Bounce N Burst is one of my favorite games if I want to earn some cash and trophies. In around 15 minutes, I can typically win around 150 kinzcash and win a trophy which I could sell for 100 kinzcash (or trade to other users). 250 kinzcash in 15 minutes is 1000 in an hour and around 16 per minute (the average game in Webkinz World yields between 8 and 10 kc per minute - stay tuned for a post about the economy of game playing).

One thing that confounded me about Bounce N Burst is the high scores list. I felt I was playing the game as well as could be played (bursting the bubbles quickly and making it through the game without dying), and I couldn't figure out why my score was so far off of the high score.

I have since found the reason. First, there are some people who are cheating, getting scores that are outside the maximum possible. They are somehow exploiting a flaw in webkinz world, and getting themselves to the high score list (and I have vented my frustrations in other places in this forum on this matter). Later in this post, you can see what the absolute maximum theoretical score that can be achieved in this game - as well as likely maximum score (more later).

Before I get into the commentary on Bounce N Burst, there are also two other things to note. First, the tips to getting a trophy differ from the tips to getting a high score. This is the same in a number of the games, where you have to take more risks to get a high score (Zacky's Quest and Zingoz Pop are examples of games that require advanced strategy and risk to get a high score).

Ok. Here is the info on Bounce N Burst.

First off, there are 20 different levels. If you complete the 20 levels, you win a trophy. The rules are pretty simple. Livingston the Lion flings feathers at the bubbles, tickling them (hence the laughter), and they burst from laughter. Big bubbles burst into two medium sized bubbles, The medium sized bubbles burst into 2 small bubbles. So, when you have a large bubble, it translates to 7 different bubbles (1 large, 2 medium, 4 small).

In the first level, you get one large bubble. Level 2, you get 1 large and 1 medium (so 7 + 3 = 10 bubbles to pop). Level 3 is 2 large (7 + 7 = 14). Level 4 is 2 Large, 1 medium (14 + 3 = 17). Level 5 is 3 Large (21 bubbles). Level 6 is 3 Large and 1 Medium (24 bubbles). Level 7 - 20 have 4 Large bubbles (28 total bubbles to burst).

When I first started looking at the scores, I thought that getting points for bursting the bubbles was pretty straight forward. I imagined that you get x number of points for the large bubbles, y for the medium bubbles and z for the small bubbles. Since everyone gets the same number of bubbles to burst, I figured that the score that you would get for bursting all of the bubbles and making it through the 20 levels was a constant (meaning that everyone who made it through would get the exact same number of points for their bubbles). But, this is not the case. There is more details on the points below.

Before I get to how the points are made, let me discuss the different screens. Within the 20 levels, you are presented with 6 different venues to play on. The variables in these venues include stairs and a platform, shelves that you can pop with your feather and shelves that you cannot burst. The 6 venues are randomly presented, one at a time, and then return in the same order. What this means is that the screen that you play on in level 1 is the same that you will play on level 7, level 13 and level 19. The screen on level 2 returns on levels 8, 14 and 20. Level 3 - 9 - 15. Level 4 - 10 - 16. Level 5 - 11 - 17. Level 6 - 12 - 18. From a practical point, it does not matter what order you get the screens in, nor does it matter which ones you get 4 times instead of 3 (unless you are really shooting to maximize your points.

Getting to points, I will first start with the shelves that you can break. You get 10 points per shelf that you can break.

Although the levels are not in order, I am going to label them 1 through 6 to make reference to them more clear. The tips that I have for each screen are typically for when I am just trying to get a trophy (getting a high score takes different steps, which should be illuminated later in this post).

On the first level, you can see there are 6 shelves / blocks you can break. Each one will yield 10 points, for a maximum of 60 points. Typically, I break the two shelves on the left first, and then try to isolate the bubbles in the left half of the screen. Keeping the bottom shelves can cause small, medium and large bubbles to get trapped (which can lead to difficulties in bursting them because of their unpredictable turns).

