Mixolumia is a falling block puzzle game on a diagonal grid with cool effects, pretty colors, and music that reacts and evolves as you play. Some people enjoy the process of figuring out strategies, and some people just enjoy the vibes, which I think are great ways to play.

But some folks have asked for extra tips on how to get those big big scores, so hopefully this will help. Here are the basics.




3-in-a-row is the smallest match you can make, and it's actually one you should avoid unless you're using it to set off a larger combo. Mixolumia is really about getting the most points per block possible, and since larger clears earn you significantly more points, small clears aren't delivering the value you need to get on the leaderboards.

On top of that, since the game gives you four blocks per drop, if you're only clearing three at a time, the board is going to fill up.




Diamonds of four are the second basic shape that will clear in Mixolumia. They're worth more than 3-in-a-row, but are still pretty low scoring, and won't help you catch up on extra blocks piling up on their own.




The trick to large clears comes in recognizing how to combine lines and diamonds into larger shapes. Above is a 5-clear, which gives you a significant bump in points per block.




After a while, you need to learn to create opportunities for big clears by making groups of colors that are stable, and won't clear until you want them to. Above is a stable zig-zag pattern, which is easy to turn into a 6-clear, or in this case a 7-clear. Huge!

Practice setting up and recognizing large clears, and in the next section I will dig into how to set up combos. Have fun!

Now that you've got a solid handle on how to make clears, and spot the potential for clears, the next step is to delay that clear by putting something in the way. I heard someone call this a "key" and I think it's a cute term so let's go with that.



You can see there's a 4-clear about to happen here, but I've delayed it with a line I can easily complete. Now my measly 3-clear combos into a 4-clear that gets boosted by a combo multiplier!



As long as you're delaying a clear, you might as well stack more stuff up there and make it even bigger. Above is a 4-clear line that combos into a 6-clear.



Eventually, you start to see that a key doesn't have to be a simple line. Above is a 6-clear that combos into a 7-clear.



Keys also don't have to be adjacent to or interrupting a potential combo. Above is a stable vertical zig-zag, but if I pull the rug out from under it on the slope below, it falls into that familiar 5-clear shape.


Now you can start to imagine, what if I set up a key, and then interrupt that key? Now by the time that big clear hits, the combo multiplier is really getting up there! And that's where things get tricky, because it's easy to disrupt that setup, or bury it! But the fun is in the risk, isn't it? >:)

And if you accidentally bury a big chain, it might be a blessing in disguise. Mixolumia has a roomy playing field, so you could just build on top of it, and with a little luck, unearth all that potential energy later as part of a bigger combo than you ever anticipated.

The diagonal grid of the board is weird, and it can definitely be chaotic, but it is never random. You control the initial direction blocks will slide, it's the last direction you pushed the blocks before dropping them. Check out how I can control which way these blocks fall when they hit a corner.



The way things work is that blocks will slide one direction until none of them can slide anymore, then they will slide the other direction until they can't anymore, and then back and forth, until everything is at rest, and then clears happen, or you get new blocks to drop.



That's why the group of blocks you drop won't break apart until they absolutely have to. And understanding it allows you to control how they break and slide by influencing the initial direction.

It's tricky stuff, but understanding the subtleties of how to use it can give you great control over your block placement!