Watch the Ball Speed

The most important thing you can do to improve your game is watch out for the ball speed changes. There are two ball speeds in Brickbreaker: slow and fast. Simple, eh? When the ball is moving fast, it’s more difficult to control, so just play conservatively until the ball slows down. Once that happens, it’s much easier to clear out the rest of the level.

First Pass Through 34 Levels

On your first pass through all 34 BrickBreaker levels, the ball starts out moving slowly. After bouncing around for a while, the ball suddenly transitions to a faster

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speed, and soon the bricks start to descend every time your paddle makes contact with the ball.

When the ball is moving quickly, it’s more difficult to control, and the difficulty is compounded by the descending bricks. So play conservatively while this is happening.

Once the ball has bounced off the walls and bricks a while longer, it will slow down and remain slow for the rest of the level. At this point, it’s much easier to finish off the remaining bricks.

I’ve found the changes in speed occur after the ball makes a certain number of bounces off the bricks and walls. (This makes the Multi capsule very important – more on that when we discuss the capsules.) The BlackBerry help menu states that the change in speed occurs after you hit the ball with your paddle 50 times on any level, however I’ve found this definitely isn’t true. I think that the speed transitions occur after the ball hits any surface about 50 times.

Note: whenever you lose a Life, the cycle will repeat itself! The ball will start slow, then speed up, then become slow again.

Second Pass Through 34 Levels

On your second pass through the 34 levels, the ball starts out moving fast. Also, the bricks will start descending immediately. As before, play conservatively and avoid sharply angled shots while the ball is moving fast.

After a while, the ball will slow down and remain slow for the rest of the level. This means patience is key. Just try to stay alive until the ball slows down. Once the ball slows down, it’ll be easier to clear out the level. You should still remain conservative though, because if you lose a Life, the ball starts out fast again.

Third Pass Through 34 Levels…And Beyond

On your third pass, and all subsequent passes, the ball will start out moving slowly, and it will stay slow. This is where you start racking up your score!

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Learn the Capsules

Make sure you understand the properties of each BrickBreaker capsule. Don’t grab any capsule unless you’re confident it will improve your position.

Life gives you one extra life. Since getting a high score is all about survival, you almost always want to grab a Life capsule.

Multi puts four balls in play. You’ll find this capsule is very useful when the ball speed is fast, because remember: the transition to a slow ball speed occurs after the ball bounces around 50 times. With four balls in play, this transition happens four times faster!

Laser gives you unlimited lasers. For better control, use the space bar to fire your lasers, and only fire when your ball is heading upward.

Gun is the only weapon that can destroy the metal bricks. As with Laser, you should use the space bar to launch your bullets.

Long makes your paddle longer. Long is a good, solid choice that is almost always helpful.

Catch enables you to catch, hold and launch the ball. Use the space bar to launch the ball for better accuracy. Catch is very useful, especially in the later levels.

Bomb turns your ball into a bomb that destroys the next brick it comes into contact with. The explosion also damages adjacent bricks and knocks loose nearby capsules. When the bomb explodes the screen shakes violently, which is distracting, so avoid this capsule when the ball is moving fast.

Slow temporarily slows down the ball and halts the bricks from descending. If the ball is moving quickly, this capsule can be very helpful. However, if the ball is already moving slowly then you should avoid the Slow capsule, because it will not make the ball any slower, and after the effect wears off the ball will start moving fast, even if you’ve already made it through the “fast portion” of a level.

Wrap allows you to move the capsule beyond the edge of the screen. I avoid this capsule. I like having the paddle stop at the edges of the screen.

Flip changes the direction of your paddle. Avoid this capsule. If you end up with a Flip capsule anyway, try to keep your paddle moving constantly. This will help you remember that the controls are backwards. Grab any other capsule except Wrap to revert your paddle to its original orientation.

