Typing Terror Avatar Guide

     TYPING TERROR AVATAR GUIDE

     This is a guide to getting the score of 3600+ necessary for the Typing Terror avatar. This game requires typing skill, but mostly luck. There are some things you can do to increase your chances of getting the avatar, however!

     OVERVIEW

     There are 5 levels, along with a boss level. You are asked to type words ranging from 3 letters to 8 letters at the boss, and the words can be real life words or Neopet-specific words. For level 1, you will need to type 12 Grundos, all the way to 20 Grundos for level 5.

     POINTS BREAKDOWN

     For every normal Grundo, you get 5 points. There are also bonus Grundos: For every upside down Grundo, you get 20 points. For every broken Grundo, you get 100 points, and they aren’t even upside down. For every level, you get a bonus equal to your accuracy x2. So perfect accuracy means 1000 bonus points over the 5 levels (200 bonus each level).

     For the boss level, you earn a bonus equal to accuracy x3, 20 points per word (25 words in total), and 100 points for each life (maximum of 300 points). This means you can earn 300 + 500 + 300 points total, or 1100 points on the boss level. So, for the avatar, you need to enter the boss level of 2500+.

     Assuming you have perfect accuracy, you need 1500 points through Grundos to get the avatar. Since you will encounter 80 Grundos throughout the 5 levels with which to earn points, you want to earn a certain amount of points per level for the best chance.

     The minimum number of points if you complete the game is 400 points, which is much lower than the 1500 points necessary through Grundos. Another way to think about it is that if you get 12 broken robots, then you are guaranteed the avatar, as long as you have perfect accuracy and don’t lose any lives, even if you don’t get any of the 20 points Grundos! And since there are 5 levels, you should feel good about your game as long as you are averaging about 2-3 Grundos per level. This means that if you get 2-3 broken robots on level 1 (where you only have the opportunity to hit 12 robots) then you should continue with that game, considering that you have a lot more chances at level 4-5 (where you need to destroy 18 or 20 robots, and you have a much higher chance of getting more broken robots since you will see more robots)

     STRATEGY

     The game is all about maximizing your chances of getting the broken Grundos. For the rest of the guide, I will be assuming that you can type with perfect accuracy. If you have are able to consistently hit 99-100% accuracy, then you don’t need much practice. However, if you find yourself with trouble getting through some of the levels, or making too many mistakes, then you may need more practice typing. I recommend playing the game more often so you get the hang of some of the weird words they make you type (looking at you "syzygies").

          Once you are comfortable typing the words, the rest of it is unfortunately all luck. You could have the fastest fingers, but if you don’t get as many broken Grundos giving you 100 points each, you won’t get the avatar score even if you beat the game. You can’t do much except hope you get as many broken Grundos as possible.

     For level 1, you will only encounter 12 Grundos. I recommend counting the number of Grundos as you destroy them. Once you get to around 7-8 Grundos out of the 12, I recommend letting the Grundos get closer before you have to destroy them. This is to maximize the chance that a broken robot will appear! For example, if you are at 10-11 Grundos destroyed, you can wait and allow some of the basic Grundos to accumulate on one side of the screen, then hope that a broken robot appears at the last second, netting you many more points.

     Unfortunately, most of your games you won’t get multiple, let alone any broken Grundos netting you 100 points each. If that’s the case, I would restart the game until you get a level with at least 2-3 broken Grundos.

     Level 2 is also relatively easy, and I would continue doing the same strategy. Since you will encounter 14 robots, you can wait until you hit 10-11 Grundos before letting them accumulate and sniping the broken Grundos in the back.

     Sometimes, you will see a broken Grundo appear, but it is surrounded by basic Grundos such that you can’t see it. This is one of the worst feelings, as you can’t get those easy points. There are two ways around this: One is to let Grundos accumulate on one side of the screen, and destroy Grundos on the opposite side and hope that the broken Grundos appear on the clear side. Another is if you can see the first letter, you can actually type that letter and the word will appear in the bottom right corner, letting you finish typing that word.

     For level 2, I would aim for a final score of 1000+.

     Level 3 and onwards may be more difficult to do the same strategy, as words are longer and harder to type, and Grundos come faster. Additionally, it may be difficult to keep count of Grundos while typing that fast. Do your best to delay the Grundos and aim for the broken Grundos, and don’t get discouraged if you don’t get any broken Grundos in a level. Remember, it is all luck, it is possible to get multiple broken Grundos all at once on level 5!

     Finally, the boss level is relatively straightforward. You have 60 seconds for 25 words, which is not too bad. Remember, you need at least 2500 points at this point to get the avatar. Otherwise, it is mathematically impossible and you may as well restart.

     CONCLUSION

     Typing Terror requires some typing skill, but most of it is luck. Hopefully, I’ve taught you some ways you can manipulate the luck to be in your favor. It took me 2-3 days of playing. Don’t get discouraged, either. I got a score just under 3600, which was very frustrating. However, the game right after that I earned a score of 3865 which was enough for the gold trophy in the middle of the month. Lucky streaks can happen so just keep at it!