Staying Out of the River: A Guide to Tug-O-War

You might ask, “What is Tug-O-War?” Tug-O-War is, as I have explained, a multi-player game. It takes place in the Lost Desert. You choose a character to play as (every character except Brucey B requires a code) and start tugging. The object of the game is to pull your opponent into the river.

At the beginning of each round, a message will appear at the top of the screen telling you which two keys to use to tug (they will always be two adjacent letters in the bottom row). It used to be that you always hit “z” and “x”, but it isn’t now. Once you know what keys to use, start to hit them in rapid succession. Note: Hitting both keys at the same time will NOT work, and this almost ensures that you will enter the river, thus causing you to lose. To avoid hitting both keys at the same time, use two fingers on the same hand to hit the keys instead of using a finger from each hand.

As you tug, three letters will sometimes appear over your character. They will be a combination of the letters “q”, “w”, and “e” which are located in the top left corner of the letter section of your keyboard (this is for single player). If you hit all three of them in the order shown, your opponent will be stunned, and you can tug your opponent towards the river without them putting up any resistance. Although the effect is only temporary, I suggest keeping three fingers of the hand that you are not using to tug (or the “dormant hand”) on these three letters. Beware; your opponent can activate the stunning effect too. If you are in single player mode, computer opponents don’t have to actually press any keys. For example, Truggdon, the fifth opponent, is notorious for activating the stun effect before I can even see the keys to press! If your character gets stunned, do not try to tug! Instead, hold your two fingers of the tugging hand (or “active hand”) directly over the keys required for tugging. As soon as you get un-stunned, hit the keys as quickly as you can. This saves your energy.

The Characters:

Note: All difficulty ratings are for when you use Brucey B; the match order and difficulty varies depending on whom you play as.

Brucey B: The character that must be used first is this Bruce. If you play as a character that requires a code, Brucey will replace the character you play as, except in the case of Ramset. He has no special effect to the screen’s appearance when stunning.

Thiebos: Thiebos is a Blumaroo in need of a code, which I shall not reveal (that would take the fun out of the game). If you play as Thiebos, the rounds will be as follows: Brucey B, Khadir, Ramset, Horak, Truggdon, and the mysterious Jetsam. When using Thiebos, if you stun your opponent, a beam of blue light will appear across the screen. It will disappear quickly, but the opponent will still be stunned. When playing against this Blumaroo in Round One, you will have very little difficulty pulling him into the water. In Round Two, Thiebos is quite a bit more challenging, so don’t underestimate him.

Khadir: This Elephante also needs a code to be used. When playing as him, the matches will be as follows; Thiebos, Brucey B, Ramset, Horak, Truggdon, and the Jetsam. His special visible effect when stunning is a small flashes of yellow light appear all over the screen. Khadir is slightly more challenging to play against than Thiebos, but if you stun him, you’ll have an easy time defeating him. As with the Blumaroo, in Round Two, Khadir becomes quite a bit more challenging, so be prepared.

Ramset: She appears to be a Kacheek. Ramset actually poses a slight threat to those who never stun their opponents. Like all characters but Brucey B, she requires a code. The matches are: Brucey B, Khadir, Thiebos, Horak, Truggdon, and Jetsam. The special visible stunning effect is that a long beam of red light appears. Throughout the rounds, Ramset becomes harder.

Horak: She is an Aisha who, believe it or not, requires a code to play as. Her special stun effect is that a beam of black appears across the screen. Her matches go as follows: Thiebos, Khadir, Ramset, Brucey B, Truggdon, and the purple Jetsam. Horak is not to be taken lightly. You will get almost no bonus if you never stun her. Beware; she gets harder as the rounds progress.

Truggdon: Truggdon is different from all previous opponents in a few ways. First, he is about twice as large as the others. Also, he isn’t painted Desert. Lastly, he cannot be played as. Truggdon has no special visual effect when stunning. He is extremely difficult to defeat, but if your fingers are not too tired from tugging, you stand a good chance of beating him if you rapidly activate the stun; as I mentioned previously, he can activate the stun on you quickly. You cannot afford to let this happen very much, so try to finish this opponent in very little time.

???: This Purple Jetsam is the last challenger. He is quite difficult, but if you are not too worn out from Truggdon, he can be defeated. It is critical that you stun during any opportunity that you get. He is not capable of being played as. I do not think that he has a special stun effect.

Tug-O-War Secrets:

1. Stunning technically is no secret. If you hold your mouse over the tiny “Instructions” option on the page where you decide to play multi-player or single player, you will see how to stun. But if you do not wish to, you simply hit the keys that appear over your head while tugging.

2.Every so often, a message saying “Oh Yeah” appears in white with a red background will show up. It seems to occur randomly and has no effect (except for utterly shocking those who keep their volume high).

3. Lastly, if you lose to the mysterious Jetsam, rather than the regular “You lose” being said by the voice, it laughs loudly instead. This is not really important, but it adds to the mystery around this Jetsam.

This has been a guide to the great game of Tug-O-War. Why are you still reading? Go play some Tug-O-War!

This will be the first article that I have gotten into the Neopian Times. I hope that this guide has helped you.