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Contents

Ø       General News

Ø       Pet News

Ø       PetPet News

Ø       TNE News

Ø       Featured Article No “Pay for Play” Why Neopets banned shop and guild contests.

Ø       Featured Game Brucey B Slots

Ø       Featured Food Sutek Muffins

Ø      Featured Site NeoQuestMaps.com

 

General News

Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the news on a day to day basis. Here are the highlights from the Neopets news page for this month...

 

How Colorful...


For absolutely no reason at all, everything on New Features had a Rainbow theme. I wonder if they will add new “special days to the Calendar? (
July 1, 2003)

Roo Island has been added to the Explore map. Maybe Jelly World will be added, too… (July 2, 2003)

In yet another fit of twisted humor, Neopets has released another new random event:

Something has happened!

All your Neopoints have been stolen, and all your items, and all your pets are sick, and your stocks have ... oh wait, it was just a horrible, horrible dream.

(July 9, 2003)

Neopets increased the Neopoints you can earn from Usuki Frenzy by 33%. (July 9, 2003)

Now you can take Neopoints from the Money Tree if you have less than 20,000 NP (it used to be 10,000 NP) (July 9, 2003)

Three new banners have been added to our Link To Us page. (July 10, 2003)

There is a new Desktop Background featuring a yellow Uni. (July 10, 2003)

Neopets updated the Neopets Press Kit images. (July 10, 2003)

Neopets just added a Neopedia article about none other than the supreme darkness faerie, Jhudora. (July 11, 2003)

MERIDELL RUBBISH DUMP! - Yes, it's the coolest place to hang out in Meridell. Pick up some great gifts, snacks (or maybe even a packet of gravel!) It works much the same as the Money Tree but there is a very small chance you may find a really really rare artifact. Click here now!

(July 14, 2003)

Neopets has also released some Blogs for your shop. (July 14, 2003)

You will soon be able to buy a Neopets magazine in shops around America. Click here for more details. (July 14, 2003)

You can now win trophies for the Lottery. (July 15, 2003)

Neopets updated some of the small images on the Front Page. (July 15, 2003)

Roo Island now has some Colouring Pages to choose from. (July 16, 2003)

Neopets has doubled the Neopoints you can earn from playing Bumper Cars. (July 19, 2003)

You now earn 20% more Neopoints when playing Dubloon Disaster. (July 21, 2003)

Poor Plumbeard, just back from cruising the high seas, and he gets a room next door to the noisiest pirate in the whole of Krawk Island. If you can find him, he would be more than willing to teach you a few fighting skills!

Click to find Plumbeard

If you were here for NPv2, then you would know that the "noisiest pirate in the whole of Krawk Island" is TAZZALOR, the drunkard. In the Neopedia, look up Captain Threelegs and you will find, "Room 109 with the drunkards" is mentioned. This gives a room clue at the Swashbuckling Academy. That means Plumbeard would have to be in either room 108 or 110. He's in room 110. Click here to pay him a visit. (July 22, 2003)

Speaking of Battledome challengers, now whenever the Pant Devil comes up on the Wheel of Excitement, you will get him as a challenger. This should be a big help to all of those trying to find him for Defenders of Neopia. (July 22, 2003)

NEW GAME - For all you people who play Scorchy Slots we have a surprise, yes a great new slot machine based on the adventures of Brucey B and the Lucky Coin - Brucey B Slots. Thanks to all of you who helped us alpha-test it over the last few days, it is now ready to launch and has a new 25 NP bet. (July 22, 2003) Brucey B Slots now has a slightly smaller, and faster mode (640x480).

The maximum amount you can trade on the Trading Post has been raised from 600,000 NP to 800,000 NP. (July 23, 2003)

The latest entry into the Gallery of Evil is the Tax Beast. (July 24, 2003)

When you play Volcano Run from now on, you will earn 25% more Neopoints. (July 24, 2003)

Here is a preview of one of the new Neopets products coming to market soon - JIGSAW PUZZLES. (July 25, 2003) Also, be on the lookout for the one below. It's ADVENTURES IN NEOPIA a new board game that is going to be in shops soon. The aim is to collect 5,000 Neopoints by playing Neopets mini-games. Neopets says they will release more news about it soon. (July 30, 2003)

Three new random event was released. This one will magically fill up your NeoDeck with cards that you are missing!

Something has happened!

