The Mappy strategies on this page are taken from the Mappy FAQ by Scott Stone. Additional tips have been added at the bottom of the FAQ. GENERAL PLAYING TIPS 1.) Get greedy, especially in the first 6 rounds! Get the less valuable items first and pick them up in pairs. Your first pair is valued at 2X. The best order is Radio (100 points), Television (200 points), Computer (300 points), Mona Lisa (Painting) (400 points) and Safe (500 points). If you collect all the items in order up to the Safe, the final Safe will be 500 X 6 = 3,000 points! A perfect score for items each round would be: 100+ 100X2+ 200+ 200X3+ 300+ 300X4+ 400+ 400X5+ 500+ 500X6 = 8,500 points! Wow! 2.) Always try to get the Boss cat in the microwaves! Simply put, it will more than double your score. (Although you can try to chase Goro around and catch him while he is hiding behind treasures, you can get far more points by nailing him with the microwave.) The following table shows the number of cats caught in a microwave and the score derived from it: Example: Get 6 cats, you get (200+ 200+ 400+ 400+ 400+ 400)= 2000 points. If also catch the Boss cat with the 'wave, you will net 2000+ 1000 Times 2! =3000 X 2 = 6000 points. Not a bad chunk of points... NOTE: 6000 X 2 = 12,000 is the maximum you can get with a single microwave door, as there are never more than 10 cats on the Round at one time. You can only get this if you reach Round 16! (on the standard game). If the difficulty is juiced up, you can get that many cats as early as Round 8! CATS SCORE 1 200 2 400 3 800 4 1200 5 1600 6 2000 7 3000 8 4000 9 5000 10 6000 3.) Lose those cats! If you are bouncing up off a trampoline and a cat is right under you, most of the time, you can land on a level and the cat will not get time to react and will land on the level above yours. This is a very important technique to learn to help you lose a cat and be able to cross a level untouched. Be careful about cats that are bouncing and are RIGHT ON YOU... try to mix it up. Personal observation suggests they like to jump more often to the left off the trampoline. They also like to bail out more often on levels connected to the trampolines. 4.) Keep a count on those cats! If you KNOW there are only 4 cats on the Round and they are all on your screen, that allows you to reach the other side of the screen with confidence. This also allows for proper microwave door management. 5.) Use all doors to your advantage! Doors are VERY powerful weapons. It can be used to both whack down a cat, it can also be used to 'propel' you along. Closing an open door, if closing your way, will 'throw' you. If a cat is also near the door in front of you, it will be knocked down! Also, if you have a door near a treasure and the Boss cat is behind it, you can get the 1000 points for tagging him and not have to pick up the treasure until you want to. (i.e. when flashing) 6.) Save the Microwave doors until ABSOLUTELY needed or HURRY bell rings! This is what separates a good score from a GREAT score. When HURRY comes, 2 cats are added to the fray. Just work from one microwave to the next, waiting for the cats to bunch up and ready themselves for your onslaught! The cats are much faster when HURRY shows which makes collecting treasures in pairs a bit harder. The SUPERCAT (looks like a coin) will visit after HURRY has been going on for a bit. You cannot kill it. If memory serves, you can stun it with a trap door, but it is of little help in the long run. It will kill you, even on the trampolines. If you hear his bell ringing, dart for your last treasures and hope-n-pray! 7.) Use the house edges! You can bunch a lot of cats together if used properly. This is also good for getting a lot of points when dropping Bells in Rounds 8-10. Just make sure you jump off the trampoline before it breaks!   