^ / \ SSS OOO N N IIIII CCCCC SS O O NN N I C SSS O O N N N I C SS O O N NN I C / SSS OOO N N IIIII CCCCC \ < > \ / +---++---++---++---++---++---++---+ | S || H || U || F || F || L || E | +---++---++---++---++---++---++---+ \ / V MINI GAME FAQ Welcome to the FAQ of mini games in Sonic Shuffle. This game is similar to Mario Party which is like a board game. Unlike Mario Party, you have to land on a certain space to get to a mini game. Some have complained that it is difficult landing on them. However, it is very simple. Look at the map to see where the closest mini game space is, see how many spaces away it is and play a card with that number on it. I'm not sure how they decide what type of game to play (3 vs 1, 2 Vs 2, or Vs 4) but one thing is clear. If the game is 3 Vs 1, the person who landed on the space is always the 1. To play the mini games without playing the board game, you first have to play story mode and win enough rings to buy the top left picture in the "Another" section in the photo album in Sonic's Room. A toy box should appear in the room. You can only play games that you played before in story mode but you can choose any of the eight characters. Anyway, here are some strategies on how to do your best in the games. First of all I should mention that this faq should only appear in www.gamefaqs.com, www gamewinners.com, www.neoseeker.com, www.sonicfoundation.org, www.cheatcc.com and my website www.columbia.edu/~mtc32/sonic.html. Remember this faq is COPYRIGHTED 2000 by Michael Cahill so if you find this page elsewhere you better contact myself or one of the websites above about it. Now here come the games. PLAY ORDER SONIC SLOT: A slot machine starts at 999 and goes down one hundred points every second. The object is to press "A" as close to 000 as possible without going over. Just remember that as soon as the first digit hits zero (the easiest to see) wait a second before pressing it. I have hit it at 002 twice already. SONIC DARTS: A moving target with Eggman on it is shown. Move your analog to aim for the center and press "A" to throw. Whoever is closest to the center wins. Ties are broken by whoever threw first. Although hitting the center is tricky make sure to aim for the center and throw. This will almost guarantee a hit on the target. SONIC HI LO: Eight cards are displayed each with a different number. They are flipped over and slightly shuffled. Use the analog to choose a card and press "A" to select it. You can't select one that has been selected. Highest number chosen wins. Remember that all cursors start on the top left corner so be prepared. Also concentrate on the second highest number as well. At least if you get that it will guarantee a second place. VS 4 SONICOLA: Eggman shakes one of five soda cans. Each person chooses a can. Get 20 rings for not taking the shook can. Sometimes it takes the computer forever to pick one. In real life you can prevent a shook can from exploding by opening it as fast as you can. Opening it slowly will make it explode. STOP AND GO: It's Red light/Green light sonic style. Everyone is on ice and Eggman is at the other end holding a forcejewel. You can only move when he isn't looking. If he catches you moving you get blasted. If a person grabs the jewel before time is up then it is won as well as 30 rings. If it is not, whoever is closest gets 20 followed by 10 and 5. Carefully use the analog for this. Quickly move it forward and slowly move it back to the center. Eggman has a tendency to turn around every two seconds whether or not he actually does it. You'll need to play this game many times before you win. OVER THE BRIDGE: It's a race across a bridge. There are holes in the bridge. You can only go left or right and jump. Jumping too high or tripping over a hole will send you back. Whoever finishes gets a forcejewel and 10 rings. Second gets 5 third loses 5 and fourth loses 10. For jumping tapping "A" lightly works. If no one is near you it is possible to dodge the holes by moving left and right. Be careful not to fall off. This one is hard to win. SONIC GUN SLINGER: Everyone stands in the center and targets appear around everyone. Aim for a target with the analog and press "A" to shoot. Don't shoot the women targets or else you lose rings and have to sit out the next shootout. Repeatedly shoot the Eggman target that shoots back. You get a ring for each shot target and a bonus for winning the most rings. Good reflexes are required but you should always win this one. SONIC LIVE: The four characters each have a guitar on stage. When the spotlight is on you, press either A,B,X, or Y to get rings. Don't press when not lit. A bonus 20 rings for the one who got the most rings. I'm not sure if there is a way to get more rings but there will be a sliver of light above you before the light turns on you so press at that moment. PSYCHIC