Jokers
Jokers are the most important thing you can control. On most levels, there are two jokers per reel, though on some levels with exceptionally easy goals such as Slingo Surprise, or any level where you're trying to find a cell powerup, there is only one joker per reel, meaning on average jokers come up 10 times per game.A joker matches any square in the column directly above it. In multi-board, a joker matches its column multiple times, one for each board. You can use this feature to quickly accumulate large score values on the speed meter by quickly clicking a random cell in the right column on each board. More about the speed meter in a bit. Since a joker lets you choose which row you match, you can use jokers to get things that you need to accomplish your goals.On normal, non-bonus levels, all the game features are placed in specific locations on the board, so if last game you noticed the scarab is in the top left corner, this time you can match the scarab the moment you get a joker in the first reel instead of having to wait for that particular cell to spin up. Aiming to hit a powerup with a joker will triple your probability of getting it, as now you have the actual number and the two jokers, all as chances to get the powerup.
Super Jokers/Cell Super Jokers
Super jokers are much rarer, and more powerful. On most boards, there is only one superjoker in all five reels, meaning on average it only comes up once per game. Everything I said about jokers also applies to super jokers, with one important addition. With a super joker, you can now control which column you match as well. In general, it's better to match a column that doesn't have many cells matched than a mostly-full column. Once a column is full, you'll get a slingo, sure, but also the reel for that column will now be completely useless-- it can't possibly help you get more matches.A final warning for super jokers are that if you have a number or normal joker match waiting, but click that square with the super joker first, if there are no other options for that number or normal joker, you've just wasted your super-joker. This happens to everyone eventually. Don't sweat it, but it's something to look out for.A cell super joker is even better than a super joker, since, if you know where it is, you can avoid triggering it until the time is right.
Friend Power
You have four friends in the game. You can activate them before you spin or when you're waiting to make a match. Of special note, if you take your last spin, and nothing comes up in the reels, you won't be able to use your friends. Likewise you can't use them once you completely fill the card to end the game.In either case, make sure you use your friend powers up before you run out of time. Each friend can be used once per game. Except for the "I stand alone" award (which requires you not to use your friends for an entire game) there's generally no reason not to use your friends.
Ibis
Ibis grants SlingoVision, which will help you match quickly and fill up the speed meter. More importantly, it grants Powerup Vision, which will tell you where the powerups are on a given board. This is particularly important for bonus levels, because you can't memorize the powerups on those bonus levels-- they're randomly distributed every game.Ibis' powers only last for 3 spins (counted as times you press the spin button). You can get an extra spin out of their life by clicking spin and then turning on Ibis, rather than turning him on before you start to spin. Powerups don't move, so you can memorize what's shown in Powerup Vision for later planning.
Sphinx
Sphinx is a very powerful ally, potentially able to double your score. He can also halve your score, which is a major pain in the neck. Also, because you can't activate an ally after you've won or lost a game, sometimes you end up missing the very biggest score bonuses to double-- namely the full card bonus or a big sequence of bouncing slingos at the end.Alley cat's mystery chest is affected by the lucky powerup, give you a 60% success chance and a 40% failure chance when luck is out, so definitely use him in that situation. In general, if you're not going to succeed at your goal, give sphinx a try to boost you over the top. If you were already losing, losing half your score isn't going to make it any worse; you would've lost anyway.
Alley Cat
In a way, the alley cat is the most powerful friend you have. Alley Cat can't give you anything you didn't already have, but Alley Cat can give you powerups that have run out of time, grant you far more matches or slingos, or complete a pattern an extra time. All of these can be very important for earning stars and passing levels.
You won't be able to see which powerups are available through Alley Cat until you activate her, so try to memorize what good stuff you have-- Alley Cat herself will show you where those things are located once you activate her.
Temple Guardian Cat
Oh man, that board's almost finished. I just need another spin! Temple Guardian Cat to the rescue! She's hard to use-- you have to predict in advance that you're not going to get any matches, which is always a chancy proposition. I usually use her just before spin 20, the point where the chances of a match are the lowest.However, another strategy is to use her earlier in the game to get yourself a free spin, which can save you a lot of points if you're having trouble making a score goal. Note that Temple Guardian Cat and Shuffle don't stack-- if you have a shuffle, she'll only give you a free spin, not an extra spin, so plan accordingly.
Speed Meter
The speed meter is that little box under the main score that sometimes flashes. Every time you make a match while the speed meter is showing, you get that many points in addition to the basic 200 and whatever score you get for what's in the cell (1000 for coins, 5,000 for platinum coins, varies for scarab).The speed meter grants extra points if you can make the next match within 1 second of the previous match. If you take 2 seconds, the bonus stays the same. If you take 3 seconds, the bonus drops back to 0. Also, if you match within 1 second of the spin ending, you get to start at the first level of bonus. There are two things to notice. First, this list displays exponential growth. This means that on multiboard and seven by seven type levels, or if you have cell jokers, you can get a ton of points with the speed bonus if you move quickly. The second thing to notice is that the low end of this table is not very impressive. In other words, unless things are really close, the speed bonus isn't going to usually matter. It's more important to get the right powerups and matches and have a good strategy than to be fast.One strategy for people who are slow at slingo but want to get a lot of speed meter bonus is to just immediately click the first thing you can for each joker. Another good strategy for the speed meter is to spin, take the time to memorize where all the matches for the spin are, and then quickly click them all.
