Minigolf

About Minigolf

Minigolf is 18 holes of crazy golf on a toy course: bank shots off angled walls, springy bumpers, sand traps, water, slopes, a windmill, a sliding door, tunnels and one-way gates. Pull back, aim and let go, then try to sink every hole in as few strokes as you can. Your round is saved as you go, and your best total is kept.

Also called: minigolf, putt putt, crazy golf.

How to play Minigolf

1. Putt: press on the ball (or anywhere on the course) and drag back, away from where you want it to go. A dashed arrow shows the direction and gets longer, and changes colour, the harder you pull. Let go to putt.
2. Drag back only a little for a short, gentle putt. The power shows in the corner while you pull; a full pull is a very long putt.
3. The ball rolls, bounces and slows down. When it stops you can take your next stroke.
4. Sink the ball in the cup by the flag. A ball that is going too fast rolls over the cup (it wobbles on the lip), so the last putt wants to be soft.
5. After each hole the scorecard shows your strokes against par. Press Next for the next hole. Open the scorecard any time with the grid button in the toolbar.
6. Keyboard: the arrow keys aim (hold Shift to turn faster), up and down set the power, and Space putts.

Rules

• Every hole has a par: the number of strokes a good round takes. The course is par 51.
• Each putt is one stroke. Landing in water adds a one-stroke penalty and puts the ball back where that putt was played from.
• If a hole reaches 10 strokes the ball is picked up and you score 10 for that hole.
• Sand slows the ball down hard. Slopes (the lighter felt with arrows) push the ball the way the arrows point.
• Bumpers are springy and bounce the ball back with most of its speed. Walls take a little speed off.
• The windmill blades and the sliding door move while the ball rolls, and always start from the same place for each putt, so the same putt always meets them the same way.
• A tunnel swallows the ball at its mouth and sends it out of the matching coloured pipe, in the direction of the arrow. Striped one-way gates let the ball through only the way their arrows point; from the other side they are a wall.
• Your total is the sum of all 18 holes. Lower is better. Callouts: a hole in one, an albatross (3 under), eagle (2 under), birdie (1 under), par, bogey (1 over), double bogey and so on.

Minigolf tips and strategy

• Use the walls. The ball leaves a wall at the same angle it arrives, so to get round a corner, aim at the wall where the two angles meet.
• Soft for the finish. The cup only takes a ball that is rolling gently. A putt that would stop just past the cup is the one that drops.
• On a slope, aim uphill of the cup and let the slope bring the ball down to it.
• For the windmill and the door, find one pace that gets through and then change only the aim. Because the blades always start in the same place, that pace works every time from the same spot.
• Sand is not the end of the world: a firm putt goes through it. But a putt that is too soft stops dead in it.
• Playing safe is fine. Two sure putts beat one risky one that ends up in the water.