Don't forget to collect your monthly freebies. ;)

https://www.neopets.com/freebies/index.phtml

The code is:

THENEOPETSTCG

(just copy&paste it)

The code is valid until Friday, April 26 at 5:00 PM NST and has to be redeemed at Grundo's Warehouse (https://www.neopets.com/space/warehouse/prizecodes.phtml)

The prize is a "Cool Negg" worth around seven million NP. Not "exclusive" like the AMA claims, but still pretty valuable.

It's a daily that most people have ditched by now because, let's be honest, most prizes are just trash ... if you even get one instead of the "Aww nothing happened!" message.

The worst part is that you legit CAN'T get the best prizes without boosting your odds first. And nothing onsite tells you HOW to boost your odds, or that it is necessary in the first place.

Just to put the "tl;dr"-version up front:

Visit the shrine between 00:00:00 and 01:00:00 NST while your active pet has more than 200 INT but less than 10 current HP. The 15th of each month has slightly better odds, too.

Now for the long-winded explanation:

The prize pool offers exactly 59 different results, tied to a value between 1 and 59.

The game detemines the value as follows:

A) The site picks a random number between 1 and 7 as a starting point. It's impossible to get zero.

B) There is a 1-in-6 chance to get an additional value of 1 to 12 points on top of that. This step is repeated 3 times.

so far, it is all random, without a way to influence the outcome. You may end up with any value between 1 and 43 points, with the lower end of the scale being a lot more likely to happen.

This means that, without boosts, you can only get 43 out of 59 possible prizes. Anything with a value of 44 to 59 points is legit impossible to achieve, and that's where the best prizes are at, like the Kings Lens (the last known price according to jellyneo was 330,000,000 NP)

C) On the 15th of each month there is an additional 1-in-5 chance to gain another 1 to 12 points. NOW you can land on some of the good prizes even without other boosts, but it is VERY unlikely to happen (the odds are 1:1080 or 0.0925% for a maximum possible value of 55 points). It is still impossible to get anything in the 56-59 points range even then.

D) Now it gets interesting. Take a look at the Neopian clock. Certain hours are "worth more" than others, as they add different values to the overall score. The time frame between 11:00:000 and 13:59:59 does NOT add a single point, whereas the time frame between 00:00:00 and 00:59:59 is the most valuable, adding 6 points to the score.

E) Take a look at your active pets' intelligence - because that's another bonus you can actually influence. If the pet has 1-44 INT, you don't get a bonus. At 200 INT, the best possible boost of 6 points is achieved. Check the table below which range will result in which type of boost. (Having more than 200 INT doesn't grant additional boosts tho)

F) Lastly, if your pet has less than 10 current(!) HP, you gain an additional 1 to 5 points. It doesn't matter how many HP exactly the pet has left, or what their max HP value is. A pet with 5/10 HP gets the same treatment as a pet with 1/800 HP.

To achieve that, you can get your pets blasted by the Snowager, deliberately lose a fight in the Battledome, get a bad outcome in the Hidden Tomb in Geraptiku, or anything else that damages the pet. Just don't heal it, that's all.

With these additional boosts, you add a value of 13 to 17 guaranteed points to the overall score. It still takes a lot of luck to land on the best prizes, but now it is actually POSSIBLE instead of literally unobtaineable.

Just to make it a little more clear, here is another table:

And lastly, one additional trick:

You can visit the shrine two times a day, with a 12 hour cooldown, but this would normally mean that you would "have to" pay Colzan a visit during inconvenient time frames, like 12 AM (worth 6 points) and then 12 PM (worth zero points, so not exactly the best idea).

However, the shrine also resets around 00:26:00 which is basically in the middle of the best time frame. You can visit the shrine once between 00:00:00 and 00:20:00 (keep a bit of buffer zone) and then again between 00:30:00 and 00:59:59 so you end up with the +6 points bonus TWICE in a row. Then just ignore the shrine for the next 23 hours so you won't mess up your next chance with an inconvenient cooldown.

I was sceptical at first TBH, but I've been testing this setup for a month now and never got less than 15 points, with the best result being a Fifty Dubloon Coin (47 points) so I'm fairly sure it works as intended.

