Yikes! This is one of only a couple games on prizegames.com that I don't play much if at all. If you have a strategy or tips you would like to share about Chip Away, please contact me.

New! January 20, 2001: yay! A fellow player ("shazam187") and expert Chip Away player did contact me and contributed the following information about Chip Away Strategy. I'm posting the email he sent me here pretty much verbatim:

Basically, we all know the goal of the game is to get 3 chips of the same color connecting to remove them all and clear the level... However, I've come to learn that that's not exactly the best goal to have, the real points for the game come from building combos and pyramids where several chips fall on each other at the same time...

It's easiest to try this on the first few levels, because after a while, the level becomes too fast to do it unless you're extremely comfortable with the process. What you want to do is clear the level as you normally would except leave two colors on the playfield somewhere, then you build a pattern such as this...

           xO           Ox
            xOx       xOx
               x     x
                O   O  
         O x x O x x O x xO

x to represent first color
O to represent 2nd color

No, it doesn't matter what the two colors are, just as long as they are different, and yes, it is a bit confusing at first, especially with getting the chips to lay on the sides of one another as on the 2nd to top row of the diagram, but it comes with practice and can be done. Trust me. :-)

Now, notice in the second to bottom row, there is an area where another "O" could be dropped in the middle, eliminating all five. At that point, all the "X" chips will fall, and connect with one another, creating massive points, and the remaining six "O"'s will fall and eliminate themselves, clearing the level, and racking up a boatload of points because you managed to string along 14 chips in one fell swoop. Gravity is your best friend in this game. :-D

I will foremention this, the only way this trick works is if you are comfortable with playing the game normally (i.e. if you can get to level 12 on a regular basis, you're set). The best way to practice is to just sit in free mode and figure it out. Some basic play tips A)The game will never give you the same chip color twice in a row. B)Notice how gravity works, and prepare yourself if you're lacking a particular color, so that if and when you get it, it sets up a chain reaction for the colors below it. C)Most of the levels that look "impossible" often times have a pressure point that you can hit with a chip, and everything on the level falls to a manageable level. D)There are only about 3-5 different levels you can have per round, and they do not change from round to round. (i.e. board setups ABCD can only be found on level one, and will be chosen at random. Setups EFGH can only be found on level two, and will be chosen at random, etc. etc.) Learn the little quirks of each of the boards, and soon it will be second nature clearing those levels.

Once you've learned these basics, you'll be ready to implement complex pyramids like the one shown above, and maybe even figure out a way to have 15 or 16 chips connect (I haven't figured it out yet, but a friend of mine at the local Gameworks claims to have figured out 15...)

A side note unrelated to Prizegames.com, if you use this trick successfully in the arcade, you'll notice it is far far more profitable there than on Prizegames. The version of Chip Away in the arcades is slightly different from that found on Prizegames.com for the simple matter that instead of adding points for chip combos above 3 chips, it multiplies them! You can well imagine what kind of scores this trick produces. With this trick, I can consistently (98%) score over 100,000 points on the first round alone, and 100,000 is often times the breakpoint for the jackpot in arcades. Remember though, these crazy amount of points are only avaliable in the arcades, because the algorhythm used in the arcade is different from that online with chip combos... :-(

Hopefully, this will give you some insight onto how to score those big points on Chip Away that you thought were impossible... be forewarned that to break the top 10, it will take a little bit of luck on getting the favorable levels that are more easily cleared, but it will happen with time. (Oh, and to explain the high score on Chip Away, there was a point when Chip Away did not finish when you completed level 20, it just had level 21 start as level 1, and repeated ad nausem. This score was attained through probably 50-60 levels of play.)

And, as CFKman always says, the most important thing is to have fun. :-)

shazam187