Level 2 has three horizontal shelves that can be burst (note the darker zig zags on the shelves in the center) and 2 that cannot be broken. This will yield 30 points if you burst all 3. The unbreakable shelves are above the center horizontal point of the screen. This means that the large bubbles can easily bounce below the shelves and the medium bubbles also bounce below the shelves (once they have hit the ground once). On this one, I normally stand just to the left of the small left shelf and burst from there (that seems to be the best vantage to be safest the longest. I have found that bursting one of the small shelves sometimes will protect one side of the screen from large bubbles coming into it from the bottom. Essentially, if you break the bottom left shelf, you can more safely stand on the right hand side of the screen and try to take care of the bubbles that are bouncing above the right unbreakable shelf.

Level 3 has 2 horizontal shelves that can be burst (in the center) and 2 that are unbreakable (on the edges). You can get 20 points from bursting shelves in this level. The unbreakable shelves are below the horizontal center, which means that large bubbles will typically bounce over them. Medium bubbles can go under the shelves, but are more likely to go over them. I typically stand on the right hand side of the screen (in about the same position the lion is in the picture above - but on the right), and burst the bubbles there.

Level 4 is nearly identical to level 3. There are 2 vertical shelves that can be burst, and 4 horizontal shelves (2 stacked on top of each other). Again, the large bubbles will usually bounce over the fixed shelves and the medium can go above or below. One risk is shown in the picture. The large bubbles will sometimes go under the vertical breakable shelves, which can cause a lot of problems. So, normally, I break the shelves as soon as I can, just to keep them from being a problem. Or, I break one of them, using the other to help isolate the large bubbles on one side or another.

Levels 5 and 6 are nearly identical The difference is that level 5 has higher steps than level 6, and level 6 also adds a horizontal shelf. With the lower steps in level 6, the small bubbles can jump from one half of the screen to the other. This can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. If you have too many small bubbles bouncing around on one side, it might be difficult to go to the other side. With the lower stairs, you might be able to stand on one side and let the smaller bubbles bounce to you.

One thing to note about the stairs is that when you start to climb up or down the stairs, your feather shooting ability might be decreased (where you need to shoot a feather up and you cannot do it). I recommend never trying to burst a bubble while ascending or descending the stairs. Also, you do not need to climb down the stairs - you can jump across and fall into the other portion. This can save you a little bit of time. Finally, in some cases, with the larger stairs, you might be able to jump over a bubble (I only use this if I am in jeopardy on top of the stairs and have to get down - it works sometimes, but not something to count on).

The best tip I have given people who are just trying to get a trophy is to just work on one large bubble at a time. Burst the large one, then burst one of the medium ones, then burst the two small ones, then burst the second medium one, then burst the final two small ones. So, burst all 7 bubbles from one large one before moving to another one. This is best because the large ones bounce the highest and are easiest to avoid.

You can speed up the process when bursting the medium and small ones. When attacking a medium one, shoot a feather up in the air and follow it immediately with a second feature. The second feather will usually burst the left small one. Then, you can sidestep to the right and shoot another feather up to get the right one.

When trying to burst the small ones, you have to time the bubbles bounce, get underneath it, shoot up a feather, then get out of the way (I normally sidestep from the same direction I came). If two small bubbles are bouncing together, you can quickly burst them both with two quick taps of the spacebar when you get underneath the bubbles ascent). It is best to pop them when they are at the top of their ascent (so that they don't bounce into you).

Another tip is to not shoot up any feathers unless you are sure you will pop something. This is where you will get into trouble if you have a bunch of bubbles around you and you are just frantically shooting feathers. Since you cannot shoot a feather until the feather either bursts a bubble or hits the top of the screen, a lot of deaths occur when you are trying to send a feather up, but the one that is in flight has not terminated yet.

One other tip is that if you are at the far left or right of the screen and a small bubble is coming at you, you can sometimes avoid that bubble by running against the wall (which essentially is like a ducking action).

Also, and this goes hand in hand with the ducking, sometimes, a bubble is still lethal. So, just be careful about bursting the bubbles.

Level Completion Points

Each level gives points for four things: bubbles burst, shelves burst, time remaining and a level completion bonus. The level completion bonus is the same every game. The level bonus for passing level 1 is 90 points (no matter how much time it takes to get through). For each additional level, the bonus is increased 40 points:

So, if you complete the game, 9400 of your points are accounted for in the level bonus.

Time Bonus Points

The first level starts off with 60 seconds. Each subsequent level adds 2 seconds to the time allotment. You get 2 points for each second remaining.