Minigames
There are five minigames. Four minigames are games of skill, and one is partially a game of chance. They operate by a common mechanic-- you wager a fraction of your score on the game. In general, for the four skill-based minigames, you should always wager the maximum, because all of these games can be consistently won if you get good at them, and more points are always better.Devil's Coin: This tricky little game involves a spinning coin with a cherub face and a devil face. You have to click it so that when it stops, it stops on the cherub face. However, it doesn't stop instantly-- it takes about half a rotation to come to a stop. Generally the best time to click is just after the devil has shown and is starting to move away again. Mostly this game just takes a lot of practice to master, however.Devil's Shell Game: In this game, one cup has a cherub head, one two cups have devil heads. The easiest way to win this game is to just keep your mouse cursor over the cherub head cup as it moves. Some games will be easier than others. It can help to know that there are only 6 possible ways for the cups to move. Once you know what those ways are, you can see before a move really gets going what move it'll be, which will help your mousing hand keep up.Devil's Odd Man Out: If you're colorblind, always bet a quarter of your score on this game-- it involves differences in color that can be extremely difficult to see. This is basically a hidden picture game inside the main game. There are 10 possible scenes, each of which have 3 pieces of the scene that can be in one of two visual states. So for instance, a gem might be red or blue. In the minigame, one of those 10 scenes will be chosen, and displayed 3 times. Two of those displays will be exactly the same, while in one scene, one of the three changeable cues will be different. You have to look carefully for the differences. Each time you find something that can be made different, memorize what it is. There are only 30 in all and you'll soon be able to spot them quickly. Don't worry about taking a long time. There is no time pressure in this game.Devil's Memory: You are confronted with 8 playing cards, which you get to memorize for 10 seconds (less if you click the "skip" button, which I do not recommend.). You have to memorize the cards. Then you'll be confronted with a card that has a 50/50 chance of being one of the cards you just memorized, and answer whether or not you've already seen it. The average human's working memory can only hold 7 items, so this game can be hard if you approach it as designed. Instead, group the cards you're memorizing into sets of similar cards. "There are three low clubs this time." "There are no royal cards this time." and soforth.Devil's Deck: This game is pure chance at its heart, but there is a skill element to it. Just as in poker, you can't contorl your hand but you can control your bet, you have that same control in Devil's Deck. When you first play, always bet a quarter (you don't want your efforts ruined by random chance, right?), but memorize the symbols on the backs of the card. Each card has its own unique symbol. Eventually you'll start to recognize when you're holding one of the good cards. "Oh, that crown is a good card. I should bet high now." If you could perfectly memorize the cards and always bet high when winning and low when not winning, your expected winnings would be 1.0 - 0.25 = 0.75 or 75% of your score. That's better than betting half and winning every time! On a final note, the lucky powerup does influence this game, so if you have luck and don't recognize the cards, bet high. The odds of winning are 11/9 in your favor when luck is turned on.
Buy/Free Spin/Cash Out/Reel Stop
Buy/Free Spin/Cash Out:
The last four spins of your game cost 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of your score, cumulatively. There are only two ways to avoid this massive score hit (69.76% of your score all told!): You can leave the game before you have to pay, sacrificing the last four spins of the game, or you can use free spin powerups, which show up in the reels on average once every ten spins.Cashing out requires you to have beaten the level's main goal (and not be in a versus battle), and is generally a good idea if you have no free spins. If you do have free spins, and can't cash out (or need to keep playing to fulfill some other goal), generally it's best to save them for the later, more expensive spins. Sure you can spend them now and hope you'll get more, but the chances are low. Note that the right-click mouse button (or space bar, or enter key) will automatically choose this course of action.
Reel Stop:
In later levels, there is a powerup that looks like a stop sign that makes your reels spin slower. This isn't a bug, it's one of the more powerful powerups for strategy, because it gives you a chance to control what comes up in the reels. The reels stlil move at a decent clip, so unless you're lighning-fast, you're probably only going to be able to pick what comes up on one or two reels.Before you spin, figure out which reel you want to control, and watch it carefully. When the thing you want spins by (they get slower towards the end of the spin, which helps), click to instantly stop the reel. If you can stop on a superjoker, you'll get one of the harder-to-achieve awards. (Superjoker is usually in the center reel in most levels). My preferred strategy is to pick the column with the least matches, hover my mouse over that reel, and click when I see color go by. Usually it's a joker.
Getting Through Levels
Levels have a variety of different goals, shown on the right hand side of the screen. The only exception are versus battles against enemy characters. In these, the goal is merely to out-score your opponent, which is not listed because there's not enough room to put it on the screen. Not all opponents are equally difficult-- the sphinx is fairly tame, while the devil, with all of his free allies, gets many advantages! I'll treat the various goal types by category.Most of the goals for levels are much easier than the equivalent version of star goals. As such, you may not have to try very hard to make the score listed for the main goal, while special effort may be needed to get a high score star.You can tell how well you're doing at a level's goal by moving your mouse over the goal on the screen. A little dialog box will pop up, showing your progress if you ever forget.
Get the Pattern
When completing a pattern, you need to prioritize your jokers towards matching pattern cells over everything else. Your super-jokers should be devoted to whichever column has the most un-matched pattern cells. The pattern cells are the brighter colored ones in any given level. When in doubt, notice the animation at the beginning of the level. The pattern cells pop in after all the other cells.
