Lost City Lanes

Ever been sitting around your Neohome wishing you could go bowling with your Neopets? Well, now you can! Simply head on over to Geraptiku where this little Lizark will set up a seven-level bowling match for you involving power-ups and obstacles galore. Enjoy!

Gameplay

The structure of the game is fairly simple. There are seven levels, and each has five frames. If you've ever bowled before, you'll recognize the characteristic three-ball final frame. (If you haven't, more on that later.) To advance to the next level, you'll need to achieve the required target score.

To throw the ball, use the left and right arrow keys to choose the starting angle. Then press the space bar to start the power meter and again to throw the ball at the desired power level. Beware: the meter moves very fast. Once your ball is in the lane, you can nudge it left or right with the appropriate arrow keys or even make it hop with the space bar.

Your scoreboard is shown above the lane, along with your level and required score to move up,
and your power meter sits at the bottom of the screen.

A Quick Bowling Tutorial

If you've ever bowled before, you'll probably want to skip to the next section. If you haven't, or if it's been a while, keep reading for a refresher on the structure of bowling.

A normal bowling match has 10 rounds, called "frames." Each player plays a single round, then play cycles through the rest of the players before moving on to the next round. Each round except the last consists of two chances to knock down the 10 pins at the end of the lane. Knock all the pins over on the first try (a "strike"), and you skip the second try. Whether you knock over all the pins in two tries (a "spare") or still have some left over, play moves on.

The tenth and final frame is a little bit different. You get your usual two tries, and the game ends if you don't knock over all the pins. If you get a spare, however, you'll be granted an extra third roll with a new set of pins. If you get a strike on your first roll, you'll get two extra rolls. This has to do with the way the scoring system works, and the extra rolls aren't counted again in their own right as they would be in other frames, only as the additional points for a strike or spare (see below).

In this game, you're the only player, so you just play through the frames like it's solitaire bowling. But the frames have the same structure and the same scoring system as regular bowling. For every pin you knock down, you get one point. In addition, every time you get a spare, you get the 10 points for the pins you knocked down plus the number of pins you knock down on the next roll. (And you also get those points added to the frame they belong in. Basically, you double count the next roll.) If you get a strike, the same thing happens, except for the next two rolls. This is why the so-called "turkey" (3 strikes in a row) is such a big deal—you get a max of 30 points for the first strike in the sequence.

   
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Levels

Power-Ups

Strategy

In the first few levels, you might have better luck getting a strike by moving your ball three key taps to the left or right. Striking is still not a guarantee, but does seem to give you better odds.

It's easy to forget about the space bar when you're trying to dodge all those obstacles. Don't. They're so much easier to jump over, unless you're hoping for a power-up next to one. On the other hand, neither should you forget that you can nudge the ball left and right as it's rolling in order to dodge obstacles or collect power-ups. Watch out for green speed tracks right in front of obstacles—they make the obstacle far more difficult to dodge and send your ball flying if you jump off of them.

If you've got a lot of obstacles, especially moving ones, keep a look out for the Shockwave (bomb) and Super Ball power-ups. Otherwise, it will be very annoying to time your bowls such that you don't hit them—you can't jump over the moving ones unless you jump off a green speed track.

   

If you're running low on points for the level, go for the power-ups because they're all worth 10 points each. Since there are only 10 pins you can knock down, one single power-up is worth almost as much as a spare or strike. If you're ever just a hair off hitting a power-up, tap the down arrow key to slow the ball down just a hair and catch the power-up.

On the other hand, if you've just achieved a spare or strike (especially a strike), try not to completely discount your aiming at the pins in favor of bonus points, or you won't get as many pins double-counted.

Due to the scoring system, you can achieve a score of 150 on each level. This means that a perfect score in the actual bowling part of the game is a 1050. However, looking at the high scores you'll notice they are all way, way above this. All your other points come from power-ups, so make sure to collect as many as you can!

This game guide was written by: Zelda