Introduction

I've been a big fan of the Facebook game HotShot since it first came out. I find it completely addictive, and I look forward to Mondays to try out the new weekly board. I have aced all 74 boards released so far, and I thought I'd start a blog to share my thoughts on each board as it comes out, along with my scores, tactics, etc. Then maybe add reviews to the earlier boards later on when I get time.

First, some basics about the game. It's a relatively simple ball bouncing type game where you shoot a ball from the top of the screen at an arrangement of variously shaped and coloured pegs. The ball bounces through these pegs, in a bagatelle type way towards the bottom of the screen. Any pegs that the ball touches will disappear after a few seconds. You usually also have a bucket that sweeps to and fro across the bottom of the screen and if your ball lands in it, then you get to shoot it again. Each weekly board consists of ten levels, all with the same background artwork. The arrangement of the pegs on each level will vary, as will the designated goal. Usually the goal is to clear all the red pegs, but sometimes a target score is given that must be reached irrespective of pegs remaining, and on the harder levels, sometimes ALL the pegs must be cleared.

A few quick notes about the tactics I tend to use. Since my eventual aim is always to ace the board, which means achieving the pro score on every level, then I'm always aiming for that score, even if that means risking failure on the level. I'll generally try to play each level without power ups first, to get a better idea of which power ups might be most helpful, although I may jump straight in with a laser ball on the later levels if I have the coins to spare and I think it looks tough at first glance. The laser ball is nearly always my power up of choice. When using it, I use the four bands going up the tube on the left as an aiming guide. I put the mouse pointer next the second band from the bottom and fire just before the bucket reaches its farthest left position. If timed correctly, the laser ball should bounce off the left wall, off the bucket, then all the way over to the right wall, then bounce again off the rim of the bucket to take out any low central pegs and pick up a big points bonus. Of course, if there are no low central pegs then fire just after the bucket hits the wall and you should catch the ball instead.

There are a few other power ups which can be useful under certain circumstances. The Grenade ball explodes upon impact with the first peg it hits, taking out all other pegs nearby and is very useful if you have a lot of pegs clustered tightly together. The Big Bounce replaces the ball bucket with a super bouncy trampoline which fires the ball back up the screen and is good for three bounces before it disappears and the ball bucket comes back. This one's always worth a try if you're struggling with a particular level. If you get lucky with it, it can take out a lot of pegs. I have tried all the others, but don't find any of them particularly useful.

My main tactic within the actual game, is to use careful aiming and timing to deflect the ball off a red peg into the bucket for a 10k bonus. Always aim to hit the bucket at the edges of the screen where it moves at its slowest and the wall next to it makes it a bigger target. If you have a red peg near the edge of the screen, it's often worth trying to hit the side wall first before deflecting into the bucket as this gives an extra 25k bonus. If the pin you're aiming at is quite high and off to the side, then aim to hit it fairly full on just after the bucket changes direction beneath it, and it should come across the screen to be caught on the opposite side. If you have a long sweeping curve of pegs, then you can pick up big bonus points at the start of the level by sweeping the ball across them all. After a few balls gaps can start to appear in the curve making this bonus much harder to get. The other bonus worth considering is bouncing from one red peg to another a long way away. This can give a bonus of 25k, 50k, 75k or even 100k depending on the distance between them.