Jewel Quest 3

Griddlebone wrote:Emma, which two are left in Hawaii? If you do all 20, let me know if your globe freezes afterwards. I hope it doesn't. I really enjoy Hawaii too and go back to play those boards for relaxation.

1emma1 wrote:Kanehoe and Kailu (sp). and I remember your warning which is one of the reasons I'm not in such a big hurry to finish. also I think this has been the most fun of all JQIII.

Kailu-Kona is the one I left unfinished the second time around in JQIII. It was fun - once. Getting the short upright of the J-hook really depends (only) on a good jewel drop, and while figuring out how to finish the board was interesting, I don't need to do it twice. Besides, I can play it almost to completion, leaving easy squares on the main board, and keep it unfinished.

Kaneohe can be a big bite but you'll get it. I still play it for fun. It's good practice for some of the boards in Heritage, too. Imagine it with a slightly different layout and a zillion crows and you've got Hernan Cortes #5.

I'm impressed that you cleared Hanalei before the very last. I play it a lot because I find it challenging and fun. I do win occasionally!

I love the JQ games, esp JQ3. However, I have several countries that are red and locked. How do I unlock new levels?

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Wed, 11 May 2011 16:43

The game unlocks in a more or less set sequence. There's a set of silver boards, each also with an extra hidden quest, then you re-do all those regions as gold boards. Finally you get to do the puzzles in East Asia, which stays red and locked through almost the whole game. So the answer is: keep playing boards that are open to you and the others will open up eventually. If you're still stuck, tell us what regions you're working on. There are some other questions like this in the older notes on this thread too.

I am still stuck in Iceland too. My games keep stop working, the server has errors. Then I don't think I receive points or opals for winning my games. Anyone having this problem?

thanks for the help - guess I will just have to be patient!

would like some detailed tournament tips and hints.

Well, here's what I can tell you without more information.

In the JQ3 tournament, you are not playing a live player. You are playing a recorded game of a live player. You can still beat them or lose, but the games are not synchronized. As I understand it, as you play a tourney game, your play is recorded. Later, when someone draws that board he or she plays against your recorded game.

If you want to play against live players, JQ Online Party right here on iWin is the way to go. I think it uses the same boards as JQ3 tournament but I am not certain of that.

Speaking of boards, there are 40 different ones. You can learn how to play the different boards by playing them. Otherwise, for tips and hints we'd need to know which board you find challenging. If that's the question, describe the board as well as you can, and we may be able to figure out which one it is. I think I have screen shots of all 40.

someone Pleaseeeee get me thru the gold quest NW Pacific Glacier Bay I've gotten the other 7 but can't get the last one.

There are some tough boards in JQ 3, and that's one of them.

Keep in mind that you only have three white pearls at any one time. Sometimes it's to your advantage to have them all on the same side of the board, for instance if you want to make a white-pearl match to get a pearl out of a dead-end spot, or if you want to get them all on one side so that you can clear the other side without interference. But it can also be to your advantage to "park" one or two white pearls on one side to work with the remaining pearl(s) on the other side.

Try to focus on opening a path to the top squares of the three islands. If you don't approach them from above, you'll never make a match with them.

Finally, keep making matches when you have no other plan. Sometimes something will fall into place. Good luck!

Thank you, What do you mean by the three islands?

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:02

On the white pearl puzzles, you usually have a part of the puzzle that is separate from the main board at first - thus, an island. You have to use the white pearls to break out a pathway to each island. Here's what I mean by islands:

Here's a partially completed puzzle with some break throughs to the islands. The square that is circled is going to be impossible to turn gold without more breakthroughs. On the right hand side, the island will be possible to complete, although it would be easier with more breakthroughs.

Farther along in the same game. You can see how I won't be able to turn several squares gold on the left and middle unless I break through a few more times. I did complete the right without any more break throughs, but it took so long I was running out of time. I mainly did it as an example, not trying to win the board - my first move was to bring down a third pearl to get rid of those two you see in the second image, so that I wouldn't have any more break throughs!

P.S. Now do this starting with 8 islands and a main board, AND with a limited number of times you can swap jewels, and you have the 5th Princess board in JQ Heritage. Just mentioned it so you'd have something to look forward to.

ok,I'm stuck in BUSAN black pearls been there looooooooooong time.level 14 of 16. Any advise??

