Gaming Secrets Revealed

How to cheat in games.

This week I am going to play a Narad Muni cum Shakuni Mama cum Chugglie Chacha. That is, slip into the choga of a conniving old bad baba, do a bit of idhar-ki-udhar by carrying tales, and tell you dirty secrets that shouldn’t be told. That’s right, I am going to be the devil’s advocate and reveal a few clandestine details about Windows gaming and teach you how to cheat.

Gaming cheats are hidden codes that enable you to fraud your way through in a game—and make winning easier. And yes, almost all games have cheat codes. To activate these codes, you need execute a sequence of keystrokes, commands and/or special moves. They are usually built into the game by the game developers and are always hidden. The real purpose behind cheat codes is not to make winning easier for the player but to help game developers and beta testers “jump” certain levels while testing. These codes are not officially documented and disclosed to the aam janta. Generally, they are either surreptitiously “leak” out, “cracked” by avid gamers, or intentionally disclosed by developers themselves---especially when a newer version of the game is on the shelves. Now and again bugs in a game also permit players to exploit loop holes and attain “supernatural gaming abilities”.

If you are looking for the dhokha kunji to a particular game, you can go Googling. Or mail me. Over here, we’ll make a full disclosure on some Windows XP’s default games. But first heed this: I am issuing a spoiler warning right here, right now. Game cheats ruin the pleasure of gaming. Forever. If you are stuck at level or can’t solve a game, hunt up some tips and tricks, or even download a “game trainer” to hold you hand. Avoid cheats as they quite wreck the challenge, entertainment value, and sheer gleeful satisfaction of gaming. Believe me, it takes a lot of will power to play a game without deploying a cheat code once you know the easy way out. So if you don’t want the fun of your games to be eternally blighted, don’t read on (and condemn me to eternal damnation thereupon). Mogambo-minded and other badmash log, don your sly look, grin forth and follow me...

FreeCell

• Want to try a couple of secret game modes in FreeCell? In the game menu, first choose Select Game. Then key-enter “-1” or “-2” (without the quote marks) to activate these two hidden game modes.
• Fed up of a game and think there is no solution in sight, use this magic mantra for instant victory: Hold ++ down during the game. When you are asked if you want to “Abort, Retry or Ignore?”, pick Abort, and then move any card. Its winabad all the way!

Pinball

• To run Pinball in test mode, key “hidden test” in at the start of a new ball. You won’t get a notification for this but you can now left-click the mouse button and drag the ball around and explore the landscape. Good one for newbies.
• Here’s superb little skillful trick to keep your scoreboard ticking. Launch a ball partly up the chute, past the third yellow light bar so it falls back down and bag 75,000 points each time. (Sigh... Wish we could find something like this for the Indian cricket team as well.) The six yellow light bars along the chute are worth the following:

First: 15,000 points
Second: 30,000 points
Third: 75,000 points
Fourth: 30,000 points
Fifth: 15,000 points
Sixth: 7,500 points

• Havaldar, instant promotion mangta? Type “rmax” (no quotes) in a new game to go up the ranks.
• To activate the Gravity Well, type “gmax” at the start of a new game.
• You can get extra balls and prolong your pinballing by typing “1max” at the beginning of a new ball.
• To pocket an unlimited set of balls, type “bmax” at the start of a new ball. You won’t get any notification to the effect though each time you lose a ball, a new ball will keep materializing till kingdom come from the yellow wormhole. One catch: If you activate this cheat, no other trickery will work.
  

Solitaire

• Frustrated with you game and still yearning to win? Press ++2. And win instantly!
• If you are stumped in Draw Three game and want to cheat your way to success, press ++ while drawing a new card. Instead of drawing three cards you will only pull out one.
  

Bhai saab (and your sister folk), all these are tried and tested (and re-tested) cheats. So don’t hurl your gaaali-galoch my way. If something doesn’t work for you, seems your PC is protected from the dark forces of cheating by a lucky charm/divine blessing/version mismatch/ham-handedness/your pudden-head (tick all that apply). Desist therefore and detour the wayward walks of wickedness, my child. Go chew on goodie-goodie gum drops instead…