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Know How to Escape When You’re Trapped Under Bricks

Some BrickBreaker boards feature a long row of metal bricks. Sometimes these bricks will have descended down so far that there isn’t much room left above your paddle:

Here are some tips on getting out of trouble if you find yourself in this situation. I call this technique “Walking the Dog”. I think this name is inspired somehow by the yo-yo trick of the same name.

Start by launching the ball two or three clicks to the left, making sure to launch the ball using the space bar instead of the trackball, for better control. Immediately reposition your paddle 2-3 places to the left.

Watch the ball closely as it rebounds off the metal bricks. Focus on striking the descending ball with the left half of your paddle, which will send the ball further left. Then reposition your paddle another 2-3 places to the left. If the ball ricochets off the metal bricks a second time, hit it again with the left half of your paddle.

Of course on some levels you want to start the ball off to the right, in which case you just reverse the directions.

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Guide to BrickBreaker Levels 1-34

Now that we’ve covered the ideal BrickBreaker strategy, I’ll take you through all the levels in detail. I’ll show you where all the capsules are hidden, and give you some tips on how to negotiate each level safely.

I’ve highlighted the capsule locations in blue on each level diagram. The location of the capsules never changes, though the type of capsule you get from the brick is unpredictable.

Sometimes I’ll give advice on where to launch the ball at the beginning of the level. I’ll refer to the number of “clicks” to the left or right. The default starting position (zero clicks) will launch the ball slightly to the right.

Using the trackball (or trackpad, touchscreen, etc., depending on your BlackBerry model), you can move the pointer a maximum of three clicks right or four clicks left. Always use the spacebar to launch the ball.

Please note that each BlackBerry phone displays BrickBreaker a little differently. When you’re looking at these screenshots you may see some cosmetic differences compared with how things look on your phone.

The gameplay also varies slightly depending on your BlackBerry model — sometimes a certain starting shot works on one phone but not another. Because of this, I will give general advice on where to launch the ball on each level, but you should experiment to see which shots work best on your phone.

Onward…

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BrickBreaker Level 1

Launch the ball one click to the left, which should clear out one of the low-hanging bricks from the bottom row and give you some breathing room on that side. As the ball comes back, hit it with the left side of your paddle to send it up the left well.

Stay conservative. Strike the ball in the center of your paddle whenever possible, and methodically destroy all the bricks. This advice will serve you well on almost every level.

Good luck!


Start the ball two clicks to the left. Your opening shot should ricochet off the left wall, then the top wall, and dislodge the exposed capsule on the upper left.

If the ball speeds up, send it up either the left or right wall to the top of the board.

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Launch the ball one click to the right. This should destroy one of the bricks in the bottom-right cluster. Then hit the descending ball with the right side of your paddle, sending it up the right wall. Hopefully you will dislodge a capsule.

When you get the opportunity, destroy the remaining bricks in the bottom-right cluster to give yourself a clear area to shoot into if the ball speeds up.


Try launching the ball one click to the left. Hopefully it will knock out the exposed capsule in the left-most column of bricks. If that doesn’t work, then experiment with launching the ball from the default position (zero clicks).

Stay conservative while you destroy the remaining bricks.

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Try starting the ball two or three clicks to the left. The ball should travel up the left-hand chute and hopefully will dislodge either the capsule nearest the left wall or the topmost capsule.

If the ball is moving fast, send it up the left or right chutes until it’s moving slowly again. Then go after the exposed capsules on the bottom left and bottom right, if you haven’t dislodged them already, before clearing out the rest of the level. The metal brick makes it first appearance here. If you get the Gun, destroy the distracting metal brick.


Start off two clicks left or one click right and try to damage one of the bricks touching the wall on either side. With your next shot, try to destroy the brick you just damaged. Send the ball to that spot a third time and it should go through the opening you’ve just created, damaging the surrounding bricks.

Keep attacking that same side of the level until you’ve cleared a path to the top. This level provides ample breathing room, but if the ball speeds up, you’ll be happy to have this opening to shoot into.

