Helix Jump Smash Combos: How the Multiplier Works and When to Chase It

Two ways to score

Every platform the ball passes is worth points, but the game pays very differently depending on how you pass it. Land on a floor, bounce, land on the next: a point or two each. Drop through several floors without touching any of them and the number that flashes next to the score climbs with each one, and the ball itself changes.

What smash mode is

After the third consecutive floor without a landing, the ball starts to glow and trail particles. In this state it does not bounce off the next platform it reaches; it breaks through it. That includes red segments. The state lasts until the ball lands normally, so a well-placed long fall can carry the smash through the thickest band of red in the tower and out the other side.

Reading the tower for a long fall

The gaps in successive rings are not random; they are offset by a few degrees so a slow, steady rotation in one direction keeps the ball over open space for several floors. Watch the ring two below the ball rather than the one it is about to hit. If you can see the gap in that lower ring, start turning towards it before the ball reaches the upper one, and you will drop through both.

When not to chase it

The first floors of a new level are the worst place to gamble, because you have not seen the red pattern yet and a death there costs a whole tower. Bounce carefully for three or four floors, look at where the red sits, and then set up a long drop once the pattern makes sense. Towards the base, where the level ends, the rings are often mostly red; that is where a smash earns its keep.

The second-chance prompt

When the ball hits red the game offers a second chance before the score screen. Taking it continues the run from the same floor and keeps your score, so on a good run it is always worth pressing. It appears once per run.