Extra Life - Collect these! You’ll need lives to get past some of those tricky later levels. Unless you’re really good, then you can spurn them and try to get through without losing a life.
Skip Levels - If it’s all too easy, crush one of these and you’ll skip forward five levels (assuming you manage to finish the one you’re on of course!).
Timed Release - This one turns into a random special. Just hope it doesn’t turn in to a Greeble Generator! Keep an eye on these and hope for the best.
Greeble Generator - These periodically produce a new Greeble. Usually you can just crush them, but later on you have to surround them with blocks (tricky!). Listen for the warnings!
Bounce - Painful, that’s what they are. Bricks that bounce off these guys don’t slow down at all. And if there is one on each side, well, can you say “killing zone”? Be careful!
Bounce Grenade - Like grenades, but harder to use. They are a bit tougher and bounce a few times before exploding. Still, with some careful timing (or lots of luck)…
Grenade - These guys don’t bounce like regular blocks, but they do explode. Great for trick shots like “round the corner” and “through the block”.
Line-Up - Those cute little Stairways icons can come in mighty handy, if you can get enough of them together in one place they’ll break open and give you some goodies. Don’t crush them!
Unmovable - These are nailed down. Don’t bother trying to push them. And if you figure you can just crush them - think again! They are here to stay. Only natural decay can remove them.
Unbreakable - Don’t bother trying to crush these guys, your puny strength is no match for their reinforced structure. At least you can throw them around.
Death Touch - Our turn to do some wiping out! Whoosh with our heat ray! And them running and dying, beaten at their own game. This one is fun! Kill’em all, kill’em fast!
Fireball - Now is the time to get even! Throw exploding fireballs in all directions. Be careful or you’ll kill yourself faster than you can say “Die Scum!”.
Freeze - If everyone else is moving to fast for you, grab one of these. For ten seconds you get to kill everything on touch. Grabbing another one before this one runs out is a good idea, too!
Speed - gives you super speed, out run (most) Greebles and blocks. Use this to race around killing Greebles and grabbing specials. But after a short time you’ll feel like molasses!
Shield - gives you super strength, blocks bounce off you and Greebles can’t hurt you. Useful for sculpting the maze. Watch out, it only lasts for a short time!
Bonus - gives you points, good for a high score but not much else (and you’ll lose your score if you die on the level, so don’t worry about these guys too much).
Blocks are your ultimate weapon. Use Shields to herd them. Using Speed you can avoid any block you can push. Become one with your blocks.
At higher levels Greeble generators have to be surrounded on all four sides by blocks: they can’t be crushed. This can be tricky, but it is always possible.
Blocks bounce twice before coming to a halt, unless they hit a bounce block. Or they bounce off a moving player or block, or you are in Suicide mode, or...
In Easy mode, blocks won’t squish you. But in the other modes beware of the bounce! You can safely escape so long as there is more than a one block space.
Blocks can be pushed or crushed (push a block against another block). Crushing a block captures the special it contains, although not all specials can be pushed or crushed.
And there are many more evil Greebles out to spoil your day (and high score!). Squash them and when you squash all of the Greebles on the level you get to go on to the next level.
Cockroach - These guys scurry about causing a nuisance of themselves. I don’t know about you, but they give me the creeps! Kill, kill, kill - die you evil bugs!
Dump Truck - Usually dump trucks don’t go quite as fast as this guy. As with other dump trucks, it’s a good idea to stay out of its way - either that or you’ll be flattened like a pancake.
Crab - Hardly more dangerous than the basic Fly. Still, if you stand around he can still kill you.
Fly - This is your basic Greeble; it wanders around pretty much randomly. It’s not very fast (at least at early levels) and it tends not to reverse directions.
You get a small head start on the Greebles at the beginning of each level - don’t waste it! Before the Greebles emerge fully from the blocks they are vulnerable and can be crushed.
Each player starts in their own corner. Try to ensure you are evenly spread across all the corners - starting in a corner with someone better than you is a crushing experience.
Human players can play together or in competition. Either way the game doesn’t mind: players can switch at any time. At least Computer players stay Friendly or Nasty!
You can have up to four players on each machine and up to nine machines (36 players total!). Finally, a multi-player game you can play with or without a network!
Stairways Software hopes you enjoy this game, and of course we hope you pay for it too because we enjoyed writing it and we’d love to write more games - it’s up to you!
Each level has a set of specials. Specials can easily make the difference between life and death so pay attention and use them wisely. Most specials last for ten seconds.
Levels are a focus of the game - you have to finish a level before you can progress to the next - if you fail, all your hard work (score) for that level disappears. Don’t fail.
Blocks are the key to the game because they are almost the only thing you can directly effect (and the most dangerous threat!).
Enemies are everywhere (especially if you are playing against other players!). Stay alert and look for threats, watch the paths available to Greebles and players and stay out of their way!
Escape routes can also be used by Greebles and other players. Sometimes it just comes down to timing - you want the escape route to be there when you need it, not when they do!
Remember to leave yourself a way out whenever possible. If you start in a bad location, try to push (or crush) a few blocks out of the way to make an escape route.
Greebles combines luck and skill. With practice, you can improve your luck, but even after a lot of practice, sometimes it just comes down to which way the bad guys turn.
Press the number keys at the top of the keyboard to change the volume level.
Escape - Press the escape key during the game to pause, kill the game, change your keys, read the instructions or hide Greebles.
More - Click this to get a more detailed look at the mechanics of the game.
Done - Click this to go back to the main screen. You can also press <return> - most buttons have a key equivalent, just type randomly and see what happens.