SONIC: A card appears in the center of the screen and a letter starts to appear on the card. Press the button corresponding to the letter when you can identify the card. (A,B,X,Y) 5 rings if correct with an additional 5 for each consecutive correct guess. Lose five rings for incorrect guesses. The one with the most rings at the end wins. The computer can do this very well. There is a way to beating this game without being psychic. Since there are only four cards to choose from, there are only four different patterns the mystery card makes before revealing itself. The best way of spotting it is when the card pops up, wait exactly a second. The card that is most clear one second later will be the card. Study the patterns closely because there are only four. If you do this right you can win 165 RINGS! That gives you a huge lead. SONIC TAG: Four way split screen arena with a pyramid in the center. One person is marked IT and can't collect rings. Tagging another person will make that person IT. At two corners there are springs. Hitting the spring will bounce you to the top of the pyramid where a gong that dispenses rings you will hit. Whoever is IT at the end of 60 seconds doesn't win 20 rings. If you are the one that is IT use the arrow above you to find the nearest victim. If you are not it, always go for the gong. You get more rings that way. You could also wait nearby the gong and wait for others to hit it so you can pick up rings that way. SHADOW TAG: Circular beach arena. The person that is IT loses rings while IT and tags another person by stepping on the person's shadow. Eggman shines light on people that are not it to make longer shadows. Near the end of the round, the sun sets and the shadows naturally get longer. Whoever is not IT at the end wins 20 rings. Because the beach is hard to run on jumping can get you around quicker. Just stay as far away from the person that is IT as you can. FROSTY RUMBLE: Icy arena with ice blocks everywhere. Pick up a block and throw it to open it up. Rings and sometimes a forcejewel appears inside. Larger blocks take longer to lift but have more rings inside. You lose rings if you get hit by a block. Always aim for other people. You can gain many more rings that way. Another strategy is to not pick up any and wait to pick up rings that other people throw. It’s easier to move when you are not carrying a block. Bonus 20 rings for who got the most, 10 for second and 5 for third. GREAT ESCAPE: Dimly lit maze with everyone in the center. Try to get to one of the corners to leave the maze. No one can leave the maze the same way as another person. Jump over holes or else you start at beginning. There are light switched that will light the room briefly as well as other items such as paralyzing you opponents for a few seconds or adding 5 seconds to the clock. Win 20 rings if you get out first followed by 10 for second and 5 for third but lose 10 if you don't. Make sure to turn up the brightness on the screen. If you do, you will always win. Also some of the black squares aren't holes so take that into consideration. EGG & THE CHICKEN: Everyone is handed a bomb and is thrown in a basketball hoop. The one who stays longest under the hoop without getting hit wins. Press "A" to wuss out anytime. Sometimes the ball will roll very fast down the hoop but then go back up. Eggman also hits the wall to disrupt to bomb's pattern. When the music stops, the bomb will drop so listen closely. This can take as little as five seconds or more than thirty. How intense! 30 rings for the winner and ones who got hit lose 10. Ties are possible so there could be more than one winner. SONIC TANK: Everyone is riding a tank in a square arena with two columns. Move around with the analog and press "A" to shoot. Use the triggers to slide left and right but you can't shoot while doing that. Eggman will come by and drop bonus items such as a laser blast as well as bombs. Avoid the bombs. Each person has a life meter. You receive ten rings for each person you blow up. When time is up whoever has the most life (or who is left standing) wins 10 rings. Second gets 5, third loses 5 and fourth loses 10. If more than one is killed places are judged on when people died. Just try and get Eggman's items. Concentrate on killing one person and at least you'll get the rings for killing them. FUN FUN SONIC: everyone is jumping on trampolines. Use the analog to move to another trampoline. You can go only as far as two trampolines away from the one you are on. As a trampoline is jumped on it changes color. They go from blue-cyan-green-yellow-pink-red. When you hit a red one, it breaks and you win rings depending on what the starting color is. Blue is worth 6, Cyan is worth 5 and so on. You lose if you fall through a broken trampoline. If two people hit a red trampoline at near the same time, the person who hits it second collects the rings. 