 Ant Mania scoring tip
I have a high score of 927 on Ant Mania. My average is in the 250-300 range. There was a score posted over 1000 that led to a discussion of whether it was possible or not. I have investigated this a little bit and do not claim to be an authority on the subject, but I have just accidentally found a way to slow the game down and create the opportunity for higher scores. I have not tried this but a few times and it has not led to a new personal best score, but I can now average in the 500 range, having just done this now about 5 times.
Here is the trick:
I go into the tournamanet area and choose Ant Mania. The next step is to click on "Quick Tournaments" like usual. The two usual tournaments will appear and you click on either one just as you normally do and click on "Join Tournament" as usual. The trick comes in prior to the next click. Before clicking on "Begin Game" you look at the ads on the right hand side of the screen. If one of those has a link that takes you to another screen you click on the ad. Then click on "Begin Game".
What this does is slow the game down just a bit. It doesn't make you any better. But I think this trick will allow the potential to go higher than the 900 range. At that point the screen is full of ants and it doesn't matter how slow the game speed is. It's very difficult. But I can tell that the slower speed will allow me to average over 500 per game. It's a definite help.
---------- bwicker added 1 Minutes and 45 Seconds later ----------
By the way, this same thing works for Picnic and probably any tournament game where the speed of the game play is what kills you. I would assume there is no advantage with games like Hide-n-Skunk. What happens when you click on the link before beginning the game depends on which link it is. If it happens to be the Employment Office you will see your dock at the bottom of the game screen. It covers up the very bottom row of the Picnic game grid.
Upon further investigation, the best scenario is when one of the links to the right side of the screen is to the Kinzville Academy. It doesn't happen very often, but when you get lucky enough to have that link it slows the game up the most. You have to wait throught the first few seconds until Ms. Cowoline finishes speaking, but the game plays a lot easier. I think it is possible to have a high scoring game if all the planets align. You must be a good player, you need to get the Kinzville Acadey link to slow the game speed, and finally you need to get a lucky draw when it comes to the board's ant placement. If the sides remain somewhat free of ants you can employ the strategy of hugging the sides and therefore only have to worry about ants coming from one direction.
Of these factors, game speed will be the most helpful to me. It slows down so much that I actually have time to plot out my course. That doesn't mean that there is always a clear path and it doesn't mean that I can sucessfully press the arrow buttons with the right tough. But it gives the player a chance to score fairly high. So far this past couple of days I have only been able to get a score in the high 700's. But 500 - 600 is the norm when I get the Kinzville Academy link.
Last edited by bwicker; 03-06-2009 at 10:58 AM.. Reason: Automerged Doublepost | 
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