...and *Pop* Go the Balls!

First of all. The introduction.

Ok. This section is for the people who are either playing the game for the first time or just really really don't get the game :P It won't really help you improve your Frumball skills or anything, but will just give you a better insight into the game and give you the story behind the game. Now. Read this. It's a part of the game description you see on the Frumball introduction screen where you also launch the game. Enjoy.

"This new arcade sensation was recently released aboard the Virtupets Space Station - THE place for all the latest games. Gormball and Zurroball are SO Year 4 - make sure you are playing FRUMBALL this year!"

Well, that's about it! ;) No, I'm not kidding. TNT didn't really go through too much trouble creating a story for this one, did they? ;) Well, no. So, there you have it. Sadly enough, this is all the background information I can give you on Frumball. But don't let this stop you. ONWARD!

Ok. Time for the second section. The game objective.

Let's start simple. The objective. Before I give you my side of the story, here's another clip from the introduction & game-launching page I talked about earlier:

"To play Frumball you must hit the ball into the other larger balls to make them vanish."

Ok, so this sounds like it's written by someone who really doesn't know much about what he's *cough*Adam*cough* talking about :P Here's what I think: the objective of the game is to use the dark blue bat in the bottom of the screen to guide the yellow smaller ball bouncing off the bat into the bigger differently colored balls above, which will then *pop* and vanish (& give you points!!!) to eventually clear the game screen of all the bigger balls, and at the same time avoid letting the ball slip into the oblivion (in other words, out of the game screen) in the bottom of the screen by again using the bat for guidance. Eeep. Long sentence :P Well, if this didn't clear it for you, I don't know what will. Just try playing the game on your own and find out yourself. The harder way. MUAH.

Ok, enough with that. Now let's see how you understand the controls.

There is one control. You move the bat with your mouse. Yes, the one that you're holding in your right hand right now. Good, you understand. Ok, so there are two other controls, but you probably won't be using them. The first one is the "S" button, which you can use to turn the sound on and off. Easy to remember, too! S - Sound :) The second one is the "Q" button, used to quit the game at any time. It can be handy when you're just really bored with the game and can't take it anymore, but again, you probably won't be using it. You'll simply die before you ever get the chance to even think about it. Sorry to get you down, but it's the reality. :P Eh. And again easy to remember Q - Quit :D

Next section. The balls.

No I'm not talking about the small yellow ball that bounces around. I'm talking about the bigger ones. The ones the small ball must destroy. By playing the game you may notice there are several different colors of these balls. The colors don't actually mean anything, but you should know that in the later levels some balls will need to be hit a number of times before they vanish. So don't think it's a glitch when you hit a ball and it won't get destroyed right away. Oh, and one more thing. The metal balls you might start seeing at level 10 or so can't be destroyed. So you don't get points for them. They also don't drop power ups. The only reason they're there is to make the game harder for you :K So just ignore them.

Moving on now... we have levels and scoring.

First, about the levels. No one really knows how much there are in total, or maybe no one just cares :P Usually people just play the game until they have enough points for a trophy and then just quit. Don't blame them, though. If you've been playing 2-3 hours in a row and you have a chance to quit... believe me, you would too. But anyway, for a trophy. I'm not really sure since I haven't played the game in a while, but you probably need to complete about 40-50 levels for one.

Now about the scoring. You get 5 points every time you destroy a ball. You DON'T on the other hand get points for every time you hit a ball that needs multiple hits to be destroyed, when hitting a metal ball and for power ups. So expect a looong game ;) In my experience you usually need about 7000+ points to get a bronze trophy, 8000+ points to get a silver trophy and 9000+ points to get a gold trophy.

Now, for the part you've all been waiting for... the POWER UPS!

Yes! There are 21 different power ups you can collect in the game, and won't it be fun memorizing them all so you won't choose the wrong ones during the game? I told you this was the part you've been waiting for ;) And lucky enough for you I'm going to list them all up for you here!!! But first, what are power ups? some of you might ask. Well, power ups are the different letters (or numbers in some cases) that sometimes fall out of the balls when you destroy them. You may either choose to catch them or just ignore them. Some of them are good, some of them are bad & that's why it's important to know your power ups! :) Ok, let's get started then! [Power ups are listed alphabetically] [Read below]

A = Catching this power up will make you restart the level you've been working on so hard and you will lose all the points you've got so far (in the current level). Don't catch it. Just let it fall out of the screen.

B = This is called Double Ball. A second ball will fall from the sky and there will be two balls bouncing around, destroying the bigger balls. However, if one of the balls falls through, you won't lose a life. Just keep playing with the other ball. Catch this power up :)

C = When the ball will bounce against walls or balls, it won't bounce off to where it would normally bounce. Makes the game harder, since you can't presume where the ball will fall & move your bat there. Don't get this one.

D = Invisiball. The ball will shrink and it will be harder for you to see where it is and keep track of the game. Don't get it.

