A Guide to Whack-A-Ghost

Neopet's new game, Whack-a-Ghost, is one of the easiest games on Neopets. If you're wondering how anyone could get even 200 NP on this game, much less 1,385, then I can help. My personal high score almost 800, and I reached this easily. But perhaps you are one of those people who played it one time, decided you were no good, and thus chose to stick to other games you play with your keyboard, such as Trouble at the National Neopian. Perhaps you can't even get past the first few rounds. Perhaps you've never gotten more than 200 points on this game. Perhaps the game simply creeps you out. If that is you, this guide could change your life. No, I mean it. You see, you'll win more Neopoints, and that will contribute to your knowledge of how to handle money in real life. (I would encourage every one of you to neomail me after you're done reading this guide and explain to me the meaning of the terms “money” and “real life.” I seem to have forgotten.)

However, if you figured out this game already and get 1,000 NP every time you play, then you are on my level and this guide may not help you at all.

The basic goal of this game is to whack the ghosts. Surprised? Then you may be in trouble. Whack the ghost petpets with the tombstones to block them from wreaking havoc all over Neopia!

First off, let's review the rules.

1. Turn on your Number Lock key. “Number Lock” is commonly abbreviated “Num Lock”or even “N/LOCK,” and is normally located in the upper left hand corner of your number keypad. (Your number keypad is normally located on the right hand side of your keyboard. Yes, the one with all the numbers on it. The one you never use.) When the N/LOCK key is pressed and your number keypad is activated, a LCD light should turn on next to your caps lock light above your number keypad.

If this is simply too much for your mortal brain to comprehend, or perhaps your number lock keys don't exist or are broken, then you may use letter keys by going to “setup” and changing them. Personally, I think the letter controls are harder, as the letter keys aren't perpendicular like the number keys.

2. Whack the ghosts! They're just plain creepy. They're transparent and have freakish red eyes. Press the key that corresponds to the location of the ghost on the screen. Some ghosts need to be whacked more than once. Whack as many ghosts as you can in the 30 second time frame. How much time you have left can be determined by the location of the moon, which moves along the top of the screen.

3. Don't whack the skulls. It's rumored you lose a life if you do. I wouldn't know, I've never done it. *Acts cocky.*

Your lives are denoted by the pink hearts at the bottom of the screen. If you run out, it's game over.

4. Don't whack the pink Kacheek. It's cute. And plus you'll lose a life.

5. Don't whack dirt. You'll lose a life. This I've done many a time. It is by far the most common way to lose lives. Before you whack a ghost, make sure it's really there.

6. Don't miss a ghost. If you don't hit a ghost, you'll hear a blood curdling scream (unless you have your volume turned down). It's not pleasant. Also, you lose a life.

7. Hit the coins. It'll give you more points.

8. Hit the hearts. They'll give you more life. You can get up to 10 lives, which are denoted by the pink hearts at the bottom of the screen.

9. Hit the treasure chests. They give you Neopoints, and you'll find either coins, or another life.

10. Relax! This is an easy game!

You may notice as you progress through the game that your keypad tends to quit working after a few rounds. You'll press a key, and the wrong place gets whacked. If you read the instructions, the ones the one-eyed skeleton gives you between each round, you'll see this is because your keys have been rotated.

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This makes things difficult. You'll just have to remember that a 9 is now a three and a three is a one, etc. Of course, this is not easy to do. It takes a lot of practice, and you usually lose soon after. You should probably quit playing when you get to this round.

Unless you rotate your keyboard. That's right, your actual physical keyboard. Pick it up, and rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise. (Wow. It's difficult to type this way!!)

Now you're ready to proceed. The keypad may feel funny, since on some keyboards the keys are elevated further up on the keyboard.

After a few rounds, the keys rotate once more. But this time, it doesn't work to rotate your keyboard, so return it to its normal position. These are the controls you have now:

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If your keyboard was up-side-down, the keys would be:

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This is not the same, so don't turn your keyboard up-side-down. This time, you will need to remember the petpets on top are whacked with the bottom keys, and the ones on the bottom are whacked with the top keys. The middle keys are the same, which in ways makes it more confusing.

When the keys rotate a few rounds later, you will need to rotate your keyboard 90 degrees clockwise. The controls are now:

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By this time, you should have 500+ points, which is 1000 NP! Of course, you can't win more than this, but with practice you may win a trophy!! If you still can't seem to do well on this game after reading this guide, then there may be something wrong with your computer, or your Internet connection

This concludes my guide. I hope it helps, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to neomail me. And have a great time whacking those ghosts and saving Neopia!