Unpopular, Yet Favorited Games Across Neopia

As much of the Neo community may or may not know, each game is ranked by popularity in terms of their Award Ribbons on the game’s preview.

    The Award Ribbons ranking are as follows: 100,000 plays, 500,000 plays, 1,000,000 plays, 10,000,000 plays, 50,000,000 plays, 100,000,000 plays, and a whopping 200,000,000 plays! Kass Basher has earned the top spot being number 1 in the Games Room with 200,000,000+ plays, with Meerca Chase and Turmac Roll following in second and third.

However, Neopets features tons of games available, many of which are excellent ways of earning Neopoints if you’re willing to put forth the effort. (I myself have played random games out of the blue and was surprised that I earned an easy 3k from them) Many of these games go unnoticed or unplayed simply because they’re not on the front page of the Games Room or they’re just not popular enough in general for anyone to want to play them at all.

So what did I do in response to this? I asked the Neo community about their favorite games that they knew weren’t very popular, but still played regardless. I ended up playing each and every game in the listed ones that they mentioned so that I could cover them all, and get a good understanding of each of them, instead of brushing them off based off appearance or name. In this topic, we’ll first be covering Flash games that follow in the category of least popular based off of their ribbons, covering only the unpopular games with 10,000,000 or less plays, and then we’ll be covering the less popular non-flash games that users enjoy playing.

Now, without further ado, let’s begin!

    Coal War Tactics

“Madam Salt and Baron Goldnose have competing claims to the profitable ore nodes that lie deep inside the Grand Neovian Mine. Support your favourite and strap on a helmet, because this mine's going to blow!”

Let’s start off with Coal War Tactics. Coal War Tactics is a fairly easy game to figure out once you get going. Place your minecarts on your side of the board and press space to throw them. After laying them out, it’s time to let the dynamite fly! You progress forward and earn points by taking out your opponent’s minecarts, whether it be Madam Salt’s or Baron Goldnose’s. Whichever side you pick is up to you. You can also get bonuses in game after destroying an opponent’s carts!

Now at first, I wasn’t interested in this game in the slightest. I’d seen this game around the games room a few times but just brushed it off. After actually playing it for myself, though, I found that the game was actually quite fun and enjoyable. It’s actually a little nerve-wracking watching and waiting to see if you get a hit on a cart or if the opponent gets a hit on you.

After playing this game, I’d say it’s worth a play or two if you want a change of pace in your dailies routine.

Game Plays:

    Only 100,000 plays! Being one of the slightly newer games on the site, this doesn’t surprise me as much, but this game does have the potential to reach higher status if it got noticed a bit more.

Attack of the Slorgs II: Slorgs in Space

“A horde of ravenous Slorgs is set to invade Kreludor's food supply, and the only thing that can stop them is the Slorg-B-Gone solution of your state-of-the-art X-1000 Slorgeriser craft.”

Now this one is an interesting one. I’ve played Slorgs in Space before, and it’s very similar to the first Attack of the Slorgs, but with a space-y twist. You play this game by matching Slorgs of the same colour in groups of three or more by shooting new Slorgs into play with your Slorgeriser craft. The Slorgs move in a circular motion and even if you keep shooting them, they’ll keep coming until you knock them all out or until they reach the sqare in the center, being Kreludor’s food supply. There are also two powerups that will appear while you’re playing, the Rainbow Powerup that can turn into any colour Slorg, and the Slow Powerup that can slow down the line of Slorgs.

This game is a decent game all around and not very hard when you first start. Once you get into the later levels it can get a little difficult, but overall it’s an enjoyable game. I’ve played this game only in Games Master Challenges in the past or Daily Dares, but I find myself wanting to play this game more after revisiting it.

Game Plays:

    Slorgs in Space has somewhere around 1,000,000 plays. Not a bad number, but certainly not as up there as it could be. That said, I do think it’s a good game all around and every Neopian should have the chance to play it at least once, even if they don’t enjoy it quite as much as myself.

Mystery Island Chef Academy

Now when I first started up this game, one word immediately came to mind: complicated. Cooking games have always been a stress-maker for me (probably because I can’t cook and I can actually burn water). The instructions of the game can make everything seem a little bit intimidating at first with the amount of information they give you, but in reality this game is actually quite easy. In the first level/day, ingredients will be highlighted on which orders you have to cook. After the first day, you’ll have to figure out for yourself based on their appearance which ones you need to cook, as they will not highlight on the second day. With a little bit of practice, it’s easy. You can also spice up your orders before they go out to the customers to double the points you earn, but you have to be quick as you only have a few seconds to do it! As you get into later levels, you’ll have to be careful, because your food CAN go bad before it gets to the customer, and you’ll lose the chance to deliver those dishes and get the points you need. You can also end your game by doing this. Whoops.

Game Plays:

    Chef Academy has somewhere over 1,000,000 plays. After playing for a bit, I realized that I’m still not cut out for the cooking game and that I’m probably fit for other games, but regardless, this game is very good and enjoyable. It’s fairly easy to earn NP in this game too, at only around level 3 if you have about 150 points you can get 300 np. (I didn’t make it very far, haha.) Looks like I’ll have to practice my culinary skills a bit…

Spinacles

“It's sphere-spinning madness! MADNESS!

Okay, no. It's actually pretty relaxing really. But it can get tough if you don't watch your spinning!”

