February 2023 Game Challenge: Snood

Prof. Will Lestrange · February 1, 2023

As warned in my latest status update, we are temporarily leaving the world of 21st century gaming for a game from the year of 1999 (or 1996... or 2001, depending on what type of Muggle computing device you used.) It may feel a lot like the game "Puzzle Bobble"/"Bust-A-Move" (which we haven't yet played in Arcade Club - though we did play the first game in that series, Bubble Bobble, a while back)... but with a few interesting twists. The game we will be playing is... Snood!

Although Snood was originally released in 1996 for the Muggle computing device known as the "Macintosh", the version we will be playing is the 1999 release for a Muggle computing system known by the name of "Windows". In this game, you are presented with a grid containing seven different-coloured, anthropomorphic shapes known as "Snoods". The "Snoods" can change their facial expressions at will, but DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THAT; they are the same piece regardless! Meanwhile, you are given a cannon with which to shoot a "Snood" of your own. If your Snood, plus those already on the board, forms a consecutive cluster of three or more of the same Snood, every Snood in that cluster disappears, and every Snood which is unsupported, falls to the ground. Your goal is to clear all the Snoods from the board. But there's a catch! Every time your Snood does NOT knock an unsupported Snood off the ground, a meter to the right of your board rises by a bit. And when it fills up, a line of brick wall will lower all your Snoods one line lower (if the lowest Snood is as low as the base of your cannon, the game ends and you lose). Fortunately, knocking down unsupported Snoods gives you a bit of happy music and lowers the meter level... buying you a bit more time!

For the purposes of this challenge, you will be playing on JOURNEY mode. This means that you will face multiple game boards, starting with the "Child" mode (just four rows of Snoods, each row eight Snoods wide) and getting harder each time you clear the previous board (for example, the next level, "Easy", has five rows of 13 Snoods each). You can switch to Journey mode by clicking on "Difficulty" from the menu bar at the top of the screen and then choosing "Journey" as the option.

For this month, you want to go to THIS LINK to play Snood. Screencap proof of your high score by February 28 at 11:59 PM HOL!

-Participation at all will earn you 5 scales.

-If you beat the first levels (i.e. make it past Child) or score at least 2023 points, your screencap will earn you 10 scales instead of 5.

-The top three scores of the month will get extra scales (25, 20, and 15 respectively for the month instead of 5 or 10) as well as special awards!

PS: Feel free to edit your post throughout the month as you improve your score!

NOTE: You need to click on the game area THREE TIMES before starting the game or changing the mode! First, the screen will say "Start!!" and you should click there. Then, you will see "Click here to continue..." as the game loads (you should do that, of course). Finally, you will see the opening page for the game with a yellow cursor. You should click on the opening page (a dark blue and black striped background); you'll know you have succeeded when you now control the yellow cursor (instead of your regular cursor) with the mouse (you may also see "Press Esc to show your cursor"; if you do so, you'll have your regular cursor back and will need to click back on the game area to return to the yellow cursor!