Techo Says: A Comprehensive Guide to a Classic

With a focus on World Challenges

On May 30, 2008 Neopets unveiled its 1000th game. This prestige went to a restyled version of a real Neopian classic – Techo Says. The game is simple yet challenging – perhaps even daunting under the glaring eye of the host (who is affectionately referred to as the Techo Taskmaster). But never fear! Read on, and we will help you earn that easy 1000 NP per game, World Challenge pieces, and maybe even a trophy!

LAYOUT

The layout of the game consists of six Neopets in roughly an oval arrangement, though it is much easier to think of them as two rows of three Neopets. As such, the top row includes a Chia, Blumaroo, and Mynci while the bottom row consists of a Quiggle, Kacheek, and Moehog. To help distinguish them from each other, they are all different colours and make a different noise.

OBJECTIVE

Then, there is our harsh Techo Taskmaster, whose command we have to follow. There is a “watch” phase and a “play” phase. First, you watch the sequence of Neopets that the Techo plays, causing them to pop up and say their name. Then, you play back what you just saw by clicking on the Neopets in the correct order. In each level of difficulty there are several rounds, each round the same as the previous except plus one more Neopet.

SCORES

You will score 5 points per correct Neopet and receive a bonus at the end of each completed level equal to 10x the difficulty level – for example, 10 points for completing level 1, 20 for level 2, etc.

Difficulty Level	Number of Rounds	Score after Completing
1	5	35
2	10	105
3	15	210
4	20	350
5	25	525
6	30	735
7	35	980
8	40	1260
9	45	1575
10	50	1925

50 rounds?! Don’t worry; you won’t have to make it that far to get a trophy or WC piece (more later).

There is also a time limit per level, so if you want to get anywhere decent, don’t bother trying to write anything down! Instead you’ll have to rely on good old memory – but as we’ll discuss below, there are a number of ways to make it easier.

STRATEGIES

First things first, always organize the sequence into blocks of 3-5 Neopets instead of thinking of it as a long train. You may also find it helpful to keep the cursor over the first Neopet so you don’t lose your orientation.

ASSIGN – Assign a number from 1-6 for each of the Neopets. A possible configuration is shown below:

1-2-3

4-5-6

Recite the numbers in blocks of up to 5 aloud as you click on the Neopets. Similarly, you can assign letters, species names, colours, etc. You’ll have to find out which method works the best for you.

SHAPES – Alternatively, you can take advantage of the fact that the Neopets are arranged as two rows. If you group them by 3-4 at a time, you can create mental images of geometric shapes. For example:

A-B-C

D-E-F

If the order is A-E-C, it will create an equilateral triangle. If it’s A-D-C, it is a right-angle triangle. B-D-E-C is a parallelogram, and so on. This way, it’s like connecting the dots to make a picture.

WORLD CHALLENGE (WC)

Ah, now we’re getting to the good stuff! World Challenges can be difficult to understand at first, but with a few guidelines you will be a pro in no time. Right now you are probably thinking one of two things – either “I am already a pro, thanks” or “world challenge?”. If you’re already a pro, feel free to skip the next section where we’ll give a brief rundown of how the system works.

WHY PLAY?

Prizes!! Each hour, you can win a handful of NP but more importantly, a map piece. Techo Says belongs to the Neopia Central world. You can win up to 3 pieces per day and there are 20 pieces in a full map. Once you get all 20 pieces, you can convert to win fabulous prizes such as paint brushes! Note: there are 3 levels of maps and you won’t get good paint brushes until map 3. Alternatively, you can sell individual map pieces for decent amounts of NP.

RULES

The basic premise of WC is to score high enough to beat other Neopians playing in the challenge, but in order to do this you must first enter the challenge. For Techo Says you can do that here: //www.neopets.com/challenges/world_chall.phtml?world_id=2.

Your submitted score will be put up against the score of one of the other players in the challenge. If you win, you will earn a +1; if you tie, you earn +0; and if you lose, you will earn -1 to your tally. You must have a tally of 0 or greater at the end of the hour to be eligible to win a map piece. Also, you can keep sending scores for WC after you’ve sent 3 scores for NP.

WINNING

At the end of the hour, you can win in one of three categories: Tally, Hour’s High Score, or Score Totals. A common misconception is that you can only win in tally as the scores table defaults to highest tally. If you want to know if you are winning in the other categories, click on the title of each at the top of the score table. You are in a winning position if you are above the line (you will see when you try it out).

As previously stated, you can only win 3 WC pieces per day and you can only win one piece per game per hour. It is recommended that you get your pieces early in the day since you may not win every hour. Keep in mind that the 11 pm NST world challenge goes towards the next day as the piece is actually given out at 12 AM NST.

GET TO THE TECHO SAYS PART ALREADY!

A general rule to follow when sending scores for Techo Says is that sending a score from round 4 or higher is likely to win. You can win by sending scores from round 3, but it is not as likely. Also, the scores toward the end of the hour tend to be lower, so if you are still working on getting to level 4, you should wait until the last 30 minutes of the competition.

However, the number of players that usually enter for Techo Says tends to be on the low end. A minimum of 5 people who have submitted a score is needed for anyone to win. If there are not 5 players, the scores will transfer to the next hour, as will any scores that have not been processed from the previous hour.

This also means that there is not a lot of place movement in Techo Says, so if you are winning in a category, you will most likely stay there throughout the hour. However, it’s a good idea to have a backup score ready to send if needed.

TROPHY

Generally, a score in the low 500s is sufficient to place on reset night. However, keep an eye on the table yourself and keep practicing to improve.

CONCLUSION

Besides the material perks of Neopoints, WC map pieces, and trophies, Techo Says is very good for improving your focus and memory. It may seem impossible at first but this is definitely the type of game where practice means perfect. We hope this guide will be helpful to you – good luck and have fun!