Wanna Snowball Fight?

So first of all, let’s see how the game works, and I assure you: it is as simple as it gets. All you have to do is hit the pets that you see on the other side of the barrier and when you’re running out of balls, you have to hit the polarchuck that parachutes in the background. But there are faeries too, and although it might be quite liberating or just pure fun to hit Illusen right in the face after getting frustrated for failing one of her quests, that is for sure something you want to avoid, because every time you do, you lose a precious snow ball. This is true for the other faerie as well, but the good news is you won’t have more than the two of them on the screen at once!

Every snowball that you have will actually give you ten shots (it gets smaller every time you take a throw) and you will never have more than five snowballs... but believe me, they’re enough!

As for points and levels, things couldn’t be easier: all pets are worth ten points when hit in the face, but only five if you happen to partially hit them; meepits (yes, there are meepits in here too!) are worth double, which means 20 when hit completely and ten in the other case. You will occasionally have the pleasure to see The Phantom Orange Shirt Guy, and he’s one target you don’t want to miss: he will give you 50 or 25 points, depending on your accuracy. If you accidentally hit a faerie, you won’t earn points, but you won’t lose them either!

Every fifty points you will get into the next level, which means you will be at level 2 when your score gets to 100, level 3 when it is 150 and so on. The higher the level, the faster pets and faeries will appear, disappear, and move, and the same will happen to the parachuting polarchuck. Things will get hectic around level 13 (650 points) and you will most likely start to hit faeries as well even when you’re trying your best not to.

The most important factor in the game is the wind, because it highly affects the trajectory of your throws: after all, we’re talking about snowballs, not stones! You will be able to tell the direction and intensity of the wind by looking at the snowflakes. If they’re falling straight, you will point directly at your target, but if they’re somewhat slanting, then things change. If they go from right to left, you will shoot to the right of the target: the more intense the wind, the farther to the right you will aim; if they go from left to right, you will throw at the left of the target, always keeping in mind the intensity of the wind. After a couple of tries, you will know exactly where you’ll have to aim.

Hitting the polarchuck can be harder because of his dimension, but it is crucial to always have a high amount of shots and I guarantee you, it just takes a bit of practice. I find it easier to hit a polarchuck when he’s still up high, so you will have time to give it a second shot if you didn’t hit him the first time and, most of all, you won’t have other targets in the way. It’s important to know that polarchucks will only appear when you’re using your fourth snowball: since you cannot have more than five snowballs at a time, the polarchuck won’t parachute if you already have all of them. More precisely, you will see a polarchuck after using the first shot of the fourth snowball and any time after that. I suggest to always hit the polarchuck while using your fourth ball and not risking it further unless you see The Phantom Orange Shirt Guy. This is because the game gets harder and harder and you will increase your chance of hitting a faerie, which will make you lose an entire snowball, and you certainly don’t want to run short of them, do you? But in case you end up with only one snowball, you can type, only once per game, the word snowghettiandmeatball, which will give you a brand new snowball. Anyway, my advice is to use this trick only after level 15/16.

Here comes the most important hint: from level 14 on, I start playing only at the borders of the screen. I find faeries won’t go there as much as the other pets and you get a better chance to hit the polarchuck from that position. At that point, I’m usually not very accurate, meaning that I would just try not to hit faeries, but it doesn’t matter if I get only 5 points, or even none, from a shot. Of course, I suggest you do the same, although there can be other strategies too.

Last but not least, you have to be very patient: sometimes trying to hit a polarchuck can be very tempting but way too risky. So you might have to wait a while before you see a polarchuck that can be reached without hitting a faerie first, but if you rush it, you’ll just lose your snowballs and it’ll be game over. In this way, the game is longer than what you would think at first, but it is certainly worth it: you will get over 900 points with no difficulty at all!

I hope this guide will help you improving your scores and eventually let you add a shiny new trophy on your lookups. Enjoy your snowball fight and I’ll see you on the high score table!