Shelf Burst Points

Bubble Burst Points

Ok. The last place to get points is the bubbles. As I mentioned before, I thought this was straightforward (until I reviewed a video of the point scoring, accounting for how the points are assigned).

The points for the bubbles are assigned on a progressive series, with a limitation. Essentially, you get more points for bursting a series of the same bubble size.

Here are some examples (Note - going for points means that you abandon the strategy of bursting one bubble at a time from the top down, so don't get confused).

If you follow my strategy of popping one bubble from the top down, you will burst them like this.

L M SS M SS (Large, Medium, Small, Small, Medium, Small, Small). That is the 7 bubbles in a single large.

You will get the following point totals for that:

4 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 6 + 8 + 12 = 56 points.

If you want to earn more points, you need to pop like bubbles in sequence:

L MM SSSS

That will give you

4 + 6 + 9 + 8 + 12 + 16 + 20 = 75 points.

When you get to level 3, you have 2 large bubbles to start. If you pop in the safe way (to get a trophy), you will pop like this:

L M SS M SS L M SS M SS

That will give you the following points:

4 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 6 + 8 + 12 = 112 points.

If you want to get the maximum points, you will pop like this:

LL MMMM SSSSSSSS

Hopefully you can see the series. Large starts at 4 points, and adds 2 for each large popped in a row. Medium starts at 6 points, and adds 3 for each subsequent medium popped in a row (capping at 15), and small starts at 8, adding 4 per subsequent pop (capping at 20). If you pop a large, then a medium, then another large, then another medium, you will restart the sequence (4 + 6 + 4 + 6).

For levels 7 - 20, you have 4 large bubbles. Again, using my safe technique, you will burst in the following order, getting the score listed:

L M SS M SS - L M SS M SS - L M SS M SS - L M SS M SS

4 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 6 + 8 + 12 = 224 points.

The most points you can get is also the riskiest (and very difficult to do - but easiest on level 1 shown above).

LLLL MM MM MM MM SSSS SSSS SSSS SSSS

4+6+8+10 + 6+9+12+15+15+15+15+0+ 8+12+16+20+0+20+20+20+20+20+20+20+20+20+20+20 = 406 points.

Lives Left Bonus Points

Maximum Scores

If you use the time estimates that I provided earlier (around 20 seconds per level), the maximum soccer is only 21529 points. Finally, if you assume that the best players can get around 80% of the available points in the bubbles (which is probably a generous estimate), and the highest reasonable time bonus comes from finishing the levels around 24 seconds, the highest reasonable score is 19483. So, when you look at the leader board, I would bet that any score above that was attained unfairly (either through cheating or a computer glitch).

Other nuances:

I really haven't mentioned any of the powerups that drop (the double feathers, plunger shot, the burst powerup, the timer or protective bubble). The protective bubble is probably the best of these, because it essentially gives you an extra life The timer is also good - but it can cause problems if you don't use it right. If I am trying to get the trophy, I use the timer to burst one bubble all the way down from large to small to nothing. I also pick out a bubble that I want to burst, and wait for it to get near the ground before getting the timer (it allows me to burst the bubble all the way down quicker). If I am trying for the points, I use the timer to try to expose the maximum number of small bubbles, so I can rack up the 20 point smaller bubbles (although this is very dangerous). The burst powerup (the one that will pop every bubble on the screen, reducing it to its next smaller level) is good when you get all small ones on the screen, but can cause difficulties because it could double the number of bubbles on the screen before you are in position. With the plunger powerup, you can have the most problems. First, if you put the plunger up and it doesn't catch a bubble, to send up another plunger, you have to press the spacebar twice (once to release the plunger) and once to send up another one. Also, if you use the plunger on a lower horizontal shelf, you might find that the game locks up on you (this has happened to me a number of times - so much so that I might forgo the plunger powerup so that I don't lose my game.

One other thing about the powerups. If you are about to catch a powerup at the same time that you are shooting a feather up, your feather will be stopped. This could mean that you have to quickly fire up another feather.

One final tip - I try to not burst any bubbles underneath the low horizontal steps. That is an easy way to die, because you have to time it just right.

I know this is a long post, but I like to be thorough.

If anyone is interested, I can add a video on YouTube and link it here. Just let me know.

Video Added

My Highest Score

Below is a picture of where I won the game of the day with the high score for my alternate account (playing with my tree frog, Iago).