Game Play
The rules for Jewelbox are very simple.  Within a rectangular area a short column of colored jewels appears at the top and falls toward the bottom.  The object of the game is to get three or more jewels of the same color in a row, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.  When you do, you get points and the matching jewels will disappear from the screen.  Any jewels above those involved in the match fall to make new arrangements.  If the new arrangement creates additional matches, they also disappear and the cycle continues until there are no more matches.

While the short column of jewels (called a triplet) is falling, you can move it left or right, change the arrangement of the jewels,  or drop the jewels by pressing the following keys:

 






If you have an extended keyboard, you can also use the 4,5,6 and 0 keys on the numerics pad as well.

When you rotate the triplet, each jewel will move to the position below itself in the triplet.  The bottom-most jewel will wrap around to the top.  Here is an example of how this works:

 






Wildcards
Randomly during game play, a wildcard triplet (3 gray  
pieces) will appear in place of the regular falling triplet.  
When it appears, it will match any jewel.  When it comes 
to rest on a jewel, every instance of that color jewel will
disappear from the screen, regardless of their position.


Advanced Game Levels
There are many levels of play in Jewelbox.  You progress to a new level when you have cleared 50 jewels from the screen.  The Rest value indicates the number of jewels remaining for a given level.  At each higher level the jewels fall a little bit faster.  In addition, another colored jewel is added to the game when you reach 25,000 points.  This is followed by another jewel when you reach 50,000 points.  The added colors make the game more difficult without working you into a frenzy.

During the game, if the jewels reach the top of the screen you'll lose 1 life.  You get 3 lives for the entire game.  If you reach 100,000 points you're awarded an extra life.


Scoring
You get 300 points for the first 3 jewels to dis-
appear in a match, and 150 points for each add- 
itional jewel.  This base score is then multiplied
by the number of succeeding matches that are 
produced from the collapsing jewels. 

Onyx Jewels
Black Onyx jewels appear occasionally during a game.   
When they do, try your best to match them because you'll 
get 500 additional points for each Onyx jewel involved 
in a match. 

Dropping Score
When you use the SPACE bar to drop the triplet, you get 10 points for each row the triplet falls before it comes to rest.


Other Keys
Other special keys you should know about are:
 








If you like to play the game while you're at work, you should also know that  ESCape is the special Big Cheese key.  If you press the ESCape key while playing a game, the Jewelbox screen will be hidden and a fake bomb box alert will be displayed.   When you want to return to the game (i.e coast is clear :-), click on the Resume button.  If you want to quit the game, clicking on the Return button will exit the game and return you to the Finder.  Please note that I recommend you not play Jewelbox at work and will not be held responsible if you lose your job.  :-)


Practice Mode
Jewelbox includes a special mode that lets you practice the game at any level you choose.  During practice mode the game is essentially the same as it is during normal play but there is no increase in speed when a level is cleared and any high scores are not saved.  In addition, a "wildcard" key (w, i, or 8 on the numerics pad) is enabled that lets you play unlimited wildcards whenever you wish.


 

 
"Remember that the real pirates of history seldom survived long enough to recover their plunder and enjoy their old age in comfort."


Rodney Jacks
July 1992