Awesome, glad to hear you enjoyed the game. Oh my yes, the circle strat is definitely real, I am now very curious to hear how far you managed to count DOWN! knowing this totally valid strat, also if you managed to still nap a hefty sum of gold coins while you were at it. Those coins can incite sometimes hazardous risk taking that isn't always to the benifit of the continued descent. The "gotta catch 'em all" urge can be deadly..
Also another key strat that can prove useful is the jumping strat. You can - if timed just right - jump over explosions as they occur. The window for success there is intentionally by design quite narrow, so it is an optional risk and a means to skillfully save yourself from a sticky explosive situation.