Original source and credit for the discovery:

https://clraik.com/forum/showthread.php?85881-GUIDE-Coltzan-s-Shrine

Neopets announced the new "Neopass" feature that will make it possible to link your main- and sideaccounts as well as the accounts of related games (like Island Builders for example) under a single centralized account. This feature is currently in the beta testing phase and designated testers have been granted early access, but TNT plans to make it availiable for everyone else this year.

Despite the name "pass" suggesting that it will be a paid feature (like season passes), it will be free of charge.

More information can be found here:

• Neopass FAQ

• https://www.jellyneo.net/?comments=14655 Summary of various different tweets and AMAs on Jellyneo (no idea why the hotlink doesn't work properly)

...but the redirect button has already disappeared from the pet lookups and neither the "news" section nor Jellyneo have a proper link to the ballot on the front page. It looks as if the event is already over, but you still have to vote one last time in order to recieve the bonus prize.

The game was flash-based, but one of the very very few ways to win NC instead of having to pay real cash for wearables and cosmetical gimmicks. With the Ruffle extension, the game works again, but not everyone wants to download it and AFAIK it doesn't work for all browsers as of now anyway.

If you still want to get a shot, you can also just bookmark this link:

https://ncmall.neopets.com/games/giveaway/process_giveaway.phtml

Opening it will result in a single wonky line of text being displayed - no visuals, no animation. But it actually DOES play the game and awards the regular prizes you would have obtained by playing the game the regular way. It aint pretty, but it works.

You can play every 7 hours and 7 minutes IRL time.

Direct link: https://www.neopets.com/neopies/ (you need to be logged in already)

Voting takes all of one click and you'll get a prize for participating. Normally the prize pools are pretty much trash, but this year, Jellyneo lists stuff like Marbled Draik Eggs, Valentine Paint Brushes and similarily rare/expensive stuff as possible prizes, so it can't hurt to try your luck ;)

PS: also don't forget to collect your February Freebies here: https://www.neopets.com/freebies/index.phtml

The site will go down January 22nd 11PM NST and will come back up January 23rd 10AM NST. Make sure to plan ahead for your Dailies, not activate any fortune cookies and complete the daily/weekly quests ahead of time so you won't miss out on the rewards.

If you joined a faction this cycle, don't forget to battle (and win!) at least 10 times during the next couple of days to be eligible for a boon. If you battled less than 10 times until the results are calculated, you won't gain anything even if your faction wins.

You can check how often and which enemies you have fought on this screen: https://www.neopets.com/prehistoric/battleground/ ...but you need to be logged in. ;)

Today is "Half Price Day" in all of the official Neopian Shops, so if you're an avid restocker (or just want to snatch a bargain) then today is the best chance to do so.

PS: keep in mind that this does not apply to the Hidden Tower, which has a separate date for discounts. This month, it will be on January 17th.

Direct Link: (you need to be logged in) https://www.neopets.com/freebies/index.phtml

Just don't do it on side accounts, as you get NP and Np-items that way.

The Lab Ray is currently missing for everyone and since the Neopets staff is likely out of office until January, it will take some time to get fixed.

Do not buy a new lab map set at the moment. Scalpers are already inflating the price of the individual pieces, trying to profit from clueless buyers. You'll get access back when the glitch is fixed.

Further info: https://www.jellyneo.net/?go=labray

PS: Don't forget to collect the last prize of the Advent Calendar today ;)

Update:

It has been brought to our attention that following site downtime on December 28th, players who have completed their lab map have lost access to their lab ray.

Our Dev-Meepits are aware and are working fast to enable you to your regularly scheduled zapping! We understand the frustration, especially over the holidays. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.

We will continue to keep you updated. Thank you everyone for reaching out and for your patience while we work to resolve this.

– The Neopets Team

As of now it is unclear whether or ot there will be a reimbursement for players who had opened a Lab Ray Cookie prior to the glitch, but at least the issue itself looks like it's going to be fixed soon.

If you haven't logged into Neopets for a while...

... you may be asked to provide your birthdate in addition to the password. And if you haven't logged in even longer, then you may be forced to do a password reset for safety reasons. In that case, simply go to https://www.neopets.com/account/passwordreset.phtml and provide your username (one account per ticket!) and click send.

IF the email goes through, simply follow the instructions it provides to continue unlocking your account. But more often than not, the email will not be sent for whatever reason. Or you may have used a throwaway email address to create the account, or you no longer have access to the email in question.

