Play Book

 Game: Farmville

Game: Treasure Isle
Platform: Facebook


I love Zynga's newest game Treasure Isle.  In this game you dig for buried treasure... until you run out of energy. Let me share a few tips I have learned about making the most out of your energy.

• You get a full energy refill every time you level up.  To see when you will level up scroll over your XP meter.  It will tell you the score you need to reach the newest level.  Keep an eye on your energy meter and your XP meter.  If you are close to leveling up, don't eat too much fruit.  It will all be wasted.  For example, if you eat 100 energy points, dig one square worth 5 energy points, and then level up, the other 95 energy points were wasted.  If you are close to a new level eat a little bit of fruit at a time.
• Do not eat more fruit than your energy bar can hold.  Basically if you can handle 150 energy points and you are eating all of your fruit watch the meter as you eat.  When you get to 148 and you eat a fruit worth 20 points 2 will fill up your meter and the other 18 are wasted.  Dig until your energy meter can hold the full value of the fruit.  
• If you are close to leveling up, don't open treasure chests or complete maps until you are out of energy.  For example, today I had about 50 energy points, was close to leveling up, and was finishing a map.  So, I did all but one square of my map.  Then, I went to the next map to work. When I had only a couple points left (just enough to finish the previous map) I went back and did that last square.  That gave me the XP for finishing a map, I leveled up, and my energy refilled without wasting any.  If I had just finished the map like normal, I would have wasted about 45 energy points.  The same thing is true with treasures.  If I think that I am going to complete a set (which gives you a lot of XP) I don't open the treasures until I am out of energy.  That way I can level up and get my refill when I am low on energy (provided the it actually does complete a set.)  If you ever forget to go back for the treasure, don't worry.  It shows up on the right side as an icon of forgotten treasure.  You can collect everything you have left behind there.
• Ask for energy packs every chance you get!  You are only aloud to get one a day, but they are a full energy refill so get them whenever you can, and wait to use them until your energy is empty.  If you don't like posting things from games see my post on annoying your facebook friends.  It will teach you how to make these posts only appear to other Treasure Isle lovers.
• Use every last bit of energy.  If you have 4 energy wait the couple seconds that you need to get your fifth energy point so you can use it all (especially if you are close to leveling up.)  Also, look around.  If you have 7 or 8 energy points use them on one of the plants that requires 7 energy to search.  That way you aren't using only 5 and leaving 2 behind.  
• When you want to keep playing but have no more energy, energy packs, or fruit to eat, you can gain XP in other ways.  Sometimes this is enough to help you level up so that you can get an energy refill.  Some ways to do this are: travel to new islands and kill bugs, blow up big rocks (the dynamite ones), unlock gem statutes, etc.  This is great because it gives you XP without requiring energy.  Then, when you go to those islands you don't have to wait because you are low on gems or funds.  It also keeps your backpack from being too full because you are hauling around a ton of gems.  Another way to get some more XP is to go to friends' islands.  You can collect gems and treasure from them as well as helping their island which gives you XP and coins.  

I have a lot of friends who don't care one bit about my farm, fish, city, etc. on facebook.  As a courtesy to my friends I try to only publish my application "spam" to people who play the game.  If you are interested in doing this as well, here's how you can:

Most games give you certain perks and gifts that you cannot keep, but you can share with them with others.  How would it work if you want to give that perk or item to a certain person?  Well, it is possible.  So, for example, say you buy an item with your Easter Eggs (Gold from St. Patrick's day, Valentines, etc. whatever the seasonal item is.)  you are given the opportunity to share one of those same items.  What if you want to send that item to a specific person?  Here's how you do it.  (This works for any kind of post.)

Game: Cafe World
Platform: Facebook




One big help to consider in Cafe World is teleporting.  If you have been in the forums at all, you have probably heard of this.  Teleporting, in the context of Cafe World, means that your people do not walk over to the customers to serve them.  Instead they stay by the counters and the food magically teleports to the tables.  The way you do this, is to make your staff blocked in by stoves and counters.  Rotate your stoves and counters so that the working side is in a place where they are blocked from leaving.  The picture shows my cafe which is a simple example.  It can be done many ways, but this one works for me.  I have all of my counters and stoves in two long lines with a one tile wide aisle between.  Both ends are blocked off (by a wall and a stove.) This way, my workers must stay in that small area.  (If your workers will not stay, check to make sure that you have the items rotated the correct way.  If the side they work from is facing the wrong way then they will not appear in the area you want them to be in.  Once you have this set up, they will walk to the food and then the food will just automatically appear on the tables.  If for some reason, people sit down, but never receive food, or if people run out of your restaurant, then you have layout problems.  Even though your staff does not actually go to the tables there must be a way that they could if they had to.  If there is not a proper path then the teleporting will not work.  Try changing your layout around. Once again, it may look simple for the staff to get to tables, but the game is very picky.  If your layout is not correct, you will continue to make money like normal when you are not playing the game, but you will lose your customers, and therefore your buzz rating, whenever you are playing.  If you are using this method you can get by with a small staff.  I usually keep 2 waiters and then obviously my avatar is the chef.  If you do not want to use this method, it is still possible to be just as successful at this game.  You will just have to be even more careful that you have a flawless layout in your cafe,and I would suggest keeping as many people on staff as you are able to have.

Game: Cafe World

Game: We Rule
Platform: iPhone








Mojo is the coveted currency in We Rule, so let's make the most of what we have.  This chart shows you the best uses for your mojo both in coins and in XP. 

