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Hello and welcome to my Korbats Lab guide! If you're here, I assume you want to obtain the Freaked Korbat avatar (which you can see to the right of this paragraph). You obtain it by being within the top 50 slots in the Korbats Lab High Score Table when trophies are awarded daily. Hopefully, with this guide you will be able to improve your score and maybe even get a trophy! But, as with any game, you probably won't be able to get a High Score the first time you play (unless you're either very lucky or skilled!) so you will HAVE to be prepared to practice.
Now I don't intend for this page to be an in-depth guide on the history of the game and how to play it, so I'll be very brief in the next two sections! Korbats Lab is a very simple game to play, and it is located here. In my opinion, it doesn't matter what size or quality you play the game, so just go with whatever you're most comfortable with. There are fifty levels in total and the aim of the game is to destroy all the boxes in each level. You do this by moving your paddle from left to right and hitting the ball towards the boxes. Simple!
MAKE SURE YOU READ THE IN-GAME INSTRUCTIONS! The instructions not only tell you the basic controls of the game, but there is also a complete list of all the bonus items - what the potions look like and the effect they have. The controls for this game are very easy indeed and it shouldn't take you too long to master them. Basically, press the left arrow key to move the paddle to the left. Press the right arrow key to move the paddle to the right. Finally, press the space bar to launch the ball off the paddle. You can also press 'shift' to pause the game, but this never worked for me for some reason. I played on Safari, I don't know if that's why!
No, this section isn't just the previous one re-written! That would be pointless. Whilst you're playing the game, there are two important things to know about the direction of the ball. When you first play, it may seem like the ball just heads in random directions when it hits the paddle, but you CAN actually control in which direction the ball goes.
If you hit the ball in the center of the paddle, the ball will go straight up, in a vertical line. Note that this is only after you have released the ball at the start of each level, as even though the ball is in the centre of the paddle at the beginning of each level it will be released in a random direction.
If you hit the ball with the left hand side of the paddle, the ball will go to the left. However, the further to the left of the paddle you hit the ball, the wider an angle the ball will go. In the screenshot above you can see the ball is on the far left hand side of the paddle, therefore it will head in the direction the arrow is shown.
If you hit the ball with the right hand side of the paddle, the ball will go to the right! And, as before, the further to the right of the paddle you hit the ball, the wider an angle the ball will go. Using this technique, you will hopefully be able to 'choose' the direction the ball goes, which will be helpful when trying to destroy boxes in hard to reach places, or even avoiding the enemy korbats and spyders.
There is another technique you can use when trying to change directions by noticing when the flame of the candle changes colour.
When the candle's flame changes colour from orange to pink, if you press the space bar the ball will change direction! Again, I found this EXTREMELY useful when trying to destroy boxes in awkward places. However remember it will go in a random direction, so be ready to catch the ball if it suddenly changes towards the bottom of the screen. Sometimes, the ball will become 'stuck' and either just bounce horizontally from side to side, or become stuck in a cycle hitting the silver indestructable boxes. If you wait for the candle to change colour, you'll be able to get out of those situations easily. At the start of a difficult level, you could wait for the flame to turn pink before you release the ball, so if you do get into difficulty then you will be able to change direction immediately.
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There are many codes in Korbats Lab. Just type them in at any point in the game, usually at the start of a level or even when the ball is in mid-air! However, some are actually useful whereas others are are just for 'fun.'
spiderbite: Using this code will give you one extra life. You can tell how many lives you have by looking at the clock face to the right hand side of the game. You start the game with three lives. In the screenshot to the right, it shows that you have four lives. However, you should only use this code after you have lost your first life. DO NOT USE IT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME! This is because it is possible to get a potion which will give you an extra life! (You can see what it looks like by reading the in-game instructions.) So, if you have used the spiderbite code at the start of the game, and then get the extra life potion, it will not give you another extra life as you can only have a maximum of four lives in the game and you will have effectively 'wasted' an extra life - and you really don't want to do that.
