Snow-B-Gone: Munching Secrets and How to Use Them

Who Should Use These Tactics?

If you've never played Snowmuncher before, obviously you can't really use these pointers yet and they won't help you in the slightest. I would suggest that you first learn how to play Snowmuncher, get the basic idea and object of the game down, and practice a lot before trying these ideas out.

If you're a beginning player, you can try these tactics but I strongly advise that instead you spend some more time playing the game until you are really familiar with how it goes—and especially until you have been able to survive at least up to four levels.

If you're relatively skilled at Snowmuncher, then perhaps it's time for you! Quite honestly, you should have played the game so much that you've gotten almost bored with it. Then, you are ready.

If you consider yourself an expert, perhaps you have already used some of these strategies, either knowingly or subconsciously. Skim through the article and see if any of them sound like some of the strategies you use yourself, or if there are any skills that you can try out and eventually adopt into your own regimen.

*Anybody is more than welcome to read this article, of course! The above statements just serve as a sort of guide as to how best to use these strategies.

The Strategies

1. Whenever possible, focus on munching groups of blocks as opposed to individual blocks of snow.

The exception—when eating a few individual blocks leads to the annihilation of many groups of blocks. Avoid eating any mud or dirt since those blocks fill you up twice as much as the snow blocks do. Mud or dirt is probably only worth munching if it's the only barrier to, say, a gem or Bloat-B-Gone.

Why It Works: One of your main goals is to munch through as many blocks of snow as possible with the least amount of munches. Of course, it's hard to avoid individual blocks altogether (especially when you get to around Level 4 or 5 when there are very few clusters left), and you're going to have to eat them at some point during every level. But when you have a choice between munching groups or individuals, eat the groups. Once I started focusing on this mini goal in the game, my score at the end of every level started increasing enormously (in Level 1, I went from finishing at 500 to 700-800).

2. Don't drink Bloat-B-Gone until you're at least 50% full.

Likewise, if you're at the bottom of the screen and you still have time (and space!) left, keep munching until you're 95% full. Use that last 5% to munch your way down to the next level. Make sure you're at the very bottom of the screen when you have 5% left, or you'll end up over the 100% limit and lose a life!

Why It Works: By waiting until you're 50% full, you're munching the maximum amount of blocks you can eat without getting too full before drinking the Bloat-B-Gone potion. If you drink the Bloat-B-Gone when you're only 30% full, that's 20% worth of blocks wasted that you could've eaten! If you're only 30% full, keep munching until you're at 50% (keep track using the bloating indicator). I suggest munching blocks near the potion, though not necessarily below it so you don't lose track of where it is. If you end up over 50% full (say, 60%), that's okay too. Though the potion will just take away 50%, you'll still only be 10% full after drinking it.

3. Use the code buuuurrrrrrrrp only when a) you have to, and b) when you're close to a Bloat-B-Gone.

Keep in mind that the code, like the Bloat-B-Gone potion, gives you 50% extra space in Dieter's belly. Also, remember that the code includes 1 b, 4 u's, 8 r's, and 1 p.

Why It Works: If the Bloat-B-Gone is really far away (perhaps all the way across the screen) then even if you use the code you'll probably end up losing a life anyway, and you're better off restarting if you're not very far into the game. Remembering the 1-4-8-1 combination helps me a lot during the game when I have to use the code, since I don't waste time in trying to copy how many u's and how many r's there are from a game guide such as this one.

4. Take advantage of the fact that groups of blocks often provide you shelter below them.

Why It Works: Sometimes you have to pass down several rows or corners to get where you want to be, such as nearer a Bloat-B-Gone potion. You can often find square pockets of space underneath a big group of blocks, or perhaps make space by munching other blocks underneath the big group and then taking their place. Depending on the situation, you can even use a group of blocks as shelter, get your gem or potion, and then eating that big group of blocks for more points before returning to your original space quickly to avoid getting snoshed (my failed attempt to merging "snow" and "smashed" into one word).

5. Desperate times call for desperate measures. If you're in need of Bloat-B-Gone but still have 50% of space left and the blasted potion is far but possibly reachable, I give you permission to munch all the way across the screen to get to it.

Be swift, and once you've drunk the potion, get to safe ground fast before any blocks fall on you. A general rule of thumb: stay as near the middle of the board as possible—not too much to the left or to the right, since you never know where the next Bloat-B-Gone might be.

Why It Works: This may sound like a bizarre tactic, and it is. It's risky and often causes lost lives (either from getting bloated too much or from getting smashed by a block), but if you are really quick, you find that it can actually prevent you from losing a life. I mean, it's either this Quick-Munch craze or a life lost anyway.

Keep in mind that there are always exceptions to the strategies above. Be sure to use good judgment and common sense (unless you don't have any, in which case you're doomed to fail in all that you do during your Neopian life—just kidding) in determining whether to use these strategies or not. Every single game is different, so your circumstances may be similar or not similar at all to mine.

I hope this game guide helps you succeed beyond your wildest, coolest (no pun intended, again) dreams. Excuse me, but it's time for my daily munching hour. Bring on the snow!

Thanks to my blumaroo, Vivixi_Brox, for encouraging me to KEEP MUNCHING the day I got the avatar.