Pet Society – Run, Jump, Throw

This is a continuation from this article

Pet society has a number of “mini-games” which can be played to earn extra paw points and coins. Below I’m going to go over each activity and talk about easy ways to get the gold trophy for each.

Ball

This is the first game you unlock and it’s fairly easy. the object is to return the ball to your pet after they bump it away from themselves. This is done by clicking on the ball once. I’ve found that in general you want to keep your mouse about 1 “pet width” away from your pet. You also want to click on the ball as soon as possible. Keep in mind that the goal is for the ball to not touch the ground. So if you miss don’t panic or give up. Most of the time the ball will bounce off of a wall just off screen and will come back into view before striking the ground. Just stay calm and wait for it to return and then click on it.

Also, I have found that playing in a fairly empty room also helps since you are less likely to encounter “slow downs” which could throw off your timing.

Frisbee

The Frisbee is just like the ball but it’s smaller and faster. In some ways this makes it easier then the ball. Like the ball you will want to click on it as soon as possible. However, after the first 10 times or so it will probably be going too fast for this to remain a practical strategy. Once this happens wait for it to go past you and instead pick it up on the rebound. the Frisbee goes fast enough that after the first couple throws it will always bounce off of the far wall if you let it past you. this gives you a lot more time to click on it. Again, if you miss it on the rebound don’t panic. It will be going fast enough at this point that it will also bounce off of the other wall before hitting the ground. This means that you essentially get 3 passes at it.

For both of the above games it might seem like clicking madly on the screen would work just as well. Unfortunately, if you click on the ball or frisbee more then once before it gets back to your pet this has a tendency to ground the ball and Frisbee instead of simply returning it. Multiple clicks therefore are not only excessive but they can screw you up as well.

Jump Rope

This is the hardest mini game IMO. It takes a good eye, quick reflexes and a machine with zero lag. If you don’t have all of these things good luck. There are a couple of indicators here that can help you but unfortunately the timing actully changes the longer you go. Basically you want to position your mouse over your pet such that you know to click as
soon as the rope touches your cursor. This can help prevent you from becoming over zealous and clicking early. Initially you will want your mouse to be in the “nose/mouth” area. However, as it gets faster you will need to slide the mouse higher on their body so that you click earlier. Eventually the rope will be going fast enough that you’ll need to click almost as soon as it appears over your pet’s head.the second indicator is the jump rope’s color. The jump rope will turn red you will want to click after this happens.

Beyond this the game is really one of concentration. It took me a long time to get the gold trophy on it because I would simply lose my concentration close to the end trying to see how many more jumps I had to go. counting myself helped fix that problem.

Hurdles Race

This game consists of 4 elements
-the start
-the hurdle
-turbo pads
-banana peels

and in order to do well, you’ll need to learn how to handle each nearly flawlessly.

The Start: This is probably the easiest of the three in that there is no penalty for being early. If you click too soon then you’ll just get a false start message and the game will start over. You want to click on your pet as soon as the word “go” starts to fade in. If nobody screws up from here on in the start will be the determing factor. I’ve had races I’ve lost enough though I jumped every hurdle and got green on every pad, just because my start wasn’t quite fast enough.

The Hurdle: This is probably the most difficult part of the race to learn how to do correctly. In general you will want to click on your pet as soon as they step on the foot of the hurdle. Any earlier then this and you won’t make the jump on a consistent basis. Much later then this and they’ll jump too late to make it over. It does seem though that the faster you’re going the more forgiving the game is about when you click. The biggest mistake you can make is to start getting sloppy because of this. Always try to click in the exact same place and just know that you’ll have a little bit of leeway for error.

Now, some of the hurdles are followed by water. On these it can be beneficial to jump a split second late. This is because running in water slows you down and if you clear the hurdle at the last possible moment you’ll also be able to clear most of the water as well. Some players have suggested jumping once you hit the water. While this can help there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
- if another hurdle is coming up you won’t recover from your jump in time to jump the next hurdle.
- jumping also slows you down just not as much, so if you’re just barely in the water you’ll be better off running though the tiny amount of water instead of jumping again.

The computer will rarely clear the water in this fashion so if done correctly these hurdles can give you a major lead.

The Turbo Pads: There are two things to keep in mind regarding these pads. You get a speed boost as soon as you click. The speed boost you get lasts for a duration that depends on what color the pad was, with green being the longest and red being the shortest. The pad color matters more then your location on the pad in terms of duration. In general you’ll get a green in the dead center of the pad. However, sometimes due to lag it will turn green eariler or later then this and you’ll need to compensate for the adjusted timing.

Now, because of the way the pads work you will always want to click when it’s green with one exception. On the last turbo pad before the finish line you will want to click as soon as possible. this is because there will never be enough track left to make the longer speed boosts worthwhile. Instead you actually benefit more for going faster asap.

Banana Peels: This is probably the easiest obstacle to avoid and it’s the one thing that helps combat the computer’s tendency to cheat (as talked about below). To remove a peel you simply click on it. The computer lacks this ability which forces it to jump banana peels. This works to your advantage because jumping slows you down. This means that every peel in front of an opponent ensures that you will gain slightly on that opponent even if they successfully jump over it.

It should be noted that you can remove any peel you see by clicking on it and every time you remove a peel you have around a 25% chance of getting a coin. This means you can pick up extra cash by removing peels the computer has already jumped over or is currently jumping over, without putting yourself at any sort of disadvantage.

Pets cheat

At first I thought only the computer did this, but very occasionally your own pet will too. I have yet to determine the cause but I guess it’s in here to help “even things up”. Every now and then a pet will begin running faster then normal without the benefit of a turbo pad. It is because of this that you need to learn how to do the the other tasks above nearly flawlessly. Otherwise you’ll find yourself being passed by someone who has screwed up just as much as you have. So, even if you’re way ahead of everyone. Don’t ease up, because chances are you’ll only end up winning by a whisker in the end.

You can pick your opponents

Your opponents performance at this game seems to be roughly based on how well that particular player does at it themselves. You can use this to your advantage by picking easy opponents. Before the start of the race if you have more then 2 friends there will be arrows on the side allowing you to change who you are racing against. You get the same amount of money for winning so there’s no disadvantage to racing in “easy mode”. If you’re not sure who is good at the game and who isn’t just pay attention to the race. If a pet screws up a bunch, make a note of who that was so you can race them over and over. Alternatively, if a certain pet is constantly blowing you away, avoid racing against them. Afterall, while it may be more exciting to race them there is no other benefit to doing so. Also, if you have a lot of friends it may be less time consuming to simply avoid certain pets then seeking out spefic ones to race against.

Part 1: Pet Society – How to make money