When you download pop-pop, and hopefully play a few solo versus games to get the idea of how to play (along with reading the excellent help section) - you decide it's time for net play.
But what difficulty should you start at?
Well, here are some general net play tips (and other beta testers please chime in here):
1. Normal is pretty much where most gamer types should start at -easy is really there for people who have really bad hand-eye coordination, or those who don't play games too often.
2. Move to hard setting when your normal net games go longer than... say... 10 minutes - which doesn't seem like long until you're staring at the screen as hard as you must for that long in order to not die. Or - if you can clear the screen and your opponent hasn't even reached the top layer of bricks.
3. Once hard seems like normal - time to move up to expert. Things get very quick here, so be sure to keep the lower part of your screen clear, otherwise a few triple dropper power downs and you're toast! pop-pop toast!
It can be very frustrating for a player used to playing at hard level to play games at normal. Charging times are longer, brick drops are slower, and there are fewer power downs heading your way.
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(This message has been edited by jinx (edited 07-16-2002).)