You have a 3x3 grid and the goal is to complete a picture. Each day you start out with 200 spins, which you use to get puzzle pieces. Whenever you click "Spin" you'll either get a random puzzle piece, a wild card, extra points, or extra spins!
Smiley!
As you can see, this is not a solo game! Picture Magic, like all Winster games, is played in a room with up to four other players. You'll finish puzzles a lot quicker if you get in the habit of trading pieces, and it's easy to do! To trade, click on a piece from your board and drag it to the piece you want. (Hold down the mouse button to drag pieces and move them around.)
Neon green arrow courtesy of Winster.
The player you're trading with will get a confirm screen. If zie accepts the trade, you switch pieces! But if zie initiates the trade then you get the confirm screen.
Neon green arrow #2 courtesy of Winster.
Wait! What's that? It's not a yellow smiley face! *Gasp* It's Orlando Bloom!!!
Before I played Picture Magic I thought you just had one picture to put together. In fact, I didn't play it because it would be incredibly boring working on the same picture over and over again. Well, it would be, but that's why Winster added oodles of pictures!! When you complete a picture the following screen pops up and shows what you completed:
Puppers!!!
You rate the picture and then you pick whether you want to play it again, play the one before it, or move on to the next picture! The cool part is that everyone in the room plays their own puzzle, but you only see the picture that you're on!
Okay. That is pretty cool. ^_^
The downside is that the pictures aren't completely random. They're on a loop, so once you've played through them a few times you know what's coming next. Ah well. At least there are a few dozen pictures!
Most of the picture puzzles are really easy, but some are frikkin' hard!! Take a look at the one below.
Ack!!
Clearly I have a few duplicate pieces. Still, it's hard to figure out what goes where! Here's the finished puzzle.
Ahhh! Much better!
The variety makes it interesting, but man.. I feel old when I squint at a picture for 5 minutes and still can't tell what it's supposed to be. *^_^*
Scoring
Using wild cards definitely finishes the picture quicker, but you won't earn as many points. Here's the score sheet for completed puzzles.
- 9 wilds = 0 points
- 8 wilds = 5 points
- 7 wilds = 20 points
- 6 wilds = 30 points
- 5 wilds = 55 points
- 4 wilds = 90 points
- 3 wilds = 150 points
- 2 wilds = 210 points
- 1 wild = 300 points
- 0 wilds = 400 points
Remember, if you subscribe to Winster or get a day pass, you'll get quadruple the points! When I was doing research a random player bought me a day pass! (Day pass = 99 cents.) I'm used to playing for free, but I have to admit that getting 300 extra spins, 4x points, and no ads was really, really nice. *^_^*
Tips & Tricks
1. If you're stuck on a tough picture (like flowers) you should look at your teammates' puzzles. Most players move pieces to the "correct" spots as they spin, so they only have to fill in the blanks. You can figure out a lot by comparing puzzles!
2. Trade trade trade! The best part about this game is that it's obvious when you have extra pieces. And since you can only make one puzzle at a time, there's no point in hanging on to doubles. LOOK to see if someone could use your piece! Even if they don't have a double to trade back, give it to them anyway. They will return the favor!
3. Sometimes trades can take a while. Whenever possible, trade before your puzzle is full of pieces! This way you can keep spin an empty square while you wait.
4. One last trade tip. If a player offers a trade and you just filled the square they put the offer on, drag the piece to another spot. The trade will still go through!
5. Always say "Thank you!" and "You're welcome!" when trading pieces! Winster makes this super easy. Just click on the "ty" or "yw" buttons and you'll automatically say "Thank you" or "You're welcome!"
To thank a specific person, click and hold on "ty." A list will pop up with all of the players in the room.
When you don't say "Thank you!" you appear ungrateful. People notice this and will stop giving you their extra pieces. It pays to be polite!
Final Rating
Picture Magic really surprised me. I thought I would get bored, but this is my new favorite at Winster! I love the variety of puzzles and how interactive it is! After I'd been playing for about 20 minutes I realized that I had a huge grin on my face. And I couldn't stop smiling! It was the most relaxing and enjoyable game that I've played in a long while. ^_^
In Chain Gang I never knew what to trade because I couldn't tell what people needed. Heck, most of the time I couldn't tell what pieces I needed! But in Picture Magic I can tell what pieces people need. I love helping other people so this is a major plus.
5 out of 5 stars! What would you rate it? Do you find it relaxing too?
Similar Games
If you like Picture Magic, then you might like some of these games too.
- MetroMatch at iWon - A classic "memory" type game with beautiful photos!
- Stack'em at Pogo - Move stacks of animals to create groups of 5 or more! (Weird game, to be honest.)
- Super Chef at Gamesville - This is an untimed brain twister. Can you spot the patterns?