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Sat, 25 Jun 2011 07:59

First, keep at it. East Asia isn't easy. And congratulations on making it as far as you have, lots of people give up before that point.

On Busan, concentrate on using white pearls to close up the three holes in the board, because you have to do that to clear the board.

While you're doing that, keep looking at the two low-hanging squares on the left and right to see if there is an easy way to turn them gold. It gets harder to turn them gold later in the game, but you'll probably be quite busy getting white pearls to the holes, so just be sure to look at the sides occasionally.

Another method that works sometimes is to concentrate on the left and right edges and bottom corners first, then work in the middle. Just be sure no black pearls enlarge the holes while you're filling the edges.

The top will probably take care of itself. If it doesn't, oh well, you have more to do.

Black pearls usually do not help you. Match them up as often as you can to get rid of them, especially if they're heading for those three holes in the center. The holes do not need to be any bigger than they are! Another way to deal with a black pearl is to line up a white pearl directly above it. Then whatever damage it does will be immediately undone.

Finally, there is one weird thing about the black pearls boards. If a black pearl destroys a square that has not been turned gold yet, you have to make an extra match (anywhere) to make up for not turning that square gold. If everything on the board is gold, use the CTRL key to make sure you haven't missed a square, then keep making matches until you get the "Complete!" banner. Just make sure you don't let a white pearl create a new square while you're catching up for the black pearls' damage.

Good luck! I think Hawaii is totally worth the difficulties of getting through East Asia!

Thank you, I'm going to try again!

Hey, I made it to Hawaii!!! can't wait to see whats waiting for me there. Thanks for your help.

Yay! We've talked about the Hawaii boards earlier in this thread, and they're really fun. I still replay them for relaxation. Some good mental puzzles, and no monkeys, crows, timepieces or black pearls.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:23

bunnyd2 wrote:I enjoy the Jewel Quest games but how do you win at the gold level. I just can't seem to do it at all on any of the games.

I gave up at 58%, the part where you have to play Sebastian turn after turn like with Emma. There's just no way to beat him, even when I get ahead he finds a way to win or tie and I can't even beat one game at this level (Pacific Northwest Gold), so I just gave up.

Okay, so after a second thought--obviously he's not invincible, I just don't have the patience to deal with it. The minute you take the fun out of the game, I stop playing, it's that simple. It's also my Rule Number 1: Never lose your temper. If I sense I will lose my temper, I simply shut the game down and move on with my life. I've already destroyed three monitors, three keyboards and a sound system. I play with that much passion. But now, once I cross the line before I think I'm going to get mad, I just end the game and do something else until I calm down.

You have to be your own coach, especially when they give you challenges that at first seem impossible.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:24

Beanie71 wrote:I am stuck in the Pacific Northwest in the Hidden Quest. I have followed the Strategy Guide which indicates that no more than 3 pearls can fall from the board during play. I have done this many times but to no avail. How do you do it? I also have no clue as to how to do the string of 5 coins in Africa's Hidden Quest. I have only those two left until I get to Japan. How do you do those? I would appreciate any help.

It took me about 60 (sixty) tries to get the five gold coins on the Africa Gold level to unlock the bonus, and they have to be lined up horizontally in the shape of a flat "I", and twice I got five in a row in the shape of an "L" but it didn't count. I was about to give up after that, but the secret is to play near the top on one side and keep playing that area until four coins fall to the left and right, and get the fifth gold coin to fall in the middle so you can make the 5-way flat match and unlock the bonus round.

I absolutely hate, hate, hate, playing sebastian on the turn-for-turn round, it is more a matter of luck than skill, it has no bearing on my ability to beat Sebastian if I have my own board I can beat him, but on the gold level (Pac NW), he always finds a way to win or tie if I get ahead, and rather than break my keyboard again I just gave up because it's just a setup for failure. As I mentioned in my previous post, if you take away the fun element of the game, it is no longer a game and therefore no longer enjoyable. That means its time to quit and do something else.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:14

darticus wrote:would like some detailed tournament tips and hints.

I wrote a manual for the game focusing specifically on tournament play at the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. I am giving it away for free--it's a .pdf file, but they won't let me publish my contact info, drop me a line and I will send you a copy.

