If you’re hooked on Super Mega Lucky Box and tired of coming in second place, you’re in the right spot! This game is all about a blend of luck and strategy, and with a few clever tips and tricks up your sleeve, you can tilt the odds in your favor. I’ve worked my way up to a respectable top-40 ranking on BGA, so whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned player looking to up your game, I’ve got the strategies you need to dominate and have a blast while doing it. So, grab your lucky charm and let’s dive into the ultimate guide to winning Super Mega Lucky Box!
Keep an even distribution of available numbers
This is the most basic and fundamental strategy in Super Lucky Mega Box. When choosing your Lucky Boxes, you should always aim to have a roughly even amount of low, mid, and high numbers from which to choose. This helps to ensure that you will always be able to play a number without using Lightning Bolts and gives you a lot more flexibility overall.
It isn’t always possible to have a completely even distribution of numbers, and that’s okay! At the beginning of the game, you’d ideally have 3 rows each of low, mid, and high numbers on your Lucky Box cards, but sometimes you just don’t have the cards to choose from to make that possible. It’s perfectly fine to have only 2 rows of a number type (lows, mids, or highs).
At the very least, you should try to have two rows of each number type available on your cards because no number can ever be used more than twice in a round. If you have at least 2 of every number available then you are never forced to use your Lightning Bolts.
It’s important to try to keep this number distribution balanced throughout the entire game. When choosing your new Lucky Boxes between rounds, the first thing you should always check is what numbers you need to replenish. The possible exception to this is going into round 4 if you already have a very large surplus of Lightning Bolts. In that case, you can choose your Lucky Box based solely on other parameters like Moons or Stars that you might need.
Select boards with more Stars early
Most games of Super Mega Lucky Box end up being pretty close in score, and one of the biggest differentiators is Star points. In order to score with Stars, you must first have Lucky Boxes with Stars on them! I recommend taking as many Stars on your initial Lucky Box cards as possible while still maintaining an adequate distribution of numbers, up to 6 Stars. Looking at the stats for top players on BGA, it’s clear that they place more emphasis on Stars than the average player:
| Stat | Top Player #1 | Top Player #2 | Top Player #3 | Average Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star Points | 12.33 | 11.14 | 12.71 | 8.12 |
I don’t recommend taking more than 6 Stars because you’ll start to lose flexibility at that point. You will likely still need some Lightning Bolts, Question Marks, and Moons later in the game so too many Stars will clutter your board and limit your options.
If you have no (or very few) Stars at the beginning of the game then you’ll have to adapt. Go for Lucky Boxes with more Lightning Bolts, Numbers, and Question Marks to give you more flexibility and power later in the game. That way, if and when you can choose a Lucky Box with multiple Stars on it later in the game you can fill out those rows & columns more quickly.
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Score Stars in bunches for maximum efficiency
Scoring with Stars is vital to success, but advanced players know it’s more about when you score with them than how many you complete. I assume that you know the game rules when writing these strategy guides, but just as a refresher let’s look at how Stars are scored:
| Number of Stars/Round | Points | Points/Star |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 3 | 9 | 3 |
| 4+ | 9 | 2.25, 1.8, etc. |
The Points/Star column is the key metric to look at here. The most value by far is when you complete 3 Stars in a single round, providing 9 total points (or 3 points per Star). This is extremely powerful, and the best players exploit this scoring mechanism to their advantage.
I recommend trying to set up your Stars in the first round so that you can complete 3 of them in the second round to score 9 points. Fill in 2 numbers in each Star column/row, and then you can easily finish off the third number in the next round. This is much more efficient than finishing just 1 or 2 stars in each round and it should always be in the forefront of your mind when dealing with Stars.
If you have enough Stars available, you can continue this cycle into the third and 4th rounds. Once you finish you first 3 Stars in Round 2, star working on more Stars to complete in Round 3 and so on. If you score 9 points from Stars in 3 rounds (or even just 2) your chances of winning skyrocket.
Remember that completing a 4th Star (or more) is a complete waste! Avoid completing more Stars than you want to by leaving yourself some flexibility, or even spending Lightning Bolts so that you don’t have to complete a 4th Star.
Collect just enough Moons or none at all
Moons are perhaps the trickiest scoring mechanism to manage in Super Mega Lucky Box because so much depends on the number of players in the game and their behavior.
In games with 3 or more players, I recommend simply focusing on not having the fewest number of Moons. You can usually score more points by completing more Lucky Boxes and Stars than you can by collecting a bunch of Moons, so as long as you avoid the -6 penalty for having the fewest Moons you’ll usually come out ahead. Let other players spend time and resources trying to one-up each other for most Moons while you score in other ways.