2 or 3 times during the game Eggman starts a special feature such as all rips worth twice or thrice the value or rings shower everywhere or everyone gets hit by a tub or iron balls land on some spots or everyone that fell through is back in the game. You keep the rings you earn plus 20 if you survive but lose 10 if you don't. Only two special rounds show up if one is a double or triple score round. Just search for the pink and red ones to collect more. You can screw others by ripping all the trampolines around a person and having them stuck in a corner and eventually fall through. It's like that messed up board game on that one episode of "SURVIVOR". JUMP THE SNAKE: This is one of the hardest ones to win. Everyone stands on a platform and a snake comes out of a random hole and plays jump rope. Press "A" to jump over the snake. The snake can go back into the hole and come out a different one. Eventually the platform starts to rotate making it even harder. Hitting the snake will result in falling of the platform. Last one standing wins 30 rings. The snake usually speeds up as the game progresses but sometimes it tricks you and goes slow so watch out. ZERO G SNAP SHOT: It's asteroids sonic style. A frame is shown on the screen and everyone is floating around. Use the analog to point to a direction and press "A" to swim in the direction you are in and press Y or B to strike a pose. Anyone in the frame when time is up wins rings. 20 rings go to the person closest to the center while 10 rings are awarded to anyone mostly in the frame. A hand in the frame doesn't count. If you float to the edge of the screen you'll reappear on the other side. Don't forget the other objects floating around. They can help you stop or can get in your way. You can also knock other people out of the frame so use that as a last second strategy. There is barely any friction in the air. Make sure to slow down to a stop in the frame because it is hard to time the shot correctly so that you'll be moving past the frame when time is up. THOR'S HAMMER: Everyone stands on a large pillar. Eggman shoots bolts of lightning at the pillar or charges over the pillar. Avoid him in both cases or else you'll lose rings. The best way is to see where his shadow is and staying away from it. If a bolt of lightning destroys a small piece of the pillar, rings will fly out and sometimes a forcejewel. Jump up to get them first. If you are falling off, pressing "A" will help you back on. 20 rings awarded to the person who got the most rings. 10 for second and 5 for third. What's funny is that each time he strikes the pillar it moves a little. When he strikes the same area many times the pillar starts to leave the screen. One time only the head of the characters could be seen. Another time it was almost a bird’s eye view of the pillar. OVER THE RAINBOW: the object is to jump from one lily pad to another. One of the four buttons is displayed at the top of the screen (A,B,X, or Y) Press that button to jump to the next lily pad before the clock that surrounds the button turns all blue. Pressing the wrong button or not pressing it in time will make you fall. As the game progresses the button pops up quicker and you have less time to press it. Last one standing wins 30 rings. Remember that the arrangement of buttons on the control pad are in a reverse alphabet order going from top to bottom. Another method is to have the controller right against your face so that you can see both the controller and the screen at the same time. It will be easy to see the colors on the pad and compare with the color of the button shown on the screen. This one is a toughie so watch out! TWISTER: Everyone gets caught in the funnel of a tornado. Just move around with the analog to collect rings and avoid flying debris which will cost coins. A line of rings appear so make sure you are in the area when that happens. Sometimes a forcejewel appears so keep an eye out. Most rings appear on the outer rim so make sure to stay away from the center. Winner gets 20 rings followed by 2nd with 10 and third with 5. NUMBER JUMP: Two towers with numbers appear. Everyone starts on the same number. Jump to a number one higher than you are on by pressing "A" and the direction that the next number is. Staying on a number that is moving or jumping to a number that isn't there will result in starting from the bottom again. If you can land on the number at the top, you win 30 rings. Be careful as some numbers change. Sometimes the starting number changes to a high number making an easy win. Pressing "A" rapidly while switching direction each time can get you to the top quickly. EGG IN SPACE: Thirty switches displayed, press "A" in front of one to see if it has the button to launch Eggman into space. Finding the button wins 30 rings. It's mostly luck by try to