Send me a private message with your email and I will reply with a copy of the manual for free--no, I am not a spammer or a spybot-er, I'm just a regular person like you who loves to play Jewel Quest 3!

About me: playing since the game came out, average tournament rating 2250, eight top scores (world records), about 6,000 total games played at least. I stopped counting last year. On a bad day I'm a 1900 rating.

I think that's South America Gold. I dislike those boards extremely. However, I made it through them twice. The first time I almost gave up several times. The second time I just resigned myself to a really lousy experience and bulled through it. Here are some tips:

If you are not ahead of Sebastian by at least 6 (and preferably more) at the end of the first round of moves, reset the board and try again. This is someone else's rule, I modified it to play three rounds if I thought it might get better. However, on one game Sebastian got 24 points on his first move. I didn't even try a move on that one. This will at least keep you from playing hopeless boards.

Set aside a time when you can pound on one board for a good bit of time. Maximize the number of attempts by discarding loser boards as mentioned above. Sooner or later Sebastian will act stupid and you can get ahead.

Sebastian apparently can't see matches that cross an already matched area as well as he can see a match in an area that hasn't been turned to gold yet. If you have a choice of two moves and one is all white squares and the other white-gold-white, take the all white move (all other things being equal) and hope Sebastian doesn't see the other one.

Keep at it. The boards are solvable, they're just no fun at all. It's okay to stop there and move on to another game, but some of the boards to come are really fun, so it's a shame to let those boards stop you.

I did the game through twice because my copy, purchased at a retail store, froze the globe after I got to 100%. I played through again and stopped with one Hawaii board remaining. I still replay boards for fun, but not South America. I haven't gotten a good answer on whether the copy downloaded from iWin freezes after 100% completion. Maybe Emma knows?

I recently started playing Jewel Quest III and I've reached 42%, but it seems like the game is looked. Each contintent is either finished, locked or it says "undiscovered". I only have the free game with ads. Could it be that I can't play further without paying?

JQ3 has three quests for most of the locations: silver, hidden, and gold. At 42%, it sounds as if you've finished the silver quests and some of the hidden quests. When you first open the game and go to the globe, what happens? What area does the globe go to?

Griddlebone: I come to Central America and it says "Hidden quest". I've finished the "Silver quest though and it says the left game (can't remember the name of the quest) is undiscovered, but the old game that I've aldready played, comes up.

Okay, that helps! You need to finish the hidden quest for Central America. There are clues in the adventurer's diary that appears before each puzzle, and eventually it flat out tells you what the quest is, but I'll tell you to speed things up. In Central America you need to match 4 gold coins in a row, not just three. If that gets you the Hidden Quest jewel right away, you don't even have to finish the puzzle if you've already done all the silver puzzles.

Other areas have different hidden quests. Good luck!

Thanks G! I'll check it out! If I still can't sort it out I'll let you know!

I just started playing the jewej quest games, I finished Solitaire III but can not solve the last puzzel where does each item go, could you please help me with this problem? Thank You

watchingmars wrote:I just started playing the jewej quest games, I finished Solitaire III but can not solve the last puzzel where does each item go, could you please help me with this problem? Thank You

Hi watchingmars and welcome to the forums at iWin. The Jewel Quest games are very popular with the members here at iWin and there are quite a few to choose from. As a result, sometimes it is easy to post your question about a particular game in the wrong topic, especially since the Jewel Quest match 3 games have three editions and so do the Jewel Quest Solitaire games. To get you started, here is the link for Jewel Quest Solitaire 3. Check out the posts in this topic to see if your question has been asked and answered. If not, re-post your question there. By re-posting in that topic, you are more likely to get a response to your question as all of the other posters are either playing or have played that game. Not all people who play the Jewel Quest match 3 games play the solitaire games so you might not get an answer in this topic. Also, when all players post their questions about a specific game in the same location, it makes searching the forums easier and it takes less time to find your answer.

Peggy, volunteer Moderator

I have been trying to get throught 'DAWSON' for some time now.
Does anyone have any idea of the secret as my time always runs out.
Thank for any help!!!!...

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:05

Silver Dawson or Gold Dawson? They're similar. Keep making matches near the bottom of the board to pull pearls down so you can reach the "islands". Don't worry about making too many new spaces. New spaces help on this board in almost all cases.