Get High Score
There are many strategies for getting a high score. Here's a few useful tips:
Run up the speed meter. See the speed meter section for more details.Complete the pattern, scarab, or full card early in the game. All of these award more points the more spins are left before you finish. Alley Cat can also let you get the pattern bonus a second time, but sometimes it's best to wait on alley cat until the end of the game, where she can also get you some slingos in addition to finishing the pattern a second time. On multi-board, alley cat can even get you a duplicate full card bonus!Have lots of powerups when you finish the game. Extra powerups get sold off at the end of the game. It's not worth many points, but sometimes every little bit helps. Ibis and Temple Cat both give powerups that can be sold. Alley Cat can get you a powerup off the board too.Try to get your Slingos in groups. Each slingo you get after the first is worth twice as many points, but the value resets back down 1,000 (or 2,000 in the case of superslingos and 7x7 slingos) whenever you make a match. Thus if you could click the bottom-right, make a slingo, and then the bottom left to make another slingo, that's 1,000 + 1,000 = 2,000. However, if you matched the bottom left for no slingos, and then the bottom right for two slingos at once, that's 1,000 + 2000 = 3,000. You got 50% more points and all you had to do was change the order you made your matches! With powerups like bouncing slingos, this effect can get very large. In Slingo Supreme, some players used a combination of bouncing slingos and instant slingos to get such a large score, it came out looking negative due to a computer bug! (We've fixed the bug. You're welcome to score trillions of points in Slingo Quest Egypt if you're lucky enough to pull it off). In particular, powerups that cause one match to make you a second match, such as when a boulder rolls and matches a new cell, or when an instant slingo fill in extra cells automatically, don't reset the value of a slingo. So you can get every single slingo on the board at once. Without bouncing slingos on a normal board, that's 12 slingos, the most valuable of which will be worth 2 million points (two raised to the eleventh power, times one thousand). On a seven by seven board or with bouncing slingos, that number can get significantly higher.Save multipliers and adders for the end if you can. You get most of your slingos in the last 5-10 spins of the game. Because adders and multipliers go away after a while, if you get them too early, you'll only be adding to and multiplying the points you get from matches, which are generally small potatoes.Save treasure chests and minigames for the end if you can. Your score goes up over time. Doubling the 800 points you have on spin 2 for making some matches gets you... 800 more points. Not a big deal. Doubling the 15,000 points you got for getting the four slingos that cross through the center square, that gets you another 15,000. That can make or break your effort to get a score star.Use Alley Cat to get another copy of useful powerups when the old one's about to run out. Some levels use powerups as the key to getting high scores. Bouncing slingos are the most obvious example, but you might want to make sure you have the 5x multiplier when you're about to get a full card, or you want to keep lucky going further in a game when it just ran out. The alley cat is the perfect tool for this. You can see how many turns left a powerup has by clicking it. A newer powerup always replaces the older one, except for Ibis, who does not replace any powerup you already have.
Get Particular Powerups
When you're looking for particular powerups, Ibis' powerup vision will show you where to look. These goals are generally very easy, and persistence will get them for you quickly.
Reveal Cells
Hidden slingo is a fun game variant. The key is to spread out your visible cells horizontally as quickly as you can, so that every reel has a chance to match. Any reel that makes a joker in a column with no cells revealed is wasted! The mechanic for revealing cells is that any hidden cell next to a cell you match will be revealed. As a result, the most fruitful matches will be in the diagonal corners of the area you've exposed, where 5 cells will typically be revealed at a time.
Get Matches
This is similar to get the pattern, but consider every cell to be a pattern cell. When you get super-jokers, try to keep the columns balanced. Otherwise, this is mostly luck.
Versus Battle
This is probably the most strategic goal in Slingo. You can't cash out, so always make sure to use your free spins as late as possible. The above advice on scoring is important, as you're trying to out-score your opponent, but unlike in normal games, you can't wait to grab a slingo or powerup-- you have to grab them as soon as you can, so that your opponent doesn't get them. Don't take the time to set up that perfect combination-- grab what you can, when you can.The opponent doesn't benefit from or use powerup vision, so memorizing where powerups are in the level or using Ibis to help you can provide a big strategic advantage.The opponent can't get devils in the reels, always gets the fast match speed meter bonus, and will have other advantages later in the game (for instance, the mummy will steal one of your spins). But the AI for those players chooses moves randomly, so you can defeat them if you play it carefully.Note that some stars in versus battles require you to find the scarab or fill the board or get slingos. Slingos obtained and powerups gotten by your opponent do not count towards these goals. If your opponent gets there first, you'll have to try again in a new game.
Earning Stars
Most stars goals are the same general idea as the level goals. I'll note some special expections below. Sometimes, what you need to do to get a star is different than what you need to do to get a different star (for instance, paying attention to matching quickly vs. carefully strategizing to get a lot of slingo sat once). For hard stars, make sure you're focusing exclusively on that one star in a given play, and choose a strategy that will work best just for that star, ignoring everything else.You can tell how well you're doing at a level's goal by moving your mouse over the star on the screen. A little dialog box will pop up, showing your progress if you ever forget.
Complications:
Many stars have complications attached to them such as "Within a spin" or "in 3 minutes" or "in 10 spins" or "in one match" that make the task much harder. Some stars are just made to take a lot of banging at, but I tried to make any star that required dumb luck require no more than 10 tries. If it takes more than 10 tries, there's probably a trick to it, some of which are listed below.
Fast Matches:
A fast match is a match that improves the value shown in the speed meter. Generally the best way to get these are to quickly match jokers whenever they come up. SlingoVision will also help.
Margin of Victory:
Some stars require you to really beat the pants off a PvP opponent. The sphinx chest is a good way to do break the bank this way.
Find Lots of Powerups:
Some stars require you to find lots of coins. The best way to accomplish this is either to memorize where they are, or use the Ibis to find out where they are. You can also get an extra by using the alley cat on a powerup you've already gotten once to get it again. Treed Slingo in Bazaar has one of the harder stars of this type. One level in the Sphinx's temple requires you to find more powerups than are actually in the game. The secret is that you can get powerup vision and slingo vision from the Ibis, which count for the star.
Block a Marble:
One of the levels with boulders in the cells has a special star that requires you to block a marble. This happens when you match all four cells (or three or two if the marble's on an edge or corner) before matching the marble cell. Avoid matching them for as long as possible to gain this star. Remember, you don't have to win a level to get the star for it.
Lots of Matches/Slingos in a Spin:
For levels of this type, there are often cell jokers. Each cell joker will give you another match without it technically being another spin. Wait until you get a pretty good spin, then use your cell jokers (being sure not to block any of your legitimate matches by accident!) You also get an additional match, again technically within the same spin, by using the alley cat.
Total Adder/Multiplier/Number of Powerups:
For these, try not to get adders or multipliers or powerups for as long as possible. Once you have a decent amount from the reels and cells, then go into full court press, trying to make matches that are the powerups and adders and multipliers. You can use alley cat to push you over the top, and also don't forget for total powerups that Ibis can give two if you don't have vision, and temple cat can give another one.