Now THIS game is a fun one. Not necessarily many Neopians’ favourite game, but it’s one of my personal favorites. Similar to Slorgs in Space being that it’s a colour-matching game, you shoot the orbs of similar colours at each other to match them in groups of three or more and knock them off the circle in the center. Once all of the orbs are knocked off the center platform, you progress to the next level. There are a few powerups that can appear in the game while you’re playing to make it a bit easier, and even knock a few extra orbs off the playing field too. However, after you shoot a certain number of orbs, more of them will come into play from the sides of the screen, so be extremely cautious when doing this. If the orbs hit the edges of the screen, it’ll be game over!

Game Plays

    Spinacles has around 10,000,000 plays. I’ve been playing this game for a while and I can never seem to get past level 9, no matter how hard I’ve tried. I suppose it’s the determination to see what’s next that drives me to keep playing, or maybe it’s that shiny trophy. Either way, like the game description says, it’s very relaxing and I find myself coming back more and more to play it on a near-daily basis. If you’ve never played the game before and you want to wind down with a quiet little game, I’d highly recommend this one to you.

Shenkuu Tangram

Decipher the shapes of the clouds over Shenkuu!

This game is very easy, yet extremely relaxing and fun to do. Many of the puzzles are the same if you play the game over and over, but it’s a fun little game if you’re looking for something slow. However, if you’re going for the game trophy, you’ll want to try and finish the puzzle as quickly as possible, since there is a time limit. If you have more time left on the clock, you get a better score for that round. The game gets a little trickier when you hit round 3, where it’s a little harder to see where pieces fit into the puzzle, so if you’re going for that trophy, you might want to use a bit of memory work for this one. That clock is ticking and if you don’t know where all the pieces go, you could miss out on the shiny gold trophy.

Game Plays

    Shenkuu Tangram has over 10,000,000 plays. I’ve played this game in the past but haven’t played it in a few months. It’s easy to earn NP in if you play your way through all the puzzles, making for an easy 3k if you want to put in the time. Getting the trophy shouldn’t be hard either, if you don’t mind replaying the game a couple times to get it.

There are many more flash games that I could talk about that I wrote down, but for now, we’ll move onto the less popular non-flash games that Neopians still like to play. I myself played a few of these, but there are a few new ones for me as well.

Dice-A-Roo

Dice-A-Roo is… less than stellar in terms of earning NP to say the least. It isn’t a very popular or good way of earning NP, most of the time the jackpots are very small, and it’s very hard to get to that final dice when you play it. I only made it to that silver dice one time… and promptly got Game Over after a mere three turns with it. Needless to say my luck is not that great, yet there is a certain charm to playing this game over and over. Perhaps it’s the gambling aspect of it, and the desire just to see what’s on that last dice, or just to see what you get in general. Maybe it’s even just to see what sorts of silly things those Blumaroos have to say while bouncing by you while you play. Either way, though this game isn’t popular, it definitely earns some attention as a game.

Scorchy Slots

Scorchy Slots is an interestingly odd slot machine game. It’s older, so it’s not flash like the other slot games like Black Pawkeet Slots or Brucey B. Slots. Yet it’s not a totally terrible game. The prizes range from a single neopoint to faeries to the jackpot, and even map pieces. (I haven’t played long enough to actually win any of these map pieces yet)

The game randomizes what it will land on, and it takes a button click to refresh the page and make the slots roll, so you never know what sort of space the slots will land on. You can also choose to “hold” your slot for a little while if you think it will win a bigger prize and you don’t want that column to spin.

Overall it’s not a bad game, and it only costs 5 NP to spin it each time. The jackpots may not be spectacular, but it’s a pretty good chunk of change if you don’t mind spending a handful of NP trying to get it.

Godori

I’ll admit, I’ve never played Godori, and it was a little confusing when I first got going. It’s a card-matching game, and there are 48 cards that you have to “capture” more of to win the game. At first I assumed I would be playing against Kentari, the Wondrous Weaponry Shopkeeper who introduces you to the game, but instead I was playing against my own Neopet in turn! Silly as it may seem, but somehow I find it more enjoyable when I’m playing a game against my own Neopet.

Anyway, back to Godori. 48 cards with 4 sets each. You have to capture as many cards as possible to beat your opponent. You can win cards from World sets, Neopet sets, Cup sets, and Petpet sets. Did I mention that this game is actually very hard to win? Yep, it’s pretty darn difficult. The game can take several rounds to play, so there’s no telling who will actually win from the beginning. It could take a turn very quickly if you’re not careful.

I ended up losing the game, but it was still fun and I plan on playing it again in the future.

Scarab 21

This game isn’t a difficult one to play, but it’s a bit challenging to win. You basically place cards in a stack to add up to the number “21”, but no further. Each number on the cards equals to the value you will put down. Pretty easy to figure out, but the game can turn sour very quickly if you’re not careful. Adding up the cards to 21 isn’t always as simple as it seems, with the numbers adding up very quickly with the amount of kings, queens, jacks, and 10’s that there are in the deck. Once you start playing, however, it’s hard to stop.

There are so many more games I could talk about that didn’t make the list, so I’ll include them as honorable mentions below. You can feel free to go play these games yourself if you want!

-Jumpin’ Gem Heist (1,000,000 plays)

-Igloo Garage Sale: The Game (10,000,000 plays)

-Sophie’s Stew (10,000,000 plays)

-Qasalan Caper (10,000,000 plays)

-Frumball (10,000,000 plays)

-Eye of the Storm (10,000,000 plays)

-The Buzzer Game (10,000,000 plays)

-Techo Says (10,000,000 plays)

-Time Tunnel (10,000,000 plays)

-Snot Splatter (10,000,000 plays)

-Snowbeast Snackrifice (10,000,000 plays)

I hope you enjoyed reading, and that now you have a few more games to add to your dailies list, or even a few new favorites just for the heck of it. Keep on gaming, Neopia!