Head-to-Head BrickBreaker Challenge 2009
As many of you know, after one conquers the second round of 34, Brickbreaker becomes monotonous and more like a crack addiction than anything else. It is no longer an activity that one engages in to pass those boring, and simply uninspiring moments in life, rather it becomes the reason you don’t remember what was said at your brother’s wedding (we already have alcohol for this people).
So I have often thought of different ways to make brick breaking more challenging. In the past, I have found myself playing on the shaky NYC subway, playing with my left hand, even with a blackberry in each hand, playing two games at once! And I can tell you that there is nothing like trying to keep the ball from going under the “U” on level 16, while speeding down the freeway at 75 or 80 miles an hour.
Since there are quite a few people on this blog who consider themselves MasterBreakers, and can score well over 1,000,000 points, I have been throwing the idea around of a timed challenge. Each player goes head-to-head for a set amount of time to see who can accumulate the most points.
There would be some serious strategy involved in this type of competition. Obviously, a player would not want to die because that wastes time. Furthermore, one may choose to attempt hitting bricks from their bottom surfaces to make the ball bounce back down to one’s paddle to keep control over it. And finally, one may even pass on lives and other capsules that a typical player salivates over, in order to keep a laser, which has the potential help one rack up big points quickly!
Of course there would be some chance involved. We can’t control which player gets what capsules, but if the time interval is long enough (10 minute games), and we use a best of 5 game format, we can discover who the real MasterBreaker actually is.
Yes, you may think this is an absurd challenge. I cannot argue the contrary. I dare each of you to explore how unreasonable your addiction to brickbreaker can become.
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it’s a BRILLIANT challenge!!
i could almost love you for it.
my dad recently upgradeed to the blackberry, and i can’t resist playing on it.
he’s noticed though and locked it away
so good luck on your challenge
and all the best to whatever satisfaction you get from doing it :/
Erin,
Thanks for the post. It is probably best that your father has forbidden you from playing BrickBreaker. The game is an epidemic from which the world must shelter our youth.
Going forward, I don’t want to see you playing brickbreaker, participating in timed challenges, or even blogging about the subject. When you get older you will understand!
eterte
rete
Okay! How do you get your blackberry to not LAG when you’re freaken playing. I have the stupid paddle stutter and I lose lives for no reason! My top score is 9200…… OH YEAHH
blimey, you really have got too much free time on your hands! although i guess iv just lumbered myself in with you by going on this site.
Mark, I usually turn off my radio when I’m playing a serious game, I find when I’m in a bad reception area it shudders more. Also, if you have incoming texts etc it can make the game a bit jumpy.
I just upgraded to a pearl from the original blackberry and my new high score is 12000ish.. pretty exciting
Yes Mark,
This is good advice from j.po. You can turn the wireless function off so your phone is no longer a phone, or an emailing device, or any of those other “useless” functions. I sometimes like to refer to my blackberry as “my brickbreaker handheld”. It may anger your significant other though. If you aren’t expecting any important phone calls, go for it. It does help. You can also play on planes by turning the radio off.
i dont even know what im writing about ha ha ha ha ha
How do people get over a million I have a job were I waste a lot of time an my high score is 28000 I can’t imaginee what these people with 7000000 do for work
I love this freekn game HIGH SCORE IS 30780
High score 30780
high score30780
I play the game all the time, the highest i got was level 18. I tried playing by not taking any capsules accept life capsules, it defenietly improves your game. Also as im breaking the bricks i try to keep them symethrical from left to right. This improves your aim and control of the ball. Id like to do the Challenge =]
I just want to play the game. Where can I play it at?
i am not an idiot and yet my high score is 10,150. I have never gone beyond the U at number 15 or 16. What am I missing? how do i get more lives? Is there a store where I can buy them.
I need advice
you start accumulating massive amounts of lives by continuously beating the game. the main trick to brickbreaker is learning how to ‘dribble’, or keep the ball from going down the drain when the wall is as low as it can get above the paddle. master that and the game will bow to your skillz!
9700 is my high score and I spend hours doing this. Scoring in the millions? I didn’t know that was a possibilty let alone realistically achieved. How much time does that take?
Got to level 18.
i cant get past level 10 or 5830 points!!!!! the ball gets going. it gets super freaking fast and I LOSE!!!!!!! ):
I love this game, I play on a company issued phone, I have been over a 1,000,000 3 times and have lost all 3 games, before i could record my score. Once because my company shut the server down and the 2 other times my phone locked up and I had to take the battery out to get it back up again, but I keep playing, trying to get the high score, I can get thru the 2nd round pretty easy, and your right it is just an addiction at this point. I would welcome the challenge keep us posted
Some advise for new players , try to accumulate as many lives as possible because you will need them to get thru the 2nd round. Don’t worry about points for the 1st 2 rounds, your objective is to stay alive. Avoid at all costs the flip and wrap capsules, these 2 will cause you to lose more lives than they worth. The catch and long capsules are worth gold to you in the difficult levels like the U level. I only play the games that give me a lot of lives, if I don’t have 7 or 8 lives by level 6 I start over. Once you get thru the 1st 34 levels the game will start over but it is faster for about the 1st 30 or 40 bounces, if you can weather the storm you will make it thru. You need about 15 to 20 lives to complete the 2nd round. Once you complete that you are on your way up the leader board.
I would tend to not agree with the comment that if you don’t have 7 or 8 lives by 6Th level start over. In my past experience it is more important for how many levels you can pass without dropping a life. My personal best is 26.
Having 15-20 lives does not guarantee success I have passed thru the 2nd (which is actually level 1) with as few as 1 life.My point is that no round should ever be surrendered , you will become a better player by not submitting to the game. You just never know when you are going to hit a good “vein” and get extra lives!never grow old and never ever die young!
I came here looking for advice on how to accumulate points faster. I hit 1,200,000 and it’s taking forever to move up. I have 518 lives and counting.
From what I’ve gathered, the key is making it to the 3rd round. After you get there, it’s methodical.
If you want to get past the ‘U’ the best way is to keep the ball North & South. Avoid hitting the ball with the outer edge of the paddle.
In any case, you need to anticipate where the ball needs to go, but first, ‘calm’ it down to N & S movement.
I gave each screen a name & wrote up a little ditty on how to beat each screen.
FYI, I catch nearly ALL of the capsules ezcept the FLIP one as you have to treat it as a fulcrum lever. Now, except in situations where I would be giving up another tool, I catch every one imaginable.
So there’s no faster way to higher scores?
Once I hit 9020 I thought I was so “KOOL”. I am not even close!Now the ball acts “WACKY!I lose my lives as fast as I get them. The ball disappears under the paddle, thru the side of the screen will never see a “HIGH” score, again.It’s NOT fun anymore! C:}(Catherine)
We should have a brickbreaker contest to see who can go the farthest on 1 life….I’m at 300 plus thousand and 100 plus lives but its not a challenge any more…I will play to a million and then cash it in….