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Start out one click right to destroy one of the bricks near the right wall and begin clearing a path to the top of the level. Do the same on the left side. This will give you some room to maneuver on both sides of the board.

Then go after the capsules as you clear out the level.


Start the ball one or two clicks to the left. Focus on hitting the ball with the left half of your paddle and work on destroying some of the low-hanging bricks on that side of the level. This will give you a channel to shoot up on the left side when the ball is moving fast.

If you end up stuck under the bricks on the right side, try to destroy the right-most brick that’s touching the right wall. This will create a useful escape route.

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Try starting the ball either 2-3 clicks to the left or 1-2 clicks to the right. This will send the ball to the top of the board along either the left or right wall, and should dislodge one or more of the exposed capsules. Keep sending the ball up either of these chutes as you clear out the level.


Start the ball either 2-3 clicks to the left or 1-2 clicks to the right. Try to destroy either the two bricks touching the left wall, or the two bricks touching the right wall. This will create a channel that you can use to send the ball up to the top of the board. Ideally, you can clear out both the left and right channels early in the level so that you have two escape routes. Keep sending the ball up these channels until the ball is moving slowly, then methodically destroy the remaining bricks.

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Start the ball out four clicks to the left and send it up the left wall, or three to the right to send it up the right wall. Keep sending the ball to the top of the level. Once the ball is moving slowly, take more shots off the center of your paddle and patiently clear out the rest of the board.


Start three clicks to the left and destroy the single brick that’s touching the left wall, and when the ball returns, hit it with the left side of your paddle to send it back up the left wall and dislodge the capsule directly above.

Try to clear out a path to the top of the level along the left wall. When the ball is moving fast, send it up this channel to the top of the board.

If you get the Laser or Gun, fully clear out both the left and right channels.

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Start the ball three or four clicks to the left and try to guide it up the channel into the L-shaped enclosure.

If the ball pops out of the enclosure and starts heading down the channel, position your paddle somewhere under the word “brick” in the diagram while you wait for the ball. Keep a close eye on the ball as it exits the chute and try to gauge where the ball is going before moving your paddle. When you intercept the ball, strike it on the left half of your paddle to guide it back up the left side and into the enclosure.


Shoot the ball from either the default position (zero clicks) or one click to the right and try to dislodge one of the two exposed capsules.

Play it safe on this level, hitting the ball in the center of your paddle and avoiding sharply angled shots.

If you get the Gun, first clear out the two metal bricks under the word “break” on the diagram, then destroy any of the remaining bricks from the bottom two rows.

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Start the ball two clicks to the left, which sometimes dislodges the top-left capsule.

If the ball is moving fast, send it to the top of the level whenever possible. Once the ball is moving slowly, it’s much easier to clear out the rest of the board.

If you grab a Gun, destroy the three lowest metal bricks from the center column.


Launch the ball one click right. After the ball ricochets off the bottom of the U, hit it again with the right half of your paddle to send it up the channel.

If the ball comes down the right-hand channel, hit it with the right side of your paddle to send it back up the chute. If it ricochets off the bottom of the U on the way up, hit the ball again off the right side of your paddle until it goes back up the channel. For the left-hand channel, you’d do the opposite.

If you get a Gun, destroy the three metal bricks in the center of the bottom row.

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Start the ball one click to the right. It will bounce off the metal bricks, so reposition your paddle 2-3 clicks to the right to intercept it. Strike the descending ball on the right half of your paddle and send a slightly angled shot off the right wall so that it travels along the track up to where the bricks are nestled.

If you see the ball coming back down the track, position yourself under the “.com” in the diagram and be ready to hit it with the right half of your paddle, off the right wall again and back up the track.


Start the ball one click to the right, then reposition your paddle 2-3 clicks to the right to intercept the ball as it bounces off the metal bricks. Strike the ball on the right half of your paddle to bounce a shot off the right wall and up into the enclosure. Of course, you can also start the ball to the left using the same principle.