Lots of Slingos in a Match:
Most of these goals can be done by luck if necessary, but with skill they're easier. When four slingos are required, aim for the center cell of the board-- don't match it, but match anything on a line that goes through it, and match it last. This, obviously, can be easier said than done. In a level with instant slingos, find out where the instant slingos are, and avoid matching both the instant slingo and cells in that row or column. Because all cells turned up by the instant slingo count as one match, you can get more than the usual maximum that way.Also note that even if you use up the ones on the board, sometimes they'll come up in the reels. In this case, you can keep the board the opposite of balanced, keeping one column clear and matching as many as possible of the rest. Finally, you can get up to six slingos if you have bouncing slingos activated-- one horizontally, one vertically, and one in each of four diagonal directions (The cells that can do this in a normal sized board are located at (3,2), (4,3) (2,3) and (3,4). All other cells give less than six slingos). If you have a good match for bouncing slingos, but the powerup's already worn off, you can get it back with alley cat.Another way to get extra slingos is in multiboard, you can get a slingo that stretches from one board all the way to the other. This is called a super slingo, and it multiplies just by the other, and is also worth twice as many points as a normal slingo would be on top of that.
Crazy High Scores:
Some levels have score stars that look absolutely impossible. Don't despair-- these levels usually have a trick to them. If the level has bouncing slingos, the goal is to combine bouncing slingos with something that will make more than one match at once-- an instant slingo or a boulder-- so that instead of the standard maximum 6 slingos per match, bouncing slingos can give as many as 22 (and that's just with 1 instant slingo.You can get more than 22 with 2 instant slingos, or on a multiboard or 7x7 board). 22 slingos is pretty neat, but bear in mind that it also would score you 1,000 * 2^21, which is about 2 billion points, which is more than any star or award requires in the game. The power of slingos to double and redouble their score is the most powerful mechanic in the game. Take advantage of it when you can.
Unblock Cell:
This requires you to match a cell that the jackal has blocked. The jackal will block the first cell that gets between 4 other cells that are matched horizontally or vertically. Then you can use a joker to click the jackal, and he'll break off, giving you this star.
High Speed Bonus:
The best way to do this is to get slingovision so it's easier to see what cells to match.
Getting Awards
There are 12 awards. Most can be gotten by playing the game a lot, and will just gradually build up. The ones listed below have a specific strategy to obtain them:
Big Score: This award is best to obtain on either Bouncing Slingo Madness (the final secret level) or Devil's Slingo (the final non-secret level). In both cases, a combination of multipliers, instant slingos, and bouncing slingos will get you where you want to go. Be prepared to try a lot of times. Devil's Slingo is slightly easier to do this on because there's so many powerups in it, but that pesky devil can upset your plans. Don't be afraid to use the sphinx to get from 5 million up to ten million.
Super Match: To get this reward without cheating, you need to fire an instant slingo through another instant slingo when most cells are empty (which can be done on any level with horizontal and reel slingos, or on Bouncing Slingo Madness, which will place the board slingos randomly), or fire an instant slingo through a cell boulder. However, due to a bug, if you get a reel instant slingo in a column with no matches, you will be incorrectly awarded this award. The best level for doing this is Inundation.
I Stand Alone: To do this, win Devil's Slingo without using the Friend Power button. Mostly, it's just a question of luck, but remember that powerups don't change locations on adventure levels between plays, so memorization can help you do this more quickly.
Trilogy Score: You're intended to buy all three games to get this, but it's possible, if you do well enough on Devil's Slingo and Bouncing Slingo Madness, to get this award just with Egypt. However, given the cool powers that will be in Amazon and Atlantis, I'd recommend waiting until you get those games before trying it.
Trilogy Patterns: Unfortunately, it can be hard to tell which patterns you've gotten and which you haven't. However, on the bonus level "Triple Trouble" the game will only serve you patterns that you haven't beaten within each difficulty level. So if you can get every pattern in Triple Trouble, say, 80ish times, you'll get the 233 patterns that are in Slingo Quest Egypt with no problem. Note that there are a few 7x7 patterns that you can't get this way. For those, you'll have to find and beat them in the adventure. The other two games will introduce 30 more patterns each, approximately, but the vast majority of patterns are held in common among the 3 games.
Trilogy Powerups: You have to get each powerup into your powerup meter once. Most powerups you'll get over the course of the game, but note that you won't have access to the Cherub's Blessing powerup until you've beaten Egypt. You can turn on cherub's blessing with a check box in the map screen. Alternatively, one of the allies in Atlantis grants cherub's blessing. Most powerups are in common, so you should have more than half when you've beaten Egypt.
Unlocking Secret Levels
Each secret level requires you to find five gold scarabs, one in each level in that place. You can see how many scarabs you have by going to the place screen, accessible by clicking the map button, a place you want to check out, and then "Go". Levels with a gold scarab will show one next ot their names. Other places, you still have to find the gold scarab. Once you have all five, the lock next to the secret level will disappear and you can play it from the place screen. Secret levels don't have a goal, but they do have five stars each, which you'll need to get the Star Collector award. They're also a lot of fun.
Getting Full Cards
Full cards are hard to get in Slingo Quest Egypt. For this reason, many levels don't have a star that requires a full card. If you're looking for a level to max out your "Card Filler" award, check out Zip Slingo, a secret level, or Greater Pyramid, also a secret level, or if you're not at the secret levels yet, Pyramid Slingo is pretty fast too. In general, try to keep your columns balanced, so that the same number of unmatched squares exists in each.The lucky powerups and shuffle powerup are both helpful, and both can be reapplied via alley cat when they run out. For hidden slingo levels, try to expose cells as quickly as you can. The sooner you expose the whole board, the more matches you'll get. And on the levels that only have one joker per reel, it's probably best not to worry about full cards too much. Those levels aren't designed to get a full card, they're designed around other, smaller-scale goals.
Level High Scores
Every level in the game has a high score board that can be seen through the place screen. Some players will challenge themselves to be #1 on each of those boards. The boards' scores are based on the same formula as the daily challenge, so if you get top score on a level, you've basically beaten a daily challenge with the same powerups. There's no special reward for doing this, but it's a fun way to compete, especially because those scores are shared among all four player cards. It's a fun way to have a rivalry with family who share your computer.
