Rumble

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Rumble is a multiplayer puzzle. It is available from the tournament board and as a parlor game. Players may challenge NPPs or other players and use bludgeons to attack their opponents. The final phase of a sea battle against Barbarians is also a rumble.

Rumble is free to play three days each week. Rumbling at sea or through a direct player challenge is always free.

The gameplay is similar to games such as Snood, Bust-A-Move, Puzzle Bobble, and PopCap's Dynomite. Players fire colored balls into connected clusters of three or more. Clearing groups sends attacks to opponents, while charged groups may be linked together into larger combos.

Basics

Standard rumble uses five ball colors: red, orange, yellow, aqua, and blue. Bruising is a condition applied to a ball rather than a sixth ordinary color. In werewolf rumble, furballs replace orange balls and use special charging and combo rules.

Launchers

Two launchers, one for each fist, are located at the bottom of the field. By default, moving the mouse pointer aims both launchers. Z or the left mouse button fires the left launcher; X or the right mouse button fires the right launcher.

A fired ball travels in a straight line and may rebound from the sides of the board. It stops when it reaches the existing mass of balls. If the placed ball forms a connected group of at least three balls of the same color, the entire group is cleared. Any balls that are no longer connected to the top of the board are also removed as unsupported balls.

Shot timer and board drops

A player has approximately five seconds to fire after receiving a ball. If no shot is made, the game fires automatically. A warning is given shortly before this happens.

After every eight completed shots, a new row enters from the top of the board and the shot counter resets. Players should therefore consider the incoming row when deciding whether to build, clear, or launch a combo.

Charging

A ball charging

A ball may be charged by holding its fire button for approximately one second before firing.

If a charged ball fails to form a matching group of at least three, it loses its charge and remains on the board as a normal ball. If it forms a qualifying group, the group remains on the board instead of clearing. The charged placement is recorded for use in a later combo.

A charged group is triggered by clearing the connected group containing its recorded charged ball. The shot used to trigger it is normally uncharged.

Combos

Combo List

Pow!
Pop!
Bim!
Bam!
Boom!
Bop!
Wham!
Thud!
Crunch!
Oof!
Slam!
Sock!
Smack!
Splat!
Clonk!
Thwapp!
Snkt!
Thunk!
Kapow!
Crack!
Crunk!
Socko!
Whack!
Slap!
Tweak!
Pinch!
Poke!
Prod!
Nurple!
Gonzo!
Yeowch!
Unpleasant!
Baddabing!
Baddaboom!
Krakkathoom!

Building a combo

Qualifying charged groups are recorded in the order in which they are created. When one recorded group is triggered, that group and every subsequently recorded group are included in the combo. Charged groups created before the triggered group remain on the board.

For example, if five charged groups have been recorded and the second is triggered, groups two through five are consumed while the first remains charged. Triggering the oldest accessible group therefore produces the largest available combo, but triggering a later group may be useful if the oldest is blocked or unsafe to reach.

Each ordinary colored group included in the resolution contributes one combo counter. The total mass of the triggering group and the later groups also contributes to the size of the resulting attack.

A combo breaking

A charged group that becomes unsupported while its combo is resolving is temporarily retained so that it may still participate when its turn in the combo is reached. Unsupported ordinary balls do not add combo counters, although they contribute additional material to the outgoing attack.

Furballs

Furballs appear in werewolf rumble and replace orange balls. They may be cleared directly like ordinary balls: an uncharged furball that completes a connected group of three or more will pop that group, regardless of whether the group has been prepared as part of a combo.

Furballs have a special restriction when charging:

One charged furball is not sufficient to register a fur cluster as a charged combo group.
The cluster must contain at least two charged furballs before it is recorded for a later combo.
A charged furball placed into an otherwise qualifying cluster remains charged even when the cluster does not yet meet this two-charge requirement.
Adding a second charged furball makes the cluster eligible and records its position in the combo order at that time.

Consequently, a fur cluster may be popped directly with fewer than two charges, but it cannot participate as a stored group later in a combo until it contains at least two charged furballs.

Fur groups also contribute differently to combo length. An ordinary group contributes one combo counter, while a fur group contributes one counter for each charged furball it contains, with a minimum of one and a maximum of five. Additional charged furballs beyond five do not further increase the combo count.

For example, a combo containing an ordinary red group, a fur group with three charged furballs, and an ordinary blue group has an effective combo length of five: one for red, three for fur, and one for blue. It therefore produces the fifth combo notification, “Boom!”, rather than the third notification.

Because the first charged furball does not register the cluster, the second charged furball determines the fur group's position in the stored combo order. A build that charges fur once, then red, then fur again, then yellow is ordered as red, fur, yellow.

A qualifying fur group containing at least two charged furballs can therefore produce a strike even when it is the only stored group cleared, since it contributes two or more combo counters by itself.