Oh no! We were about to add the Collectable Card 'Shadow Usul' to your NeoDeck, but you don't have enough room!

(July 25, 2003)

This one will have mortogs randomly floating down your page (like with the pets on the quickref page).

Something has happened!

It's raining... Mortogs?

(July 30, 2003)

And then there is a “secret” one. As far as we can tell, it’s the “earthquake” one shown below:

Something has happened!

An Earthquake! Quick! Hide under your Desk! (You do have one in your NeoHome, don't you?)

When you get this one, it will “shake” your desktop and then minimize all your windows. Then the window you were in will jump to a corner of your desktop.(July 30, 2003)

Neopets has increased the frequency that things appear at the Rubbish Dump. (July 30, 2003)

There are some new Fun Images featuring many stars of Neopia including the host of Better Than You! (July 31, 2003)

Another new random event:

Something has happened!

King Skarl appears and orders his guards to collect 580 Neopoints from you. Who knew there was such a thing as Marrow Tax?


(July 31, 2003)

Special Days for this month were:

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Pet Changes

Pets are painted at the Rainbow Pool (on the Main Shops page) with special magic paint brushes. Click here for a list of all pets and their available colors.

v     Buzzes and Kyrii can now be painted Rainbow. (July 1, 2003)

v     Krawks can now be painted with a Darigan Paint Brush. (July 2, 2003)

v     Flotsams can now be painted Pink and Checkered at the Rainbow Pool. (July 3, 2003)

v     When you adopt a Grundo you can now choose from a great new color: Plasma White. (July 8, 2003)

v     Kauvara has been rather quiet lately as she has been busy working on a new batch of Grarrl Morphing Potions. Now you can get hold of a magical brew at her Magic Shop that will transform your Neopet into a STARRY, Rainbow, Fire or ELECTRIC Grarrl. (July 8, 2003)

v     Ixis can now be painted Skunk and Starry at the Rainbow Pool. (July 11, 2003)

v     Tuskaninnies can be painted Pink and Plushie at the Rainbow Pool. (July 12, 2003)

v     Shoyrus can now be painted with the Darigan Paint Brush. (July 14, 2003)

v     Gelerts can now be painted White. (July 15, 2003)

v     You can now own a Glowing Draik. (July 16, 2003)

v     Kikos now come in PINK and Plushie. (July 17, 2003)

v     Kauvara has just finished up a new batch of Eyrie Morphing Potions including the much sought after Darigan Eyrie potion. (July 18, 2003)

v     Kougras can now be painted Brown at the Rainbow Pool. (July 21, 2003)

v     *blink blink* Grundos now come in SPONGE? (July 22, 2003)

 

v     Ghost Gelerts are now available. (July 22, 2003)

v     Bruces and Blumaroos can now be painted with the Fire Paint Brush. (July 23, 2003)

v     Kauvara has decided to get into the spirit of things by brewing up four new Fire Morphing Potions specially designed for Lupes, Moehogs, Buzzes and Chias. (July 23, 2003)

v     You can now turn your Acara invisible. (July 24, 2003)

v     Grarrls can now be painted with the Darigan Paint Brush. (July 24, 2003)

v     The Plushie Peophin is now available at the Rainbow Pool. (July 25, 2003)

v     Draiks can now be painted with the Brown Paint Brush. (July 30, 2003)

v     Ixis can now be painted and Plushie at the Rainbow Pool. (July 30, 2003)

v     Now you can paint your Lenny Starry or Brown. (July 31, 2003)

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PetPet Changes

For those of you looking for the Petpet Puddle, it is part of the Rainbow Pool. When you are on the Main Shops page, click on the Rainbow Pool. At the top of the next page is the link to the Petpet Puddle. Click here for a list of all petpets and their available colors.