Jokers are the most important thing you can control. On most levels, there are two jokers per reel, though on some levels with exceptionally easy goals such as Slingo Surprise, or any level where you're trying to find a cell powerup, there is only one joker per reel, meaning on average jokers come up 10 times per game.A joker matches any square in the column directly above it. In multi-board, a joker matches its column multiple times, one for each board. You can use this feature to quickly accumulate large score values on the speed meter by quickly clicking a random cell in the right column on each board. More about the speed meter in a bit. Since a joker lets you choose which row you match, you can use jokers to get things that you need to accomplish your goals.On normal, non-bonus levels, all the game features are placed in specific locations on the board, so if last game you noticed the scarab is in the top left corner, this time you can match the scarab the moment you get a joker in the first reel instead of having to wait for that particular cell to spin up. Aiming to hit a powerup with a joker will triple your probability of getting it, as now you have the actual number and the two jokers, all as chances to get the powerup.
Super Jokers/Cell Super Jokers
Super jokers are much rarer, and more powerful. On most boards, there is only one superjoker in all five reels, meaning on average it only comes up once per game. Everything I said about jokers also applies to super jokers, with one important addition. With a super joker, you can now control which column you match as well. In general, it's better to match a column that doesn't have many cells matched than a mostly-full column. Once a column is full, you'll get a slingo, sure, but also the reel for that column will now be completely useless-- it can't possibly help you get more matches.A final warning for super jokers are that if you have a number or normal joker match waiting, but click that square with the super joker first, if there are no other options for that number or normal joker, you've just wasted your super-joker. This happens to everyone eventually. Don't sweat it, but it's something to look out for.A cell super joker is even better than a super joker, since, if you know where it is, you can avoid triggering it until the time is right.
Friend Power
You have four friends in the game. You can activate them before you spin or when you're waiting to make a match. Of special note, if you take your last spin, and nothing comes up in the reels, you won't be able to use your friends. Likewise you can't use them once you completely fill the card to end the game.In either case, make sure you use your friend powers up before you run out of time. Each friend can be used once per game. Except for the "I stand alone" award (which requires you not to use your friends for an entire game) there's generally no reason not to use your friends.
Ibis
Ibis grants SlingoVision, which will help you match quickly and fill up the speed meter. More importantly, it grants Powerup Vision, which will tell you where the powerups are on a given board. This is particularly important for bonus levels, because you can't memorize the powerups on those bonus levels-- they're randomly distributed every game.Ibis' powers only last for 3 spins (counted as times you press the spin button). You can get an extra spin out of their life by clicking spin and then turning on Ibis, rather than turning him on before you start to spin. Powerups don't move, so you can memorize what's shown in Powerup Vision for later planning.
Sphinx
Sphinx is a very powerful ally, potentially able to double your score. He can also halve your score, which is a major pain in the neck. Also, because you can't activate an ally after you've won or lost a game, sometimes you end up missing the very biggest score bonuses to double-- namely the full card bonus or a big sequence of bouncing slingos at the end.Alley cat's mystery chest is affected by the lucky powerup, give you a 60% success chance and a 40% failure chance when luck is out, so definitely use him in that situation. In general, if you're not going to succeed at your goal, give sphinx a try to boost you over the top. If you were already losing, losing half your score isn't going to make it any worse; you would've lost anyway.
Alley Cat
In a way, the alley cat is the most powerful friend you have. Alley Cat can't give you anything you didn't already have, but Alley Cat can give you powerups that have run out of time, grant you far more matches or slingos, or complete a pattern an extra time. All of these can be very important for earning stars and passing levels.
You won't be able to see which powerups are available through Alley Cat until you activate her, so try to memorize what good stuff you have-- Alley Cat herself will show you where those things are located once you activate her.
Temple Guardian Cat
Oh man, that board's almost finished. I just need another spin! Temple Guardian Cat to the rescue! She's hard to use-- you have to predict in advance that you're not going to get any matches, which is always a chancy proposition. I usually use her just before spin 20, the point where the chances of a match are the lowest.However, another strategy is to use her earlier in the game to get yourself a free spin, which can save you a lot of points if you're having trouble making a score goal. Note that Temple Guardian Cat and Shuffle don't stack-- if you have a shuffle, she'll only give you a free spin, not an extra spin, so plan accordingly.
Speed Meter
The speed meter is that little box under the main score that sometimes flashes. Every time you make a match while the speed meter is showing, you get that many points in addition to the basic 200 and whatever score you get for what's in the cell (1000 for coins, 5,000 for platinum coins, varies for scarab).The speed meter grants extra points if you can make the next match within 1 second of the previous match. If you take 2 seconds, the bonus stays the same. If you take 3 seconds, the bonus drops back to 0. Also, if you match within 1 second of the spin ending, you get to start at the first level of bonus. There are two things to notice. First, this list displays exponential growth. This means that on multiboard and seven by seven type levels, or if you have cell jokers, you can get a ton of points with the speed bonus if you move quickly. The second thing to notice is that the low end of this table is not very impressive. In other words, unless things are really close, the speed bonus isn't going to usually matter. It's more important to get the right powerups and matches and have a good strategy than to be fast.One strategy for people who are slow at slingo but want to get a lot of speed meter bonus is to just immediately click the first thing you can for each joker. Another good strategy for the speed meter is to spin, take the time to memorize where all the matches for the spin are, and then quickly click them all.