remember what switches others pulled so that you don't repeat. It is very unlikely for time to run out before a person finds it. TRACTOR BEAM TAG: Park like arena. Three people are IT while one is not. The three people are in a tractor beam and have to move as a group to tag the other person. Once tagged, that person is in while one of the other three is not IT. While IT, the three people lose rings. Halfway through, Eggman shoots out rings for the person not IT to collect. Whoever is not IT when time is up wins 30 rings. The best strategy is to always run around one obstacle such as the hot dog cart. That way you can collect the rings that the other three are losing. Don't be tempted to the rings Eggman shoots out. The prize for being not IT is worth a lot more. If you are IT, try to trap the person in a corner. Hopefully you'll be the next one not IT. 2 VS 2 GAMES. These games have two people play against the other two. The team that wins gets the rings. Sometimes one person's task in the team is more difficult. Although there are only 4 games, they do appear often. SONIC THE THIEF: Left person tries to crack a safe by choosing one of eight directions on the analog. An exclamation point appears over your head when you have the right direction. Right person presses "A" to open the door. Sometimes two or three combinations have to be found so the right person has to press "A" each time the left person finds a number. If right person presses "A" when left person doesn't have the exclamation point over his head, you will both get shocked and have to start over on that door. Whoever opens the most doors by the end of the time each wins 20 rings. Ties are common. The left person has the tougher job what you can do is spin the analog all the way around and see where the exclamation point was found and then pick that direction. The right person has the easy job. Just press "A" as soon as you see the exclamation point. By the way, if a group is behind, they will have less combinations per door while the group in the lead will always have three combinations per door. This gives the trailing team a chance to catch up. SHODDY WORK: It's tetris sonic style. The person on top presses "A" to pick a block, uses the analog to rotate it and can either press "A" to drop the block or press "B" to reject it. The bottom person is holding an outline of the shape. He can move the shape left and right to place the shape. Jumping will result in the last piece to fly up for repositioning. You can reject a shape by either moving all the way to one side or jumping twice. The object is to fill the outline with the falling blocks. You don't have to completely fill the outline, just the trim. However, filling it in will make placing the blocks for the top area easier. When time is up Eggman will come by to judge the creation. He will destroy the one that is less similar to the original shape. The winner receives 20 rings each. The outlines range from simple squares to difficult angled patterns. Top person shouldn't throw everything that is given. It takes a while for the bottom player to reject a shape. The shapes can be a yellow square, a large red rectangle, a blue triangle, a small green rectangle, and a smaller green rectangle. Make sure to communicate with your partner on what piece is needed. Only then can you get a good outline. BUCKET-O-RINGS: Left person presses left to a bounty of rings. Press "A" to scoop up two rings. Press it as fast as you can so you can scoop them up quicker. The bucket can hold as much as ten but at anytime the left person can move right to where the right person is. Right person presses left to pick up bucket of rings from partner. Right person presses right to move to cart. Press "A" to toss rings into cart only when exclamation point is over head. Press it when there is no exclamation point will result in the rings not landing in the cart. The more rings in the bucket the harder it is to carry it. Carrying 6 or 8 is good. When time is running out don't pick up too many or else you won't have time to toss them in the cart. Any rings still in the air when time is up won't count. The team with the most rings each receive half the collected rings. (That's why you can only pick up two at a time.) Usually you end up with 20 rings each so good luck! BOMB RELAY: Each team is running with the bomb. While one teammate is carrying the bomb, the other has "hey!" over his head. The word gets larger until at one point it is huge and then gets smaller. The one carrying the bomb has to press "A" to toss the bomb when "hey!" is at its largest. The closer you toss it to the time when "hey!" is big the faster both people go. The tossing goes back and forth until one team reaches the lake. Winners receive 20 rings each. This is simply a timing one. Eventually you'll hit the big "HEY!" almost everytime. 