E = The E is for "Enlarge" Bat. It will make the bat bigger (wider). Needless to say, get this one!!! :D

F = Bad power up. Especially in the earlier levels. It will make all the balls in the level need to be hit 3 times before they get destroyed and you get your points. Don't try to catch this one.

G = One word. Glue. The ball will be glued to your bat every time it hits it, instead of just bouncing right off. You can release the ball by clicking. Simple. Technically, this one is good, since you can navigate the ball more, but I personally don't like to use it, since it slows up the game a bit. You can choose for yourself if you want to catch it or not :)

H = Called the Giant Chokato. A Giant Chokato will fall from the top of the screen. I've never actually gotten this one myself, but I hear you can get 1000 points by catching it with your bat :D

I = The Indestructi-ball! This one will make the ball go right through the balls instead of bouncing off them. You will still get your 5 points for each ball. Conclusion: Good power up!

L = The ball will slow down a bit. Good for fast computers, bad for slow computers.

M = About 3 extra balls will fall from the sky and start bouncing around like the first one. As with Double ball, you only need to keep one of the balls from falling through the bottom of the screen to keep playing.

N = This is again one I haven't really gotten myself, but have heard about other people getting it. Small bags of Neopoints should start falling from the sky & you can earn more points by catching as many as you can! Just don't forget you also have a ball bouncing around, which is more important that a few extra points...

P = The ball will become faster. MUCH faster. Seriously, DON'T catch this one :/

R = This is opposite of the F-ball. It will make the balls need to be hit only one time to be destroyed! Especially useful in the later levels :)

S = Eeeeep! This is indeed a baaaad one. It will make the bat SHRINK. It's easy to remember though (S = Shrink) :P

T = Triple Bat. It will turn your bat into three little bats that are attached to one another. I don't like this one since when you move to the edges of the screen the three bats separate a little and leave holes between each other, making it possible that the ball might slip through there and you can't really do anything to stop that from happening :(

V = Riiiight. This is again one of the power ups that I don't know much about. As far as I've heard, there should be a giant Pant Devil falling from the sky and if you catch it you lose the game or something. Or you just lose all your points. Sorry, can't help you with this one :/ All in all it's a bad power up, no matter how it exactly works and I advise you to stay away from it :)

W = Catching this power up will automatically warp you into the next level. Handy when you've been stuck trying to destroy one last ball for 15 minutes :P

X = Gives you one extra life!!! Woohoo!!! :D

Z = Warps you ahead 3 levels. Some like it, I don't. You might be skipping some simpler levels where you get a lot of points to get to harder levels with fewer points. My advice: stay away :)

3 = Finally, the last power up :P And gives you 3 EXTRA LIVES, too!!! In my opinion, the best power up you can get :D

Phew, I'm glad that's over (and bet you are too ;)) Now for some tips that you can consider while going for the trophy :)

- Try to stay relaxed. You won't get anywhere by being nervous and jumpy, barely being able to keep the bat still. Just think of how simple the game actually is. All you need to do is to move the bat, that's it. Simple :)

- Clean your mouse, if possible. Get out all those bread crumbs, dust balls or whatever else you might have in there. You don't want your mouse also to be jumpy when you already are :P

- Try to predict where the ball will go before you actually see it coming down. Otherwise it might be too late.

- Another strategy is to stay in the middle of screen. Then, when the ball is coming down, you'll quickly get to go to one side or another, instead of rushing from one end to the other and risking to lose the ball.

- ONLY catch the power ups when you're sure the ball is SAFE. When you see the ball coming down on one side, and a power up on the other side, go for the BALL. NEVER for the power up. Well, almost never :P the only time it's worth going for the power up is when it's a "3". Remember? It gives you 3 lives. But it's an extremely rare power up and most of the time you should just go for the ball, ok? :)

- The balls on the edges of the screen are harder to hit. So when the level starts, try to move the bat to the edges of the screen and take those balls down first :)

- Try to memorize at least most of the power ups. Believe me, it will help A LOT when you know which power up to go for and which not to go for :)

- Practice. Practice practice practice practice. Practice. I know you've probably heard this a lot, but it's true! After all, practice makes perfect! ;) And just to make sure you understand... practice. Practice practice. P r a c t i c e.

PRACTICE!!!

- And finally, have fun with the game! There's not much thinking involved, so it'll be a fun experience! Trust me! :D

Oh and one last thing... didn't think I was going to mention this, but here goes... there's a ZEN mode as well!!! It's quite pointless actually, but might help you practice a little if you don't think you're ready for the real game :P

Anyway, I sure hope this guide helped you & it'll be a lot easier for you to get that trophy now :D If you have any comments or feedback on the guide, you can neomail me at my user name on Neopets - krysym. Hope you had fun reading this!

Bye!

See ya!

Have fun playing!

Why are you still here?? Go play Frumball!!! @_@