destroy: This will make a LOT of balls appear on the screen, around twenty or thirty! Personally, I forgot to use this code so I just used it on level fifty, but if you're really stuck on a level then it would help a lot! It's not an essential code, but it's certainly fun to use and can make a level go by extremely quickly!
skip: Type skip and you will skip a level. Ingenius. But, you can use this code as many times as you like! I'll elaborate on how this is useful later on in the guide.
monstermovie: Type this to play in black and white! Don't ask me why this code would be useful at all... I wouldn't advise it because I'm not sure if you can notice the candle flame changing colour.
TIP! You can pause the game by pressing shift, then type in a code (such as spiderbite), and then press shift again to resume the game. This minimises the chance of you losing a life when you type in the code. Thanks to Butter (butterscotchbori) for sending in this tip!
Once you've played the game for a bit, you'll probably realise it's pretty easy! However, low flying Korbats and silly mistakes can mean you lose lives easily. Hopefully with these tips you will be able to raise your high score!
Watch out for low flying korbats! They are really very annoying. When the korbats are flying just above your paddle, they send your ball in a random direction, and it's probably going to be wherever your paddle isn't, meaning you'll lose a life. If you start a level and the korbats are very low, I'd just wait until they fly further up to a safer level.
Keep an eye on the spyders! Sometimes, the spyders can 'push' the ball through two metal blocks when they are diagonally touching (like in the screenshot on the right). So, don't relax just because the ball is bouncing above a load of metal blocks - a spyder may fly down, push the ball through and, if you're not paying attention, you could lose a life. This doesn't happen very often though, but you should always be careful! Thank you to Christine (m3rcuri) for reminding to put this in the guide!
Pick a score to aim for. Before you play, take a look at the Top 50 to see what kind of score you need. For example, lets say you choose to aim for 10,000 points. In each game, you get at least four lives (the fourth by using the spiderbite code). So, that's one life for every 2,500 points. I found this really helped me be more careful about losing my lives. I'm not saying you should 'aim to lose a life' every 2,500 points, but if you lose one at 1,000 points then you know you shouldn't be losing another one until you have 5,000 points!
Don't lose any lives in the first three levels. The first three levels are always the same, so if you lose a life in one of them it's best to just start again! After the first three levels, you will have a minimum of 540 points, but you will probably get at least one coin so you may have more than this.
Don't be afraid to skip levels. You can use the 'skip' code multiple times. I would recommend skipping levels which aren't worth many points, or ones which you find too hard! You won't miss out on that many points, and I find it is MUCH more important to conserve your lives anyway.
The following levels aren't worth many points, so I don't find it worth the 'risk' of losing lives to only get 10 points.
The following levels I found very hard. In the first example, mostly because the silver indestructable boxes were too low, so I kept missing the ball as it bounced off them. In the second and third example, because the boxes were in awkward positions.
However, this is just my opinion! If you feel you can do any of these levels, then go for it. I skipped around 5 levels and still scored over 11,000 points. (If you would like to see the levels full size, then drag and drop the screenshots to your address bar.)
EDIT! If you decide to skip a level once you're halfway through it or you only have one box left, you WILL get the points you have earned up to that point! So if you have one box left and it seems impossible to get, then you can skip it and you'll still get the points from the level up until that point. Don't go too crazy though, there are only 50 levels and if you skip all of them you won't get many points ;) Thank you to Lindsey (xxangel_of_evilxx) for letting me know about this!
This also means that if you are about to lose a life, if you can type 'skip' quickly enough then you can move to the next level without losing a life! You could miss out on a lot of points though, so you'll have to figure out whether you need the points or the lives more. You could also press shift to pause the game and then type skip!