The big news for petpets this month is the release of the Ghost Petpet Paint Brush on July 29, 2003

q       Alkenores, Harris and Boweens can now be painted Rainbow at the Petpet Puddle. (July 1, 2003)

q       If you own a Meowclops you can now choose to make turn it into a Plushie, Spotted, Rainbow or Cloud version. (July 2, 2003)

q       Yet another petpet change? Neopets have been complaining that their Petpets have started to eat food in their inventory... uh oh... (July 9, 2003)

q       Snowickles, Gruslens, Kadoaties and Ackos can now be painted with the White Petpet Paint Brush. (July 16, 2003)

q       You can now paint your Fungree, Poppit, Mallard or Warf with a Christmas Paint Brush. (July 22, 2003)

q       Neopets released the Ghost Petpet Paint Brush and the first petpets that can be painted with it are Doglefoxes, Noils, Onas and Candychans. (July 29, 2003)

q       A new Meridell petpet appeared. Gallions are energetic little things that can give quite a nasty nip if they are ignored! (July 31, 2003)

 

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TNE News

As with all good help sites, the pages on the Neopian Educator are always under construction. Suggestions and constructive criticism are always welcome. Simply fill out the automatic comment form.

A word puzzle section and two new coloring pages have been added to the page devoted to What to do when Neopets is down. This is for those times when refreshing the page doesn’t bring back Neopets. A special thank you to Inochi for the most recent word search added to the What to do when Neopets is down section. As always, new items are always welcome.

The Newbie Guardians page has been updated, and a new section has been added for retired Guardians.

While we are waiting for Neopets to add the Meridell Rubish Dump to the Meridell map, it will be listed with the "Secret" areas. A short write up has been prepared.

The Game Reviews page has been updated.

Because item lists are done so well at NeoItems.net, TNE will be referring everyone to that site for the latest in item news. Book, Food, and possibly the Cooking Pot pages will be changed to reflect that. We will continue to discuss them, but NeoItems specializes in listing them.

The Central Neopia, Terror Mountain, Faerieland, Maraqua, Tyrannia, Merridell and Haunted Woods areas of the tour have been updated to reflect changes in the maps. The VirtuPets Space Station had the map updated (see the new grundo in front of the Grundo Warehouse?) The Lost Desert, Mystery Island and Krawk Island did not have new additions. Plans are under way for tours of the new Mini Worlds.

Work is continuing on the FAQ's. Another project currently under way is a "Museum" of sorts...but it is rather labor intensive and will probably not be up and running for a while.

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Featured Article


Have a help article you'd like to see here? Submit it to: Naomi_Tran@baylor.edu

Featured Article:

No “Pay for Play” Why Neopets banned shop and guild contests.

On August 8, 2001, Neopets banned all shop and guild contests that require users to pay to participate.

In short, this was just another fun thing that scammers ruined for the honest players.

Some users will point out that not all “contests” cost players anything. As far as I can see, the contests that Neopets refers to are the pay for play variety. What is "pay for play"? As you can probably guess from the words, it is anything you have to pay to be able to play. Payment can be either by buying something or donating something.

Here are some common “pay for play” contests:

Sadly, not all contests were honest. Often the scammer would either not award anything or would send the prize to a dummy account or to a friend. Then when other users contacted the “winner” they would hear how great the scammer was and how lucky they felt to win and how much they spent, and blah blah blah blah blah…

Keep in mind, free competitions are still allowed. These include:

FTP These are found on the chat boards. The first user to post on that board (sometimes the first user to post a specific word or phrase on that board) will be sent an item. This costs the user nothing since the board creator simply has to look at the board and send the item to the winner. The board creator may put additional limits like “no double posts” if they are looking for a certain post number to award the prize. If the board creator chooses to not send something, nobody who posted loses anything. The board creator doesn’t gain anything from this other than goodwill from other players.

Guess and Win These can be found in guilds and shops, but are mainly found on the chat boards. The board creator will ask users to guess a certain thing such as “What color shirt am I wearing?” Then users will post their guesses on that board.  This would also include riddles. Again, if the board creator chooses to not send something or if nobody can guess correctly, nobody who posted loses anything.

Answer and Win As with the Guess and Win’s these can be found in guilds and shops, but are mainly found on the chat boards. The board creator will ask users to answer a specific question such as “What pet replaced the Tatsu?” Then users will post their answer on that board and the prize is usually given to the first post with the correct answer.  This would also include trivia questions. These are also great conversation starters, since most of these are questions that everyone who knows the answer to will have an opinion about their answer. These should not be confused with polls, however, which almost never offer prizes. As always, if the board creator chooses to not send something or if nobody can guess correctly, nobody who posted loses anything.

As long as users can play without it costing them anything, it seems that these are allowed on Neopets.

I hope this clears up any confusion on Neopets contests.

As always, play safe and have fun!