When you're trying to finish up a few odds and ends, make some matches in a filled in part of the board to draw your pearls down there. There are a limited number of pearls on the board at one time. In gold I think it's 3. Pearls can get in the way as you're finishing so just draw them down into a part of the board you don't need to work on.

Remember that there is no penalty for matching 3 pearls, and they turn any gray tiles gold when they match. In fact, in silver Dawson that's how I make a lot of my gold tiles.

Oh... and work as fast as you can!

Has anyone gotten past the Hidden Quest in the Pacific Northwest? I do not think it works. I have tried for WEEKS'S i have seen may answers here but none have worked not losing 3 off the board doesn't work not connecting more than 3 during the game doesn't work not changing more than 3 to turn squares gold doesn't work and there's no way to complete a board using less then 3 pearls SO does anyone have a STEP BY STEP instruction on How to Do it??? im about to delete this &*% game lol i have been stuck at 73% FOREVER on this Map

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:20

Hi BobbyjG!

Several people have beaten the game, including that darned Hidden Quest in the Pac NW. Read back through the notes in this thread to April 2011 and there is a whole sub-thread on that quest. GunnyHighway spells out the way to do it. I was quite embarrassed by giving wrong information on how to beat that Hidden Quest, but later posted some screen shots showing how to do it. Some boards are easier than others to make the HQ on.

Good luck!

Trying to get past the Hawaii level and frustrated! I've finished it several times...even once without having to do any of the boards more than once (I thought maybe that was the trick) and it just keeps kicking me back to that level. It's my own personal Groundhog Day! How do I get past this level?

The Hawaii level is a bonus level after you've finished the game. There isn't any more after that... unless you count Heritage or Sleepless Star!

Hi all you JQ3 aholics

I'm so glad I found an active forum for JQ3, there are many out there that are very old. I'm at 72% and have been stuck on China Jiangsu (the one with 9 monkey cages at the bottom) for at least a month now. No kidding, I've probably played it 300 times, but I'm not going to give up. Just wondering if anyone as any strategy or tips you could give me, so I can move forward. Griddlebone you've done a fab job helping people, any advice?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:17

I can't say I have a magic strategy for Jiangsu, because I lose more than I win. I've won it about 4 or 5 times, and that first win took dozens of attempts. It was, for me, one of the hardest boards in JQ3.

It may not be the bestest most wonderful strategy, but here it is. First, on the screen shot below, I've indicated four squares with green stars. Regardless of what's going on elsewhere, I try to turn those to gold first, and if I can't get at least 3 of them fairly quickly, I restart the board. You'll run out of time on Jiangsu, and sometimes it's heartbreakingly close. You can't depend on being fast for the rest of the board. You're going to need as much time as you can spare.

While I've been turning those squares gold, monkeys will start appearing. I don't spare them much. If there are three close together, I ususally clear them, because it's relatively easy to turn upper squares gold and relatively hard to work with a bunch of monkeys. So I cull the herd as often as possible.

Fill the lowest cages first; the upper cages will be easier. However, if you can put a monkey in an upper cage, and it helps you otherwise, go ahead. Just don't assume the monkey will stay there. Also be super careful not to fill both cages on either side of the green stars, and then let a monkey fall onto the green-star square. You'll lose your gold square as well as the two monkeys that were in the cages. Then you have to turn that square gold again, this time with monkeys raining down on you.

I also spend a little time on the far left and right edges to turn them gold fairly early in the game. The higher up on the board a square is, the less I worry about it.

Anyway, those are my hints. Let us know when you boot those monkeys into cages!

Thanks for the info Griddlebone. I too agree that this is the most difficult board so far. I will try your strategy because there have been many times where I filled all the cages, and then ran out of time trying to turn one of those difficult ones gold and couldn't do it. Boy, what a heart pounder that is.

Thanks for the advise, hopefully I can boot those monkeys in their cages and report back soon!

OMG!!! Yippie, I finally completed the last monkey board in China. Wow, what a thrill, with time literally ticking down, I did it. I'm so excited.
Now off to tackle the Pearls.
Thanks for your help Griddlebone!!

