Board 97: Clouds of Nirvana

This picture is of an enormous statue of some deity or other sat on a cloud, through which protrude several oriental style roofs.

Level 1 (Clear 25 red pegs from 94 total - Pro target 425k)

This design is a starburst effect of diamond-shaped pegs. The angles look like a nightmare.

Attempt #1 - No power ups. Score: 454,090 

• The angles were certainly awkward, but I got quite lucky insofar as the balls seemed to go where I expected them to go, so I got quite a few catches. Right at the end, when I wasa trying to take the final red peg off the side wall to guarantee reaching the pro target, I missed a couple of times, but got the balls back anyway.

Level 2 (Clear 25 red pegs from 94 total - Pro target 425k)

This design copies the pagoda style roof that sticks up on the right of the picture. It's a mixture of curves and straight lines.

Attempt #1 - No power ups. Score: 555,910 

• This one seemed quite easy. The angles were generally not too difficult to work out, and the bonuses came regularly. By the end I was just going through the motions as I had plenty of points and plenty of balls left.

Level 3 (Clear 25 red pegs from 118 total - Pro target 450k)

This design follows some of the lines in the picture - the shoulders of the stature, circles where the hands are, and some diamond shaped single pegs lining the pagoda. There are quite a lot of scattered round pegs all over the picture.

Attempt #1 - No power ups. Score: 539,250 

• Another one that I went straight through on the first attempt without incident. The ricochets probably went my way quite a lot as I picked up quite a few bonus scores, extra balls, and unexpected red pegs from them.

Level 4 (Clear 25 red pegs from 96 total - Pro target 375k)

This design is an octagon frenzy. Nine of them in total, one big one and eight smaller ones.

Attempt #1 - No power ups. Score: 436,000 

• Well that's the first four levels all completed with pro scores in just four attempts, so it's a pretty quick start. I can see why the pro target is so low here, as bonuses are certainly hard to come by. I did get lucky by triggering the Split Ball off the white peg, and then catching both balls for the 100k bonus. A bonus that size on this level makes a massive difference.

Level 5 (Clear 25 red pegs from 108 total - Pro target 450k)

This design is three pagoda-like constructions which each consists of alternating lines of connected rectangular pegs and disconnected round ones. The lines get shorter towards the top and each structure is topped with a diamond-shaped peg.

Attempt #1 - No power ups. Score: 455,360

• I had the pro score, but missed out by a single red peg. I thought I could get it with the last ball, but I misjudged it. Catches are extremely hard to judge on this level. The balls don't tend to penetrate the structures, but neither do they drop straight past either. I got very close, so I'll give it another go without power ups, but I suspect I was quite lucky to get as close as I did.

Attempt #2 - No power ups. Score: 240,070

• As I suspected might happen, I got nowhere near this time. I'll need to use a laser ball, and I'll need to take out quite a few pegs with it as well.

Attempt #3 - Laser Ball. Score: 589,740 

• Even with the laser ball, it was still touch and go whether I would reach the pro target and clear the red pegs. In the end I had the points, but I only had one ball left and the last red pegs was buried right at the bottom of the central structure with several blue pegs above it. I had to clear the pegs on one side of it and play a very carefully judged shot high off the side wall to get to it.

Level 6 (Clear 45 red pegs from 118 total - Pro target 600k)

The same design as level 3, but with 20 more red pegs, and 150k more on the pro target.

Attempt #1 - Laser Ball. Score: 721,730

• Two red pegs left at the end. No problem at all with reaching the pro target, but clearing the reds needs to be more of a priority.

Attempt #2 - Laser Ball. Score: 565,560

• Managed to clear the red pegs this time, but couldn't quite amass enough points for the pro target. It didn't help that I took out the last two red pegs before I intended to.

Attempt #3 - Laser Ball. Score: 1,170,750 

• A walk in the park this time, thanks entirely to a rather spectacular laser ball. The yellow peg was in the pagoda which I managed to clear with the first ball. Then I managed to find a path with the laser ball that got an extra two rim bounces before landing in the bucket, taking out 53 pegs for 578k as it went. It left me only 10k short of the pro target with more balls left than I started with. I ended up taking a complete clearance for nearly double the pro target.