Attacks

Strikes and sprinkles

Strike warning

The type and size of an outgoing attack depend on the combo count, the number of balls in the resolved groups, and the number of unsupported balls removed with them.

A resolution worth one combo counter produces a sprinkle. A resolution worth two or more combo counters produces a strike. Consequently, clearing a single ordinary charged group still produces a sprinkle; merely having charged balls does not by itself make an attack a strike.

A fur group with two or more charged furballs is an exception in effect, because the fur group contributes multiple combo counters and may therefore produce a strike by itself.

Strikes use the upper portion of the attacker's bludgeon pattern and enter from an upper side of the opponent's board.

Sprinkle warning

Sprinkles use the lower portion of the bludgeon pattern and enter from the bottom of the opponent's board. Larger ordinary groups and unsupported balls increase the amount of material sent, even when the clear does not qualify as a strike.

Attack size

Combo count and cleared mass are separate parts of the attack calculation.

Every ordinary resolved group contributes one combo counter.
A fur group contributes between one and five counters according to its number of charged furballs.
Balls belonging to the triggering group and qualifying later groups contribute to the main attack mass.
Unsupported balls contribute additional attack mass but do not create additional combo counters.
The attacker's bludgeon determines how the resulting strike or sprinkle is arranged on the opponent's board.

This distinction means that adding more groups generally increases both combo length and attack mass, while hanging ordinary balls from a combo increases its mass without increasing its combo notification.

Bruising

Bruise stages

Bruising is a state applied to a ball while preserving its underlying color. Bruised balls do not initially join ordinary matching groups.

There are two obstructed stages. When a group is cleared adjacent to a dark or bruised ball, that ball advances one stage:

A dark ball becomes bruised.
A bruised ball becomes a normal usable ball of its underlying color.

A bruised or dark ball that becomes unsupported is removed with the other unsupported balls instead of needing to be lightened first.

Strikes may introduce bruised balls according to their bludgeon patterns and the attack state. Incoming strikes may also displace existing charged pieces. If a charged piece can no longer be retained as part of a valid charged group, it may be darkened or bruised.

The game maintains a hidden value that affects bruises in newly generated rows. Removing balls increases this value, while the balls actually sent to opponents as strikes or sprinkles reduce it. If the value is positive when the eighth-shot row appears, each new ball has a chance to enter in its darkest bruised state. Therefore, sending sufficiently large attacks lowers this chance.

Defense

Defended teammate

During a group rumble, a player may defend a teammate by clicking the teammate's portrait. A blue bar appears above the teammate's miniature board to indicate the amount of defense being supplied. Stronger strikes increase the defender's available protection.

While defending, the defender stops attacking opponents directly and receives some of the strikes and sprinkles that would otherwise be sent to the defended teammate. The defended pirate is removed from the opposing team's available targets while the defense remains active.

Basic combo-building strategy

	Not everyone puzzles the same way.
	Developing a unique approach to a puzzle or challenge that works for the individual is the most important aspect of mastering the craft. These pictures and/or suggestions derive from personal opinions and are meant as guidelines only. They are in no way hard and fast rules as to the "correct" way to do this puzzle or game action.

A common two-fisted strategy is to create an accessible charged group and reserve a matching trigger ball in one fist while continuing to build with the other. This allows the stored combo to be launched when the board becomes unsafe or an incoming attack threatens to block the trigger.

Charged groups are ordered. Triggering the oldest group consumes it and all later groups, while triggering a newer group leaves older groups behind. The oldest group should therefore remain reachable when building for the largest possible attack.

It is often useful for the first charged group to span much of the board. Later groups and ordinary balls may then hang beneath it. Triggering that group removes the structural support, causing the later charged groups and other material to participate in the resolution.

Unsupported ordinary balls add attack mass without adding combo counters. They can therefore strengthen an established combo, but excessive unsupported material also occupies space and may make the trigger difficult to reach.

Incoming strikes can displace, darken, or block charged groups. A smaller safe combo is generally preferable to losing a larger inaccessible one. The approaching eighth-shot board drop should also be considered before committing to additional setup.

In werewolf rumble, a fur group intended for the middle of a combo must receive its second charged furball at the correct time, since that second charge establishes its place in the combo order. Adding as many as five charged furballs can greatly increase the combo count without requiring five separate groups.

In a one-on-one match, the opponent's sprinkle pattern may be anticipated from their bludgeon. In a group rumble, attacks may come from several opponents with different patterns, making narrow or obstructed trigger paths less reliable.

Boxing

The update of February 5, 2008 introduced boxing, a one-fisted version of rumble available when challenging another player or an NPP. Boxing uses the same board, charging, clearing, attack, and bludgeon mechanics, but the player has only one launcher and cannot reserve a trigger ball in one fist while building with the other.