Page created 25 Jul 2003 by pedro
URL: http://jp.shockwave.com/games/puzzles/zookeeper/zookeeper.swf
Zookeeper is a great game in the tradition of lots of other clicky droppy make things go away games. What's the Diner's high score? What's your personal best? Discuss the game and any strategy techniques here.
My best score so far is 11,400... not the greatest. It's the first time I got to the level with the bosses head though!
I had a huge streak of luck and made it level 9 and scored 30,330. Things just kept dropping and lining up. ANd then I got all flustered and couldn't see the obvious moves.
22470 on level 9. apparently lukas broke the 30,000 mark.
one thing that helps is: getting as many points as you can on levels where you feel comfortable at the pace. the little progress chart at the top right tells you how close you are to moving to the next level, so you can figure out which animal to avoid in order to stay on the same level. and the game will also reset the 'board' if there are no more legal moves, which helps tremendously (though a couple times when i just couldn't find a match i thought maybe it made a mistake). also, i think it is easier on the whole to make groups of 3 across instead of up-and-down. more seems to happen then. oh, and i hate it when the little spinning-random-animal-generator-thingy comes down just as you're moving to the next level. those things can be worth serious points.
My personal best, level 7 - 12,110 (last night)It's weird, I think a lot of it is just good old confidence and positive thinking. Because for me, once I start to panick... oh man, I am DONE. And I usually go color by color... like, "can't find any greens? Okay, what about the yellows... oranges..." and so on.
[I can't believe I'm being this analytical]
One thing I noticed, though... I've often wondered if there were times when I just flat-out ran out of moves... but last night, I got an actual bonus for running out of moves. Like apparently it knows, and it'll just flush it out and start it over if you actually run out of moves.
Which was sort of reassuring, because at least I know that when the clock is ticking, there is at least ONE move somewhere on the board.
* When trying to identify possible spots for play, I look first for ones where there are two animals together -- that's pretty easy to spot. If they aren't visible, then look for animals spaced apart by one. Maybe that sounds obvious, but sometimes it helps to have a method.* Jack pointed this out: That removing them from the bottom gives you a better chance for "incidental" points gathering. Sometimes that's not always possible, but it's a good thing to attempt.
which is why when it gets 'harder' at the later levels, its not only because the timer is faster. but you also tend to have less moves available at the bottom, and keep having to work closer to the top, where less things happen.
new personal high today... 16080, level 8
21480 - not my high, but the closest i've come to it since.
level 9 is a tough level. if you think for even 1 second too long, and you spot a bunch of matches, there's still no way to catch up in time...
How the timer does not start over between levels... so waiting around on a level to get stuff and then clearing it at the last second is not necessarily a good way to advance levels. And since you make more points on the higher levels... I dunno. What say you?
Actually, the timer always starts in the middle. If you fill it up all the way to the tip top and finish the level, you'll find the timer shifts to the middle.
well, i just got to level seven for the first time but ended up with a lower score than some of my other gams by about 2000. so, whats better higher level or higher score?
I suppose both are challeneges. Who's gotten the highest score so far... lukas? And what level was that on?
the highest level i've been on is 10. my high score is posted above (20XXX or so). in my opinion both are valid goals. but they are acheived slightly differently. if you're going for points, my advice is to milk every easy stage (1-7, 8 can be tricky. 9 and higher you're hanging on for dear life) for the most number of points you can get without advancing levels. i.e. - the way levels are advanced is by getting a set number of each animal cleared away. as long as there is one specific animal that you haven't cleared enough of, you can keep racking up as many points as you can find with the other animals. unfortunately, the more you avoid certain animals, the more the don't go away, and begin to add up. and there will come a certain point where you have to clear that last line and advance. identifying the situation where your only move is to advance and doing so to gain the most points along the way is a minor skill in this game. once you get to levels 8 and beyond, i'd advise switching strategies to staying alive as opposed to worrying about getting max points before advancing. the longer you stay alive, the more points you get.
however, an almost opposite approach is recommended if you're aiming for the highest level possible. quickly filling up the required capacity for each kind of animal is going to get you to the next level the quickest. the faster you go through the levels, the more chances you have of getting that one game where you're in 'the groove' and acheiving higher levels of success.
