I DID IT!!!!!! I just got a 715 on Kiko Match II! Thanks, everyone for all your hints and encouragement. What really kept me from going crazy was making an Excel sheet to track my top score in each round and the maximum possible total after each round if I were to actually match my personal best in each round. It was great to see my maximum potential total after the last round pass 700; it also gave me a feel for when I should give up and start over (as early as round 5, often in round 9, and occasionally as late as round 12). Even in a bad game, I usually had one round that would beat my old best for a round. For those still struggling, hang in there -- you'll get it too. Just keep at, take frequent breaks (I found Spider Solitaire particularly effective between rounds), and use the hints in this thread. Here are the best times I had for each round:
Round
--Time Left Pts
--Total
1
-----------8
-----------18
2
-----------12
----------40
3
-----------16
----------66
4
-----------17
----------93
5
-----------19
----------122
6
-----------35
----------167
7
-----------48
----------225
8
-----------50
----------285
9
-----------54
----------349
10
----------68
----------427
11
----------86
----------523
12
----------89
----------622
13
----------97
----------729
14
----------64
----------803
*Note these were my best times, and I obviously didn't get them all in one game. For me, I wanted to be at least 115 by the end of round 5, and definitely over 400 by the end of round 10 -- this last game, I was at 402, but I set a new record for rounds 11 (by ~10 seconds) and 14 (by ~30 seconds). I did use the cheat in round 14 -- since it only gave me 15 seconds and it took a couple seconds to type, I actually didn't need it. But I figured I might as well automatically type it right at the beginning of round 14 just in case it made the difference.
NEW SPLIT!