Altador Cup 3?

Let’s start out with a little background. The Altador Cup (or AC) was first mentioned in the news on June 1st in year 8. Sign ups began on the third and fourth. Many Neopians rushed to choose their teams. The undecided got to take a short quiz that told which team fit them best. Then, on June 8th, the games began. All the teams fought for the top. Even TNT wanted to play. They had a Staff Tournament where the other Neopians bet on who they thought would win. Near the end two teams came out for the title match. Haunted Woods vs. Darigan. It was a close call but Haunted Woods won. They were named the champions and won the first Altador Cup, but they weren’t able to hold onto it.

On the second and third of June in year 9, the second AC started. It was a little different this time around. Some Neopians chose new teams while others stayed devoted to their original teams. There were even some news teams, like Shenkuu, as well as the Kreludor team not participating. The yooyus were brought back for another round as well as the new Darigan, and Clockwork yooyus. This year also introduced two other ways to score points for your team. Make Some Noise and Slushie Slinger. You had to help the Techo Super-fan cheer as hard as he can, and help the Tuskaninny waitress serve some slushies to the impatient fans. And so with three ways to score for your team, the tournament was on its way. The games finally got down to Darigan and Roo Island going for first place, and the newcomers, Shenkuu, and Krawk Island for third place. This, again, was a close match, but the win went to Team Darigan. They can back from being Runner-Up the first year to the Winners!

Now that we’ve covered the past, let’s look ahead to the next AC. I hope all the old stuff from the previous years is brought back, as well as some new stuff. Make Some Noise and Slushie Slinger were cool, but maybe another new game would be nice. And of course, what’s Yooyuball without a few new yooyus? How something weird like Maraquan, Ghost, or Halloween? Maybe this time it can be eighteen teams, adding Lutari Island and bringing back Kreludor. And most of all, there should be wearables! Team Jerseys, make the flags and water bottles wearable, maybe even the keyrings, and other stuff. It would be awesome. There may even be another special section of the NC Mall for such items. It’s all up to TNT for what’s going to happen this year.

Sadly this great event is only for one month a year. What can we yooyu-holics do during the off season?! Wait, what’s this? More Yooyu themed games? Yes! If the Altador Cup isn’t going on, we yooyu lovers can play Crisis Courier and Ready to Roll. In these games you are the Yooyu and are trying to get to the goal. It’s kind of like Yooyuball but from the yooyu’s point of view.

To all the newbies to Yooyuball, I say good luck and don’t give up on your first try. The game is pretty difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be scoring goals with the best of them. Be determined! Personally, my first try stank. I couldn’t get a single one in. Now my best was about 10 in one game! Even if you’re not so great, every point counts so keep sending them. If Yooyuball isn’t your thing, then try out the other games. Slushie Slinger and Make Some Noise were made just for the players that didn’t like, or wanted a break from, Yooyuball. But whatever you do, don’t let your team down! If you sign up for a team, don’t just sit there and do nothing! The more people on a team that don’t play makes the average go down for the team, thus making them lose! You don’t want that on your conscience, now do you?

Need a little more incentive to play rather than the glory and the trophy? Well, did I mention there are prizes? Yes, like any other plot, there are the prizes in the end. For everyone who played, you get some points to spend, depending on how many points you got overall. The prizes range from simple and cheap little toys to petpets, paintbrushes, and wearables! Of last year’s prizes were a Darigan Paint Brush, worth 1.4 million neopoints, and a wearable Slushie Slinger Drinking Cap, which is about 7 million neopoints at the time this is being written. I bet you’d like to get your hands on prizes like those.

I wanted to see what teams were still popular among the Neopians. I went to the streets... er... Neoboards and asked, “Which team are you going to join in the upcoming Altador Cup?” I got quite a few different answers. There was at least one person for each team, and a few undecided. The most popular still seemed to be Team Darigan and Team Haunted Woods, but there was also quite a few rooting for Faerieland, who got second to last the previous year. Many Neopians are loyal to the same teams and some like to switch it up every year. It’s really hard to tell which team is going to take home the gold. I, of course, will also be proudly supporting team Darigan for the third consecutive year. All I gotta say is good luck to the other teams and I hope you do good, but of course I don’t hope for you to win. XD GO TEAM DARIGAN!