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The Great Qasalan Caper Guide


by dragonsfriend1021

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The Great Qasalan Caper is an exciting puzzle game that thwarted many Neopians during the last Daily Dare. It can be a real challenge to get a high score in this difficult game, but with the right strategy and a little bit of luck you could have a new trophy in no time!

How to Play

The goal of the game is to get the golden statues to the bottom of the screen. The statues will fall through any opening in the rows on the screen, and thus will move closer to the bottom row. You control the Meerca Henchmen, Heermeedjet and Meerouladen, as they push rows of crates. Pushing a row moves the crates and makes room for the statues to fall. You will earn 25 points for each statue that reaches the bottom, and when they all reach the bottom, you move on to the next level.

The game board is mostly filled with crates and stones. The board also has several other items that you'll see: coins, gems, sand clocks, levers, Gebs, and Lyins. The gold coins will give you an extra 10 points when a statue falls on them. Even better, when a statue falls on them, the gems will add 50 points to your score. The sand clock will add 10 seconds to your time for that level. The Lyins are what you want to avoid. If a statue falls on one of these petpets, the Lyins will eat the statue, causing the statue to respawn at the top of your board and deducting 10 points from your score. Lyins will move around the board eating nearby crates, so watch out, because they might not be in the same spot you left them. The lever will mix up the tiles in its row and column when a statue falls on it. And finally, the Geb will clear a path downward through any tiles, including Lyins, until it is stopped by the bottom of the board, a stone tile, or another statue.

Sometimes, if you're really lucky, the Phantom Orange Shirt Guy will appear on your board. If you drop a statue on him, he will clear all the Lyins from the level, meaning you don't have to worry about avoiding them!

You can play the game with your keyboard or mouse. If you use your keyboard, move the Meerca brothers up and down the screen using the arrow keys. You can also switch which brother is selected using the left and right arrow keys. Push a row with the selected character by pressing the spacebar. If you use your mouse, the selected character will follow your mouse, so just move the pointer up and down. You can switch selected characters by moving your mouse to the other half of the screen. Push a row by left-clicking. Note that you can only move a row that has a statue in it. That makes the puzzle more challenging!

Strategy

The best strategy for this game is to finish quickly. You will get a bonus point for every second that is left on the timer when you've completed a level. If you want a trophy or high score, you need to complete each level as quickly as possible to get as many bonus points as you can. Since there are only 9 levels, you need to gain as many points in each level as you can in order to get a high score.

To move your statues to the bottom row quickly, try to create long columns of space. Sometimes you can line the rows up just right so you can push the statues from the top row directly to the bottom row. This will save you a lot of time, which helps you earn a nice time bonus and increases your score.

Keep this in mind while you're moving statues. For example, let's say you have two statues in two rows on top of each other and, in the next row down, there is a space to drop them one square to the left. If you move the top statue one square left and then the bottom statue also one square left, both statues will fall through the space in the row, and you'll have a nice column of space to drop other statues. This will save you several moves later.

At the beginning of a level, you have a few seconds before the Lyins appear. Use this time to try to create any long columns you can, or at least to move as many statues as far downward as you can. You may lose points if you're unlucky and a Lyins appears in your column, but you also could get lucky if all the Lyins appear above where your statues are. Sometimes, if your statues and crates start in just the right spots, you can get all of the statues to the bottom before the Lyins even appear!

Other Tips

If you want to score enough for a trophy, you can follow these simple tips to help improve your score.

Use your mouse. While some players may be able to use their keyboard efficiently, the mouse can be faster to move the Meercas up or down the screen, especially if the row you want to push is far away from the last row you pushed. Also, when you switch between the Meerca Henchmen using your mouse, the newly selected character jumps to where your mouse is, which saves time compared to using the keyboard, where you would have to use the arrow keys to move that Meerca to where you want him to be.

Set the game size to small. That way, it's easier to see the whole screen, and you don't have to move your mouse as far to move the Meercas.

Do your best to get the gems. 50 points is a lot in this game, so they can be really helpful. Don't worry too much about the coins, though. They're nice to have, but it's better to finish quickly than to pick them up.

Pick up the sand clocks to put more time on the clock, which can help you have enough time to finish the level or give you more bonus points when you finish. However, don't go too far out of your way to get them, because that will cost you more time than you gained!

Avoid the Lyins, but not at the expense of time. Obviously, you shouldn't keep pushing a statue into a Lyins, since it will continue to deduct points from your score, but sometimes you will have to sacrifice a statue or two to finish the level quickly.

Avoid the levers. Levers will shuffle the tiles, so they have the potential to move a crate right into your column of spaces and interrupt your flow. Try to avoid them, unless you need your tiles shuffled.

Have patience and luck. Sometimes you will get unplayable boards, where there is a full row of crates and no way to move the statues past it. If this happens on the early levels (1, 2, or 3), restart your game. It's not worth waiting for the problem to be fixed. If it happens on the later levels, you can try to create a space by flipping a lever or waiting for a Lyins to devour a crate and then move away. However, often you won't be able to flip a lever, or there won't be any Lyins nearby, or waiting for a Lyins to move will take too long. In those cases, it's best just to cut your losses and start again. There is certainly an element of luck!

Conclusion

The Great Qasalan Caper can certainly be a frustrating game sometimes, but if you like fast-moving puzzles, it might be well-suited for you. With some practice and a little luck, you can achieve a shiny new trophy for your cabinet. Good luck!

 
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