If the ball speeds up, keep sending it up to the top of the board just as you did at the start of the level.

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Try starting the ball at the default position (zero clicks). This goes through the opening and sometimes the ball stays up top — but not always. You may need to maneuver the ball around the bottom of the board and look for an opening to send an angled shot through the gap.

If you get the Gun, destroy either the three metal bricks on the bottom right or the three on the bottom left.


Start the ball one click left. The ball will hit the bottom row of metal bricks, so quickly slide your paddle all the way to the left wall. Hit the descending ball off the right end of your paddle and hopefully the resulting angled shot will travel up the channel and, after bouncing around a bit, dislodge one of the two capsules. You can also try starting the ball straight up the chute at the default position (zero clicks).

If you get the Gun, destroy the other red brick immediately – after first clearing out the metal brick that’s in your way.

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Start the ball at the default position (zero clicks). This should dislodge one of the capsules. Play conservatively on this level and avoid angled shots.

If you get the Gun, destroy the metal brick touching the right wall and the metal brick touching the left wall. This gives you a clear shot at the bricks hidden inside the L shapes.


Start the ball off at the default position (zero clicks).

While the ball is bouncing around in the structure, position your paddle in the dead center of the board. That way if the ball falls down through the gap you are ready to move your paddle left or right to intercept it. Keep redirecting the ball back into the center channel until the ball is no longer moving fast. At that point, start incorporating angled shots into the mix. These shots are riskier but are almost always necessary to reach all the bricks on this board. Stay patient.

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Launch the ball one click right and then keep hitting the ball off the right half of your paddle, gradually destroying the bricks touching the right wall. This creates an escape route to the top of the board. Alternatively, you could attack the left side.

Once the ball stops moving fast, clear out the bottom rows of bricks before turning your attention to the top half of the level. The tucked-away bricks are sometimes difficult to destroy, so stay patient, and if you get the Gun, try to clear out a few of those pesky metal bricks.


This level is an opportunity to find some Life capsules. Start the ball at the default position (zero clicks) and keep the ball under control. Avoid angled shots – these tend to carom around the board quickly and dislodge too many capsules at once.

If you grab the Multi on this level, you’ll often end up dislodging so many capsules that you can’t keep track of them all. Because of this, I recommend avoiding the Multi unless you’ve already cleared out most of the capsules on the board.

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Start the ball off three or four clicks to the left. This should send it up the left chute and hopefully up to the top of the level.

When I get the Gun on this level, I usually destroy some of the red bricks in the top left and right corners. I don’t bother destroying any of the metal bricks from the bottom of the U — this doesn’t seem to help much and it often just opens up new ways for the ball to escape.


Launch the ball all the way left (four clicks). It should bounce off the wall and into the channel of red bricks, breaking many of them. When the ball comes back to you, hit it with the left half of your paddle so that it goes back into the channel. Keep doing this until you have cleared out the channel and created a path all the way to the top of the level.

If you get the Gun on this level, destroy the leftmost three metal bricks from the bottom row — the ones directly under the word “brickbreaker” in the diagram.

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Start the ball off one click left. After it bounces off the bottom row of bricks, hit it with the left half of your paddle to send it through the opening along the left wall.

If the ball ever comes back down through the opening, just try and redirect it straight back up through the gap.

Eventually you’ll get just the right angle and the ball will go into the chamber holding the single brick. Beware that the ball occasionally bounces into and out of the chamber without destroying the brick.


Start the ball two clicks to the right to try and dislodge the exposed capsule. Keep firing the ball up this channel until you have cleared out a path. There’s not much to this level — just keep the ball under control and methodically work through it.

If you get the Gun, destroy three of the low-hanging metal bricks. This will give you an extra escape route into the C-shaped chamber. Bomb is useful on this level — it can help you clear out the channel a bit quicker.

