Maths Nightmare: A New Approach to Counting Babaa

Overview of the Game

Here we are! The game begins and you are presented with selection of numerous difficulties and options – we will get to that later. The game play is fairly simple. In every level, you are presented with 9 calculations and when completed, they allow 9 Babaa to jump over the fence, keeping Imiya in a deep slumber. The tricky part is that you must do all this within a time limit. As you progress through the levels, the timer resets. But this gap between resets becomes longer and more difficult with every level, meaning eventually you will surely run out. Therefore, you must aim to complete each level within one quarter (15 seconds) of the clock. If you run over, I suggest restarting unless you wish to keep playing for practice. There is also a code you must use with resets the timer once per game. Strictly speaking, I cannot post it here in our wonderful Neopian Times. But if you go looking in the right places (or pet pages), you will find it easily!

Level Plan

This is where things get exciting! When you read other Maths Nightmare guides, they all tell you to use "Division" with the difficulty "Potato Counter." Forget that rule for good! The avatar is possible with that method but still extremely difficult. Whether the dubious rumours of being able to skip the clock on a certain level with careful timing are true or not, you won't need it with this method. Before you move on to the rest of the guide, you have to be able to play the game on Potato Counter up to round 17. Here is a guide to the levels and time resets you must accomplish with this method:

Level 1-3: Play as normal

After level 3: the timer resets.

Level 4-7: Play as normal.

After level 7: The timer resets.

Level 7-11: play as normal.

After level 11: Use the timer reset code.

After level 12: The timer resets.

Level 13-16: Play as normal.

Level 17: You should be able to only answer 1 or 2 questions before the time runs out here.

With some practice, the above is very easy. The difficult parts are between levels 4-7, 7-11 and 13-16. Each level here must be completed within 1 quarter of the clock. But in the first level of each of these sectors, mine often overflows the quarter a bit and the next few levels make up for it.

A New Approach

For my strategy, we will be playing on "Division" and "Brain Tree." Now I know what you are thinking... "That's impossible!" And yes, it is impossible if you are just relying on your maths skills to carry you through the rounds. While I was playing on Potato Counter and Division, I noticed that there are a set number of questions asked throughout the game. So I thought to myself.... this must be the same for harder levels! And it is! After spending hours gathering data, eliminating and confirming numbers I have come up the list of possible questions that can be asked for the level "Division" with "Brain Tree." In a nutshell, the numbers asked range from "100 - 950." But again, don't jump to conclusions here. The actual numbers asked are a mere fraction of this range! Let me explain the format I will be using throughout this guide with a sample question:

500 ÷ 50 = 10

Basically there are 3 numbers for each question. The first one is always the biggest with 3 digits. The second is always the second biggest with 2 digits. And the third number is the answer which can have 1 or 2 digits. Lets take a look at each number before moving on!

Number 1 (3 Digits)

Lowest Possible Number 1: 100

Highest Possible Number 1: 950

Pattern: All the "Number 1's" will run in this pattern: 100, 105, 150, 155, 200, 205, 250, 255, 300 etc.

So essentially, we will only deal with the numbers "00" "05" "50" and "55". This severely cuts all the questions down!

But wait! There are some exceptions!. The following numbers cannot be asked during the game: 505, 655, 755, 905, 955.

So this cuts it down even more!

Number 2 (2 Digits)

Lowest Possible Number 2: 10

Highest Possible Number 2: 95

Pattern: Between the numbers 10-39, there is no defined pattern. All of these numbers may appear.

Between the numbers 40-95 this is the pattern: 40, 41, 45, 50, 51, 55, 60 etc.

So essentially, we will only deal with the numbers "0" "1" and "5" after 40.

Number 3 (Answer)

Lowest Possible Number 3: 2

Highest Possible Number 3: 90

Pattern: Between the numbers 10-29, there is no defined pattern. All of these numbers may appear. Between the numbers 30-90 this is the pattern: 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 etc. So essentially, we will only deal with the numbers "0" and "5" after 30.

The List of Combinations

With all this information, I have come up with a list of calculations that can be asked during the game. The total number of combinations is: 149. This may seem like a very big number but the amount you have to learn is cut down by 2 things:

Questions You Already Know!: There are lots of easy questions asked that only require very basic maths skills: e.g: 100 ÷ 10 and 200 ÷ 25= 8.

Mirrors: Let's look at a sample of all the questions that can be asked with the number "950":

1. 950 ÷ 95 = 10

2. 950 ÷ 50 = 19

3. 950 ÷ 38 = 25

4. 950 ÷ 25 = 38

5. 950 ÷ 19 = 50

6. 950 ÷ 10 = 95

See how 1=6, 2=5 and 3=4 but flipped around? This corresponds to a lot of the table below and almost slices the total number in half!

So with ALL of this information, here are the list of possible calculations! You could learn 20 of these a day until you have them all done. If you are having trouble remembering a few of these, you could also put them into a wordpad and have this open while you play Maths Nightmare!

If you make it to round 17 with this strategy, you are looking at getting the avatar (and possibly a trophy!) Play on the first of the month when the high score tables get reset to increase your chances even more!

