Grand Pearl Poo-Bah

[e_bigworm]

Woohoo!

Finally got the Poo-bah, and wouldn't you know it, my cable modem had crapped out, so I didn't get it on the leaderboard. Got the achievement, though, which was the primary goal.

For all those who think it's hard, with a little practice, it can be done in a fairly straightforward manner. My total game time was 155 minutes (2 1/2 hours), so it's not that long a process, either.

Here's what I did:

1. Set up the first two rows of the beginner's grid (4x4, or 2x4 in this case). Have an extra star right on top of the rightmost top level star of your grid.
2. Use the third star from the left, top row, as a "star factory." Use your other stars to swing pieces around to this star to do surrounds.
3. When you complete a surround, this star will fall on top of the one beneath it. This is where having that extra star on top of your grid helps. You can use it to help swing your factory star back into position after you have completed a surround. Your grid will be back in place, but now you have a star at the top of the screen.
4. Do step 3 twice. You'll have two stars at the top of the screen, in the same column. Walk these two over to the left side of the board and park them there.
5. Once you've done steps 3-4 three times, you'll have 3 pairs of stars at the top of the board, and your grid will still be intact. Walk the three pairs around until you create a pearl. Let it drop into your grid and park it on the bottom row somewhere.
6. Keep doing this until you have your six pearls, then surround one of the stars in your grid with them for the Poo-Bah.

Doing it this way is safe. By building the pearl at the top of the screen, if you mess something up it (hopefully) won't cascade down and break your grid. If it happens, just curse a bit then start building another pearl again.

Also, you don't have to try and fill the entire screen with a grid, just two rows. I found that that was enough to usually guarantee that I always had six tiles of a given color available to do a surround. So, it isn't as time consuming, and a whole lot less frustrating.

I'll try and take a video at some point to better illustrate this. For now, PM of course if I've confused you and you need me to clarify something.

LOL! While I've been typing this I've gone through about 10-15 timed games, letting them count down for the Hexic Addict achievement. Hopefully, I had enough already that this won't take very long.

Good luck!
BW

[Alex Goodman]

Gratz, I reckon it's one of the hardest achievements out there. It seems however once you get good at making the masters grid it becomes a walk in the park.

My score of 4mil (probably shoddy anyways) never got on the leaderboard either as I wasn't playing my xbox at my house .

[BelatedHero]

Originally Posted by Alex Goodman

It seems however once you get good at making the masters grid it becomes a walk in the park.

Absolutely. In fact, if you get the master's grid, know what you are doing, and are careful in your moves, it is impossible to lose! Once the master grid is completely formed, there is no longer any luck involved. You can continue to play the same game and earn points indefinitely. However, the tops score makers don't earn their scores that way.

[e_bigworm]

Almost. You can still "lose" from bombs, although if you keep enough of each color close to your "starcluster factory," you can defuse them fairly easily. Counting helps. Since the only clusters being made are those from creating stars, counting is easy, and you can get ready when you've only got one or two clusters left before a bomb drops.

[My Gamertag is Papa Skull]

Your cable modem just HAD TO disconnect from you right when you got the achievement and it didn't save to the leaderboards. A coincidence? I think not..

But anyway, I hate this arcade game so much. I can't get the rest of the achievements because most of them are just pure luck and I hate lucky achievements.

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by My Gamertag is Papa Skull

But anyway, I hate this arcade game so much. I can't get the rest of the achievements because most of them are just pure luck and I hate lucky achievements.

Which achievements are you referring too as pure luck? In fact nothing in this game requires pure luck. Just patience and an understanding of Hexic.

[SilverSluggerMZ]

Originally Posted by Shogun

Which achievements are you referring too as pure luck? In fact nothing in this game requires pure luck. Just patience and an understanding of Hexic.

I can endure the patience part. But, I suppose my understanding of Hexic is lacking. I haven't really looked at the grid system as it seems confusing to me.

[e_bigworm]

Wow, Papa Skull. That's quite the character analysis you did on me from just a forum post. But, since you insist, you can check the leaderboards. I believe I'm in the high 3,000's for rank with the score I have posted since.

