 Monthly Multiplayer Madness!
by devotor
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Have you ever wanted to play a game where thinking is required more than quick reflexes? Then Multiplayer games are for you. Don't know what I'm talking about? They are the game Geos, Armada, and Kacheekers. These games start at the beginning of the month and run all the way until either you lose, you win, or the month ends. Let me explain. At the beginning of the month, the new games start and every week in the month you have a new round and opponent as long as you are not eliminated. Either you or your opponent will have to make the first move. If no movement happens, then at the end of the week, you both are eliminated for the month. During play, if you make a move and your opponent doesn't, after 24 hours, you can send a "Move or Lose" option on your game that your opponent has another 24 hours to move. If they do not, you win and advance to the next round. At any time if you want to quit, there is an "I give up" button, but who wants to do that!? Now, also, you both can lose if you are both tied with pieces on your board. These games are turn based games, so you have to wait for your opponent to make a move before you can take a second turn (or a first one). Okay, on with the games...
Kacheekers: Checkers, anyone?
This game is self-explanatory as it is exactly like checkers, except you can't jump your own man (aww man). If you need further explanation, the rules are that you move diagonally to reach your opponent and once you do, you "jump" over them and take their piece. The pieces cannot come back into play again, so the more pieces you have, the more advantage you will have. When you reach the other side of the board, you are "Kinged" and can move back and forth across the board, whereas other pieces can only move in one direction. When all your opponent's pieces are gone, you win!
Armada: You sank my battleship!
No, this game is not like Battleship. :P The object of this game is to take your opponent's fleet and make it your own. First what you want to do is "build your army" by clicking on one of your ships and placing it into an empty space next to one of your ships. When you do that, a new ship appears. Do this for as long as you want or until you either want to start attacking or your opponent approaches you. When you go to a space near your opponent with one of your ships, you will "take over" their ships that border around your ship and make them part of your fleet. Now your opponent in turn can click a ship next to them and turn them back, but it's a back and forth action that's hard to get them all back. ;) If you can get rid of all of your opponent's ships, you win!
Geos: Look, Ma! I can make basic shapes!
Now this game is so easy, it's hard... or is that the other way around? What you do in this game is to first click that little button that says "shapes" and look at all the designs you can make. You have to make all those in order to win the game. What makes it difficult is you have no idea where your opponent is building so you can either build on top of theirs, messing up their shape, or they can do it to you and you would have no idea when it happened! I have actually lost a game because my opponent's last move was destroying one of my spaces and taking it over as their own to complete a shape. So all you have to do is make a circle, square, triangle and a rectangle. Yes, the first person who makes a move has an advantage, but if you find a spot your opponent's at, you can take their turn away and take their spot as well. :)
Prizes: OK, everyone's main thought on Multiplayer games... what do I get out of it? Well, that's easy! The satisfaction of beating someone in a game of thinking! Oh, not satisfied with just that? How about cash prizes and a nifty trophy as well? OK, here is the rundown.... Bronze Trophy and 2,500 NP - Win in the third week of the tournament Silver Trophy and 5,000 NP - Win in the fourth week of the tournament Gold Trophy and 10,000 NP - Win for the whole months tournament
An interesting strategy about these games is that you can easily win if your opponents never move. There are some people that sign up for these games early in a month and forget about them the next month when it starts. If it's the opponent's turn and you notice they haven't been on in a while, you might get lucky and if they don't move after 24 hours, you send a move or lose message to them. If again no moves were made after 24 hours, click the I win button and you win that round!
There is also a "top players" board, but you have a long way before you can get up there, as to get that far you have to win many rounds. How that works is that you start in round one. No matter if you lose or tie, you will continue in the last round you are in. Let's say it's the end of the month and you're in round 4. If you win, you advance to round 5. If you lose or tie, then next month when the tournament starts again you will be in round 4 again with the chance to move to round 5 and so on. I am not sure how many rounds there are, but both Geos and Kacheekers have people in the 70's level and Armada has a player in the 90's level. So you can imagine how hard it is to get up there, but it's worth it. Do you get another trophy from it? No, but you get both prestige and respect. Oh, and if that's not good enough, just think of all the people that will click on your name and may visit your shop. ;)
Another great thing about the multiplayer games is that you can meet new and exciting people. OK, if they don't move, I guess they are not exciting, but you still can meet new people. I have neomailed a few people and talked to them to not only set up a time to play so we don't have to wait so long for each other to move, but got to know them as well.
I hope this guide to the Monthly games has helped you a little to understand the games and hopefully get a nice trophy to add to your lookup. :)
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