Wiggle Your Way to Dubloons

It's all about the set up

It is very important to have a nice set up for your play zone. Don’t even click ‘play this game’ yet. You need to have a nice, comfy chair, and about an hour of time on your hands. Once you get the hang of the game, it takes about 20 minutes to earn 800 points, unless you get extremely lucky and get four two hundred coins in a row (not happening!). Also very important, make sure all movable objects are out of reaching distance. You will want to throw anything not attached to a surface as hard as you can when you die with a score of 797 (trust me, it happens!).

Practicing

Contrary to what many believe, this is really a very easy game. Don’t shake your head in disbelief. I happen to be one of the worst game players out there. Just look at my trophy cabinet if you don’t believe me! Every game is all about strategy and PRACTICE. I stress the practice because too many Neopians think that they can just play a game once, and get a high score for an avatar. Not happening! You must practice your avatar game often to see any results. I did not just sit down and pop out 800 as a score on my first try. I played this game for two months, and I still die with only 25 points scored!

Strategies

This is also one of the most important aspects of the game. There are several strategies I am going to discuss with you, that if you follow them to the dot, should get you much closer to that seemingly far off distant goal of 800.

Round ‘em Up!

Rounding them up isn’t just a cowboy term. It is something you will become very familiar with as you play this game. You will never get a score past 25 if you do not use this strategy. Here’s how it works.

A dubloon pops up in front of you, and of course, you grab it. The trouble starts when the mines appear. There are never more than 9 on the screen at once (thank goodness!). It is very important that you round up all the mines into the middle of the screen. You do this by using a maneuver I like to call the wiggle. We will discuss this later on. When all nine mines appear, having them in a closely lumped circlish shape makes it very easy to grab the dubloons. Almost every time, a dubloon will appear on the outside of the circle. When they do appear inside your circle of mines, float in a corner, or dodge along semi-close to the mines, to pull them away a safe distance, until you feel like you can get the coin without dying.

Another important tidbit about this strategy: Never make a sharp turn to get a coin that popped up right behind you! You turn very slow in the boat, and chances are, while you are turning, the mines are getting closer and closer, and bam! You are dead before you know it. You may not have noticed that the mines speed up the closer you get to them. Because you turn slower, you are in one spot longer, so the mines have more time to “focus” on where you are, and kill you faster. Just remember, always just circle around, even if a dubloon appears right where you just were, because you will regret making that sharp turn when you are dead with a score of 772.

The Wiggle

The Wiggle is a term I made up for the move I am about to describe to you. It is called the wiggle because that is exactly what you are doing. The wiggle helps you circle up the mines into the center of the screen. Here’s how you do it.

When two mines appear on the screen, and they are far apart, zoom around in-between them, and slowly go left and right towards one then the other. If you do this correctly, you will notice they both drift towards you, and get faster. Right before they hit you, speed away, and the two mines once hopelessly apart, and close together! Just think of it as wiggling, if that confused you. You can do this with 3 or 4 mines at once. Just move slowly left and right near the mines, and make sure you are pointed out towards a gap where you can escape. The wiggle is the most effective move towards getting the mines all gathered in the center.

The Move

Sometimes, using the wiggle just won’t work. There is a gap between the mines that you can’t wiggle between, but, you can do “a move”. A move is very simple to complete. Make sure there is enough space for you to slip through, and point your boat in the direction where you can hold down the up key, and go straight through without dying. Put simply, it is just speeding through a gap very fast. The move is best utilized when there is no possible way a wiggle would work, and you are just trying to get the mines closer together.

Mines and Whirlpools

A little more about mines. They can blow if they hit each other, or appear on top of each other. When they do this after you have formed your nice circle, don’t panic. Whatever you do, after you get the dubloon, and a mine appear in front of you, speed straight ahead. This may sound like it would kill you, but in fact, it will save you. If you tried to turn around when one appears in front of you, your slower turning in fact draws it faster towards you. But if you speed straight ahead, you are almost always going to pass right over it without dying. This only works if it is right in front of you and you don’t hesitate.

A very annoying side effect are the whirlpools. They appear randomly, and there is no escaping them. The best thing to do is hope that it doesn’t appear in front of you with the mines to your back. When it does appear, just head to a wall far from it. It lasts only a few seconds. The bad thing is, you have to regroup all your mines. The good thing, though, is that I hardly ever appears more than once per game.

Review

I know you probably forgot half of what I just outlined for you, and so, like the nice person I am, I made an outline for you to use.

Round ‘em Up- It is very important to gather all the mines into the center of the screen. Remember, almost all of the dubloons will appear outside of your circle of mines!

The Wiggle- When trying to round up the mines, move slowly left and right in-between mines, or perform “the wiggle”. This helps in the circulation of the mines.

The Move- When the wiggle won’t work, and the mines are just too far apart to circle around safely, a good dash in-between will help you out. Also called “a move”, it basically is quickly going between mines that are far enough apart to not kill you, but effectively draw them closer.

Mines- Mines speed up when you are closer, so always be moving around the screen. And watch out for whirlpools. Move over to a wall far from it, and wait a few seconds for it to pass.

After you have read my outline, you should have a much clearer view on how to get 800 points on this game. It helps to have friends or family sit around and watch, and every time you do one of my strategies, have them call it out. The wiggle! A move! Also, having someone gasp as you have a close call, or throw things against the wall with you when you die at 799, or scream with joy as you not only get 800, but surpass that and earn 8,603 points to get a trophy, makes it much more enjoyable (thanks richnangela005!).

Most of all, remember it’s a game, and enjoy it!