Sewage surfer is a puzzle game. You will be presented with a puzzle and have to place the pipes to complete a circuit from the start to the exit without any gaps. All the possible pieces are below:

The gamepage looks like this:

1. The puzzle – this is where you place the pieces with a left click
2. The next pieces for placing
3. The number of discards you have left for the level
4. Quit the game (do not press!)
5. Restart the level
6. Start the flow (only press when you have completed the puzzle)
7. Discard piece – discards the next piece so you don’t have to use it

There are some important items to note:

• On each level you will only get certain pieces. For example, many levels do not have the 4-way piece available
• When you play a level, the order in which you are given pieces and the mix of pieces will, in most instances, change if you replay the level. For example, first time through you may get:

Second time through you may get

• If you fail a level or choose to restart a level you lose 50 points. A gold trophy score is in the region of 30,000 so its not the end of the world and it is very unlikely you will do all 50 levels without having to restart some puzzles, and often will have to restart the same puzzle a few times
• Sometimes the game gives you pieces which are impossible to complete the level with. It’s annoying but there is nothing you can do about it except restart and hope for better pieces next time
• If you have run out of discards you can place pieces into blank spaces you don’t need instead. These pieces lose you points

Avatar

There is an avatar available for sewage surfer 

To obtain this you have to play all the way through to level 50 and then quit. It does not matter what your score is, you will have the avatar. So if you are playing for the avatar, do the simplest solutions you can. This is not what this guide is aimed at, we are going for a trophy and need a high score. If you want a guide to help you in getting the avatar, I recommend:

Sewage Surfer Avvie Guide – Simple Solutions

Now it is possible you can follow my guide and get a trophy before reaching level 50 and then quit to get the avatar too. It will take longer to get the avatar though and clearly without the last level it makes it harder to get a high score. To maximize your chances it is important you know how the high score table works.

High Score Table

Upon completing a level you obtain a score for that level, this is added to the scores you got for previous levels and gives your current total. So if I have 50 points for completing level 1 and then 80 for level 2 my total score at that point is 130. To record a score in a month you have to complete a level in that month. The level you are working on is carried over from the previous month, for example if I complete 10 levels in this month then when I play the following month I will start on level 11 and my cumulative score will also be carried over.

It is also important to note that your score only updates to the high score table when you complete a level divisible by 5 (ie when you complete levels 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50).

So for example, if you want to try to get the avatar and trophy in one go, play all the way through completing level 44 using this guide. Place all the pieces for level 45 but do not press the button to complete the level (unless you are confident your score is good enough for a trophy based on the high score table at the moment). On the first day of the next month when the high score tables have cleared, complete level 45 which will submit your score to level 45 score for the month. Wait until the following day and then play through to level 50 and quit level 50 and you get your avatar. If you are lucky and have scored really well and other scores on the high score table are very low you might get a bronze for your level 45 score. However, getting on the highscore table when others may have completed all 50 levels is going to be very tough. I recommend play through for the avvie quickly and then play again for a trophy score.

I’m not certain you have to wait a day, I suspect the score you had upon completing level 45 would stay on the high score table even if you quit, but I have not tried it and having slogged your way through 45 levels I suggest you wait a day before quitting, just in case. If anyone can confirm this please let me know.

How to Get a High Score

The secret to getting a high score is simple. Every piece you use as part of the solution gives you points. The more pieces you use in a solution the better. I haven’t managed to work out how much each piece is worth, I believe the junctions are worth more than curves are worth more than straights but if anyone knows and can mail me that would be great. Not knowing this didn’t stop me from getting a gold trophy and frankly its probably a level of complexity too far, its hard enough try to complete the puzzles without worrying about this too. You use the pieces it gives you and hope you don’t run out! Every piece you place which does not form part of the solution loses you points. Restarting a level loses 50 points, as does starting the sewage flow when the pipe network was not complete. So basically to get a high score use loads of pieces, never place any you don’t need and never restart or fail a level. Unfortunately it’s not quite that simple.

You will have to make judgment calls. Some levels only get you around 100 points. Others give you 2000. It may be worth restarting a high scoring level and losing 50 points in the hope of a really high scoring solution. In the case of a low scoring level you may go for a simpler solution to avoid failing the level and losing 50 points. There is no hard and fast rule on this. Clearly if you fail a level and then get the perfect pieces so you score 500 more it was a great decision. However, if it then gives you 10 games with the wrong pieces, you lose 500 and end up with the same solution you had before, it wasn’t so good.

As a rule of thumb, if the level scores over 1000 I try very hard to get a high score on the level. There aren’t many that score that high and for a trophy we need the points so it’s a calculated risk. 500 to 1000 I look for at least a good if not great solution. Below 500 I just make sure I don’t fail them if at all possible and get the best solution I can.

Here is a picture of the high score table after I finished walking through all the levels and completed level 50. Ended up third, pretty good considering I restarted so often. You can see w0x0x in first place – beaten again! And there in tenth lies my guild leader – what a small world.

A quick note regarding grandmaster status for sewage surfer. You need a score of over 40,000 which unless you had perfect solutions throughout is impossible. There were some occasions in the past when the database glitched and everyones game was reset to level 1 but their score at that point was kept. w0x0x had just completed level 49 when it did this and therefore got to restart at level 1 from a 49th level score (I’m not jealous). Personally I would say anything over 32,000 should be a grandmaster score but for the moment its not so lets just focus on the trophy and hope neopets have a change of heart.

