Mine-Blowing Guide to Dubloon Disaster

As if sailing your own boat wasn’t enough, in this thrilling game you get to play as Dorak, who just happens to be a Krawk - the rarest pet in all of Neopia - what else could you ask for? Your aim in Dubloon Disaster is to dodge the mines that are being fired from the evil Black Pawkeet, but at the same time, you need to collect as many sparkling Dubloons as you can get your hands on.

Just like in all of the other games, you have decisions to make. You can play the game in small, normal, large, extra large or full screen mode. I play in full screen mode, as it's clear and you can see exactly what you have to do. This is just based on your preference.

Before you get too excited about playing, you've still got another decision to make. The all-important decision is what graphic mode you will play in. If you click on graphic options, you will see you have the options of High Quality, Wave Effect, and Wake Effect. The only difference that I can figure out by turning these features off is that your small boat seems to go faster and that when you turn High Quality off, the background is blue and it’s not as fancy. I'd personally rather use this background, as it's easier to concentrate with fewer distractions. Since you want to move as fast as possible, I recommend that you turn all of the graphic options off.

The concept of collecting treasure and avoiding mines is quite simple; so are the controls. You press the up arrow key to go forward, the left arrow key to go left, the right arrow key to go right, and the down arrow key to go backwards. It's simple, isn’t it?

You probably already know that to get points you need to collect Dubloons. Once you pick up a Dubloon, another Dubloon will appear for you to go and collect. As you will see on the game screen menu, there are different coins worth different values. The 2 Dubloon coins are the most common. The 5 and the 10 are the next most likely to appear. The 20 and 50 Dubloon coins are fairly uncommon, the 100 comes up occasionally, and I have never seen the 200 come up. The coins that appear are completely random. Sometimes you may score 2000 points and you might not have seen a golden 100 Dubloon coin, but sometimes you may have scored 300 points and the golden 100 Dubloon coin may have come up twice.

If you get hit by a mine, it's game over. Every time you pick up a coin and earn points, a mine will appear. The good news is that once there are 9 mines no more will appear; however, if you destroy a mine and you don’t have 9 mines floating around, another one will appear again once you get a coin. There is no escape. You are probably wondering, "How do I destroy a mine?" Don't worry, you haven’t missed anything, and I'll get to that soon.

Now that you have been introduced to the game, it's time to fill your brain up with a couple of strategies that should assist you when playing the game and may help you get a trophy, or maybe 1000 points. And when you reach 1000 points, you get something special.

Smash the mines

In this first strategy, you destroy all of the mines so that you aren't threatened. This way, you don't have so many mines to dodge, and it's easier to get those Dubloons. This strategy can be very useful, but also very dangerous.

To destroy a mine, you really have to destroy two. The first step is that you need at least two mines on your game screen. Take your boat and go in-between them. They will slowly get closer together. Keep moving between them until they are about 5 centimeters apart. Then, move so you are in line with them, but you are about 5 centimeters ahead of them. When you are in this position, go around the mines in circles, but remember to keep your distance. Eventually the two mines will hit each other, and that will destroy them. You can do this whenever two mines appear, or you can wait until there are 9, then make the mines smash into one another, the way you just read about, and do this until there are none left; then get 9 mines on the screen again and repeat the same process.

That is the first strategy, but it is important that you read the 2nd strategy before you choose one, as after that you will learn a big risk you take when performing the 1st strategy compared to the 2nd.

Avoid the mines

This strategy is as simple as the title suggests. All you have to do is avoid the mines. Get 9 mines on the screen, and then group them all together by going in-between them and then circling them to make them come in closer together. By doing this, you get all the mines in one part of the game screen, leaving the way clear for you to zoom from one side of the screen to the other with ease, unless the mines are too close to the Dubloons. If this is the case, go and park your boat near where you want the mines to go – away from where the Dubloon is. With any luck, the mines will come towards you and go away from the Dubloon you wanted. When they get far enough away from the Dubloon, you can zoom around them and pick up the Dubloon. If the mines spread away from each other, you can just re-group them the way I explained before. This strategy is safer than the first, because if you are destroying the mines, there is a chance that a mine could appear right where you are. If this happens, you are destroyed, and it's game over.

One more thing you need to be aware of is that sometimes a whirlpool can appear and drag you in. If it sucks you into the eye of the whirlpool, it's game over for you. The whirlpool can also destroy the mines; this can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what strategy you are using. The positive thing about your boat is that it is more powerful than the mines, so if you see a whirlpool, just sail away from it and you will be fine, unless you are too close to it when it appears.

There is no pausing the game in Dubloon Disaster, so if you have been playing for hours and you want a break, destroy all the mines and sit in one of the corners while you go and do what you need to do. If a whirlpool comes while you're away, you might be toast, but there's a chance that you might survive, and if you hurry back, the chances of a whirlpool appearing are quite remote.

I hope this guide has helped your Dubloon Disaster skills and that you are much more knowledgeable about the game after reading. I wish you the best of luck. I would like to thank symphonatic who edited this guide and corrected any grammar errors there were. If you have any questions, please feel free to Neomail me.