Minigames
There are five minigames. Four minigames are games of skill, and one is partially a game of chance. They operate by a common mechanic-- you wager a fraction of your score on the game. In general, for the four skill-based minigames, you should always wager the maximum, because all of these games can be consistently won if you get good at them, and more points are always better.Devil's Coin: This tricky little game involves a spinning coin with a cherub face and a devil face. You have to click it so that when it stops, it stops on the cherub face. However, it doesn't stop instantly-- it takes about half a rotation to come to a stop. Generally the best time to click is just after the devil has shown and is starting to move away again. Mostly this game just takes a lot of practice to master, however.Devil's Shell Game: In this game, one cup has a cherub head, one two cups have devil heads. The easiest way to win this game is to just keep your mouse cursor over the cherub head cup as it moves. Some games will be easier than others. It can help to know that there are only 6 possible ways for the cups to move. Once you know what those ways are, you can see before a move really gets going what move it'll be, which will help your mousing hand keep up.Devil's Odd Man Out: If you're colorblind, always bet a quarter of your score on this game-- it involves differences in color that can be extremely difficult to see. This is basically a hidden picture game inside the main game. There are 10 possible scenes, each of which have 3 pieces of the scene that can be in one of two visual states. So for instance, a gem might be red or blue. In the minigame, one of those 10 scenes will be chosen, and displayed 3 times. Two of those displays will be exactly the same, while in one scene, one of the three changeable cues will be different. You have to look carefully for the differences. Each time you find something that can be made different, memorize what it is. There are only 30 in all and you'll soon be able to spot them quickly. Don't worry about taking a long time. There is no time pressure in this game.Devil's Memory: You are confronted with 8 playing cards, which you get to memorize for 10 seconds (less if you click the "skip" button, which I do not recommend.). You have to memorize the cards. Then you'll be confronted with a card that has a 50/50 chance of being one of the cards you just memorized, and answer whether or not you've already seen it. The average human's working memory can only hold 7 items, so this game can be hard if you approach it as designed. Instead, group the cards you're memorizing into sets of similar cards. "There are three low clubs this time." "There are no royal cards this time." and soforth.Devil's Deck: This game is pure chance at its heart, but there is a skill element to it. Just as in poker, you can't contorl your hand but you can control your bet, you have that same control in Devil's Deck. When you first play, always bet a quarter (you don't want your efforts ruined by random chance, right?), but memorize the symbols on the backs of the card. Each card has its own unique symbol. Eventually you'll start to recognize when you're holding one of the good cards. "Oh, that crown is a good card. I should bet high now." If you could perfectly memorize the cards and always bet high when winning and low when not winning, your expected winnings would be 1.0 - 0.25 = 0.75 or 75% of your score. That's better than betting half and winning every time! On a final note, the lucky powerup does influence this game, so if you have luck and don't recognize the cards, bet high. The odds of winning are 11/9 in your favor when luck is turned on.
Buy/Free Spin/Cash Out/Reel Stop
Buy/Free Spin/Cash Out:
The last four spins of your game cost 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% of your score, cumulatively. There are only two ways to avoid this massive score hit (69.76% of your score all told!): You can leave the game before you have to pay, sacrificing the last four spins of the game, or you can use free spin powerups, which show up in the reels on average once every ten spins.Cashing out requires you to have beaten the level's main goal (and not be in a versus battle), and is generally a good idea if you have no free spins. If you do have free spins, and can't cash out (or need to keep playing to fulfill some other goal), generally it's best to save them for the later, more expensive spins. Sure you can spend them now and hope you'll get more, but the chances are low. Note that the right-click mouse button (or space bar, or enter key) will automatically choose this course of action.
Reel Stop:
In later levels, there is a powerup that looks like a stop sign that makes your reels spin slower. This isn't a bug, it's one of the more powerful powerups for strategy, because it gives you a chance to control what comes up in the reels. The reels stlil move at a decent clip, so unless you're lighning-fast, you're probably only going to be able to pick what comes up on one or two reels.Before you spin, figure out which reel you want to control, and watch it carefully. When the thing you want spins by (they get slower towards the end of the spin, which helps), click to instantly stop the reel. If you can stop on a superjoker, you'll get one of the harder-to-achieve awards. (Superjoker is usually in the center reel in most levels). My preferred strategy is to pick the column with the least matches, hover my mouse over that reel, and click when I see color go by. Usually it's a joker.
Getting Through Levels
Levels have a variety of different goals, shown on the right hand side of the screen. The only exception are versus battles against enemy characters. In these, the goal is merely to out-score your opponent, which is not listed because there's not enough room to put it on the screen. Not all opponents are equally difficult-- the sphinx is fairly tame, while the devil, with all of his free allies, gets many advantages! I'll treat the various goal types by category.Most of the goals for levels are much easier than the equivalent version of star goals. As such, you may not have to try very hard to make the score listed for the main goal, while special effort may be needed to get a high score star.You can tell how well you're doing at a level's goal by moving your mouse over the goal on the screen. A little dialog box will pop up, showing your progress if you ever forget.
Get the Pattern
When completing a pattern, you need to prioritize your jokers towards matching pattern cells over everything else. Your super-jokers should be devoted to whichever column has the most un-matched pattern cells. The pattern cells are the brighter colored ones in any given level. When in doubt, notice the animation at the beginning of the level. The pattern cells pop in after all the other cells.
