Gardenscapes is more than just a fun and challenging match-three puzzle game. The game also follows an interesting storyline, where you can help Austin the Butler restore his garden to its former beauty. But even if the game seems simple, passing the game’s levels, especially the harder ones, requires a lot of strategic planning.

Anyway, if you’re one of those players struggling to complete the game’s challenging levels, here are the ultimate Gardenscapes tips and tricks to help you beat the game below!

Play the levels to earn stars and coins

Completing different levels in Gardenscapes grants you stars, a premium currency needed to unlock story chapters and garden upgrades. Story chapters only cost one star to unlock, while garden upgrades have varying costs based on the complexity of the renovation.

Finishing a level also gives coins as rewards. These gold coins are another valuable currency used for purchasing boosters or speeding up garden tasks in the game. If you want to earn more coins, keep upgrading your garden, and progress through the story, finishing the game’s levels is key.

Study your board and understand a level's objectives

Although you can easily pass the earlier levels without any full-proof strategies, you can’t just keep winging it when you get to the harder levels. After all, you only have a limited number of moves per level. You will lose a life if you fail to fulfill the level’s goals and run out of moves.

You’re only given a maximum of five lives unless you receive a buff that grants you unlimited lives for a certain period (more on this later!). Furthermore, one life is only replenished every thirty minutes. So, it’s important to study your board and understand a level’s objectives before making your move. That way, you can utilize your limited moves properly and fulfill a level’s goals to move on to the next level.

Match four or more board items to create power-ups

Again, Gardenscapes is a match-three puzzle game. This means that you need to match at least three identical items to finish levels. But then again, matching only three items won’t take you far in the game.

That said, matching four or more items will grant you power-ups. Each power-up provides different abilities, so make sure to make the most out of them! Here are the different power-ups you can make below:

* Firecracker(Matched by four items): causes an explosion with a one-by-one radius to nearby tiles

* Bombs (formed by matching five items): causes an explosion with a two-by-two radius to nearby tiles

* Explosives (matched by six items): causes an explosion with a three-by-three radius to nearby tiles

* TNT (formed by matching seven items): causes an explosion with a four-by-four radius to nearby tiles

Exploding these power-ups will also charge rainbow blasts, a chargeable power-up. Swapping it to a particular board item will take out every piece of that type. You can also combine two rainbow blasts to wipe out one layer on your board!

Utilize the game boosters wisely

Besides creating power-ups, there are different in-game boosters that can help you easily clear levels in Gardenscapes. But unlike power-ups, game boosters are bought using coins. Here they are:

* Shovel (1900 coins): Eliminates a single item/obstacle

* Gardening Gloves (2900 coins): Swaps two items next to each other without consuming moves moves

* Rake (3800 coins): Eliminates items/obstacles in a single row/column without consuming moves

You can also purchase pre-game boosters. As the name suggests, these are boosters you can take with you before beginning a level. Upon purchase, these boosters will be randomly placed on your board:

* Rainbow Blast (900 coins)

* Double Bombs (1300 coins)

* Rainbow Blast and Dynamite (1900 coins)

You’d definitely want to prioritize earning coins for these boosters. Fortunately, you can earn them for free as in-game rewards. But regardless if you got them for free or not, you must utilize these boosters wisely. Ideally, you should only spend one booster for tricky levels. In addition, you should only use boosters when you only have a few moves left and are close to fulfilling the level’s objective.

Don’t forget to play the mini-games

Gardenscapes also includes a series of short mini-games that consist of different puzzles. These mini-games randomly appear after you finish levels and appear as a form of Austin’s bad dreams. It’s recommended to play these games whenever you’re granted the opportunity to do so! Finishing them gives you a substantial amount of coins, which you can use to purchase boosters for more complicated levels.

Take advantage of the game’s unlimited buffs

There will be instances where the game will randomly grant players unlimited buffs. These include unlimited lives or unlimited power-ups! These unlimited buffs are only available until a certain period (e.g., unlimited lives for thirty minutes). So make sure to take advantage of them to quickly complete many levels in the game.

For instance, if you receive unlimited lives, you can immediately restart a level when you think you’re about to fail to prevent wasting time. Unlimited buffs are given to players upon reaching in-game milestones. You can also receive them by finishing Gardenscapes world events on your server.

Gardenscapes is an excellent game that perfectly combines fantastic storytelling and challenging puzzle mechanics. And by taking note of the tips and tricks above, you should have no difficulty playing through Gardenscapes’ higher levels. Best of luck!