100 ÷ 50 = 2 100 ÷ 25 = 4 100 ÷ 20 = 5 100 ÷ 10 = 10	105 ÷ 35 = 3 105 ÷ 21 = 5 105 ÷ 15 = 7	150 ÷ 75 = 2 150 ÷ 50 = 3 150 ÷ 30 = 5 150 ÷ 25 = 6 150 ÷ 15 = 10 150 ÷ 10 = 15	155 ÷ 31 = 5
200 ÷ 50 = 4 200 ÷ 40 = 5 200 ÷ 25 = 8 200 ÷ 20 = 10 200 ÷ 10 = 20	205 ÷ 41 = 5	250 ÷ 50 = 5 250 ÷ 25 = 10 250 ÷ 10 = 25	255 ÷ 85 = 3 255 ÷ 51 = 5 255 ÷ 17 = 15 255 ÷ 15 = 17
300 ÷ 75 = 4 300 ÷ 60 = 5 300 ÷ 50 = 6 300 ÷ 30 = 10 300 ÷ 25 = 12 300 ÷ 20 = 15 300 ÷ 15 = 20 300 ÷ 10 = 30	305 ÷ 61 = 5	350 ÷ 70 = 5 350 ÷ 50 = 7 350 ÷ 35 = 10 350 ÷ 25 = 14 350 ÷ 14 = 25 350 ÷ 10 = 35	355 ÷ 71 = 5
400 ÷ 80 = 5 400 ÷ 50 = 8 400 ÷ 40 = 10 400 ÷ 25 = 16 400 ÷ 20 = 20 400 ÷ 16 = 25 400 ÷ 10 = 40	405 ÷ 81 = 5 405 ÷ 45 = 9 405 ÷ 27 = 15 405 ÷ 15 = 27	450 ÷ 90 = 5 450 ÷ 75 = 6 450 ÷ 50 = 9 450 ÷ 45 = 10 450 ÷ 30 = 15 450 ÷ 25 = 18 450 ÷ 18 = 25 450 ÷ 15 = 30 450 ÷ 10 = 45	455 ÷ 91 = 5 455 ÷ 65 = 7 455 ÷ 35 = 13 455 ÷ 13 = 35
500 ÷ 50 = 10 500 ÷ 25 = 20 500 ÷ 20 = 25 500 ÷ 10 = 50	-	550 ÷ 55 = 10 550 ÷ 50 = 11 550 ÷ 25 = 22 550 ÷ 22 = 25 550 ÷ 11 = 50 550 ÷ 10 = 55	555 ÷ 37 = 15 555 ÷ 15 = 37
600 ÷ 75 = 8 600 ÷ 60 = 10 600 ÷ 50 = 12 600 ÷ 40 = 15 600 ÷ 30 = 20 600 ÷ 25 = 24 600 ÷ 24 = 25 600 ÷ 20 = 30 600 ÷ 15 = 40 600 ÷ 12 = 50 600 ÷ 10 = 60	605 ÷ 55 = 1 605 ÷ 11 = 55	650 ÷ 65 = 10 650 ÷ 50 = 13 650 ÷ 26 = 25 650 ÷ 25 = 26 650 ÷ 13 = 50 650 ÷ 10 = 65	-
700 ÷ 70 = 10 700 ÷ 50 = 14 700 ÷ 35 = 20 700 ÷ 28 = 25 700 ÷ 25 = 28 700 ÷ 20 = 35 700 ÷ 14 = 50 700 ÷ 10 = 70	705 ÷ 47 = 15 705 ÷ 15 = 47	750 ÷ 75 = 10 750 ÷ 50 = 15 750 ÷ 30 = 25 750 ÷ 25 = 30 750 ÷ 15 = 50 750 ÷ 10 = 75	-
800 ÷ 80 = 10 800 ÷ 50 = 16 800 ÷ 40 = 20 800 ÷ 32 = 25 800 ÷ 25 = 32 800 ÷ 20 = 40 800 ÷ 16 = 50 800 ÷ 10 = 80	805 ÷ 35 = 23 805 ÷ 23 = 35	850 ÷ 85 = 10 850 ÷ 50 = 17 850 ÷ 34 = 25 850 ÷ 25 = 34 850 ÷ 17 = 50 850 ÷ 10 = 85	855 ÷ 95 = 9 855 ÷ 57 = 15 855 ÷ 45 = 19 855 ÷ 19 = 45 855 ÷ 15 = 57
900 ÷ 90 = 10 900 ÷ 75 = 12 900 ÷ 60 = 15 900 ÷ 50 = 18 900 ÷ 45 = 20 900 ÷ 36 = 25 900 ÷ 30 = 30 900 ÷ 25 = 36 900 ÷ 20 = 45 900 ÷ 18 = 50 900 ÷ 15 = 60 900 ÷ 12 = 75 900 ÷ 10 = 90	-	950 ÷ 95 = 10 950 ÷ 50 = 19 950 ÷ 38 = 25 950 ÷ 25 = 38 950 ÷ 19 = 50 950 ÷ 10 = 95	-

So there you have it, fellow gamers! A brand new approach to the tricky game that is Maths Nightmare. I know it will not be for everyone, but if you are more of a memoriser than a mathematician (like myself), you may find this method makes achieving a high score much easier. Feel free to ask me any questions regarding the guide via neomail – I know it may seem complicated at a first glance. So what are you waiting for? Start practising today!

P.S A special thanks to TNT for allowing me to include a table in this guide!