And, I have to agree and disagree with the statements on luck. While the game is 95% patience and attention to what's going on, you cannot predict what color bomb will drop after you get the grid set up. You just have to hope that you can get the right color tiles in to defuse it before its (randomly numbered) timer clicks to zero.

But even that can be overcome. So, if I had to choose, I'd have to say that luck plays less and less of a factor as you learn what to pay attention to in this game. If you treat it like chess and try to think about the second and third order effects of what your moves will do, then the game can literally go on indefinitely.

BW

[My Gamertag is Papa Skull]

Originally Posted by e_bigworm

Wow, Papa Skull. That's quite the character analysis you did on me from just a forum post. But, since you insist, you can check the leaderboards. I believe I'm in the high 3,000's for rank with the score I have posted since.

And, I have to agree and disagree with the statements on luck. While the game is 95% patience and attention to what's going on, you cannot predict what color bomb will drop after you get the grid set up. You just have to hope that you can get the right color tiles in to defuse it before its (randomly numbered) timer clicks to zero.

But even that can be overcome. So, if I had to choose, I'd have to say that luck plays less and less of a factor as you learn what to pay attention to in this game. If you treat it like chess and try to think about the second and third order effects of what your moves will do, then the game can literally go on indefinitely.

BW

I'm really just talking about the Marathon game type. Where you have to destroy the bombs before they destroy you. That takes a little bit of planning, but mostly luck. Those bombs really take me to the next level in depression. I don't think I'll ever 200/200 this because I can't understand how people can get 6 of those cluster things together and make a black pearl. And then getting 6 of the black pearls. Wtf? That's crazy talk. Well, atleast for me and my understanding.

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by My Gamertag is Papa Skull

I'm really just talking about the Marathon game type. Where you have to destroy the bombs before they destroy you. That takes a little bit of planning, but mostly luck. Those bombs really take me to the next level in depression. I don't think I'll ever 200/200 this because I can't understand how people can get 6 of those cluster things together and make a black pearl. And then getting 6 of the black pearls. Wtf? That's crazy talk. Well, atleast for me and my understanding.

Starwalking my friend. Once you Obtain two to stars You're set for the rest of the game. Your number one goal should be to make a star. A common mistake that i see people making is when they get 6 stars, they immediatley try making a black peral. You should always make sure you have at least two stars left over when making a black pearl.
I'm not a grid system player. Its not the only way to play. I prefer to just have fun starwalking until i get about 10 or 12 stars, then I'll make a pearl.

[tgolske]

definitely going to try this... This seems to be the hardest achievement in any game I ever played :-s

[IcySandwich]

Same here. It's the only one left to get to 200. I tried using the setup in the roadmap but it didn't work for some reason (that was a pain to build). So it's time to go for the grid setup.

Question: I assume a partial master's grid will work for this? I don't really know what the negatives are if you only have a partial one.

[lijnloos]

I still need this one, so I'm definitely gonna try your "guide". TNX!

[keung]

I started working on Pooh-bah just a few days ago. At first I tried the grid setup mentioned in the roadmap; I actually got all the pearls, but at the last level, I had trouble getting stars. And once I got 6 stars, a bomb screwed me over. The second time I only got 3 or 4 (can't remember any more) pearls. I got so angry that I decided to study the master's grid instead. Once I finally got the hang of it, and created my first full size master's grid at level 2, I created the pearls and got the achievement.

The only thing that worried me was that when I created the 3rd black pearl, I levelled up to 3, and I had never had any bomb defense practice. But luckily the only bomb came after making the 6th black pearl, so I could easily defuse it at the top.

Learning the master's grid is HIGHLY recommended when going for Pooh-Bah. It is a bit complicated to set up the grid, but trust me, it's way easier than creating stars and pearls without any grid.

[Blissett]

Respect to those of you who have this achievement. Even if I had the skills I mist certainly don't have the patience. I never realised there were such advanced tactics possible.

[XoNiNjAlEoNoX]

Great strategy, bigworm! I combined this with the master grid and it worked perfectly. However, there was never a bomb spawning above the 'star factory' that made it very easy.

[FlexibleToad]

i hate pooh-bah. only cheevo from 200