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Launch the ball all the way left (four clicks). It should bounce off the left wall and into the horizontal channel, dislodging the first capsule. Keep redirecting the ball off the left wall and up to the top of the level via the channel.

If you get the Gun, destroy the three leftmost metal bricks from the bottom row — the ones directly above the word “brickbreaker” in this diagram. This makes it easier to guide the ball to the top of the level. Bomb is useful for quickly destroying bricks on the top of the board.


The key to this level is patience. Resist the temptation to go for severely angled shots. Once the bricks start descending and the ball slows down, it’ll be easier to reach the bricks at the top of the board.

If you get the Gun, destroy the three metal bricks from the lowermost row.

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Start the ball one click to the right. Then hit a sharply angled shot off the right edge of your paddle, which should carom off the right wall and go up through the small gap into the middle pocket of the level. You can use the same method on the left side too. Keep sending the ball into this pocket until it bounces up to the top of the board.

Once the bricks have descended, the carom off the side wall becomes more difficult. As an alternative, move your paddle all the way to either wall, then hit a slightly angled shot directly through the gap and into the middle pocket.


Start the ball off three or four clicks left, which should destroy the accessible capsule touching the left wall. When the ball descends, hit it back up the chute. This level isn’t too difficult — just keep sending the ball back up the chute on the left.

If you get the Gun, I’d suggest destroying the three bricks under the words “breaker” and “guide” on the diagram. This gives you some breathing room above your paddle.

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This level is an exercise in ball control. Launch the ball at the starting position (zero clicks), or one click left to clear out a low-hanging brick and give yourself a bit of breathing room. Because the bricks are scattered haphazardly around the level, the ball can sometimes be difficult to follow. Just keep your eye on the ball as it’s ricocheting around, and try to keep it under control if it makes its way back down to your paddle.


The final level! Start the ball one click to the right, and it will hit the bottom row of metal bricks and start descending. Intercept it and hit a moderately angled shot off the right half of your paddle to redirect the ball up the right wall.

If the ball ever comes out of the chute, just send it back up the right wall until you’ve destroyed the single red brick and cleared out the level.

If you get the Gun on this level, just blast through the metal brick touching the left wall and destroy the single red brick above it.

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What’s Next?

If this is your first time through 34 levels, your quest to beat BrickBreaker is half complete. You’ll need to complete all 34 levels a second time to truly “beat” BrickBreaker. The second time through 34 levels, the ball will start off moving fast all the time. Make sure you’ve read and understand the BrickBreaker ball speed changes discussed earlier in this book.

If you’ve just completed all 34 levels for the second time: congratulations! You are now past the “Turn” and the game will keep cycling through the same 34 levels continuously, but from here on, the ball moves very slowly and the game is much easier. Keep playing conservatively until you’ve built up a cushion of at least 10 lives, and after that just start racking up points.

Here are a few final secrets to scoring points as quickly as possible once you are past the Turn:

• Damaging a brick with the Laser nets you 20 points, versus 10 points when you damage it with the ball. Destroy as many bricks as possible with the Laser.

• Each capsule is worth 50 points. Grab every capsule you can…even the Flip! (Exception: if you have the Laser and lots of bricks left to destroy, keep the Laser.)

• Hitting a brick with a Gun bullet gives you 50 points. Try to use the bullets on metal bricks — that’s 50 points you wouldn’t otherwise get.

Another thing you should do once you’re past the Turn is practice. Take this opportunity to learn the opening moves on each level. Memorize where the capsules are. Learn how to cope with using the Flip. And so on. This way if you ever find yourself starting from the beginning of the game, you’ll be better prepared to make it past the Turn again.

Good luck and have fun!

This book was brought to you by www.BrickBreakerGuide.com.

Brick Breaker Guide PDFBrick Breaker Guide by pbastien You are encouraged to share this free PDF...

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