Also, always check the spam folder! If you maintain a block list, then whitelist anything related to Neopets before submitting a ticket or resetting passwords.

If you still didn't get a response after 72 hours or you don't have access to the original email for whatever reason, then you need to submit a ticket instead.

What is the latest account recovery policy?

From the site:

As of September 2023, the account retrieval process will use updated security questions to verify account ownership. The number of security questions required during the retrieval process depends on whether the account is classified as standard or sensitive. 

Standard accounts are those held by the average Neopets player. These accounts are unlikely targets for theft and require basic security questions to be answered correctly during the account recovery process.

Sensitive accounts are those with large amounts of Neopoints or NeoCash, unique Neopets, desirable usernames, or other factors that could make the account a target for theft. Sensitive accounts have enhanced security measures in place and require an additional set of security questions answered correctly to regain access.

If users are still unhappy with the outcome after going through this process, they now have the option to request an appeal. A Customer Support Supervisor will carefully reevaluate the details of your case and provide a comprehensive resolution within 14 business days. Be sure to include your original ticket number.

Submitting a ticket:

https://support.neopets.com/hc/en-us is the on-site ticket creation help. In that site, you're presented with a bunch of questions / options providing more information about possible issues with the site, but in order to actually submit a ticket you have to scroll down to the bottom and click on the yellow button here:

(Direct link: here)

You can only view your ticket number after you got a confirmation email saying that your ticket has been opened and is under review, which can take few days. The support team is chronically understaffed so please be patient.

Highway to Help:

You might be able to speed up the process by commenting on their facebook account (you can just create an account, comment once and then log out forever if you don't feel comfortable having a FB account). Provide your ticket number then, but no other information, as those comments are public! Adding more sensitive information like the username and names of your pets to FB may backfire as anyone else can then try to pose as yourself and retrieve your account.

What information do they need from me?

They will ask you about the account in question, and they usually want at least the username, birthdate and associated email addresses. If you used a throwaway email address[^1] to register, and/or used a false birthday (because let's be honest we all got told to never share private information on the internet as kids....) then write those down! Take screenshots, maintain a word document, note them in your diary, tattoo them onto your forehead - anything as long as you have the most important data ready for when you need it.

This is the most basic information they're asking for, but if your account is a "sensitive" account (10+ years old, lots of NP / trophies, unique/rare pets, anything a hacker would deem worthwile) they may ask for more information than just the basics.

Don't be discouraged by the humongous list below: you won't need to know ALL of these, and neither will the support team ask for literally everything. Those are just questions that MAY be important for the NP team to determine whether or not you're really the owner of the account you're trying to unlock.

If you still HAVE access to your account and you haven't saved any important information yet, I'd advise to start doing that ... just in case.

Information about sensitive accounts:

About the account itself:

• When was the account created?

• What's your displayed in-game name and/or gender?

• What's the country you selected?

• Do you have a special message and/or theme in your profile? What language is it written in?

• Who are your neofriends and/or VIPs?

• What guild did you join?

• Have you ever recieved warnings, and if yes, what were they about? Was your account ever frozen (for protection)?

• Did you redeem rare item codes, and if yes, which ones?

Achievements and Trophies:

• How many / which avatars do you have? (Especially hard-to-get ones or those only availiable for a limited time, like from unique site events)

• Do you have rare stamps, keyquest tokens or TCG cards?

• Trophies and medals, like the one from site events or recurring challenges (Altador Cup, Charity Corner etc.), hard-to-achieve game trophies or ones for random events

• Do you have access to the lab ray?

• Which Battledome Challengers have you unlocked?

• Do you have beads on your Lutari Talisman?

• Has your account or one of your pets been featured in the Neopian Times?

• Which stocks have you invested in? Which ones do you currently own?

• How many NP do you have in your bank account? (it does not have to be 100% accurate, but it does make a huge difference whether you own 50 NP or 50 million NP)

• Which auctions and/or Trading Post offers have you won OR put up yourself?

• Have your accounts and/or pets ever won contests? (like for example the lottery, gallery spotlight, or customization spotlight)

• Do you have access to the Magma Pool? (Not just sneaking by the guard, but official access)

• Do you have active and/or used-up Fountain Faerie Quests? If you used one, which pet and what did it turn into?

Pets (and petpets):

• Species, name, gender, and whether you created them yourself or adopted them from other users / the pound.