ALMOST completed level 7. I'm still workin on it! This game is oddly addictive.
Level 7 - 25060. This is gonna get me fired...
My strategy used to be find things to click, then click, fast. Now that I think about it I can't clear 20k. I get to level 8 when things start to move and I spend to much time looking. I just did 21K but froze up when the moves got sparse. When things are moving slow my strategy is to start in the middle but keep my eye on stuff on the bottom. And then once I only have one species left I try to avoid that and get as many points as possbile on the lower levels. Not so much the first couple but definitely levels 4-6. I think to get to level 10 you have to aided by some lucky animal placement because I can't seem to go fast enough to keep up with the timer at that point.
13670, this is my personal record, stay tuned for constant updates.
i've slipped into this addiction. my top score so far is 17060.
my top score is 19900.
are beating my a$$? i never thought a game could make me feel so insecure about my abilities.in fact, i have not played in several days. it doesn't seem worth the effort, to only be defeated again and again. sigh.
right after I wrote that last post I thought I'd get back on the horse, so to speak. I didn't break my personal best score (about 12K) but I apparently made it to a new level, because there was this BABY's head! What the heck is that? It freaked me out so much that I immediately lost my composure and got booted.
Yeah that damn head really sucks, but I haven' been playing either because I've had a bad string of games, I actually lost in the first level the other day, since then I've been reading at break time instead.
I have hit a new high of 21600 and that was on level 5, I just had a whole lot of things line up in a row, and the last two rows I got were both worth 3200 points, talk about fun to watch, I then of course proceded to not make it past level 6, gargargar
slowly making my way....thats in level 8....
I just got 24150 on level 8, and I can now consistently score over 15,000, but I also see little animals heads whenever I close my eyes, is that bad?
Can anyone tell me the STORY behind the game? I obviously tried to look at the page about back story, but... well... I don't read Japanese. Does anyone?
the story doesn't matter does it? And I think it takes a woman to care what the backstory for a mind-numbing clickfest is.And yes that was a goading sentence.
30,930! But I swear level 9 is IMPOSSIBLE.
my new goal was to try to get to level 10. I got three purple rhino's away from that goal but froze up. oh well.
I don't think it was a goading statement, but I have to agree with Dex in that I want to know what's going on behind the surface, what's really going on here, and maybe it is a woman thing, I dunno.Who is this zookeeper? Who is the judge/policeman who yells at him after each game, and why? What is going ON? To tell the truth, I am disturbed by the looks of terror on the animals' faces when they disappear. That's why when I finally got to the level with the baby, I fell apart and couldn't make it any further. When it was an actual human being, it was even worse.
Who knew it could all be this complicated?
That look of terror. And the look of anger, from the animals that are left standing, when there is only one animal left to be sacrificed to the unknown Japanese gods of the game Zookeeper.Maybe it is just a woman thing.
you're crazy. they're pissed that all their pals get to go and they are left on you stupid screen. they want you to liberate them to go with their friends. its not about animal sacrifice. i swear. I SWEAR!
my new personal high is 26330 on level 9.
i hate when i am trying to avoid the one last animal i have to get to move to the next level and one of those spinny-random-animal-generators flops down at the same time as i click a group and that animal im avoiding also gets cleared.
37,390 - level 10! Two spinners in a row on level 9 helped me clear it. But I still hit a 'no more moves' on level 9. And twice I got no more moves on level 7. There was a spinner on level 10 when it started which is the only way I would have got any points because the timer was moving really really fast.
I'm so bad at matching games. Give me Boxxle any day.At least half of my immediate family are crazy about them though, and spend a lot of time playing a game identical to this one on the Macintosh (Bejeweled).
they dropped a spinny on me in level 9 with 1 set of alligators to go, and then they tell me NO MORE MOVES and change the shit on me! not being able to locate the single possible move as it was falling in front of me i lost w/ only 23xxx. the thing was, the spinny thing would have knocked something out of the way, and made more matches possible. its a lot easier to adjust to minor changes in the pattern due to the spinny thing than to adjust to a whole new grid as it falls and the timer is bwoww-woww-ing away...