Level 7 (Score 500k with 40 red pegs and 54 blue, with only 9 balls - Pro target 700k)

The same design as level 2, but with 15 more reds, one less ball and 275k on the pro target. This time only the score is important which is one less thing to worry about.

Attempt #1 - No power ups. Score: 603,180

• Not too far off the pro target. There were still several red pegs left at the end though, so it's worth another try.

Attempt #2 - No power ups. Score: 348,080

• Nowhere near this time. Just two catches, I think. I'll use a laser ball.

Attempt #3 - Laser Ball. Score: 459,790

• The yellow peg was in about the worst possible position - right at the bottom of the pagoda. Half the pegs were gone by the time I got to trigger the laser ball, so I was having to try and take every purple peg off the side wall first to try and make up the shortfall. Inevitably, I ran out of balls.

Attempt #4 - Laser Ball. Score: 838,520 

• I could get the yellow peg with the first ball this time, and I got a good rim bounce on it as well. That gave my score a good boost so it wasn't a problem reaching the pro target.

Level 8 (Clear ALL pegs - 35 red and 59 blue - Pro target 600k)

The same design as level 1, but with 10 more red pegs, 175k on the pro target, and all pegs now needed.

Attempt #1 - No power ups. Score: 402,180

• A 94% clearance, so not a million miles away. It's probably possible without power ups, but a laser ball will certainly help a lot, so I think I'll take one.

Attempt #2 - Laser Ball. Score: 557,040

• Only a 90% clearance that time, even with the laser ball. I just didn't seem to get any luck with my ricochets. The balls kept finding paths between all the pegs to disappear off the bottom having only taken out two or three pegs. The score was better though, but that was down to the laser ball.

Attempt #3 - Laser Ball. Score: 871,930 

• I activated the laser ball with the first ball again, but this time I got two extra rim bounces with it which helped quite a lot. I had a bad sequence in the middle which left me with quite a lot of pegs still to get with only two balls, but I kept it together and put a good run of catches together at the end.

Level 9 (Clear ALL pegs - 35 red and 61 blue - Pro target 650k)

The same design as level 4, but with 10 More red pegs, 275k on the pro target and all pegs now needed. Bonuses were a problem before so this pro target could well be a problem.

Attempt #1 - Laser Ball. Score: 531,070

• Only a 90% clearance despite getting an early laser ball, and a good rim bounce with it. Maybe I tried to pick off too many single pegs. The angles are quite awkward, on the whole, and I missed a lot of catches. Maybe I should have taken more early ricochets while there still plenty of pegs to aim at, then worried about the pro target later.

Attempt #2 - Laser Ball. Score: 715,950 

• That was better. It took two or three attempts to get to the yellow peg, but I got another good rim bounce with the laser ball. Then I went for a few ricochet balls while picking off only the safer catches.

Level 10 (Clear ALL pegs - 35 red and 73 blue, with only 9 balls - Pro target 625k)

The same design as level 5, but with 10 more red pegs, one less ball, 175k on the pro target, and all pegs are now needed. Level 5 was quite tough as the structures were tricky to break into. I think I may add a grenade ball to help with that.

Attempt #1 - Laser Ball & Grenade Ball. Score: 815,380 

• I think that was the right set of power ups to choose. I got another good rim bounce with the laser ball, then used the grenade to take out the bulk of one of the remaining structures. Then it was just a matter of carefully picking off what was left. There were a few fortunate catches in there, but most of them were played for.

SUMMARY

Level	Reds	Pegs	Target	Balls	Clock	Pro	Attempts	Record	Average	Video
1	25	94	Reds	10	-	425k	1	454,090	454,090
2	25	94	Reds	10	-	425k	1	555,910	555,910
3	25	118	Reds	10	-	450k	1	539,250	539,250
4	25	96	Reds	10	-	375k	1	436,000	436,000
5	25	108	Reds	10	-	450k	3	589,740	428,390
6	45	118	Reds	10	-	600k	3	1,170,750	819,346
7	40	94	500k	9	-	700k	4	838,520	562,392
8	35	94	All	10	-	600k	3	871,930	610,383
9	35	96	All	10	-	650k	2	715,950	623,510
10	35	108	All	9	-	625k	1	815,380	815,380