Get High Score
There are many strategies for getting a high score. Here's a few useful tips:
Run up the speed meter. See the speed meter section for more details.Complete the pattern, scarab, or full card early in the game. All of these award more points the more spins are left before you finish. Alley Cat can also let you get the pattern bonus a second time, but sometimes it's best to wait on alley cat until the end of the game, where she can also get you some slingos in addition to finishing the pattern a second time. On multi-board, alley cat can even get you a duplicate full card bonus!Have lots of powerups when you finish the game. Extra powerups get sold off at the end of the game. It's not worth many points, but sometimes every little bit helps. Ibis and Temple Cat both give powerups that can be sold. Alley Cat can get you a powerup off the board too.Try to get your Slingos in groups. Each slingo you get after the first is worth twice as many points, but the value resets back down 1,000 (or 2,000 in the case of superslingos and 7x7 slingos) whenever you make a match. Thus if you could click the bottom-right, make a slingo, and then the bottom left to make another slingo, that's 1,000 + 1,000 = 2,000. However, if you matched the bottom left for no slingos, and then the bottom right for two slingos at once, that's 1,000 + 2000 = 3,000. You got 50% more points and all you had to do was change the order you made your matches! With powerups like bouncing slingos, this effect can get very large. In Slingo Supreme, some players used a combination of bouncing slingos and instant slingos to get such a large score, it came out looking negative due to a computer bug! (We've fixed the bug. You're welcome to score trillions of points in Slingo Quest Egypt if you're lucky enough to pull it off). In particular, powerups that cause one match to make you a second match, such as when a boulder rolls and matches a new cell, or when an instant slingo fill in extra cells automatically, don't reset the value of a slingo. So you can get every single slingo on the board at once. Without bouncing slingos on a normal board, that's 12 slingos, the most valuable of which will be worth 2 million points (two raised to the eleventh power, times one thousand). On a seven by seven board or with bouncing slingos, that number can get significantly higher.Save multipliers and adders for the end if you can. You get most of your slingos in the last 5-10 spins of the game. Because adders and multipliers go away after a while, if you get them too early, you'll only be adding to and multiplying the points you get from matches, which are generally small potatoes.Save treasure chests and minigames for the end if you can. Your score goes up over time. Doubling the 800 points you have on spin 2 for making some matches gets you... 800 more points. Not a big deal. Doubling the 15,000 points you got for getting the four slingos that cross through the center square, that gets you another 15,000. That can make or break your effort to get a score star.Use Alley Cat to get another copy of useful powerups when the old one's about to run out. Some levels use powerups as the key to getting high scores. Bouncing slingos are the most obvious example, but you might want to make sure you have the 5x multiplier when you're about to get a full card, or you want to keep lucky going further in a game when it just ran out. The alley cat is the perfect tool for this. You can see how many turns left a powerup has by clicking it. A newer powerup always replaces the older one, except for Ibis, who does not replace any powerup you already have.
Get Particular Powerups
When you're looking for particular powerups, Ibis' powerup vision will show you where to look. These goals are generally very easy, and persistence will get them for you quickly.
Reveal Cells
Hidden slingo is a fun game variant. The key is to spread out your visible cells horizontally as quickly as you can, so that every reel has a chance to match. Any reel that makes a joker in a column with no cells revealed is wasted! The mechanic for revealing cells is that any hidden cell next to a cell you match will be revealed. As a result, the most fruitful matches will be in the diagonal corners of the area you've exposed, where 5 cells will typically be revealed at a time.
Get Matches
This is similar to get the pattern, but consider every cell to be a pattern cell. When you get super-jokers, try to keep the columns balanced. Otherwise, this is mostly luck.
Versus Battle
This is probably the most strategic goal in Slingo. You can't cash out, so always make sure to use your free spins as late as possible. The above advice on scoring is important, as you're trying to out-score your opponent, but unlike in normal games, you can't wait to grab a slingo or powerup-- you have to grab them as soon as you can, so that your opponent doesn't get them. Don't take the time to set up that perfect combination-- grab what you can, when you can.The opponent doesn't benefit from or use powerup vision, so memorizing where powerups are in the level or using Ibis to help you can provide a big strategic advantage.The opponent can't get devils in the reels, always gets the fast match speed meter bonus, and will have other advantages later in the game (for instance, the mummy will steal one of your spins). But the AI for those players chooses moves randomly, so you can defeat them if you play it carefully.Note that some stars in versus battles require you to find the scarab or fill the board or get slingos. Slingos obtained and powerups gotten by your opponent do not count towards these goals. If your opponent gets there first, you'll have to try again in a new game.
Earning Stars
Most stars goals are the same general idea as the level goals. I'll note some special expections below. Sometimes, what you need to do to get a star is different than what you need to do to get a different star (for instance, paying attention to matching quickly vs. carefully strategizing to get a lot of slingo sat once). For hard stars, make sure you're focusing exclusively on that one star in a given play, and choose a strategy that will work best just for that star, ignoring everything else.You can tell how well you're doing at a level's goal by moving your mouse over the star on the screen. A little dialog box will pop up, showing your progress if you ever forget.
Complications:
Many stars have complications attached to them such as "Within a spin" or "in 3 minutes" or "in 10 spins" or "in one match" that make the task much harder. Some stars are just made to take a lot of banging at, but I tried to make any star that required dumb luck require no more than 10 tries. If it takes more than 10 tries, there's probably a trick to it, some of which are listed below.
Fast Matches:
A fast match is a match that improves the value shown in the speed meter. Generally the best way to get these are to quickly match jokers whenever they come up. SlingoVision will also help.
Margin of Victory:
Some stars require you to really beat the pants off a PvP opponent. The sphinx chest is a good way to do break the bank this way.
Find Lots of Powerups:
Some stars require you to find lots of coins. The best way to accomplish this is either to memorize where they are, or use the Ibis to find out where they are. You can also get an extra by using the alley cat on a powerup you've already gotten once to get it again. Treed Slingo in Bazaar has one of the harder stars of this type. One level in the Sphinx's temple requires you to find more powerups than are actually in the game. The secret is that you can get powerup vision and slingo vision from the Ibis, which count for the star.
Block a Marble:
One of the levels with boulders in the cells has a special star that requires you to block a marble. This happens when you match all four cells (or three or two if the marble's on an edge or corner) before matching the marble cell. Avoid matching them for as long as possible to gain this star. Remember, you don't have to win a level to get the star for it.
Lots of Matches/Slingos in a Spin:
For levels of this type, there are often cell jokers. Each cell joker will give you another match without it technically being another spin. Wait until you get a pretty good spin, then use your cell jokers (being sure not to block any of your legitimate matches by accident!) You also get an additional match, again technically within the same spin, by using the alley cat.
Total Adder/Multiplier/Number of Powerups:
For these, try not to get adders or multipliers or powerups for as long as possible. Once you have a decent amount from the reels and cells, then go into full court press, trying to make matches that are the powerups and adders and multipliers. You can use alley cat to push you over the top, and also don't forget for total powerups that Ibis can give two if you don't have vision, and temple cat can give another one.