~StaggPub~

P.S. If anyone cares, today I am wearing a white shirt and the Tatsu was replaced by the Eyrie…

 

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Featured Game: Brucey B Slots
Submitted by: StaggPub

Have a guide you'd like to see here? Send it to: Naomi_Tran@baylor.edu


 

Neopets has recently released the most addicting game since NeoQuest…Brucey B. Slots. Unlike its forerunner, Scorchy Slots, this game comes with sounds, animation, and different betting levels. Before we begin, TNE would like to point out that (as with all games of chance) you should never bet more than you are willing to lose. Never plan to win, just be thankful when you do. Remember, with gambling, the House ALWAYS wins. Now…on to the guide…

Here is the main screen. Select how many lines you want to bet on (up to 7) and how much you want to risk per line (up to 50).

To win, you must line up 3 (or 2 of the “Face Cards”) starting from the left. It doesn’t count if they don’t start on the left. For example, even though the picture above has 3 Brucey B’s on one line, 3 Sloths on one line, and 3 Princess Fernypoos on one line, you would win nothing because they did not start on the far left.

Here are the different “lines” you can bet on. Remember, your 2-3 in a row must start in the far left column.

If you match up enough for a win, the winning cards will be highlighted (and sometimes you will also get an animation):

Here are the different images in the game, arranged from most valuable to least valuable:

Minimum needed

Note

Lucky Coin

 

 

2

 

Must have 5 in a row for Jackpot.

Not valuable any other way.

 

Ace

 

 

2

 

 

Get a win, watch Brucey B. strike a pose.

King

 

 

2

 

 

Get a win, hear Sloth laugh.

Queen

 

 

2

 

 

 

No animation for winning.

Jack

 

 

2

Geb

 

 

2

 

 

Wild

Bagguss

 

 

3

 

 

 

 

 

Prize amounts are the same for all fruit.

Puntec Fruit

 

 

3

Tchea Fruit

 

 

3

Ummagine

 

 

3

 

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Name: Sutek Muffin
Available: From the Lost Desert Food Stall
Neopet’s Description: Blueberries, flour, water, and heaps of sand!
TNE’s Description: Our version skips the sand, but the crumb topping for this jam-filled treat still gives it a “sandy” look.

Ingredients:
  • 2 c all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 c plain yogurt
  • 1/4 c blueberry jam or preserves
  • 5 Tbl butter, melted and cooled
  • 3/4 c dried cherries or dried cranberries
  • 1/2 c granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/3 c milk

Topping

  • 1/4 c all purpose flour
  • 2 Tbl firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 Tbl chilled butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease 12 standard muffin pan cups or line with paper liners.
In a small bowl, mix together eggs, yogurt, melted butter, and milk until smooth. 
Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add both the egg mixture and dried fruit.
Stir with a fork until ingredients are just moistened. Divide about half of the batter into the muffin cups.
Spoon 1/2 tsp of jam into the center of the batter in each cup. (This will make a filling for your muffins.)
Spoon the remaining batter over the jam, filling each muffin cup about 3/4 full.
To prepare the topping, mix the flour and brown sugar together in a small bowl. 
Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into flour mixture until it forms coarse “crumbs”.
Sprinkle this over the muffin batter.
Bake muffins until their tops are golden and firm (about 20 to 25 minutes). 
Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

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Featured Site

 

TNE Teacher’s Pet Award
Have a site you'd like to see here? Nominate it here.

NeoQuest Maps

NeoQuestMaps.com

This months Site Award goes to the most well arranged source for NeoQuest maps. The name, not surprisingly, is NeoQuest Maps and can be found at http://www.neoquestmaps.com I'm going out on a limb, since I was never able to get in touch with the creator of this site, but I really wanted to share it with those users (like me) who are trying to finish their current NeoQuest game before the sequel comes out later this year.

In addition to maps that actually reflect what is on the screen, it offers strategy guides, NPC info, and other features. Here is one of the maps you can find there. This is a “global map” of the entire world:

Ancient Neopia

(Created by NeoQuestMaps.com)

A forum is listed in the “coming soon” area, and it should provide a great place for fans to gather and maybe figure out just how to get past that door in Techo Mt. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you really need to drop by this site.) With the promise of NeoQuest 2 in the works, you may want to bookmark this site for easier access.

Best of all…no popups! Just clean quick loading pages. The maps are small enough so as to not cause a significant loading delay, but still big enough to see what’s what.

 

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