Know what each bonus item does! With most potions, it's pretty easy to guess what they will do - make the ball go faster or slower, give you multiple balls or make your paddle wider or thinner, etc! There is one power up that will end your game immediately, it is a giant skull and very hard to miss! However, there is also a potion bottle with the same skull on it. I've seen many people saying that this will make you lose a life - wrong! It will actually get rid of all the monsters in your current level, which is very helpful. I have included a description of each bonus item later on in the guide.
Hitting the ball is more important than getting a bonus item. I know it's tempting when there's a potion or a coin on one side of the game and the ball is about to come down on the other to try and dash for the potion and then rush back to hit the ball - but it probably won't work. The power up will probably be useless if you lose a life anyway, so hit the ball first and THEN decide if you want to get the power up or not.
There are 21 bonus items in Korbats Lab, and it is very useful if you know what most of them do! You should at least know if they will help you or not so you know whether to avoid it or to try and get it.
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Some of the bonus items will cancel each other out. For example, if you get the 'Extend Paddle' bonus but then the 'Slow Ball' bonus, then the paddle will go back to it's normal length and the ball will slow down. However, some of the bonuses will work together. For example, if you get the 'Multi Ball' bonus, and then the 'Power Ball' bonus, then you will have four red balls on the screen.
On the April/May reset, the lowest score in the top 50 was 7,680. The five lowest scores in the top 50 ranged from 7,680 to 8,050. The lowest score to be in a trophy position was 9,870.
I forgot to check the scores on the May/June reset! Whoops.
On the June/July reset, the lowest score in the top 50 was 7,550. The five lowest scores in the top 50 ranged from 7,550 to 7,750. The lowest score to be in a trophy position was 11,810.
On the July/August reset, the lowest score in the top 50 was 8,020. The five lowest scores in the top 50 ranged from 8,020 to 8,160. The lowest score to be in a trophy position was 11,360.
On the August/September reset, the lowest score in the top 50 was 7,090. The five lowest scores in the top 50 ranged from 7,090 to 7,380. The lowest score to be in a trophy position was 10,250.
On the September/October reset, the lowest score in the top 50 was 5,660. The five lowest scores in the top 50 ranged from 5,660 to 5,920. The lowest score to be in a trophy position was 10,660. (The reason for these relatively low scores is that the high score tables were glitched until fairly late on in the day, so not as many people played!)
On the October/November reset, the lowest score in the top 50 was 7,240. The five lowest scores in the top 50 ranged from 7,240 to 7,400. The lowest score to be in a trophy position was 10,540.
I forgot to check the scores on the November/December reset! Whoops.
On the December/January reset, the lowest score in the top 50 was 7,460. The five lowest scores in the top 50 ranged from 7,460 to 7,840. The lowest score to be in a trophy position was 10,730.
Note: I haven't checked the scores in a long time, wow. Life has been hectic! Thanks to a neomail from master_blaster_aki who informed me of the May/June reset scores, I'll be keeping it up to date again (hopefully!).
On the May/June reset, the lowest score in the top 50 was 5,930. The five lowest scores in the top 50 ranged from 5,930 to 6,180. The lowest score to be in a trophy position was 9,470.
If you are trying for the avatar, I would recommend aiming for 10,000 and then if you make a few tiny mistakes then you should still be ok. If you are trying for a trophy, you'll need to aim higher!
None!
If you have any questions, feel free to neomail me and ask them as frequently as you wish.
Thank you for reading my guide! I hope you found it even the slightest bit helpful in improving your score, hopefully enough for you to get into the Top 50 scores and maybe even into the lucky top 17 scores for a trophy!
Feel free to neomail me with any suggestions!
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Normal boxes are worth 10 points and are destroyed with one hit. 
This box is still worth 10 points but will take two hits to destroy.
This box is also worth 10 points, and it takes three hits to destroy.
You cannot destroy this box, unless you get the 'power ball' power up. It will give you no points.
The bomb does not give you any points, but when you hit it, each box touching it (including diagonals) will be destroyed.
The flame does not give you any points, but when you hit it, it will destroy ALL the boxes underneath it.