1 VS 3 GAMES: If this type of game is played, the one that landed on the space is always the 1. This is good because the single person usually has the advantage. WRONG WAY CLIMB. Three people have to repeatedly press "A" to run up a down escalator while moving left to right to dodge balls thrown by the 1 person. The one person presses all the way to the left or right to grab a ball, selects a lane to throw it down and presses "A" to throw it. The metal balls roll down one lane but the tennis balls bounce from one lane to another. The red balls stay in one lane but explode if a person hits it. Runners lose rings if hit and fall down the stairs slightly. If no one reaches the top by the end of the time, Thrower gets 30 rings. If someone makes it to the top, that person gets 30 rings while the other two get 10. Basically the thrower should always win. Because of the way the balls fall just pick up the balls from the right side and drop them off on the right lane. Because you are not moving that much, you'll be able to throw more balls. The tennis balls will take care of the other two lanes. If someone is onto your scheme then switch to the left side. You have to be fast yourself. Remember that you don't have to press "A" to pick up a ball. Realizing this, you can throw more. As for the runner, best of luck. Perhaps you shouldn't move at all so that you don't lose any rings. You'll never win. BUNGEE JUMP: One person jumps off a high platform while other three below try to get the one person to take their forcejewel. In the meantime the one person is falling and can move the analog to collect rings that are falling with him. The other three try to collect rings that are falling onto the platform. You can see the shadow of the rings before they arrive so be prepared. As for the jumper, there are usually two groups of rings to go for each time. One has 4 rings while the other only has 2. Always try to go for the larger ring group. On the main platform you can see a red X moving around. That's the position of the jumper. When the jumper is almost there make sure to go to where the red X is. Best strategy for everyone is to go as far to one side as you can. It's easier to make a connection that way. If the jumper successfully grabs a forcejewel, the jumper gets the jewel and the person that had it wins 20 rings. If the jumper fails, he loses 20 rings. Only the jumper can win a jewel. If the jumper is in the lead in the board game, you can screw him by trying to miss him. MANIC MAZE: Three get put into a marble maze with a large marble and a hole in the center. One person moves the maze around to get people to fall down the hole in the center. The three can move around to try and avoid falling in the center. Rings get sprinkled into the maze but it's not worth dying for. If a person gets hit by the marble or switched direction to quickly, the person falls down and can easily be moved by the one person. If the one person can get all three in the center hole before time is up, he wins 30 rings while the three lose 10 rings each. If there is at least one survivor when time is up, the three win 10 rings each and a bonus 10 if you are one of the survivors. Usually the one person has the advantage but sometimes the design of the maze will make it more difficult to get anyone in the center. The best strategy for the one person is to concentrate on one person at a time. As for the other three, the best way to win is to go with the maze. Always go where the maze is the lowest. That way you'll won't end up in the center. Hopefully the design of the maze makes it hard to fall in the center. It's easy to win evade the center when a computer is controlling it but it is difficult when a real person is controlling it. SONICOOKING: Three are put into a large frying pan while the one moves the frying pan in a similar way as the maze. If the one holds down and quickly presses up, he can do a stir fry flip. As for the other three, they hop around the hot pan and can move around with the analog. Holding "A" will make you hop slower but you can't move as much. You lose rings if you fall off the pan but you get back on the pan. As this is going rings are falling on the pan. The three can collect rings on the pan while any rings that fall off go to the one moving the pan. Usually when a person falls of the pan, the rings that he loses usually fall off the pan as well. One final trick for the pan handler is that if you press and hold "A" and move the analog in a clockwise direction about 10 times, the three get shot high in the air and lose rings. Since this method takes a while, don't wait until the last second to do it. It takes about 15 seconds to do successfully and you can only do it once. Try to do the stir fry flip a lot. As for the three, stay in the center as best as you can. You win the rings you collect in this