I'm resigning myself to get help on this one. I am a very strong tournament player, I can beat almost anyone if I have my own board but not if I have to share a board! On the South America Gold level, where you have to play Sebastian, I have played over 100 times and every time, either he manages to win, or if I get ahead he always finds a way to cheat me out of a win, and I'm sick of it. He sets it up to where the only move left on the board makes his next move get points for him. I have restarted the board at least 200 times and there is just no possible way for me to get even one win on the Gold level. I just want to get past this level so I can do the gold level in Japan and China, I don't want to share a board with Sebastian. Right now I have been stuck at the 58% level for over a year, and I've never had this much trouble with a game before.

I know what some player say, they say, give it time, he will make a mistake sooner or later, but after 200+ games he has never allowed me even one move that would let me get ahead, and when we are tied time always runs out and again, the only move I have left sets him up for points. I just want to get past this level anyway that I can. ANY help would be appreciated, if it's not something that I have mentioned here, I will listen.

If I have my own board I can smoke Sebastian at any level. But not where we have to share a board and he gets to move first. No freaken way.

As many people know, the only thing I enjoyed less than South America Gold is Princess #5 Expert in Heritage. So I am fully on the same page as you on this one. That said, I did get through it - twice.

I have never been able to beat him on my husband's (slow) laptop. I also cannot win JQ OP games on that computer, although I have been known to win a few using my own computer. So I think that computer speed is a factor. That may not be very helpful.

I don't have a lot of good hints, but here's what I have: Don't continue with a game unless you're ahead by at least 3-5 points. Try a different board in South America. Go play something else for a while. Especially recommended: JQ Sleepless Star, and play it again and again with different artifacts; some of them will train you to see matches of 5 or more or to work very quickly. If you have a lot of time and don't mind skating the line between cheating and fair play you can take screen shots, pause the game, and study them. I didn't find that to be as much help as restarting though; it took too long and you couldn't predict Sebastian's moves.

You do have my sympathy. I have no love for SA Gold.

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at Wed, 16 May 2012 05:42

I think it's wrong that we can't start a new thread within a game topic!

Anyway, I've finally managed to beat Sebastian on the Gold level (South America) 4 out of the 8 levels. I'm still working on four of the levels where you have to share a board, but he always gets to move first. The only way I found to win was to restart every board that he scores more than four points on the first move, since they will not let me move first. I know that sounds selfish, but hey, I just want to get past the South America level so I can go onto the Hawaii and Asia Gold levels. I HATE having to share a board LOL

I could smoke Sebastian any day if I have my own board, but now I have to restart every board that Sebastian scores more than four points on the first move or gets more than four points ahead of me.
Yes, Sebastian makes mistakes now and then, and you really have to capitalize on them and draw him away from the one move that gets you the minimum points to win the round. I've had to restart some boards 100 times just to win, it is so stupid, I just wish they didn't have the turn-for-turn on the same board. I'll be glad when it's over. Right now I'm at 61%

The thing that gets me is, for a year I couldn't beat Sebastian at the South America Gold level. Then yesterday, I beat him four times! So that was kind of encouraging, but now I'm back to trying to win the remaining four boards so I can move onto the other regions. It does take a lot of patience, esp. when I get ahead by five points and he finds a way to even it up, and that gets a few expletives lol

but I will be SO glad when this level is over. I just wish there was a code or something to get past it, it's so stupid.

Given the discussion board software in use here, I like having discussions limited to one thread, but other than that I agree emphatically with everything you said about South America Gold.

You WILL get past it, eventually, and then it's over and done and you never have to do it again.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Wed, 16 May 2012 05:42

SEBASTIAN IS NOT UNBEATABLE!

It took over a year, but I finally beat Sebastian at the gold level (South America). I found out there is more than one way to win, which was surpising. The first thing was, if he got more than four points on the first move I just reset the board until he got only 3 points on the first move, as many dozens of times I had to do it, it was the only way to get more points, AND if he got more than five points ahead of me, I just reset the board. BUT I won on 2 of the 8 levels by leaving him the only move that would tie the score, which gets you the location automatically as if you had won. Awesome! This means that when the only move left was to let Sebastian tie the score, on my moves I ended up helping him get the square (LOL). !

Now I am at Australia 64% and am having a tough time getting those corners, since they do not let you use specials to change the squares to gold, so I was wondering if there was a way to use the jewels you already won (those around the globe in the map room) by clicking on them before entering a location so as to give you some kind of advantage. Anyone had any luck with this?