 Keep in mind that another use of mojo is to buy the griffin's nest or the dragon's lair. The griffin’s nest is 36,000 or 20 mojo that’s 1,800 coins per mojo. The dragon’s lair is 48,000 or 50 mojo that’s 960 coins per mojo.  So those are the very best uses of mojo in terms of getting the most coin value out of your mojo.  So, I suggest using your mojo to buy those two businesses.  After you have all that you want of those, then I would say that the tailor's shop is your best use of mojo because it gives you the most coins (225) and XP (85) per mojo.  


Note: Any crop that has a shorter growing time than pumpkins will take one mojo, but get you less coins and XP. 

If you are seeking friends for this game please post those comments on the Plus+ Friends post instead of here. Thanks.  For more We Rule articles, scroll to where it says "topics" on the right hand side and click We Rule. 

Game: We Rule
Platform: iPhone








Yesterday, I wrote about which buildings are the smartest to build in your kingdom.  Today, I want to talk about going to your friends' kingdoms to place orders at their businesses.  In general, you have no control over how long the job will take.  This is because you cannot decide when they will accept your order, if they will deliver it to you quickly, or if they will use mojo on your order.  Therefore, as a general rule of thumb, you want to place your orders at the highest leveled businesses.  In other words, as you level up you unlock new businesses and the higher the level required the better a business is for you to place your order.  Here's a simple chart to show what you can expect to earn from each business.

(Note that for some unknown reason, the values for the top 2 - the griffin's nest and the dragon's lair get switched up.  Sometimes I have been offered 600/200 for the dragon's lair and sometimes for the griffin's nest.  Sometimes I have been offered 550/185 for the dragon's lair and sometimes for the griffin's nest.  I'm not sure what causes that glitch.)































If you are seeking friends for this game please post those comments on the Plus+ Friends post instead of here. Thanks.  For more We Rule articles, scroll to where it says "topics" on the right hand side and click We Rule. 

Game: We Rule
Platform: iPhone








Here is a chart of all of the businesses that you can currently buy for your We Rule kingdom.  The chart breaks down exactly what you will get from each job (coins and XP,) how long a job will take without using mojo, how many jobs you will have to do before the building will pay for itself and start earning a profit, and how much profit and XP you will earn per hour.




















(Click on the chart to see a version that is a little bit larger.)  So, as you can see, the tailor shop makes the most XP per hour, and the bakery makes the most coins per hour.  Overall, the tailor is the most well rounded choice because it gives you the most XP and makes only one coin under the highest coin per hour ratio.  These figures, of course, don't really help you if you are not quick about getting your products sent out and accepting new jobs.  For example, the tailor may make you the most XP and pretty good coins per hour, but if you only check it one time a day, then it is not your best choice.  You would be better off having the tavern or tower because they will be working for 24 hours instead of working only eight hours and then sitting idle.  In that scenario, the tavern would make you 675 coins and 170 XP in 24 hours while the tailor would have only made you 225 coins and 85 XP.  So the figures are really the most accurate when you are able to constantly accept new jobs as soon as the other jobs are finished.  So, first consider the availability that you will have and the time that you want to invest.  Then, build businesses that will make you the most within your gaming style.

* Note: these figures are only for jobs that you accept at your kingdom.  They do not reflect which decisions are wisest when you are placing orders from your friends' kingdoms.  I will be posting on that soon. For more We Rule articles, scroll to where it says "topics" on the right hand side and click We Rule.

If you are seeking friends for this game please post those comments on the Plus+ Friends post instead of here. Thanks.

Facebook games rely heavily on having friends that also play.  Most games add a lot of benefits if you have quite a few friends that play regularly.  You can get coins and gifts for having friends that play in many games.  Other games block parts of the game unless you have a certain number of neighbors (like buying certain items or expanding your land area, etc.)  Still other games require interactions from friends like working together on projects.  So, what do you do if you don't have friends that play?  You can always go to the official fan page for the game and see tons of people who want to be your friend in the forum section.  Is it a good idea to add these people as friends for the sake of your game(s)?

What I have decided to do is go ahead and add friends, but I keep it organized.  I put everyone that I add only for games into a list that I created called Application Friends.  Then, I can easily block things from everyone in that category at one time (if I want.)  To do this go to your facebook home page then in your top right corner click to drop down the menu under "account."  Then click "edit friends."  Now click "create new list" which will appear right above the first friend listed's picture.  Enter a name for your list.  I like application friends because it's easy to identify and comes first alphabetically in my lists.  That can be really helpful later on (because you click on this list a lot if you follow my instructions, so having it come first or close to that alphabetically makes things go quicker.)  After you have named your list, add all of your friends that you don't know and are just for playing games.  You have to keep up with this for it to be effective.  Whenever you add an application friend you need to make sure that you add them to the list.  Once your list is set up, got to the account drop down menu again.  This time select privacy settings.










You are going to want to go under profile information and contact information and make changes accordingly.  For example, under contact information, I may want to keep my phone number or address private.  To change this, click the grey privacy lock on the right side.  When the drop down menu shows up click custom. Then where it says hide from, start typing the name of your list.  Keep doing this for all of the settings under profile information and contact information that you want to keep private.













Once you have your settings updated, click on preview my profile (top right of the profile information or contact information pages.)  Then you can see what your profile looks like to certain people by typing their name at the top in the box.  (You will see different parts of your page from the different pages.  The Profile information page will preview one part of your profile and the contact information page will preview another part.)

Game: Farmville

Game: Farmville

If you are looking for Friends on the Plus+ network of iPhone games, please post your Plus+ ID in the comments section as well as which games you play.