How to Have Fun Without Breaking the Bank

by fairybead

Here I will tell you how to have fun -- without spending any money! That's right, there is a way for all those who have a disappointing bank balance to have a lot of fun on NeoPets! Here are just a few suggestions:

1. Playing games - This is the most obvious way to have fun without spending money, but still I play on games everyday and some of them are really enjoyable. The wonderful thing about playing the flash games is that instead of costing you money it does exactly the opposite by earning you Neopoints! Lots of the games are easy enough for anyone to play, but some of them are hard if you like challenges.

2. Message boards - There are many different boards to chose from. My favorite is the help chat though this is not because of the giveaways or free items, it's just that it feels good helping out someone who has a problem. Another good board is the adventure generator because it may recommend interesting adventures to play. All the boards are fun though. Message boards are also a great way to meet new people, you can meet lots of friends through message boards.

3. Exploring - Now this may seem like a sort of childish thing to do to some people, but it can be really enjoyable. I didn't start exploring until I had been on NeoPets for a few weeks, but I soon found myself wondering to the world map. After I had visited all the worlds I started looking around for new places. The first place I found was the hidden tower in Faerie world, and all the incredible, expensive items. The next place I found was the ruins of Maraqua and the mysterious Faerie statue. Finally I found jelly world, and now profit from free jelly once a day! It's a great feeling discovering places like this, and now I always look out for any new additions to the world map!

4. Guilds - Whether you own a guild or you are a member in one, guilds can be a lot of fun. Although some people think that guilds cost money they don't necessarily have to. You may have to buy a competition prize once in a while, but there are usually nice members in guilds who will donate items and NP for you. Guilds are a great way to make new friends, from your friends on the council to all the newest people to join to people you meet advertising your guild. Guilds always make you new friends. You can get a lot of fun out of a guild but you have to be prepared to put a lot back - this doesn't just mean money it can mean time or effort as well.

5. Neopian times - You can read the Neopian times or write in or both ! Reading the Neopian times can be very fun, there is a section for everyone! If you are more serious player you might find some of the articles interesting. Whereas if you are looking for something amusing then you might like the comics better. But the fun doesn't stop at reading, yes why don't you write in? This is exactly what I did and I found writing my article extremely fun! This activity does definitely not cost money and if you decide to write in and you are published then you get a nice shiny trophy

6. Adventure Generator - The adventure generator is quite new to NeoPets and some people might not have heard of it. Basically it's one of those games where you chose your own ending. There are many adventures to chose from ranging from 'which petpet are you?' to 'escape from Merridell Castle!' There's probably something for everyone. But of course you don't just have to play adventures, you can write your own! Writing an adventure requires a lot of effort. Once you have a general idea for your adventure, you need to write a new page for every new paragraph, link them all together, include some dead ends, check it works, and then finally you might be ready. For those who love to write, this can be very entertaining. But if you are grammatically challenged, playing them is still fun.

7. Your Neopets- Okay, so this may sound like something else that will only apply to younger Neopians but the point of NeoPets is your pets, right ? So why don't you actually care for pets once in a while. It only costs a little money and can be enjoyable sometimes. First of all check whether or not your Neopets are starving, if they are then you can feed them with the free omelette and jelly you can receive once a day. If you do not do this often your Neopets mood might be unhappy, or worse, so the next thing to do is but some cheap toys. You can find Aisha keyrings for around 10 NP or some cheap plushies for around 300 NP if you have an Usul you may want to buy some make-up or grooming products. Also some games such as Kacheek Seek make your Neopets happy and earn you money at the same time !

8.Earning trophies - There are many fun ways to earn trophies. (And also who wouldn't want those of those lovely shiny things ?) The Art Center in Neopia Central is a good place to earn lots of trophies, there are writing, poetry or drawing competitions. Having your name in the Art Gallery or anywhere will attract people to Neomailing you as well. Even if you think that you are nowhere near as good to enter, remember that NeoPets takes a variety of work from all age groups so you will always have a good chance in winning. The obvious trophy is Cheat! It may take you a few goes to complete the game, completing the third level gets you a bronze trophy. Also beating Capara the Kyrii does something very interesting indeed! Go Go Go, is another game many people play to get a trophy. But in my opinion the Go Go Go trophy is a lot harder to gain. If you find a defenders of Neopia character, (such as the Pant devil) some of them (such as the Pant devil) can be very easy to beat and you get another very shiny trophy.

9. Saving - So this one isn't exactly the same, but there are lots of different fun things to do if you have money. Saving is mostly doing the first thing I mentioned which is playing games. So saving can be fun. You can also save NP by entering many competitions such as the art or poetry competitions that I also mentioned. So if you follow this guide then you may find your money level will slowly rise, anyway !

10. Doing something nice for someone - This can be a number of things. If you see someone, whose petpage you might admire, why not send them a complimentary Neomail. You never know you might just make a new friend ! Or if you're an helper why do not do a Guess and Win on the help boards ? The prizes don't have to be expensive prize. Once I won something on the boards, scary soup, at the time it was only worth about 100 NP. While you're on the help chat boards doing the aforementioned and you see a newbie that needs help, why not help them ? It will take hardly any of your time and you'll have helped someone who might have been in doubt forever, in frustration gone mad, and decided to leave NeoPets forever which would be a shame.

So for all those Neopians out there whose bank balance always disappoints here is a guide on how to have fun without actually spending any money, or very little money ! But whilst you'll having all this fun you are gradually making money. These of course are only a few ways to have free fun, there are of course endless opportunities . Just because you have 5k in the bank and 172 NP in your pocket it does not mean that you are doomed for boredom forever.

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