Slow Paddle: This bonus will slow your paddle down. In my opinion this is a bad bonus item, so you should try and avoid it. If the ball is moving faster than the paddle, then it is harder to hit the ball, especially if it suddenly changes direction. 
Speed Paddle: This will speed up your paddle! Although it is not as disastrous as the slow paddle bonus, I would not recommend getting it because it may move too fast for you to be able to control, especially if you're used to the normal speed.
Slow Ball: This power up will slow the ball down! On the whole, I find this to be a useful bonus. But, if you get, for example, three of these potions, your ball will go three times slower, meaning that completing a level could take a VERY long time, so be careful.
Speed Ball: This will speed up your ball, and I REALLY don't like it! I would try and avoid it. Be careful, because the speed up and slow down ball and paddle bonuses look very similar, so look carefully before you grab the bonus!
Extend Paddle: This will make your paddle wider. In my opinion this is a good bonus item, as it gives you more surface area to hit the ball with! Note that if you get multiple bonuses of this type, your paddle WON'T keep getting wider and wider. That would be too easy!
Shrink Paddle: This will make your paddle smaller in length. In my opinion this is a bad power up, as it makes it harder to hit the ball. If you get multiple bonuses of this type, I'm not sure if your paddle will keep getting smaller as I've always avoided it! 
Reverse Paddle: This is a very bad bonus item, so try and avoid it! It flips the controls of the game, so if you press right then you will go left, and vice versa. Saying that, it's not impossible if you do get it, you'll just have to think more!
Flip View: This is even more confusing than the previous power up! It flips the whole screen horizontally, but the controls stay the same - if you press left, it will just 'look' like you're moving right! Try and avoid getting this if you can.
Multi Ball: This power up will give you three extra balls on the screen. It's quite useful for getting a level done more quickly! You do NOT lose a life if you miss one of the four balls, but when you only have one left you can't miss it, as usual.
Power Ball: Personally, I love this powerup! For a short time the ball will turn red, and it will go straight through ANY type of box, including the silver indestructable kind, which can make certain levels a lot easier.
Bullet: When this power up touches your paddle, a bullet will shoot up from it. You can guide the bullet by pressing left and right, but of course this will move your paddle too, so don't concentrate too much on aiming it.
Weaken: It's hard to explain what this potion does. When you get this bonus, it means that the boxes you have to hit multiple times to destroy will be 'weakened' so you have to hit them less. It's a good bonus though, so don't worry about avoiding it!
Detonate: This power up will detonate all the bombs on your current level. It is possible to get it on a level with no bombs on it, so nothing will happen. This bonus item is quite rare, I have only had it once or twice.
Mega Bomb: This potion looks very similar to Detonate! If you get this, then you will go to the next level, EXCEPT you get all the points you would have received if you had played the level normally - therefore an excellent item!
Reset: This resets the level you are currently on. This makes it a good bonus item because you are basically completing a level twice, so fingers crossed you get towards the end of a level and on a level worth lots of points.
Skip Level: This will skip your current level, but you will not receive the rest of that points for that level. So unless you are towards the end of a level or it is very hard, I would avoid. Thanks to Zero (xixiwang242) for confirming this!
Monster Killer: This is an EXCELLENT bonus item, even though it has a skull on it. It gets rid of any enemies in the level, so it is especially useful in the levels where you have two Korbats. It makes it surprisingly easier!
Extra Life: Guess what this potion does! Yes, you'll receive one extra life. It's probably the best bonus item you could get, but unfortunately it's very rare. Make sure you haven't used the 'spiderbite' code, or this will have no effect. 
Silver Coin: The silver coins are worth 50 points, yay! You should see quite a few of them in your game, they seem to be quite common.
Gold Coin: The gold coins are worth 500 points! However, they are very rare.
End Game: This will end your game immediately, even if you still have lives left, so you MUST avoid it at all costs. It's a lot bigger than all of the potions though, so you can't miss it.