• If they have been zapped, painted or morphed, then also note the species and color they started with.

• If you moved them between accounts[^2] then jot down from which account the pet originally came from, when they were adopted, or usernames from people who adopted your pounded pets.

• Each pet also has a petpage, so if you happen to have written something special on said page (like game guides, an art gallery or something like that) it might be worth mentioning.

• Have your pets been trained / zapped and ended up with high stats? Did you unlock Fairie Abilities, and if yes, which ones?

• Which Gourmet Food and/or Booktastic Books has your pet consumed?

• If you have played Neoquest 1 and/or 2 then the save data is tied to your active PET, not to the account! Keep track of which pet and how far you have gotten in the minigame.

Unique/special items:

• Battledome equipment currently worn by your pets

• Stuff stowed away in your SDB like rare petpets and petpetpets, paint brushes or NC-item leftovers from events

• Items in your gallery (also the name and size of the gallery and/or shop you have)

• Paint Brush Clothing, expensive/rare wearables, expensive / rare Morphing Potions

• NC and NC items, like Training/Quest Cookies, Time Capsules, wearables (especially when it was something only availiable for a limited time), Goodie Bags, Cupcakes (from pet birthdays or NC mall events) and whether or not you bought NC yourself or "just" won it from the Expellibox / got it as gifts from events

Heads up!

If you don't know what some of these mean, just ignore the question. Not everyone HAS beads on the Lutari Talisman or bothered feeding their pets with Gourmet Food, so don't fret about it too much.

Also, it is unlikely that they want to know ALL of this at once anyway, so please don't just copy-paste 57 pages worth of information into the initial email. Stick to the questions they asked first, and once they ask for additional information, then answer those questions as well and provide some extra info you deem important.

And always, ALWAYS attach the rest of the conversation to the ticket response. Otherwise it might happen that they ask for information that you have already provided in earlier emails, keeping the ticket in repetition limbo.

What you should NOT tell them:

What they will NEVER EVER ask for, is the current(!) password. If you get an email asking for your password, it is almost guaranteed to be a scam attempt. They might ask for passwords you have used in the past as long as they are obsolete / changed now, but they will never ask your current one. Same for a PIN if you have one for your shop or SDB.

Never. Ever. Tell. ANYONE. Your. Password.

Need additional help?

As someone who had to reactivate his accounts multiple times after various hiatuses, I'll be glad to walk you through the process if you should need additional information / help.

Feel free to ask!

Footnotes: [^1]: Whether you want to have one single email address for all accounts or one unique email address for each separate account, that's entirely up to you. A single email address for all accounts makes retrieval easier as the NP team can see that all (up to) 5 accounts belong to the same person easily. Having different addresses might lead to issues while retrieving the account, but is overall safer for when your accounts may be targeted by hackers. Only "temporary" email addresses are an issue as they might lead to the account becoming un-retrievable, so change those to something that won't get deleted ASAP.

[^2]: You're allowed to have up to 4 side accounts as long as you solely use them as item/pet storage. You are not allowed to earn NP, obtain items from dailies, or play games that may lead to trophies/prizes on side accounts.

I might or might not have done the same as the original creator of that image ...

Do not talk about these sites ON Neppets.com!

• https://www.jellyneo.net/index.php

I've been using it for years and so far, most of it has been acurate and well-explained. This site is also a good source of info whenever there is a plot or event going on.

• https://battlepedia.jellyneo.net/index.php

A subsection of jellyneo, specifically for Battledome-related information like weapon stats, combat tactics and abilities.

• https://thedailyneopets.com/

Less frequently used for news, but it has some cool in-depth guides. Especially the Plushie Tycoon guide and the Neoquest II Guide are immensely helpful.

• https://sunnyneo.com/

Frequently updated and with up-to-date information about recent events, like temporarily availiable avatars and recurring events like the Battleground of the Obelisk

This is a community for all things related to Neopets ... well, all except NSFW material. Everything else is highly welcome here, from helpful links, guides and artworks, to screenshots, achievements, memes, gameplay / lore questions and discussions, challenges, fails, and whatever else you can think of, as long as it doesn't violate the Lemmy.World Code of Conduct

Lemmy.world currently does not support video uploads, but you can upload videos to other sites (like youtube) and post a link here., or turn them into animated gifs if you don't care about lack of sound.