How to maximise your Bit count in My Little Pony: hints, tips, and tricks

If you've read our review of Gameloft's new My Little Pony title and decided to download it, then you might well be having a tough time with its slightly stingy approach to progression.

Not to worry, my pony pals.

After you've read this guide, you'll have so many Bits up your virtual sleeve, you won't know what to do with them. Except, you will. We're good like that.

So, let's crack on with this My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic walkthrough Lickety-Split (okay, okay, no more brony-based puns. That was a gimme, though).

Bits and bob-a-jobs



This guide is going to primarily focus on helping you wring every last Bit out of the game, since it's a shortage of this in-game currency that will ultimately impede your progress in this title time and again.

Some of the ways in which you can obtain this currency sure aren't pretty, or even quick, but they're effective.

You need to be micro-managing at all times - let's be clear about that from the off. You can get all manner of bonus Bits by spending time in the game. And while they're almost always small in number, when added together they can be quite substantial.

The first thing you should do, then, is to tap on trees and hay bales. I'm not kidding.

Bits are scattered among the shrubbery, you see, and if you're persistent (or just killing time while waiting for a task to complete), you can scrounge a chunk of coin this way.

To make the process even easier, dedicate a small space for all of these objects in your play area, and head there if you've got 30 seconds to spare.

Once you've unlocked one of the temples dotted around the world, you can start feeding it Shards of Magic. As a consequence, it'll occasionally spit out Bits. You can also use these Shards to defeat roaming Swarmites, which again will give you more currency.

To get hold of these Shards, you'll need to collect them from tasks completed, as well as play the balloon-popping game. You can take part in the latter once per day, with an option to buy more goes if you so desire.

Take on the challenge



Completing challenges is beneficial in other ways. For not only do you get Bits by polishing off a challenge, you also gain experience. And increasing your level can give you a huge chunk of cash.

For most of these challenges, you will have to spend money in some way. But, if the task is just to buy some decorations, for example, you can buy the requisite objects, reap the reward, then go back and sell the pointless bits of tat you've just purchased.

Or you could choose to skip the task entirely by paying gems. It's your call.

A quick word (or 15) on gems. Despite their being in short supply, they're really not that important. If you desperately want specific ponies from the series to populate your Ponyland with, then you may need to save gems up. But, if you're not that bothered about specific ponies, use your gems to get other stuff done.

Once you do have the ponies you desire, you'll want to level them up quickly by playing mini-games with them. These aren't too challenging, but there are a couple of tricks you can employ to maximise the amount of experience you'll get from them.

In the apple-collecting game, for instance, don't overstretch and try to grab apples it's unlikely you'll get. Just stay calm and bag the ones you can. In the ball-bouncing game, only swipe at the ball when the circle surrounding it is close to its edges. Easy.

Are you experienced?



Once you've gained experience from the mini-games, you'll quickly start racking up completed stars, which give your individual ponies access to harder jobs. These take more time to complete, but you'll receive more Bits for finishing them.

Managing your ponies is also crucial to getting the very most from the time you invest. If you've got highly experienced ponies, make sure to transfer them onto harder jobs, and assign first-tier work to the lower-ranking ones.

You should also think about migrating your workforce away from low-paying tasks. It's all well and good to have a constant flow of small cash amounts, but if you've got a fully five-starred pony wasting its time on low-reward work, then you're playing the game 'wrong'. Especially if a high-paying job isn't getting done.

Furthermore, you should ensure that you have as many ponies as possible, at all times. If you've built up gems, then spend them on a new character. If you've just enough money to unlock a new one, then do so.

They may cost a lot, but in the long run they'll be earning their keep and turning a profit, allowing you to make faster progress through the game.

We hope you've found these tips useful, but if you've got any more that you'd like to share, do let us and the rest of the Pocket Gamer community know by leaving a comment in the box below.