It shouldn't go "no more moves" if there is a spinner on the board.
I actually got a no more moves on the first level yesterday. that's a first for that, kind of interesting, and I am stuck at about 13000 points, it seems that I just can't get the high scores that I was getting, the icons just aren't lining up for me as well as they were.
I noticed that when you pause, even though it doesn't show you the screen, it DOES show you how many you have left of each animal. So if you're on a high level and you get a bunch of automatic matches in a row, it may help you figure out what to avoid if you're going for extra points.Of course, the downside to this tactic is that sometimes it also screws up your flow.
does anybody else get a smug sense of satisfaction when the 'NO MORE MOVE' message comes up? i always whisper 'damn right there's not' under my breath whenever it comes up. sometimes when i know there's only like 1 or 2 moves left, i am consciously trying to make choices that will result in a 'NO MORE MOVE' situation!!
I got to the level with the baby, or whatever it is, for the second time today. Though I only had about 11,000 points, I've only gotten that far once so I was happy.37,000 points? That is just insane, Lukas. You are the Zookeeper Master.
I only have the chance to play once every few days now, since my boss came back from her vacation last week and I am training the new guy, and I don't go on the computer much at home, so I ask you all: do you think practice helps? I am frustrated that I can't get beyond level 7. And YES, the baby does freak me out to the point where I get disconcerted and mess up.
i rarely get past level 8. i think i've been to 9 a few times, and that's it. but i try to maximize each level for points. even if i decide to aim for levels and not points, i usually end up getting as many points as i can before moving to the next level. however, i can't seem to break 18,000 lately. and i actually am losing on like level 4 here and there. scary.
I've totally been being skunked by the game recently too Wags, it's totally sucking, I can't seem to get past 15000 to save my life.
Had a no more move pop up followed by a new set of animals, which also had no moves and the no more move popped up and I got a third set of animals! Kind of funny when the random generator issues a set with no moves on it right off the bat.
thats hilarious. i wish i could have seen it.
my intern at work was sitting and watching it and we both cracked up.
"...and now after we've put the samples into the chiller, we use this complex monitoring software to determine when we need to check up on the progress."
Except at my job we only put the samples into the chiller after we're done with them. :)
And now I will retire at the top of my game.
and I have to say that the whole "get points early" theory is wearing a bit thin with me, because you only start getting major points after about level 5 or so.You know what I absolutely hate, though? More than choking on a high level when you KNOW that there's something there you just can't find where... or even worse than that, when you're on a high level, you get a spinny, and you're like YESS... and then you click it and it yields 1 animal... *grr* ...
Worst than either of those two... is when you're on a roll and you can't miss, and, rather than just having an immediate blank, you get a couple, but the moves start happening further and further apart, and you look at the clock and it's getting low, and pretty soon you can't see the moves way ahead anymore, and you're hoping for a couple automatic moves to kick in, shake things up, and give you more time... but you get nothing, and long before the actual choke sets in where you can't find anything, you've still got that nagging feeling of "uh-oh, it's coming..." and then pretty soon... you're done.
I hate that.
this game has my nerves shot... i love it.
I've been addicted to it today, but the zoo has been good to me so I can't complain. I have had only games over 15000 today, and I'ave played well over 10 times. I think today brings my average up to about 12000, and that makes me happy.
32450!! Level 10!!
my new personal best. i allowed myself one game and it came together nicely. level 10 is impossible. i was on it and i had the matches lined up but the timer still ran out before i could click both animals. and i got 4 spinners in a row on level 8, which helped a lot.
yesterday, i got a NO MORE MOVE on levels 1, 2, and 5 in the same game. that's crazy...
level 10 is totally impossible. and level 9 is almost impossible.
Zookeeper had both my nerves and self-esteem shot. I couldn't break past level 7. It's been real.