In 2-player games, the situation changes. One (or both) of you will score 6 points for most Moons, but nobody loses any points. I recommend not focusing on Moons at the start and seeing where the game goes. In the third round, look at how many Moons you and your opponent have already scored and how many are currently available on the board. Then, make a determination about whether or not it’s worth it to pursue more Moons. Sometimes you or your opponent will already be so far ahead in Moons that you can completely ignore them for the rest of the game since the Moon outcome has already been determined. Which brings me to my next point…
Look at your opponent’s board and score
Super Mega Lucky Box has no direct player interaction, so it’s easy to fall into the trap of playing the game like it’s Solitaire. However, it’s important to keep an eye on your opponents so that you always know where things currently stand. Some things to look out for include:
- How many Moons each player has already completed
- How many Moons each player is likely to complete by the end of the game
- How many Lucky Boxes each player has finished, and when
- How many Lucky Boxes each player is likely to finish by the end of the game
- The number of Star points each player has scored
- The number of Star points each player is likely to score by the end of the game
- How many Lightning Bolts each player has available (flexibility)
If you always know the current score and what your opponents are likely to complete by the end of the game it gives you a huge advantage. You can determine how many points you are likely going to need to win and then try to plot out a course to reach that total. You will know if you need to play more aggressively and take more risks to achieve a high score, or if you can play conservatively and just take a few sure points to secure a win.
One of the easiest and most powerful tricks in this vein is comparing Moons before and during the 4th round. For example, if you are up by 3 Moons going into the 4th round and your opponent doesn’t even have any Moons available on his existing Lucky Boxes then you almost assuredly don’t need to worry about completing more Moons. Similarly, if you’re down by 2 Moons and you only have 1 Moon available to complete in the 4th round then it’s pointless to focus on completing that Moon – you’d still lose the battle so you may as well try to score in other ways.
Don’t focus on collecting Lightning Bolts
Lightning Bolts are always nice to have, as they give you a lot of flexibility to play the numbers you need when you need them. However, every Lightning Bolt you collect comes at the expense of another resource like Stars, Moons, or Question Marks that could have filled that slot. Looking at the stats for top players on BGA, it’s clear that they don’t place any special emphasis on gathering Lightning Bolts:
| Stat | Top Player #1 | Top Player #2 | Top Player #3 | Average Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning Bolts Gained | 11.82 | 12.14 | 11.28 | 11.76 |
I recommend that you don’t focus on collecting Lightning Bolts, and instead just make efficient use of the few you happen to collect from completing your Lucky Box cards. In general, I find that having an average of just one or two Lightning Bolt slots per Lucky Box card is more than enough.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, suppose you were unlucky and ended up being forced into having a terrible number distribution (where you have few or no numbers in a particular range). In that case, you’ll want to earn more Lightning Bolts in a hurry to have the needed flexibility.
Create opportunities for chained effects
Winning at Super Mega Lucky Box comes down to efficiency and planning. The more bonuses you can set up and chain together, the more efficient each card becomes. When you can use one card to fill in 3 or 4 numbers multiple times a game, that adds up to a massive advantage. It gives you more opportunities to score points and gather Lightning Bolts, usually leading to an easy victory.
You can set yourself for these chained effects by picking Lucky Box cards that synergize well together. If you have a surplus of low numbers, try to pick a Lucky Box card that gives low number bonuses. Use Question Mark bonuses to extend your bonus chains. Don’t be afraid to use a Lightning Bolt or two to set off a long chain reaction of bonuses – especially if it will help you to complete a Lucky Box one round earlier than normal.
Adjust your play to the cards that have been dealt
You can’t exactly count cards in Super Mega Lucky Box since you don’t know what’s in the deck each round, but you can get a pretty good idea. No more than two of each number can be played in a round, so if you see two 6’s then you know you won’t see another one. Similarly, if you’ve seen a surplus of high numbers then you know you’re more likely to see low and mid numbers later in the round.
You can use this to your advantage, especially when you’re picking which numbers to fill in after a Question Mark bonus. Let’s say you just need a 3 and a 7 to complete a Lucky Box in a round. You score a Question Mark bonus, and earlier in the round you’ve seen a 7 come out but no 3’s. In this case, you should use your bonus on the 7, because a 3 is twice as likely to be dealt than a 7.
Have a plan in the 4th round and stick to it
The last round of Super Mega Lucky Box is usually a time to finish up some Lucky Boxes and make strategic plays. It’s rare (although possible) to complete all of your Lucky Boxes, so choices will need to be made. At the beginning of the round, survey the current game state and decide on your priorities. Some things to focus on include:
- Finishing nearly-complete Lucky Boxes
- Completing Star bonuses (especially if you have multiple Stars remaining)
- Determine if Moons are necessary and/or worth it
- Filling out as many numbers as possible for Cross points
You usually won’t have the time or resources to do everything you’d like to do, but you can almost always accomplish two or more of these goals in the final round. Determine which ones are the most likely and/or valuable and focus exclusively on those goals – don’t be wishy-washy! Use your Lightning Bolts liberally to accomplish your last-minute goals since you don’t get any points for unused Lightning Bolts at the end of the game.
Play to your outs when you’re desperate
Sometimes, no matter how well you play, you get behind and the game seems hopeless by the 4th (or even 3rd) round. In these cases, it’s usually time to start taking more risks. If you know that playing it safe and taking a few sure points won’t lead to a win, then you should get more aggressive and ‘play to your outs’.
For example, you might need a very specific combination of numbers to finish a Lucky Box and then two more Stars. If it’s possible but very unlikely, it’s still worth a shot if you know you won’t win otherwise. After all, a small chance of winning is better than no chance, and losing big amounts to the same thing as losing small.