Buzzer Game Trophy Guide

      The Buzzer Game has to be one of the most overlooked games on Neopets. Most people play this game just to get the Avatar at 300 points, and then promptly forget about it. Well I’m here to tell you that not only will this game give you an Avatar but it is also pretty easy to get yourself a lovely shiny new trophy from it too. I only started playing it recently in an effort to improve my account, but I was able to get a third place trophy score near the end of the month and I plan to upgrade it as soon as possible. So here are my tips to help you too get an avatar and pretty trophy!

      Basic Gameplay

      Like buzzer games in real life, in this game you need to guide the little hoop along the wire without touching the wire. If you do touch the wire, then a super annoying “BUZZ!” sound will play and you lose one of your three lives.

      In order to move the hoop along the wire, you need to start at the green dot where the wire meets the box. Click on the green dot (you don’t need to hold the mouse button down) and then carefully guide the hoop along the curves of the wire. At the other end of the wire is a red dot and as soon as you touch this dot with your hoop, the round is complete.

      The box at bottom of the screen under the wire shows your score, bonus time remaining and which round you are on. There are 15 rounds in total and there is no time limit for completing each round. However, if you can finish a round before the bonus time counts down to zero, then you will be awarded one point for each bonus second remaining. The bonus time boost is unnecessary for the avatar but critical in the early rounds if you are aiming for a trophy.

      Distractions

      So as if guiding a little hoop along the wire wasn’t hard enough, the Island Techo running the game does his absolute best to distract you. These distractions mostly appear from level 3 onwards. He can and definitely will do any of the following:

      Minor distractions:

• Make random noises
  

• Blink his eyes a couple of times
  

• Make his eyes glow red
  

• Make his eyes bulge out at you
  

• Make the leaves in the background change colour
  

      Major distractions:

• Flick his tongue out to the lower middle screen
  

• A Chokato will fall from the middle top of the screen

      Most of these distractions are minor and can be fixed by playing with no sound and ignoring the Techo. When your hoop is around the middle of the screen though, you need to be on your guard so you are not startled into hitting the wire by either the tongue flick or Chokato falling.

      Scoring and Bonus Time

      Assuming you get absolutely no bonus time points, you need to reach round 11 to get the 300 points required for the avatar. If you’re going for the trophy then obviously you’ll need to complete all 15 rounds and get as many bonus time points as you can.

Round	Points for Completion	Total Points	Bonus Time
1	20	20	30
2	20	40	30
3	20	60	30
4	25	85	30
5	25	110	30
6	25	135	30
7	30	165	30
8	30	195	30
9	30	225	30
10	50	275	30
11	30	305	30
12	30	335	30
13	20	355	30
14	30	385	30
15	40	425	30

      Strategy

      Use Your Mouse Cursor

How much easier would this game be if you could just use your mouse cursor to follow the wire instead of that hoop? Well guess what? You can!!! *does happy dance* If you type in “cheese” at any point in the game then your cursor will magically reappear for you. Typing this in before you click on the green dot for the first level makes the early levels a breeze and the later level much, much easier.

      Bigger is Better

Use the cog next to the play button before opening the game to make the game as large as possible. Why? Because it makes the wire bigger, which means you can be a little less accurate with your mouse while following the wire. You’ll also be faster and net yourself more bonus time points to help in getting your trophy.

      Also use the largest mouse pad you own. The last thing you want is to lose a life because you literally couldn’t move your mouse any further to the right. If that does happen to you, lift your mouse as carefully as you can and then place it back down somewhere more ideal. Also if you’re using a mouse with a cable, make sure there is enough free cable and that it won’t catch on anything.

      Island of Peace

I’ve mentioned turning the music and sound off to minimise distractions from noises in the game, but it’s a good idea to minimise outside distractions as well. Pick a time to play that won’t see family, friends or pets interrupting you, and avoid background music or TV noise. I find it handy to put my headphones on anyway, as they help muffle background noises.

      Get in the Zone

Try to focus just on the wire and where your mouse is relative to it. Don’t look too far ahead! Some of the later levels are very overwhelming to look at with lots of twists and turns, but taken individually as you reach them, they’re really not that hard to navigate. The only thing you need to watch out for is that pesky tongue flick or Chokato, which can startle you out of your zone and cost you a life. If that happens, take a couple of deep breaths to calm your nerves and do your best to get back into it again. Speaking of breathing...

      Breathe, Just Breathe

Your brain needs oxygen to function and when you get tense, nervous or your adrenaline kicks in, you quite often forget to breathe or breathe really shallowly. In fact, I found concentrating on keeping regular slow breathing and only focusing on my mouse on the wire made me a couple of seconds faster overall and less likely to wobble in the complicated late round twist and turns.

      All the Cramps

If your mouse hand cramps up (it probably will at some point) or you start getting frustrated that’s usually a good indication it’s time to take a break. The game pauses between each level so give your hand a gentle massage, drink some water and do something less intense for a little while. When you and your mouse hand are ready, then come back to the game.

      Early Rounds

The early rounds, particularly the first 3 are where you’ll get a lot of easy points from the bonus time. The 4th to 7th rounds take a bit more practice to finish quickly but are not impossible. As you progress further up to round 10, you’ll start concentrating more on not losing a life rather than speed. However, any bonus time points you can get will definitely help and by the end of round 10, you’ll be very close to the avatar score if not already there.

      Late Rounds

From round 10 onwards, the wire pattern gets an awful lot more complicated. Here the focus is on completing the round without losing a life. The exception is round 13, which has a loop in the middle. It looks scary but you can actually skip the loop by continuing along from the point where the two wires intersect. This saves you a bunch of precious bonus time and gives you a much needed break.

      When you hit round 15, don’t even bother going fast. You should know by now whether your score is good enough for a trophy, and if not, you should’ve restarted before now (unless you’re practicing of course). Just concentrate on getting to the finish without losing a life, so you can enjoy your sweet, sweet high score and trophy and/or avatar.

      Final Words

      This game will take a bit of practice. You will lose lives on silly things like getting startled by that blasted Chokato or running out of mousepad at the worst possible time. Keep being patient and take breaks frequently. You’ll get that score sooner than you think.

      You’ll need a score of at least 500 for a trophy at reset, and later in the month that will be the bottom end of the bronze section. For Gold and Silver, you’ll want scores of 600-700, particularly towards the end of the month.

      Good luck and have fun!