42550 on level 9!!!
it was a crazy game, though. i got some major chain reaction in level 3 and finished level 3 with 23350. i balked for half a second on level 9 and the timer ran up. crazy...
that's incredible!
insane!
38160... w/out those crazy spinners and stuff on level 3...
oh my goodness... that's ridiculous. Wow... great job.
37,000 - level 10. lots of moves but my mouse couldn't keep up.
i hate when i see the moves but the mouse is too slow...
you two have moved on to a whole new level of zookeeperhood.
...with this freakin' loading animation... this sucks. Seriously, now I have to wait like a whole 2 minutes before I can play.*grr*
[insert japanese characters here]
48,040 - level 10i think i should quit now, because i'll never ever top that one.
wow... that's got to be some sort of career high for me.Of course, it's nowhere near Lukas level, but I can always aspire. =)
tired of being yelled at for being a bad zookeeper? sick of nightmares involving cute animal caricatures? looking for a new way to waste time>i give you monkey lander
monkey lander is infuriating!
it's fun, but agravating.
it's really anoying that all you have to do is graze the damn trees in order to die! But I love it!
game completed with 25650 points, I am not sure if I am going to try and finish it with not losing a life, that may take more tries than I want to commit. The other games on that website are fun too.
Zookeeper, Level 8-- 57,777 pointsI almost soiled myself.
at moments i miss zookeeper. i never played again after my post on aug. 21. it really was just too frustrating for me, which is why i think i don't enjoy video games in general. they make me very stressed out, and isn't the point to have fun?
nice game isaac. must have been like a 5-minute stretch where you just sat and watched stuff line up.
that's crazy!
Isaac's playing, things start falling into place, he goes to get a cup of coffee, comes back...
I just sat and watched is roll in, the last two lines cleared for 9000 each, talk about a nice score booster. I was on the phone with Meagan and she was like "Why did you stop talking?" And I was like "You can't believe the game of zookeeper I just had" and then she was like "you're a dork" OK I made all that up, but I WAS on the phone with her.
whizzball
a highly addictive little game. although the amount of puzzles is overwhelming and it's hit-or-miss finding good ones. Plus I've done a couple where I get teh ball to whack the target but since it's not the 'designed' solution it doesn't count. The rules say that it's only complete when all bricks are placed, but that's not always the case.
hooked on this game this week. Proud? I should say so.
i play this on occasion now, and it would be handy to have near the top of the front page.
Hapland 2I'm totally confused so far
80597.... kept going and going on level 6!!! i got up to 6500 on level 6. it was crazy!
why, if in zookeeper, all the point options are multiples of 10 (level one, a line is worth 10, a double line is worth 20, level 2 a line is worth 20, etc.) how we can achieve scores of 80597?
...that is dependant on the amount of time you have left per stage. Maybe that's it? I don't know.
i didn't think of that (or ever notice it, or ever think to wonder where those odd digits come from...)
pelpet -- it's simple yet rather addictive. I just set my all-time high with 256.
371 - the key is the slow down arrows!
423
http://www.kiteretsu.jp/games/zka/zka.htmyou can drag the animals in the direction you want them to slide. and you can move them while the animals are falling, allowing you to rack up HUGE combos. my new record is 279,866
level 6 kept dropping spinners every time you cleared something. i clicked over 1200 times and cleared stuff, not to mention combos that didn't register, and it just kept going. i don't get how the new rules apply and how the new score is kept. i also don't get how to advance beyond the levels.
new high score......2,197,025, that's right million. obviously there is a glitch.
well you would be if you weren't a woman...
every once in a while it gets stuck on a level and won't advance when you get the required number of each animal. also, the quest mode really confused me until i found a translation of the instructions.
i really don't like the bunny rabbit they added. i thought the human face was less creepy.
i like to think of it as the "evil bunny"also, does anyone know offhand what font packages i need to have installed in debian to see my score?
copterMy best (in about 5 minutes of playing) is 798.
i've found a couple addicting ass games recently. ill have to post them.1025 on copter after about 7 minutes.
1220
1673