PLAYING STRATEGIES Round 1-2: - These rounds are simple. A seasoned Mappy player should be able to consistently score over 20,000 points before the end of the 2nd round. - Rounds 1+2 start with 3 cats + the Boss cat. - You should be able to get most items in pairs on these rounds, possibly ending with a 6X. - Get all of your treasures except the last one (or pair) before the HURRY comes. This allows you to spend time getting points. (please refer to GREED in the general playing tips) Round 4-6: - A bit more difficult. A score of 60,000 points after round 6 is not uncommon. - Try your best to get the pairs of treasures. Remember: They don't HAVE to be in ORDER (100-500) to gain 6X, just in pairs. - 4 cats + Boss cat are on these rounds. - You should get a LOT of points off microwaves (at least 5-10k per round). - Remember, you can walk up in the attic. Use this to your benefit. - The Supercat comes out deceptively early on these rounds. Be cautious! It will begin moving IMMEDIATELY after it's alarm rings, where on other screens, it lands on a level and gets stunned before it starts. Round 8-10: - 5 cats + Boss cat are located here. - Getting treasure in pairs is not recommended unless you are VERY GOOD :) - Use bells to bunch together cats for a nearby microwave for BIG POINTS. - Pick up treasures as quickly as possible, due to HURRY time coming quicker. - Scores of 100,000 after Round 10 is about normal. Round 11-14: - 6 cats + Boss cat at start of rounds. - HURRY occurs VERY QUICKLY, as does the coin. There is little to no time to spend on getting pairs unless you are very brave (or greedy) - On these rounds are 'TRAP DOORS'. They are flashing sections of level when you walk over them, it disappears and all the cats that follow will fall to the level below and be stunned like they were hit with a door. They have been known to stun Supercat (Coin). Also, use trap doors to 'bunch' cats together for maximum microwave points. - The Safes on these rounds are located on a dead-end. You must have a clear shot at the Safe before even attempting. The best times to get these are right after a microwave or using a TRAP DOOR. Leaving one for last also helps. - Not much time for scoring (unless you are lucky). Shoot for 150,000 before end of Round 14. Round 16: - 7 cats + Boss cat at start of round - A lot like level one, with modifications to the location of the doors. - VERY FAST cats, even before the HURRY rings (which is usually within 10-20 seconds). - Basically, do whatever you can to survive, using any/all techniques shown above. Round 17+: - Same as Round 16 except this level starts your sequence of boards again. (Level 17 = Level 1, 18=2... etc) - ABSOLUTELY NO GREED is suggested nor endorsed up here... you'll get enough points just running away   BONUS ROUNDS Round 3: Bust the balloons and work your way to the left ASAP. You must get all the the red balloons yourself. Round 7: Again, quickly bust the balloons. Breaking some trampolines will be needed to complete. Round 11: Bust all of the balloons except the one on the very top left of the screen above the Big Cat balloon. When you get the Big Cat, he will travel up and bust the last balloon for you. Round 15: Bust all of the balloons except the one on the very top, right of the Big Cat. When you get the Big Cat, he will travel the to the right, jump on the trampoline, and get the last balloon for you.   KEEP IN MIND (tips added by StocDred) Once a cat begins walking on a particular path, he cannot turn around. Cats can, however, land on a platform and then immediately turn around again for another jump. Memorize your quickest winning pattern for each bonus round and never mess it up. Unless interrupted, Goro has a very definite pattern, zig-zagging across the platforms. Goro does not seek you out and chase you as the Meowkies do. Keep moving, unless you are sure of the cats' positions. Standing still gives them a chance to home in on you. In the bonus rounds, just as in the regular levels, note that your leap from column to column lifts him along a parabola-shaped arc... so to minimize your time, hit the move key slightly before the wall you want to clear. Mappy's natural leaping arc will carry him just over the wall, cutting down on falling/bouncing time. If you've lost count, your round is easy to identify, thanks to Mappy's icon-numeral system. 1 red balloon equals 1, 1 blue balloon equals 5, and 1 house equals 10. The Meowkies have a certain amount of learned intelligence that you can exploit by watching the carefully. For example, if you smack a cat with a door, he will always run off in the opposite direction when he wakes up. Then he will try to approach you again on the opposite side. If you switch to the other side of the door and smack him again, you can repeat infinitely... at least until the cat coin comes after you. The trap doors on the upper levels will eventually refill if you're patient. At the beginning of each stage, the meowkies will run either left or right. Be sure to review my Mappy screenshots page to plan out your attack on the levels!