Solutions to levels

Below are high scoring solutions to every level. I have indicated where I believe that this is definitely the solution to go for (for example Level 1 can only be solved in one way).

However, and this is very important, for most levels your solution will not be exactly the same. It depends upon the pieces you are given.

Use the solutions as a guide on how to get a high score for the level but you have to react to the pieces you have been given. If you just blindly try to copy my exact solutions you will fail levels so often (and lose 50 points each time) that you will not get a trophy.

On many levels you can score more than I did – I am not pretending the solutions below are an exhaustive list of the best solutions – they aren’t. However, I did restart very often until I got a high score for each level to create this guide. In terms of getting a high overall score I would have been better off scoring a lower score on some levels and not failing so often. This is up to you to decide.

If anyone believes one of my levels to be horribly flawed and a much higher score is possible please let me know, I’m not too interested in the fact you got 20 points more for the purposes of this guide (although I am very happy for you!), as I said above, they illustrate how to approach the levels and hopefully get a trophy.

Here are my solutions, best of luck, I love feedback, let me know how it goes, thanks:

Level 1 – this is the only solution

Level 2 – go under or over

Level 3 – high score solution

Level 4 – go over or under

Level 5 – could score a little higher with more turns

Level 6 – high score solution but could go down instead

Level 7 – high score solution

Level 8 – high score solution

Level 9 – high score solution

Level 10 – high score solution (you could not do one corner if you want to make it easier)

Level 11 – can be done many ways but basic principle is shown

Level 12 – can be done many ways but basic principle is shown

Level 13 – Important level – you can score a lot of points here – the basic priciple is shown, fill the board and use as many pieces as possible – shame I ran out of discards and had to dump some in gaps

Level 14 – this is the only solution

Level 15 – this is the only solution (it tries to trick you that you can complete the big loop with the first piece but you can’t)

Level 16 – this is the only solution (I think) It is a maze – other routes loop on themselves and you get stuck but happy to be proved wrong

Level 17 – basic principle shown – depends on the pieces you get. Level is not that high scoring – don’t fail it too often!

Level 18 – the only solution is down or up as shown – shame I ran out of discards and had to dump a piece

Level 19 – basic priniple shown, put the verticals in the middle first as they are the only pieces that can go there. Plan the routes down the sides to make sure they can join up

Level 20 – lots of ways to do this but basic priniple shown. Try to link all the loops together but you have to work with the pieces it gives you – easy to fail this as you have little spare room for unwanted pieces at the end

Level 21 – high score solution

Level 22 – could have scored higher by extending the loops further left

Level 23 – high score solution – definitely go for this, it gives you the pieces within a few goes and is worth the points in my opinion

Level 24 – high score solution – again I always play for this even if I have to restrt a few times

Level 25 – basic principle shown but can be done better

Level 26 – loops around the top and bottom always required – how you join them up depends on the pieces you get

Level 27 – not a bad solution – shows the basic principle of how to fill the spaces

Level 28 – high score solution

Level 29 – high score solution

Level 30 – high score solution – could score a little more by filling the extra spaces but risky

Level 31 – this was a high scoring solution but this level depends very much on the pieces you get – take care to make sure you can join it all up and go for the small loops

Level 32 – good solution – could perhaps score a little higher if you joined up all three at both ends

Level 33 – good solution – clearly you could make the side loops longer but this level is easy to fail (as you can see from my discarded pieces I nearly failed that go too)

Level 34 – high score solution

Level 35 – this is an ok solution – in my defence I had failed this so often and I was tired and grumpy so I just wanted to complete it! Should really have joined up the arm in the bottom middle part and extended the pipes at the ends but you can see the shape of it

Level 36 – good solution – could add a few more lopps in for an extra few points

Level 37 – there may be a better solution than this but I haven’t found it. If you take the loops away to try and extend them it seems impossible to joi them back up so I stick with this solution

Level 38 – basic principle shown but depending on the pieces how you join the outside to the inside can vary and you could add a kink at the bottom, see what pieces you get dealt

Level 39 – look at this puzzle as a top and bottom half. If you join up to the entrance by going left, you have to form a small loop to the right side. The same is true of linking to the exit. The basic principle is shown, hopefully you can see what I mean

Level 40 – high scoring level and can be done many ways. I try to sort out a section at a time. Just lay as many pieces as you can whilst minimising discards. The solution is a good example of roughly how mine look but it can vary somewhat

Level 41 – good solution, form lots of small loops to maximise the amount of pieces you use

Level 42 – basic principle shown – its quite easy to fail this level and its not that high scoring so beware

Level 43 – good solution – the final pattern will depend somewhat on how many cross pieces you get but this is a solid example of how to get a good score

Level 44 – good example of the basic pattern although a few more discards than I would like but better than failing the level

Level 45 – this is the only solution

Level 46 – good solution – you could try and extend the top loop

Level 47 – good solution – could be done other ways but my solutions are always very close to this

Level 48 – yuk – an ok solution I suppose but I can’t tell you how easy this level is to fail. For a high score run off the arms as far as possible and get it all to join up but I really would just try and get something ok down and move on

Level 49 – good solution – you only get curves in two directions so its not easy to link it all up. I would recommend linking the entrance to exit as soon as possible and then run off the arms for points afterwards

Level 50 – good solution – follow the basic pattern but note you do not get any discards so you have to work with what it gives you

Finished! Hopefully you are sat on the high score table and come tomorrow you will have a nice shiny new trophy!