Treasure Isle Game on Facebook: 5 Mistakes New Players Make

Treasure Isle is a treasure-hunting game on Facebook by social game mogul Zynga. In this game, players must dig up islands, smash rocks and whack through brush to reveal treasure chests, fruit, gold and island cash. Like with any game, there's a learning curve to it and although Treasure Isle is a simple game, newbies often make critical mistakes.

Treasure Isle Game on Facebook Newbie Mistake #1: Not maximizing energy
Every time you level up, your energy gets refilled. If you come into the game and you're close to leveling up, try to use all of your energy before you level up. For example, if you have 50 energy points left and you only have 15 XP to get to the next level, blow all your energy on the 10XP rocks--that way, you'll use the energy and have a lesser chance of accidentally leveling up before you use all your energy. If you do this and get down to '0' energy, visit your friends' islands to earn XP to level up. Any energy that you have before leveling up is not carried through to the next level. Never trade in your treasure collections or finish an island until you've exhausted all of your energy.

Treasure Isle Game on Facebook Newbie Mistake #2: Planting pineapples
Unless you plan to be away from your computer for an entire day, don't plant the pineapples. Pineapples take an entire day to harvest and only yield 25XP--that's only FIVE more XP than the watermelons, which only take 8 hours to harvest -- you could potentially plant 2 slots of watermelons three times in one day, if you time it right. That's a total of 120XP in one day for the watermelon vs. 50 XP for two pineapples. Of course, if you're not going to be around to harvest the watermelons in time, planting pineapples makes sense.

Treasure Isle Game on Facebook Newbie Mistake #3: Accidentally buying an energy pack with Island Cash
Oooh, this is a doozy--one many Treasure Isle players make--including myself. After all your energy's been used up--and all of the fruit/energy packs in your backpack are depleted--Treasure Isle prompts you to buy an energy pack with Island Cash, if you try to dig up a spot for which you do not have enough energy. Clicking "yes" to this pop up buys an energy pack--which costs 10 Island Cash--with no other confirmation. Next thing you know, you're left with little Island Cash but have an energy pack in your backpack. Pay attention to the pop ups!! Hopefully this will be changed in the future--it's incredibly frustrating.

Treasure Isle Game on Facebook Newbie Mistake #4: Buying too many decorations
Sure, decorating your island in Treasure Isle is fun--but in this Facebook game, players don't earn XP for buying decorations (unless you buy with Island Cash). Unlike other Facebook games, coins are actually valueable when you progress through the upper levels (unlike Mafia Wars and Farmville, where players at higher levels have more coins than they know what to do with). You'll need these coins to pass certain islands to buy bug spray, dynamite and weapons. Bug spray alone can cost $5,000 coins! If you spend all your money on decorations at the begining of the game, you're going to get stuck later on. SAVE YOUR COINS--you're going to go broke buying bug spray on the later islands!!

Treasure Isle Game on Facebook Newbie Mistake #5: Not accepting gifts
Accept ALL gifts from friends, even if it's an ugly decoration you don't want. All decorations and animals can be sold directly from the backpack for coins. And again, you'll need those coins to buy bug spray! Make sure to send gifts out too--most of your friends will return the favor and you get lots of fruit and decorations.

Also, here's another tip: Always look under a tiki statue or a tree that's surrounded by a rocky path. These ALWAYS have treasure underneath, so if you're close to leveling up and need a treasure to get you there, start here!