Lots of Slingos in a Match:
Most of these goals can be done by luck if necessary, but with skill they're easier. When four slingos are required, aim for the center cell of the board-- don't match it, but match anything on a line that goes through it, and match it last. This, obviously, can be easier said than done. In a level with instant slingos, find out where the instant slingos are, and avoid matching both the instant slingo and cells in that row or column. Because all cells turned up by the instant slingo count as one match, you can get more than the usual maximum that way.Also note that even if you use up the ones on the board, sometimes they'll come up in the reels. In this case, you can keep the board the opposite of balanced, keeping one column clear and matching as many as possible of the rest. Finally, you can get up to six slingos if you have bouncing slingos activated-- one horizontally, one vertically, and one in each of four diagonal directions (The cells that can do this in a normal sized board are located at (3,2), (4,3) (2,3) and (3,4). All other cells give less than six slingos). If you have a good match for bouncing slingos, but the powerup's already worn off, you can get it back with alley cat.Another way to get extra slingos is in multiboard, you can get a slingo that stretches from one board all the way to the other. This is called a super slingo, and it multiplies just by the other, and is also worth twice as many points as a normal slingo would be on top of that.
Crazy High Scores:
Some levels have score stars that look absolutely impossible. Don't despair-- these levels usually have a trick to them. If the level has bouncing slingos, the goal is to combine bouncing slingos with something that will make more than one match at once-- an instant slingo or a boulder-- so that instead of the standard maximum 6 slingos per match, bouncing slingos can give as many as 22 (and that's just with 1 instant slingo.You can get more than 22 with 2 instant slingos, or on a multiboard or 7x7 board). 22 slingos is pretty neat, but bear in mind that it also would score you 1,000 * 2^21, which is about 2 billion points, which is more than any star or award requires in the game. The power of slingos to double and redouble their score is the most powerful mechanic in the game. Take advantage of it when you can.
Unblock Cell:
This requires you to match a cell that the jackal has blocked. The jackal will block the first cell that gets between 4 other cells that are matched horizontally or vertically. Then you can use a joker to click the jackal, and he'll break off, giving you this star.
High Speed Bonus:
The best way to do this is to get slingovision so it's easier to see what cells to match.
Getting Awards
There are 12 awards. Most can be gotten by playing the game a lot, and will just gradually build up. The ones listed below have a specific strategy to obtain them:
Big Score: This award is best to obtain on either Bouncing Slingo Madness (the final secret level) or Devil's Slingo (the final non-secret level). In both cases, a combination of multipliers, instant slingos, and bouncing slingos will get you where you want to go. Be prepared to try a lot of times. Devil's Slingo is slightly easier to do this on because there's so many powerups in it, but that pesky devil can upset your plans. Don't be afraid to use the sphinx to get from 5 million up to ten million.
Super Match: To get this reward without cheating, you need to fire an instant slingo through another instant slingo when most cells are empty (which can be done on any level with horizontal and reel slingos, or on Bouncing Slingo Madness, which will place the board slingos randomly), or fire an instant slingo through a cell boulder. However, due to a bug, if you get a reel instant slingo in a column with no matches, you will be incorrectly awarded this award. The best level for doing this is Inundation.
I Stand Alone: To do this, win Devil's Slingo without using the Friend Power button. Mostly, it's just a question of luck, but remember that powerups don't change locations on adventure levels between plays, so memorization can help you do this more quickly.
Trilogy Score: You're intended to buy all three games to get this, but it's possible, if you do well enough on Devil's Slingo and Bouncing Slingo Madness, to get this award just with Egypt. However, given the cool powers that will be in Amazon and Atlantis, I'd recommend waiting until you get those games before trying it.
Trilogy Patterns: Unfortunately, it can be hard to tell which patterns you've gotten and which you haven't. However, on the bonus level "Triple Trouble" the game will only serve you patterns that you haven't beaten within each difficulty level. So if you can get every pattern in Triple Trouble, say, 80ish times, you'll get the 233 patterns that are in Slingo Quest Egypt with no problem. Note that there are a few 7x7 patterns that you can't get this way. For those, you'll have to find and beat them in the adventure. The other two games will introduce 30 more patterns each, approximately, but the vast majority of patterns are held in common among the 3 games.
Trilogy Powerups: You have to get each powerup into your powerup meter once. Most powerups you'll get over the course of the game, but note that you won't have access to the Cherub's Blessing powerup until you've beaten Egypt. You can turn on cherub's blessing with a check box in the map screen. Alternatively, one of the allies in Atlantis grants cherub's blessing. Most powerups are in common, so you should have more than half when you've beaten Egypt.
Unlocking Secret Levels
Each secret level requires you to find five gold scarabs, one in each level in that place. You can see how many scarabs you have by going to the place screen, accessible by clicking the map button, a place you want to check out, and then "Go". Levels with a gold scarab will show one next ot their names. Other places, you still have to find the gold scarab. Once you have all five, the lock next to the secret level will disappear and you can play it from the place screen. Secret levels don't have a goal, but they do have five stars each, which you'll need to get the Star Collector award. They're also a lot of fun.
Getting Full Cards
Full cards are hard to get in Slingo Quest Egypt. For this reason, many levels don't have a star that requires a full card. If you're looking for a level to max out your "Card Filler" award, check out Zip Slingo, a secret level, or Greater Pyramid, also a secret level, or if you're not at the secret levels yet, Pyramid Slingo is pretty fast too. In general, try to keep your columns balanced, so that the same number of unmatched squares exists in each.The lucky powerups and shuffle powerup are both helpful, and both can be reapplied via alley cat when they run out. For hidden slingo levels, try to expose cells as quickly as you can. The sooner you expose the whole board, the more matches you'll get. And on the levels that only have one joker per reel, it's probably best not to worry about full cards too much. Those levels aren't designed to get a full card, they're designed around other, smaller-scale goals.
Level High Scores
Every level in the game has a high score board that can be seen through the place screen. Some players will challenge themselves to be #1 on each of those boards. The boards' scores are based on the same formula as the daily challenge, so if you get top score on a level, you've basically beaten a daily challenge with the same powerups. There's no special reward for doing this, but it's a fun way to compete, especially because those scores are shared among all four player cards. It's a fun way to have a rivalry with family who share your computer.