Ghoul Catchers

Ghoul Catchers is a Neopets App game released in early 2015 that allows you to win Neopoints and rewards by playing it. This one is a match three game which goal is to clear ghouls and to archive the amount of points required per level by using all or less of the moves you are assigned in each one. The game starts on a very easy difficulty but when you progress through the levels and change maps it becomes much more tricky. Either if you are a new player of Ghoul Catchers or you came here due being stuck in a level and needing tips, this guide will help you understand the game on a very deep level and hopefully, give you a new fun way of earning Neopoints!

The Backstory

Phantoms and ghouls have escaped from the Haunted Woods and taken over Neopia, and the professional team of Ghoulcatchers is on their quest to make the world safe again. You will join Brave Ben (a male yellow Wocky), the Professor (a male blue Kacheek) and Glyn (a female purple usul) in their adventures, and help them getting rid of the ghouls by going from mansion to mansion and fighting them.

Ghoul Catchers is the first ever Neopets APP mobile game, created by JumpStart and it follows the new vision they want to bring to the site by introducing it to the mobile platforms world and opening it to the world.

“Our goal with Neopets moving forward is to bring all of the experiences, fun, stories, and games from Neopets.com to every platform and every device, so that members of the Neopets community don’t have to be in front of a computer to play,” JumpStart CEO David Lord stated. “We want new and existing users to have the ability to interact with their Neopets quickly and on-the-go.”

Downloading Ghoul Catchers

The first thing you’ll need is getting the game, Ghoul Catchers. Ghoul Catchers is available for Android, iOS and Facebook, so you can either select to play it with your phone or in your computer. All the versions of Ghoul Catchers are completely free to play, but it does include micro transactions inside it, with the option of paid power-ups and upgrades to use.

You can download the iOS APP in the iTunes Store and you will need to have the iOS 7.0+ version installed, so you might need to upgrade if you have an older version. In Android, the Google Play Store is the place to search and you will need the Android 4.2+ version to play it. While, on Facebook you’ll need to have Unity Web Player installed and you are only allowed to link your main account once to a Facebook account, even if you disable that account in the future. If in the future you try to link your main to a new Facebook account, an error message will pop up.

Whichever option you select, you will need to be connected to the internet at all times to play it, since Ghoul Catchers will be linked to your Neopets account and when you complete levels, the information runs to the site to award your won Neopoints. Ghoul Catchers is a game that awards prizes and Neopoints so you can only link your game to one of your Neopets accounts. Is against the rules to play it with more than one of your accounts, so beware about this!

Ghoul Catchers: The Basics

Ghoul Catchers currently has a grand total of 120 levels to play, which are spread on 6 different Neopian maps: Brightvale, Faerieland, Terror Mountain, Lost Desert, Shenkuu and Altador. To unlock each map you will have to complete the past one and have a certain amount of stars, which you get by clearing each mansion. Depending on how fast/how many moves you used to archive this, you’ll get from 0 to 3 stars in each level. There is also the option to pay 0.99$ if you are short in stars.

When starting, you’ll begin in the first level of the Brightvale map. Each level is a haunted mansion, and you will progress from house to house on the map. You are allowed to replay each level as many times as you wish, which is good when you need to improve your star points to unlock next map. Each time you complete a level, you’ll receive a certain amount of Neopoints but you can only win a max of 50.000NPs per day. Once you’ve reached that amount, you can still play but you won’t be getting extra NPs for those levels.

You might have noticed that in the top of the map you’ll have 3 different icons: a heart, a star and an envelope. The heart represents your life meter, which gets full at 5 lives. Each life recharges in 20 minutes but you can also purchase lives for 0.99$ or ask to your Facebook friends to send you some. You can lose a life when you fail to complete level requirements, restart a level or go back to the map while playing a game. The star shows your level, score and achievement progress and as said before, they are required to unlock the next maps. Finally, the envelope displays your friend’s list and allows you to send extra lives to them.

Playing Ghoul Catchers

After you enter your first level you will be presented with a 6×6 game map that has randomly placed ghouls of different colors. After each level and map, this game map will increase in size and some different new blocks will appear as well.

