The Utimate Yooyuball Guide

But, if you are new to this grand sport tournament, there is one question probably tinkering with your head and you would really like to know the answer to it before the real competition starts - HOW do you even play Yooyuball?

And you were correct, in this article, the answer to this question shall be answered. You will find a guide to the main, awesome Altador Cup game, making you a top-player, earning lots of Neopoints, avatars and other fabulous prizes! Rather just get onto it, shall we?

Yooyuball is the main, most important game in the Altador Cup. The matches, the winners, the losers, everything spins around this awesome game in the time of this competition. While playing, it is not quite explained, HOW do real-life Neopets play this game. At images, the players are shown with special kind of "tunnels" on their hands, that they roll the Yooyu on there and blast it out. Like handball, maybe? Anyway, the game is played with a special ball, a Yooyu, which is actually a Petpet, where the name of the game comes from.

First, some general information about the game - The goal of the game is to score as many goals as possible in the time given and receive as few goals as possible. The game must be perfectly balanced between offence and defence. Each player must do their best to win the game! A good thing is also to choose the right formation. There are three formations: 1+3 (One forwarder and three defenders) 3+1 (One defender and three forwarders) and 2+2 (Two forwarders and two defenders). Each team also has its base formation, depending on the type of its players. For an example, the Altador team has a base formation of 1+3, because they have three defenders and one forwarder, while Mystery Island has the opposite formation 3+1, depending on their players.

Now, the game controls - the most important control is the mouse. If you want to, you can play with your mouse only; it will be easier and will require less skill, but using the advanced controls will make the game more interesting and fun, with more tricks, finesse and cool ways to play. Using your mouse, you have to scroll over a player to select it (a player is selected when the circle below it is lighter). When you gain ball possession (by getting the ball from a foe or dashing at the beginning to get it) you can also click the left mouse button to shoot or pass. Shooting or passing is the same in Yooyuball, depending on if there is a teammate in front of you or the goal.

Now, some advanced keyboard controls: while you use your mouse to select and move your players around, the mouse can sometimes be slow and inaccurate in a situation of a fast counter-attack by the foe. At times like that, you have to respond fast, to switch the players and prevent the Yooyu to finish in your net. You can quickly toggle between players using the left and right arrow buttons, and you can also press "S" or "space" to select or deselect a player. If your players are scattered around in offense and your ball gets stolen, you also have to respond fast, and that is where the "shift" button comes in handy. The shift button sets up all players to their starting positions, quickly setting up a defence and preventing a goal.

This is everything about the basic controls, now we shall determine the types of Yooyus, the types of balls.

The first, main, most basic and common type is a Normal Yooyu. It is brown and yellow from the inside; it acts normally, with no surprises or special thingies. Slightly boring and normal.

The next type, my favourite, is the Fire Yooyu. It is black from the outside, red from the inside and blazing fiery hot. It is passed between really quickly, making it good to use in offence and fast counter-attacks, but a nightmare for defenders and the goalkeeper, when the ball gets stolen in offence. In such times, even the shift button might not save you and you will have to rely on your goalkeeper.

One of my least-favourite types of Yooyus is the Snow Yooyu. It is white and snowy blue and is a total opposite of the Fire Yooyu. It is passed between very slowly, so the speed, the length and the strength of the shot are decreased, making it hard to score with, but easier to prevent a goal against.

The next, also my least-favourite type is the beautiful Faerie Yooyu. Sometimes it will act normal, or sometimes it will act somehow weird, elegant, requiring finesse and craftiness to use it properly, so it might even curve or something. It already occurred to me that I tried a direct shot into the goal, but the Yooyu curved behind the goalkeeper's back, then somehow got into the hands of an enemy defender, causing a counter-attack and almost costing me a goal. Might look beautiful, but tough to play with.

The total opposite of the Faerie Yooyu is the scary Darigan Yooyu. The evil point of this one is that sometimes you will try to shoot or pass, but it will go backwards. It can be very deadly, especially when the goalkeeper has the ball. Yes, my friends - an autogoal can occur. Be very careful with it.

You thought you should be careful at the Darigan Yooyu, huh? That means you haven't met the Mutant Yooyu yet. The spiky, green mutant Yooyu is a DNA mix of all other special Yooyus, impersonating all of their patterns. Sometimes it will go fast as a Fire Yooyu, sometimes slow as a Snow Yooyu, sometimes it will curve as a Faerie Yooyu and sometimes it will go backwards as a Darigan Yooyu. Use your maximum carefulness here!

The final type of Yooyu is the Robot Yooyu. It is actually a wind-up clockwork machine, which will start flashing red after a period of time and then soon explode. Nothing will happen to the player holding it; it will just explode and become replaced with another type of Ball.

Now, that we have totally cleared the art of Yooyuball, we finally end this article. Hope you enjoyed reading it and from now on, you shall play this awesome game better and win fabulous prizes, as promised!