That's a good tip on South America Gold; I never thought of trying that!

Keep at Australia. I think those are sort of fun puzzles (I didn't think SA Gold was fun at all). You get everything lined up to take a square that's hanging out or hanging down or sticking up, and along comes a silver piece to mess up your plans. If you get a challenge buzz out of Australia, you're going to LOVE some of the boards in Heritage.

You will use the jewels you've won in different locations, but not until you get to East Asia. And I'm not sure I would call it an advantage when you do use them. I'm thinking timepieces and non-moveable jewels here. I'm no fan of timepieces, although I did get the hang of it after a while, and I think non-moveable jewels are simulaneously a pain and a fun time.

100 % finished 4 weeks to complete all levels. Game is over and can't get back in without starting a new name which will wipe out my 6477 rating in Tournament mode. If you start a new name and play it your other name will reset to 1500. One tip is to play the easy parts of boards as fast as you can. My family says it looks like I'm having a seisure when playing so fast.

So by "can't get back in" you mean that the globe froze after you finished Hawaii? That happened to me too, but other people could finish and still re-play. I thought it had to do with the fact that I bought this game retail, not online.

I don't care about my rating so I just ran up another name and left one island in Hawaii un-beaten.

yeah, It says thanks for playing and won't let me play any more. I bought it in a store too. I don't see many people talking about the tournament mode where you play against other people. Do you play there?

I have, but not recently. Here's how that works. It's not in real time. They store games and you play against the game of a recent player. The players are real, but they aren't playing the board at the same time you do.

You draw a board from I think 40 different configurations, and you play against the last stored game of that board configuration. Then your game is stored, and the next person to draw that board plays against the game you played.

I think it also takes into consideration your rating when picking opponents, but I'm not sure. And yeah, there's a bug where if you start a new player your old player's rating is dropped to 1500.

Here on iWin.com there is Jewel Quest Online Party, which is similar but it IS in real time and you can chat with the other players (or ignore them!) You're also playing against more than one person at a time. The ratings here seem messed up and I just ignore them, BUT all of this is fodder for a different thread, not the JQ 3 thread.

Here's a link to the most recent JQ OP thread. Or I recommend you just try it... it's free!

Subject: Jewel Quest Online Party - 3rd & 4th Q 2011

93robinson wrote:I completed the Hidden Quest for Africa 5 jewels horizontally, did the level in the time limit and I didn't get a jewel awarded. I have done this several times. Not sure what I have to do.

This is the only quest labelled on the map - says Hidden Quest

Besides getting the five jewels horizontally, you also have to complete the board before time runs out. So you have to do TWO goals. It took me about 70 tries to do it. I found that picking the square-est board and working the top left or top right corner works best, as this prevents the golds from spreading out, as you only get five of them, force them to one area and eventually you will get two golds, then a space, then two golds on the same row, then force the last gold above the middle and drop it down to form five, and you did it! But don't quit there, you still have to complete the board (if I remember correctly). Then at the end you will get the extra jewel and unlock the next level. As you know, you cannot advance to the next silver or gold level until you complete the hidden quest that shows when you enter the map room. If you are not sure what to do next, leave the map room then re-enter it, and it will put you at the next task you need to complete to advance.

REMEMBER, I HAVE WRITTEN A JEWEL QUEST THREE MANUAL that will help you in tournament mode and online party mode, Jewel Quest 3. They will not allow me to post my email here, so send me a message and I can send you the manual for free. It's about 14 pages long in 8-1/2" x 11" mode, and it's a .pdf file. It will definitely help, and I have all my best tricks in there. Plus it's FREE!

I have my suspicions that clicking on one of the jewels you have already won before entering a region will help you to complete it. This, after I read in the intro that there might be a way to get extra time; hence, clicking on the hourglass icon before entering the region will give you extra time, sometimes all you need is a few more seconds that you wouldn't have had. I'm experimenting with the other jewels, e.g., the topaz or the green jewel in the center will make easier combinations or more desirable ones. The intro notes in the book before each area were very non-specific, but only hinted at the jewels you've already won being able to help. I'm going to experiment some more and see if I can get past the 72% level, 6 of 8 completed gold level China. The last two boards look next to impossible.

Right clicking on a jewel or left clicking before entering a region for an easier game/more time--I don't know yet.