Your goal is to match 3 or more ghouls of the same color to make them vanish, which you can do by tapping on a ghoul and swiping it to where you want it to move.Ghoul Catchers will only allow you to move ghouls when they match and if you try to move one without a near match, it will go back to it’s original place. If there aren’t any matching combinations, the board will automatically reshuffle to help you. Combining special tiles will earn you extra ghost vanquishing power.

In each level you will have to reach the required ‘Target’, which you can check on the top of your game map, which is the minimum score you need to win the level. The trick is that you are only given a certain amount of moves (the number you can see inside the golden circle at the right of the game map) and if you use all the moves without archiving the target, you will lose. When you lose, you can either select ‘Flee’ which will make you lose a life, or purchase more moves for 0.99$.

Is always better to get more score than the required, since this will give you more stars. After a while you’ll notice that stars are very important, since even if you complete successfully all levels in a map, if you don’t have enough stars you’ll get stuck and you’ll have to redo past levels in order to increase your star meter.

At the same time, you will notice that in the top left of Ghoul Catchers’ map, you’ll see a little image of a petpet, starting with a Warf. Depending on which petpet you have activated you will be provided with the options of using certain power-ups when they are avaliable. The Warf will provide the option to use the Tailchaser and Prismatic Sparkler power-ups, the Cyodrake gives you the option to use the Fire Ball and Spit Fire power-ups and finally the Neucloop will give the option to use the Block Buster and Ink Splash power-ups. You will have the option to choose between the Warf, Cyodrake, and Neucloop petpets for specified levels and you’ll unlock them all when you start completing levels and reach the final haunted mansion of each map.

Ghoul Catchers Special Tiles Effects

When playing Ghoul catchers you will notice that some ghouls combinations make special combos that will give you more points, or will allow you to get rid of more of this little guys. When possible, it’s a good idea to aim for this ones since it will make the level much more easier for you. In this section we’ll show you all the ones that currently exist so you can have them in mind when playing!

1) Spectral Shackle: Happens when matching 4 ghouls. This tile will eliminate a complete column or row, along with any matching ghouls attached. You will also get 100 points for each ghoul zapped in this effect.

2) Ghost Trap: Matching up five ghouls in an L, or T shape will allow you to create a Ghost Trap. Match then such trap with a ghoul of the same color to delete a 3×3 grid of ghouls around it. You will be awarded 200 points for each ghoul zapped.

3) Glyph of Banishment: Match five ghouls in a straight column or in a row. You can swap this power-up with any ghoul, and it will eliminate every ghoul of that color. 300 points each ghoul zapped will go to your total score!

At the same time, you can make some special effect by swiping combinations of the last 3 described combos to create new amazing effects.

– Swapping two Spectral Shackles will eliminate one row and one column.
(100 points per each zapped ghoul)

– Swapping two Ghost Traps will eliminate a 4×3 grid around both Ghost Traps.
(200 points per each zapped ghoul)

– Swapping two Glyph of Banishment tiles will eliminate every ghoul on the board.
(300 points per each zapped ghoul)

– Swapping a Spectral Shackle and Glyph of Banishment will create and activate Spectral Shackles with every colored ghoul as the Spectral Shackle.

– Swapping a Glyph of Banishment and Ghost Trap will create and activate Ghost Traps with every colored ghoul as the Ghost Trap.

– Swapping a Ghost Trap and Spectral Shackle will eliminate three columns and three rows.
(200 points per each zapped ghoul)

Ghoul Catchers Map Information

Now that you know how Ghoul catchers works,it is time for some detailed information about each map. This will potentially help you when changing maps or when getting stuck in one of them, and is also a nice guideline to the requirements of each one of them and the new features that you’ll be unlocking when reaching those maps.

Brightvale, Levels 1-20

The first map of them game is pretty easy, and by just knowing the previous information given on this guide you’ll be able to complete it quite fast. The hunted mansion of the level 20 and last of this map might be a little bit more long or tricky, it will ask you to earn 24,500 points in 35 moves but this is nothing you can’t overcome with patience or a couple tries if needed.

