Breaking Down Gourmet Club Bowls

To start

I am aware many users have trouble loading Gourmet Club Bowls to play and it is hard to get the avatar if you can't get the game loaded. These two petpages 1 and 2 should hopefully help you get the game running.

How to play

Your aim in the game is to bowl your ball (yours is red) to stop as close as you can to the small white ball (the jack). Your character, a Cybunny, is facing one opponent per level who is trying to achieve this same objective. To win a level you need to get 7 points before your opponent does. You will keep playing 'rounds' until one person reaches 7 and wins the level. In each round, each player will have the chance to bowl four times, and the person with the ball nearest to the jack gets points. The amount of points you get varies – if 3 of your balls are closer to the jack than any one of your opponent's balls, you get 3 points. If one of your balls is closest to the jack, but the next nearest ball is your opponent's, you get one point. So at most, you can get 4 points per round. Just note that the order of bowling depends on who won the last round – you bowl first if you won the previous round.

However, it is not just smooth bowling from here. From level 2 onwards, you are going to face some obstacles blocking your path to the jack. The only ones that you will need to concern yourself with are:

• Banana peel – if your ball hits this, your ball will bounce off it in a completely different direction to the one if came from. This will mess up your bowling unless you were deliberately aiming for a ricochet.
• Black hole – if your ball touches the edge of this it is gone. Just gone, sucked into a black hole never to be seen again.

Aiming and bowling are also quite simple in this game. By moving your mouse vertically up and down, you can choose the position that your Cybunny bowls from. Once you like your position, it's time to bowl! To bowl, click on the Cybunny and hold. When you drag your mouse to the right you will see a thin red line. Make sure that this line is straight when you are bowling (it should be directly between the Cybunny's ears); otherwise, your ball is going to curve. You adjust the power of the shot by the length of the red line – the shorter it is, the less power you will use. It will take you a few tries to learn which lengths give you which distances, but once you have figured it out, it is quite easy. And that's all to it.

Tips

No avatar guide would be complete without tips, and this game is no exception!

Take your time. There are no time limits for this game, so you can take as long as you like to aim and think about your next move. This is actually quite important, as aiming randomly and not thinking about your moves will just make you lose.

SHEPHERD, SHEPHERD, SHEPHERD! This amazing code doubles your score, and it should be the first thing that you should type when the game loads. You will know if it works as it will take you straight to the game.

Remember that if you knock the jack out of the field, you give your opponent 2 points.

During your turn, you can hover over the balls to see their distance from the jack. This is particularly handy if you cannot quite tell whose ball is closer.

Strategize your moves – try and place your balls in a position where your opponent can't easily knock them away. I like to place my balls right in front of the jack, so if the opponent tries and knock them he may also dislocate the jack into an awkward position. It also helps if you surround the jack with your balls – one in front, one below the jack and one above it.

Minimise your losses – if it is apparent that you can't win the round (like if the opponent's ball is conveniently blocked by obstacles and there is no way you can bump it), make sure to minimise the amount of points they win by having your ball at least the second closest to the jack. You lose points for every point your opponent wins, so you don't want the points to build up against you.

Feel free to bump your opponent's balls away – sometimes I like to bowl my ball at a high power to bump my opponent's ball off screen or away from the jack. If you happen to bump off most of their balls you can get more points per round simply because their balls are nowhere near. Your balls would still be closer because bumping into your opponent's balls will slow yours at impact. It is also useful to gently bump your own balls closer to the jack because sometimes winning comes down to 1cm.

Don't give up even if it seems like it is inevitable that you will lose the round. Your opponent can do some really silly things and hand you a round win on a platter, such as bumping you closer to the jack or jumping their own balls away.

If you are happy with the placement of your balls, and you are confident that your opponent won't be able to displace them enough for you to lose you can just waste the shot by firing it off screen so you won't accidentally displace your well placed shots with your last bowl. I've talked about the opponents doing silly shots, but you should avoid doing that too if you are certain you are going to win the round.

If you are really having trouble aiming, use a piece of paper or ruler. But as long as you bowl right, the ball is going to go in a straight line from where you released it.

Walkthrough

You only need to successfully pass Levels 1, 2 and 3 to get the avatar (with enough points, that is). Level 4 is MUCH harder, so if you don't get the avatar by then, I suggest you try again, because you lose points every time your opponent gets points. Make sure you type in 'shepherd' before you start.

Level 1 – Sir Hefferton

This guy is easy; half the time he doesn't even get near the jack. You have no obstacles this level, so feel free to surround the jack with your balls at your leisure. It is quite easy to win each round with 2 or 3 points. You want to win this level 7 points to 0, if not restart your game.

Level 2 – Lord Briar Tree

He's harder than Hefferton, and could be a challenge if you are not careful. This level also introduces the banana peel, but it should be pretty easy to avoid. Just do what you did to Hefferton, although I would use a little bumping of balls here as well. Try and finish this level 7 points to 0, but it should be fine if you lose a point or two. If you lose 3, though, restart because you will probably lose more points next level.

Level 3 – Dr. Grumps

He's the guy in the avatar, and he can be tricky. One moment you think you are going to win, next moment this guy pulls off a well-placed shot and you've lost the round. Grumps can also do a few silly things that could give you an easy win, but you should not rely on that. This level has the black hole as well as the banana peel, and they tend to be placed close together with a gap big enough for a ball or two to slot through. The jack also likes to hide either behind the black hole (where you can't fire straight at it) or in the convenient gap between the banana and the black hole. This is where taking your time really helps. Weigh up possible scenarios, and what the best place to aim would be. Bumping your ball closer to the jack helps a lot too. Practicing this level a few times will help you get that 7 – 0 victory and the avatar.

If you have not reached the avatar score by Level 4, you should restart. The next guy is way harder than Grumps, and ricochets and spins and does really interesting things with his ball. If you do have the avatar score, send it in before you start the next round. You don't want to try this level only to lose enough points to take you below the avatar score.

Conclusion

Hopefully with this guide, you can bowl yourself to a brand new avatar within your first few tries! What's also excellent about this game is that with the strategy above, you can easily get a trophy for this game as well on reset day and possibly even the day after without being a scary good gamer. Good luck and have fun!