TRNN: The Dangerous Result of Slushie Slinging

One of the great pastimes of many is to try their hand at a few games of Slushie Slinger and normally the pets who sign up to eat the slushies come out of the games relatively unhurt. However, there has been an alarming increase of Slushie Slinger games being played since the beginning of the Altador Cup and many of the pets have been forced to resign from the game due to the overconsumption of slushies.

We now go to Brian Blumaroo who is currently live at the Altador Colosseum with more information on the story.

-x-

Brian: Folks, you would not believe the staggering amounts of neopets that have been forced to quit eating slushies in the past few days. I have attended each Altador Cup since AC III and I have never seen this many games being played. In the last few hours alone over 100 pets have left the game due to the increasing risk to their health.

One of the main factors causing a problem is that with so many pets leaving, the remaining pets have been forced to work overtime until replacements can arrive. This increases the stress and amount of slushies eaten and leads to even more pets leaving. There were also only a handful of trained replacements available at the beginning of the AC, so when pets began to struggle under the load of more games, the extra pets quickly ran out.

Usually, there are two shifts of neopets for the Slushie Slinger game, one set of pets for the first eighteen days and then new pets are introduced for the later half of the Cup. This system has worked for all of the past cups and it seemed unlikely for anything to change. However, over half of the pets in this cycle left before the second group even arrived to Altador for training. The imbalance has gone from bad to worse in a matter of days, and several officials have voiced opinions of closing the game for several days until everything can be fixed.

Several ideas being thrown around is to use untrained pets for the game. This theory was tested in AC III with the result being a complete disaster. The Altador Cup Rules Committee then decided to replace the training program for any pet who wished to play the game. This program has helped eliminate the injuries that occurred and it also decreased the amount of replacements previously needed for the game.

Currently, a new regulation has been put into place that increases the time between games for the pets and there have been several signs of improvement, but I think that it will take more than a little more break-time to help these pets from over consuming slushies at the rate of games being played.

Back to you, Amy.

-x-

Amy: Thank you, Brian.

In the past few days, worry has been spreading over the AC Community about the massive outbreak of Bloaty Belly that has started to spread among the victims recently removed from the game. The well trained medical staff has been able to limit the amount of ill neopets by containing the sick pets in a specialized quarantine. Fortunately every pet that has taken the standard Flat-u-less Tablets has been released with a full health and the pets still working in Slushie Slinger have donated some of their off-time to helping out the medical staff by buying medicine, administering it to patients, and even moving a box from one place, to another.

Wait, we are just receiving word that Brian has managed to get inside of the quarantine and is currently with a recovered patient right now. Brian, what is it like in there?

-x-

Brian: Right now I’m in the midst of the Bloaty Belly Quarantine, Day 1. It is not as bad as I was expecting and many of the pets have already received treatment. Some of them, like Timothy Tonu here, have not been able to get treated yet, although it appears to be only a matter of time. How are you holding up, Tim? Can you tell us what your last few days have been like?

Timothy: I’ve been better, that’s for sure. The last few days? Awful. I’ve been at Slushie Slinger for the past three cups and it is a shock to have to quit halfway into this one. I didn’t get sick until yesterday, although I had already been gone from the game for about two days by this time. When word came of Bloaty Belly spreading around, I thought that I wouldn’t be affected by it at all. I was wrong, though, and ended up sicker than anything. Once I heard word that quarantine was being set up, I headed straight here.

Brian: That sounds terrible, Tim. This huge problem must have started somewhere. What would you say has been a major factor in the high loss of pets this Altador Cup?

Timothy: This year’s training program is completely at fault. There were a lot of newbies brought on this year, but the program actually was easier compared to other years when it should have been harder to bring the new pets up to speed with the veterans here. I know that for most of the pets that were removed that this was their first Altador Cup. I feel sorrier for them than the ones that have been here before; their first experience of Slushie Slinger was a bad one, and there isn’t anything anyone can do to make it better.

Brian: I’m sorry for how you feel about this Tim. Do you think you’ll come back next year or are you done with this completely?

Timothy: I’m not leaving so easy. I plan on seeing if I can sneak into the second shift of pets and finish out the season. Next year is pretty far off, but I think you’ll see me again.

Brian: That’s good to hear! Well, I think that wraps up this story. Let’s go back to Amy.

-x-

Amy: I was starting to think that you forgot about me in here.

Currently, for anyone who wishes to help out the Medical Staff in Altador, please send supplies and medicine to the ‘Saving Slushie Eaters’ Fund located here at TRNN. Also, the green bike that someone left in the TRNN parking lot, you left your light on. Thank you readers; this is Amy Acara, signing off.