game. There are no bonuses. By the way, no matter what the outcome is, the one person will always celebrate at the end. GARGANTUA: One gets to be a giant while the other three try to shoot him down without getting stepped on. The big one can walk around and stun others nearby by jumping. just step on them to kill them. Each person has a shooter. If near the giant, press and hold "A" to shoot. You'll know if you are close when it says "shoot" above you. Mines will explode at times which can hurt the giant and stun the shooters. If the giant survives when time is up, he wins 20 rings plus 10 for each person crushed. The shooters lose 10 if crushed. If the giant is destroyed, each person wins 10 rings plus an additional 10 if not crushed. Once again the giant should concentrate on killing one person at a time. As for the shooters, split up! If are the only shooter left and the giant's life level is in the green or yellow, just run away because you won't win. EGGBOT'S ATTACK: One person gets a set of mechanical legs and chases after the other three down a road by trying to crush them. The three can move left and right while running trying to dodge items that can immobilize them. The one person decides where to land the big feet by moving them left or right. The three can see its shadow so stay away from it. Also the left foot can't go all the way to the right and vice versa so head in the direction that the foot can't land on. They warn you of obstacles coming up so watch out. The giant gets 10 rings for each crushed person. The runners get 20 if they survive but lose 10 if they don't. Is it me or does this level seem very detailed. There are stores and trees and beaches on this road. Spiffy! SONIC DJ: If there ever was a challenge that you would want to be the single person in, it's this one. The one person controls the record that everyone else is on. Press up and down to scratch it which causes everything to move to the edge and press A, B, X, or Y to shock a side. Anyone on the edge of the side you shock will lose rings. Rings will get sprinkled onto the record. Scratching the record will cause the rings to fall off the edge. Any rings that fall off go to the DJ. If you scratch too much you can overheat which costs 10 rings. The rings usually land in clumps so shock the side that the rings landed on to lure away the three on the record. For the three people, they can move and jump around the record. Avoid the edge of the record as well as the needle or else you'll lose rings. The best strategy is to jump towards the center. Also spread out so that you are less likely to get shocked. If the one player plays great, you can collect almost 100 rings. If the three do well, you can collect about 30 each. ACCIDENT!: These mini games occur randomly at the end of a person's turn. It doesn't matter what the person landed on. An accident can occur when the person lands on a lose ring space, a battle space, or ever after a mini game. 0-2 occur during a game and 1 happens when the last precioustone is collected. Every accident is a VS 4 game. I'll first talk about the ones that happen during a game. EMERARLD COAST ACCIDENTS SONIC PARASOL: Four people but one parasol. Setting is on a beach with a sun. When the sun gets too bright everyone has to take cover or else they will lose rings. Only one person can be under the parasol at a time. Walk up to it to pick it up if it is on the ground but if someone is holding it, walk under it and jump to force it out of their hands. There are some sea creatures walking around that will cause you to lose rings if you hit it. If the person with the parasol hits an enemy, he drops the parasol. When the enemies start to hide under the sand that means that the sun will get bright soon. When the sun is bright it showers rings and sometimes a forcejewel onto the beach. The person with the parasol can usually get all of the rings while the other three have to wait under the canopy until the sun gets less bright. If you hide under the canopy before it gets bright, you won't lose rings when it gets bright. The person with the parasol moves slightly slower than the rest so the best thing to do while you have the parasol is to run around the rock or one of the enemies so that the other three will have trouble getting you. Whoever gets the most rings before time is up wins a bonus 20 rings. Second gets 10 and third gets 5. RING TIDE: Beach setting again except waves crash down leaving rings, sea urchins, driftwood and the occasional forcejewel. Avoid the urchins and wood as well as the crabs because they make you lose rings while collecting the rings that appear on the beach. If the wave lands on you it is possible to get swept away by the undertow. Press "A" repeatedly to get back on land. To prevent this, when a wave comes, move to the bottom of the screen. Whoever gets the