To unlock the next map you will need a total of 50 stars.

Faerieland, Levels 21-40

This map has a big change compared to the Altador one, and that is the extra tasks needed to banish ghosts for some of the levels, which is to deliver items. When needed, the Target will display how many items you need to deliver in order to pass such level.

How to deliver items? Easy, you just need them to reach the bottom of Ghoul Catchers. When items reach the bottom they will disappear alone and be delivered. You can swap items with ghouls as long as they create combinations. Once all items have been delivered, the Target will update with the score you need to achieve with the available moves you have left. If you have available moves left after completing all level deliveries, Ghoul Catchers will automatically count down your moves and activate random Spectral Shackles and Ghost Traps for each remaining move. This is an extra game perk to help you achieve more stars.

In this map, the Cyodrake petpet will join you for level 22 and other specified levels, and for the final level you’ll have to deliver 4 items and earn 30,000 points in 35 moves. You will also need 100 stars in order to unlock the next map.

Terror Mountain, Levels 41-60

The new feature in this map is the urn barriers that you’ll need to destroy in each level. They get destroyed when ghouls drop on top of them so you’ll need to aim towards making ghoul combinations that can archive this since you can’t move urns and swap them with ghouls or other items.

Despites this, the Terror Mountain levels also include the delivering items requirement to finish them and you’ll need to be extra careful with how you use your moves since the difficulty is increased. Remember always that Ghoul catchers doesn’t has a time limit so you can take your time to think of the best moves to make.

The Neucloop petpet will join you for level 42 and other specified levels. The hunted mansion of this map requires you to deliver 6 items and earn 35,000 points in 50 moves, and in order to unlock next level, you will need a total of 150 stars.

Lost Desert, Levels 61-80

The haunted houses of this new map will require you to eliminate the plagued ghouls, which needed number you can check up in the Target of the level. It will show the number of a specific amount of colored ghouls that you need to eliminate.

This new requirement adds up to the previous encountered in the last maps, the deliver of items and the urns, so in some levels you might need to get rid of all 3 targets before moving to the total score of the level. And if you have any available moves left after completing all level requirements, Ghoul Catchers will automatically count down your moves and activate random Spectral Shackles and Ghost Traps for each remaining move, just like in the last maps.

From this map forward you will have the option to choose between the Warf, Cyodrake, and Neucloop petpets for specified levels. The haunted mansion will ask you to eliminate 60 specifically colored ghouls and earn 27,000 points in 30 moves. You will need to earn a total of 200 stars in order to unlock the next map.

Shenkuu, Levels 81-100

The Shenkuu haunted houses requires you to complete the Target point requirements, along with delivering items, and eliminating the plagued ghouls when available. The only real big change on this map is that there will also be stacks of ‘urns’ in various formations to destroy for certain levels. Some level layouts have a lot of block barriers, which makes it more difficult to create ghoul combinations. The difficulty increases in this map as well.

In the last level of the map you’ll have to earn 33,000 points in 30 moves, which might be tricky since the score is quite high for the moves given. Be sure to take your time and plan your moves beforehand.

You will need a total of 250 stars to unlock next map.

Altador, Levels 101-120

The levels of this map aren’t too different from the Shenkuu ones, except that they will have more challenging layouts and requirements. You will need to complete the required Target points for each level, along with delivering items and eliminating plagued ghouls for specified levels. There will also be stacks of urns to destroy and block barriers for certain levels.

In the final level, you’ll have to deliver 2 items and earn 30,000 points in 45 moves.

Ghoul Catchers Power-ups

The game allows you to buy different kind of power-ups in order to help you in Ghoul Catchers. When they are introduced, you’ll get one to test it in the tutorial, after which it will be gone and you’ll only be able to get another if you pay 0.99$ for them. In case you’re interested in which they are and what they do, here you have a complete list of all of them!

