LEVEL 33: ON THE ROCKS
PASSWORD: BQSN
TIME LIMIT: NONE
CHIPS REQUIRED: 9

Adventure Index

SUMMARY: A titanic expanse of ocean with a spattering of islands. Nine chips are hidden among the reefs, but you'll have to work to get them---you start out with nothing more than three squares of floor and a block-producing Clone Machine.

EXPERIENCE: Make sure you've got a snack handy---this will take a while.

There is no time limit for this level, but that's not much comfort. You need to find nine chips hidden in this huge watery level, but there's no Flippers to help you out. You have to use the block-producing Clone Machines to essentially build the level yourself.

I advise patience and caution---one mistake, no matter how small, can send you into the water, and nothing is worse than dying after spending half an hour making land. Use the limitless time to build enough floor to give you a margin of error if, say, you slip on some ice---surround ice with floor whenever possible, and be extremely careful crossing it if you can't.

Some of the Clone Machines are damn near useless (or completely so). Ignore the ones that are in lower corners. Be extremely careful when moving blocks near Red Buttons---it's easy to make a mistake and push a block ahead of you, activating the button while you're standing where the new block will come out---you don't want to know what happens to poor Chip if that happens.

Once you've got all the chips, head toward the exit---it's in the upper right corner of the level.

Be careful and you'll be fine. I beat this level in one try because I took my time and expanded islands and paths to safe margins.

SCORE: 0 seconds remaining, 16500 points.

TOTAL SCORE: 338560 points.

After several long, tedious levels, the next challenge, Cypher, will be a welcome change.

That doesn't mean that it will be easy, though...