Neopets Yooyuball is a classic staple of the massively popular annual Altador Cup. Each year, teams from 18 different Neopian lands descend on the Colosseum to compete in a Yooyuball tournament and earn glory. On a personal level, winning a game of Yooyuball will land you prizes in the Cup, an avatar, a shiny trophy, a site theme, and of course, Neopoints! Take control of the team you’re supporting, and wipe the floor with the competition!
Yooyuball Instructions
Yooyuball is basically a game of soccer: your objective is to shoot the adorable petpet past your opponent’s goalkeeper and into their goal as many times as possible. You also have to defend your own goal from the other team’s attacks. Once the three minute game has finished, the team with the most goals wins!
At the beginning of each Cup, you will choose the team you wish to support. Your options are:
- Team Altador
- Team Brightvale
- Team Darigan Citadel
- Team Faerieland
- Team Haunted Woods
- Team Kiko Lake
- Team Krawk Island
- Team Kerludor
- Team Lost Desert
- Team Maraqua
- Team Meridell
- Team Moltara
- Team Mystery Island
- Team Roo Island
- Team Shenkuu
- Team Terror Mountain
- Team Tyrannia
- Team Virtupets
The team you choose at the beginning of the tournament is the one you will take control of in every game of Yooyuball for the rest of the competition. Your opponent will change as the cup progresses, but the objective always remains the same: score more goals than the other team! When the Altador Cup isn’t in session, you can still play Yooyuball against the practice team (Jelly Land) for Neopoints. Your rival is always played by the computer.
Users are given the option to control their players using either the mouse or keyboard – we recommend picking the mouse, but it all comes down to personal preference. Try out the two control schemes and choose the one that works best for you.
At any one time, you control the player that is highlighted with a glowing circle. You can move your players with either the arrow keys or your mouse’s cursor. Players will automatically pick up a vacant Yooyuball when they touch it. If your opponent is in possession of the ball, you can press the spacebar or left click when in close proximity to them to dash and tackle them. If you’re in possession of the Yooyuball, hold down the spacebar or left mouse button to charge up your shot, and release it to sling the ball.
Should the rival team manage to get past your defenders, press the V key (it’s the same no matter what control scheme you use) to take control of the goal keeper, and move the player about to stop the Yooyu from entering your net!
Before the start of every game of Yooyuball, you’ll also have to choose your formation. There are three different options, and different ones are suited to different playing mentalities. The 3:1 formation (three defenders, one attacker) is suited to a defensive philosophy, 2:2 will give you a balanced team, and 1:3 is essentially an all out attack. Like the control schemes, your formation is all down to personal preference, so play around until you settle on the set-up that you’re most comfortable playing with. During the game, if your players become too scattered or clump up together, press the shift key to get them back in formation.
So far, so simple. However, this is Neopets, and there will always be a little twist! It’s time to learn about the seven (that’s right, seven!) different Yooyus you can play with.
Yooyuball Yooyus
At the beginning of every game, and after each goal is scored, a new Yooyu enters the pitch for the players to play with. Each Yooyuball has their own special abilities that you need to be aware of when slinging them.
| Normal Yooyu |
No special abilities. Travels at normal speed. |
| Fire Yooyu |
Travels at faster speeds. |
| Snow Yooyu |
Travels at slower speeds. |
| Faerie Yooyu |
Curves to the left or right when launched. Travels at normal speed. |
| Clockwork Yooyu |
Will explode between seven and ten seconds after play starts. Travels at slower speeds. |
| Darigan Yooyu |
Fires in a random direction when launched. Travels at normal speed. |
| Mutant Yooyu |
Every time it’s thrown, it takes on the abilities of a random Yooyu. Travels at varied speeds. |
It can take a little while to get used to some of the Yooyu’s effects (particularly the Faerie and Darigan Yooyus, and by extension the Mutant one too), but after a few games you should become fairly confident with slinging all of them around the pitch.
Yooyuball Power-Ups
To sway the odds in your favor, you can pick up one of four power-ups that randomly appear on the field and gain some special abilities. Each power-up lasts a maximum of 15 seconds, but will also expire if a goal is scored by either team. All four power-ups give you a massive advantage, and nearly always guarantee you a goal. The available power-ups are as follows:
Goal Enlarger
Makes your opponent’s goal wider, making it easier to sling the Yooyuball past their keeper.
Wing
Makes your team temporarily faster, allowing you to outrun your rivals.
Ice
Freezes all of your opponents to the spot they stand in when activated.
Glove
Gives you a more powerful throw, and makes you temporarily immune to dash tackles.
Yooyuball Cheats
Sadly, there are no passcodes or specific cheats you can use to land yourself a victory. However, there are plenty of strategies you can follow to bag more goals!
- You don’t need to use power-ups as soon as they appear. Save them until later on in a play, as the rival team will become steadily more aggressive. After a particularly long run of play, a power-up may be required to regain the upper hand.
- Since you need to play so many games of Yooyuball to increase your prize points, it can quickly become repetitive. The best way to reduce the amount of time spent playing the game is scoring goals! Every time a goal is scored, eight seconds are taken off the clock.
- At the start of each new round, let your opponent grab the ball first, then quickly dash tackle it away from them. Not only will this save you time, it will usually leave you one-on-one with the keeper.
- Run straight towards your opponent’s goal. When you’re half-way between the center and their goal, shimmy down slightly so their keeper isn’t blocking your path, and shoot with full power.
- Aim for the center of the goal with the Faerie Yooyu, as it will typically curve around their keeper.
- The Dargian Yooyu is volatile and unpredictable, so just focus on keeping it near your opponent’s goal, and it will end up in the back of the net one way or another.
Good luck on the field!
