Gem Mania

Game Description: Move the train through the maze. Collect all of the Gems to advance to the next level.

How to Play Gem Mania:

• Use the 4 arrow keys to advance the train one space at a time.
• The train cannot move backwards.
• Each time you collect a gem your train grows longer making it more difficult to maneuver through the maze.
• You will lose when there is no possible move remaining for your train except to crash into itself.
• You get 4 lives for the entire game. Each time you fail a level you lose a life. Fail 4 times and the game is over.

Gem Mania Game Options:

• You may turn off the background music by clicking the 'Mute' button located under the orange scoreboard on the right side of the game screen. It has been my experience once you turn off the music you cannot turn it back on. The music will only return when you began a new game.

Gem Mania Playing Tips:

• The best strategy is to meander. Take the longest possible path to get to your destination. This will give you more 'wiggle room.' For example, instead of going in a striaght line move your train left, right, left, right.
• Sometimes when the train gets very long the game can be quite slow to react. (Just like a real train pulling a large load.) So, be aware and make sure the train has actually moved before you make your next move.

Richard's Rating: 4 out of 5.

Pro: This is a fascinating game. Despite the technical glitches I mention below, I still give this game a very high rating of 4 out of 5.

Con: There are a few technical problems with this game. (I was very thorough, as usual, and I uploaded this game from several different sources just too make sure the problems were not just with my first source. And, as I suspected they were not). However, if you follow my advice these difficulties can, for the most part, be easily overcome. Here are the problems you may encounter and how to deal with them.

• To restart the game always refresh your page and allow the entire game to reload. If you do not hit the refresh button on your browser, the game will begin with some serious glitches. So, after clicking either the 'Main Menu' button (lower right) or the 'Play Again' button (on the Game Over screen) always click refresh and the game will load perfectly. This game loads very quickly so this should not be a problem.
• A second problem that may occur is much more frustrating, and that is this. Occasionally, you may get stuck and be unable to move your train. (The only thing you can do at that point, as far as I can tell, is to end the game and begin again). The game is supposed to allow you to crash your train into itself and you lose one of your 4 lives, then continue playing. I played this game for about an hour to test it out. This happened to me twice, once when I was on level 7. Needless to say, this is very frustrating. But, I beleive it to be a rather rare occurrence.

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