most rings before time is up wins a bonus 20 rings. Second gets 10 and third gets 5. FIRE BIRD ACCIDENTS: RAPID CLIMB: Everyone is on an airplane wing. The wind pushes you back so repeatedly press "A" to move forward so that you don't fall off the wing. Rings and other debris fly by. Collect the rings while avoiding the debris or else you will lose rings. The wing changes angle which means you either have to press "A" more or less depending on how steep the angle is. Press left or right to move from side to side. It's best to stay in front because you can get rings easier if you are in front but don't press "A" too much or else you might fall off the front of the wing. If you stay on the wing when time expires you win a 20 ring bonus. Falling off the wing will result in a loss of 10 rings. SKY BRIDGE: Everyone stands on top of a plane that is flying under bridges. Press down to duck when a bridge passes by. Press "A" to jump and collect rings that are in the air. These are some deadly rings to get. Jump as little as possible so that you land back on the plane right away instead of getting slammed by a bridge. Some rings only require standing up to get. 20 rings for surviving the flight. A loss of 10 if you fall off. The rings aren't worth dying for so if you stay in a duck position the whole time you are guaranteed to win the 20 rings. The extra rings are a big temptation but not worth it unless you can easily get them without hitting a bridge. Some rings pop up right in front of a bridge. It's suicide! NATURE ZONE ACCIDENTS: CROC-ATTACK: Repeatedly press "A" to open up a croc's mouth and escape. 20 rings for the first to get out. 10 for second, a loss of 5 for third and a loss of 10 for fourth. This game is lame. My best method of button mashing? Keep your finger in one spot and use your other hand to move the controller up and down so that your finger hits the button each time. RING OF FIRE: Everyone stands on a large platform while rings of fire pass by. Inside the rings are regular rings and sometimes a forcejewel. Jump through the rings of fire to collect the rings without touching the fire which will result in a loss of rings. Some fire rings will rotate making it trickier to get the rings but these are the ones that usually hold the forcejewels. As the game continues that platform rises and lowers. When the platform is up, some rings don't have to be jumped through while others are so low that you can't get the rings. It's best to stay in the front of the platform so you can get first shot at the rings. First place gets 20 rings while second gets 10 and third gets 5. RIOT TRAIN ACCIDENTS: THRU THE TUNNEL: This one is similar to the sky bridge game. Everyone starts on the last car of a train and the object is to run to the first car. Press up to move forward and down to duck under obstacles. Press "A" to jump to grab rings. They are not worth it. As the race continues the back cars start to come off. If you are on one of these cars when it comes off you are out of the race. Hitting an obstacle will set you back a few feet. If you are hanging off the end of a car, repeatedly press "A" to climb back on. The person who reaches the front car first wins 20 rings. Anyone still in the race at that time win 10 rings while anyone that fell off lose 10. If everyone fell off, no one loses rings. What's interesting is that the more you are in the lead, the less reaction time you have to duck under an obstacle. This creates many come from behind victories. RING LASSO: Everyone stands on a train while another one passes by. The doors open revealing up to 8 treasures each with either a direction or a button letter underneath it. Just press the direction or button to grab the corresponding treasure. You can grab as many as 3 times before the doors close and another car comes by with more treasures. If a person grabs a bag before you do, you can’t grab it yourself and that wastes time. Basically the bigger the bag the more rings are inside. Sometimes a forcejewel is present. No bonus is awarded but you can grab more than 20 rings easily. This one is fun. FOURTH DIMENSION SPACE ACCIDENT: (There is only one) FINAL FRONTIER: Everyone stands on a square platform. More platforms come from the top while the ones on the bottom go away. The centers of the platforms open up that either give a blast of fire that will make you lose rings or a small fountain of rings. (And sometimes a forcejewel) If you fall of the platforms, you'll pop out of the center of a platform while losing rings. Whoever collects the most rings gets 20 bonus rings. Second gets 10 while third gets 5. What's weird is that you can only hear the disappointing grunt of the three that lost and not the celebration of the one who won. STAGE ENDING ACCIDENTS: These are the most important mini games because winning one of these is worth an emblem