Mini-Guide to Key Quest Mini-Games

Also by iluvchocolate_91

Understanding Mini-Games

With the release of the 3-Dimensional adventure game, Key Quest, many Neopians have been rushing to try this new game out. And as always, everyone starts out as a newbie. Many in-depth guides have been created for newbies to understand the game or average players to improve their strategy, but I have yet to see a guide that teaches you how to play each mini-game in detail... and that is what you’ll be reading today!

There are a total of 5 mini-games currently. They are Daring Dig (“The Zomutt game”), Faerie’s Labyrinth (“The Faellie Game”), Nova Matcher, Petpetpet Snare, and Spyder Scare. All of these can be played in 2, 3, or 4 player games. In the mini-games, whichever base color you picked will be the color provided for you in the mini-game. Whoever wins each mini-game will be able to choose from a reward. You can get either one out of the five keys (or 4, 3, or 2 depending on what games you play!) or one of three randomly chosen power-ups. Choosing from keys or power-ups is also random.

Daring Dig

Controls: In Daring Dig you will use three arrow keys: Down, Left, and Right to navigate. Yup, that’s correct, no up key! Why not? You can’t dig upwards, silly! That’d just look bizarre! With that in mind, you need to plan your dig carefully. Basically, you can’t mess up here!

Main Objective: Reach the finish at the bottom of the screen before anyone else. This may look easy at first, but it’s not! Each square of dirt will have to be dug through 1, 2, or 3 times. This varies depending on the darkness of the square. If a square is the lightest, it needs to be dug through once, but the darkest ones are dug through 3 times, and so on. Every time you press an arrow key, that will make it one tone lighter. You can even hold down the arrow key to make your Zomutt move faster! Finishing in 1st will result in an additional 10 points.

Those Shiny Gems: Every gem collected is worth three points. Several of the gems will be distributed around the board. The more players, the more gems. When the first person crosses the finish, the other player(s) will have 10 seconds to reach the finish. If a player comes in a lower place than yours, that person can still win if they have collected enough gems to surpass your score and win the game overall!

Faerie’s Labyrinth

Controls: All four arrow keys or mouse.

Main Objective/How to Find Your Way Through: Guide your Faellie through the maze and reach the treasure chest before your opponent. Once you reach the first light/button, you will need to walk over it. Now, the electric barrier that is in your way will be opened up and you can move on. Continue through the maze and you will see a wooden blockade. You may either press the arrow key in that direction or use the mouse and click repeatedly until it breaks. You will find yourself in the final area of the maze and four colored doors in front of you. Locate that button once again nearest to you and go through that colored (and now opened!) door. Repeat the process you used to get through the wooden barrier and you should be through to the treasure! Similar to Daring Dig, you will have 10 seconds to finish.

Nova Matcher

Controls: Your mouse, your eyes, and your BRAIN!

Main Objective and Tips: This game may sound the simplest, but when playing against equally skilled players, it can be the most difficult. Unfortunately, with slower computers, it can be a struggle to win against a person with a lightning-fast computer because of all the special effects added in. It’s possible to win, but you’ll just need to try extra hard! Anyway, all you have to do is pair up a set of matching novas. There are 6 colors: black outlined with green, black outlined in red, basic yellow, yellow outlined in purple, basic pink, and pink outlined in a purplish-blue. Each pair is worth 2 points. Whoever racks up the most points, wins!

Petpetpet Snare

Controls: Mouse again, yay!

Main Objective: Collect the specified petpetpet in your “rope.” You can find which one it is in the upper right hand corner of the mini-game screen. The possible petpetpets are: Lightmite (yellow), moquot (purple), squippit (red), vernax (purple and tan), and bumbluz (blue). Correct loops will make the petpetpets vanish and you will continue to collect more as the game goes on. The more petpetpets you catch in one round, the more points you get! However, I usually find this method harder. Smaller seems to be easier to win with and easier to control. It takes less time so when the other user is trying to make large loops, you’re getting a bunch of little ones and they don’t get any. Muahahaha!

Spyder Scare

Controls: You knew it was coming... Mouse!

Main Objective: Using the mouse to guide your spyder to either side of the screen and the mouse to have the spyder drop down, collect as many bolts as you can! The points awarded for each one are as follows: Hexagonal are worth 4, long ones are worth 3, square bolts are worth 2, and Purple and Blue are worth 1. Some objects will take longer to bring up than others, so once again you have to plan ahead! Thankfully, if there are quite a few players in the mini-game, just like in daring dig, more bolts will be available for you to collect! It is possible to miss an item if you are off, though, so take time to aim or else!

    So for those of you who think strategy and luck are the only ways to win a game, think again! Though it is important, the best way to win knowing your mini-games and how they work. Not to mention it shows off your super-1337 gaming skills! Good luck and may your searching for keys be much easier than before! :D

Author’s note: I’d like to thank iluvchocolate_91 for collaborating with me to make this article and collecting data. In addition, I’d like to thank everyone at the Key Quest chat for their contribution to helping me confirm the facts we collected. =)