Tailchaser	A Petpet that chases its tail is sure to get ghouls all turned around. With this power-up, you can flip two ghosts of different colours. Available at level 5 and up.	$0.99/each
Ghoul-B-Gone Potion	Vanquish any ghost that vexes you with the patented Ghoul-B-Gone booster. Why wait to pair them up when you have this? Available at level 4 and up.	$0.99/each
Prismatic Sparkler	This handy power-up will blow up all of the ghosts of two random colours, guaranteed. Ear protection recommended. You get 5 uses. Available at level 10 and up.	$0.99/each
Extra Life	Time to refill your Life Meter!	$0.99/each
Utility Kit Booster	A Ghoul Catcher can never be too prepared. Arm yourself with five extra moves when you purchase the Utility Kit booster. Available at level 15 and up.	$0.99/each
Fireball	With this power-up, your Petpet can destroy ten random ghosts throughout the room. Don’t worry, it’s probably safe. You get 5 uses. Available at level 22 and up.	$0.99/each
Spit Fire	Shoot a spear of flame, taking down an entire column of ghosts at once with this power-up. Stand back and enjoy the show! You get 5 uses. Available at level 31 and up.	$0.99/each
Map Unlock	Unlocks a map early, before you get the star requirement.	$0.99/each
Block Buster	Use this power-up to remove an urn. Available at level 42 and up.	$0.99/each
Ink Splash	This power-up will clear a 3×3 grid of ghouls. Available at level 51 and up.	$0.99/each

Ghoul Catchers Prizes and Rewards

Since the dead of KeyQuest and Habitarium, Ghost catchers has become in one of the best games to earn Neopoints in Neopets. Is easy, fast and rewarding. Just by signing up you get 10,000NPs, a Ghoul Catchers Coat of Containment and the Official Ghoul Catchers Stamp and also, as said before in the guide, you get Neopoints by completing levels. You can get a max amount of 50,000NPs per day, and depending on how many stars you win in a level, will depend as well in how many Neopoints you get out of it.

For Brightvale and Faerieland Maps you will get 350NPs if you earn 1 star, 600NP for 2 stars and 1,000NPs for 3. For Terror Mountain and Lost Desert Maps you’ll receive 500NPs for 1 star, 850NP for 2 stars and 1,350NP for 3.

You will also get item rewards when you complete the final level of each map and when you reach the halfway level of them:

– When completing level 20 (the end of the Brightvale map), you’ll receive the Brightvale Mansion Background and a Haunted Brightvale Amulet.

– For completing level 40 (the end of the Faerieland map), you’ll receive the Faerieland Mansion Background and the Haunted Faerieland Amulet.

– For completing level 50 (half of the Terror Mountain map), you’ll receive the Blue Bruce Collectors Cup Slushie and Sparkling Berry Ice Cream.

– For completing level 60 (the end of the Terror Mountain map), you’ll receive the Haunted Terror Mountain Amulet and Terror Mountain Mansion Background.

– For completing level 70 (half of the Lost Desert map), you’ll receive the Cursed Qasalan Pancakes and Marble Tablet.

– For completing level 80 (the end of the Lost Desert map), you’ll receive the Haunted Lost Desert Amulet and Lost Desert Mansion Background.

– For completing level 90 (half of the Shenkuu map), you’ll receive the Bow of the Hegelob and Hot and Sour Soup.

– For completing level 100 (the end of the Shenkuu map), you’ll receive the Haunted Shenkuu Amulet and Shenkuu Mansion Background.

– For completing level 110 (half of the Altador map), you’ll receive the Traditional Altadorian Gyro and Warriors Spatha.

– For completing level 120 (the end of the Altador map), you’ll receive the Altador Mansion Background and Haunted Altador Amulet.

Some users have stated that their prizes have not been awarded correctly after completing each milestone. If such thing happens to you as well, be sure to send a ticket under Bug Reports at the Neopets Support Page, making sure that you’re being specific with which prizes you are missing, and which platform you signed up on so they can help you more easily!

You have now reached the end of the guide, we hope that you were able to find all the information that you need to be an expert in Ghoul catchers! Now, go ahead and start playing, earn those Neopoints and have fun!