which is as valuable as a precioustone. SONIC SURFING: Because you got all the precioustones, the ice is melting and creating a tidal wave. Surf down the wave by pressing left and right to move in that direction. You can jump but it will move you back. Hitting driftwood will result in lost rings and getting sent back. Riding the top of the wave will get you ahead. Don't go to far or else you'll fall of the wave. As the game progresses the wave gets larger and larger. When the wave is almost a circle, remember that when you are at the top that left is right and right is left. The one in the lead at the end wins. To stay in one spot you have to have the analog moved slightly to the right. It's tricky but eventually you'll get the hang of it. SKY DIVING: Everyone is falling to land on a balloon. Press up to fall down quicker and down to fall down slower. Use left to move clockwise and right to move counter clockwise. Clouds slow you down while vortexes speed you up. Hitting another person will slow you both down. Collect rings while falling. First one to hit the balloon wins. If someone is trying to bump into you, move left or right. You will lose speed but not as much as getting hit. What's interesting is that the ground actually is getting closer. It's hard to notice but the background and balloon get larger perspective. EARTH QUAKE: This is similar to over the bridge except you are running on land. the areas ahead are foggy. They warn you about half of the obstacles. Sometimes they switch to camera angle to a more difficult linear view. Jumping causes you to fall back so avoid doing it. Also keeping to one side will slow you down. Whoever reaches safety first wins. Sometimes the warning signal moves from side to side before deciding on a place so comeback victories are common. STOP THE TRAIN: The train is out of control and everyone has to push it to stop. When the train has the blue light on, repeatedly press "B". If the red light is on, mash button "A". If you don't press the correct button or any button, you lose rings but if you do mash the right button, you'll win rings depending on how fast you are pressing it. Whoever wins the most rings by the time the train stops wins the game. By the way, if everyone refuses to push, the train will eventually stop right where the track ends. The time it takes to stop the train does matter on how good people's button mashing is. VOID BATTLE: The longest mini game. Now void is a huge creature that is out to take your coins. Everyone is on a platform with a smaller raised platform in the center. Void goes around attacking people. In the meantime there are a bunch of switches on the platform. Two light up at one time. If you are the first to jump on one of the switches, void will throw rings in your direction. Rings get sprinkled around the area as well as rocks that can hurt you. Void's attacks include smashing the ground to create shockwaves, zapping one person, stomping on people and so on. The game ends when the lit switches are hit 16 times and the big center switch gets lit. I'm not sure who wins this game. I'm guessing either the one with the most rings or the one that hits the most switches or the one who gets to the big switch first. They don't tell you in the game. When you see void toss rings, you can steal them by jumping up to grab them. Sometimes they don't even land on the switch. EXTRAS: DUEL: Although not counted as a mini game, I'm including it anyway. This game only occurs during versus mode when two people land on the same spot that is a ring space. The game is simple. A deck of sonic shuffle cards are displayed and all are turned over and slightly shuffled. Then the two players choose cards by moving the analog around and press "A" to give it to yourself or "B" to give it to your opponent. The cards are worth the value printed on them with the exception of the 4 card which is worth negative 4. The S card makes the other cards worth double while the eggman card will return all of your cards back to the table. The values of the cards will flash periodically. Sometimes the objective is to have the lowest total or have the highest total. For a high game give the 4 cards and the Eggman card to your opponent and take the rest while for a low game it's the other way. The best thing to do is choose the S cards and Eggman card right away. Who ever wins steals from the loser a number of rings equal to the difference between the two scores. The loser also loses a turn. The two not in the duel can mix up the cards by pressing "A" to rotate four cards. If someone is in the lead, try to mix up the cards nearby that person. Well, there you have it. Strategies for all the mini games in Sonic Shuffle. Perhaps I'll extend this FAQ to cover the entire game at a later time. If you have any questions email me at mtc32@columbia.edu . For now, enjoy!