The Neopian Conspiracy Theories - Part Four

Last week I introduced you to my guild the Neolluminati, investigations have revealed that the Shadow Government may also have branches around Neopia, one of which has been discovered to be the Alumni.

So, ask yourself – do you wanna work for the good guys? (The Neolluminati).

Or the baddies? (The Alumni).

In my last report we looked into way the Neopia Shadow Government makes is money. This report will continue that theme, and shed some light on other underhand funding!



Neohomes, (idea thanks to badlyburnedchris for pointing this out)

Now, Neohomes are a nice thing to have, build your pet a nice comfortable haven from the rigors of life in the great Neopian outdoors. But are they really necessary? Well, no, not really. Not everyone in Neopia owns a Neohome, I don't. Yet, our pets seem to be perfectly happy and healthy. So that would imply that Neohomes are more of a "status symbol" then a requirement.

Building a Neohome costs Neopoints, the amount varies depending on where you want to build it (Faerieland is much more expensive then Neopian Central). Now this is a little odd, we never see hide nor hair of the builders, and its very strange not to have to make at least ONE cup of tea for a builder! They never appear, could the Shadow Government be behind this – taking your hard-earned Neopoints?

Once your Neohome is built, you have the option of buying furniture to put in it. Now I'm not suggesting that the money from the furniture goes to the Shadow Government, of course, it goes to the hardworking shopkeepers who make it (but we'll come to that later). Another thing you can buy for your Neohome is insurance. Insurance??? Whatever for? I don't think there has ever been a single case of a fire, flood, break-in, or even subsidence in the whole of Neopian history! So these insurance companies never have to pay out, and yep, the money goes to the Shadow Government.

Still, I'm sure I'll be getting a Neohome in the near future, they're so nice to have! (



Shops

On a similar note, we have player run shops. You need to pay to open a shop, and you need to pay every time you upgrade it. Again we see no evidence of builders with sweaty armpits! So are we paying our money to have our shops enhanced by some form of magic while the Neopoints we love so much go straight into the pockets of the Shadow Government?

And why does it get so expensive to make the shop bigger? After all, every time you upgrade your shop, you're getting an extra five spaces. How can the cost for five spaces be so vastly different every time? Either inflation has gone mad, or it's that Shadow Government again!



JubJub Blackjack (idea thanks to Neolluminati Agent Ugoshan)

We've all played JubJub Blackjack right? You know the one where you play against your pet, you have draw cards until you're as close to 21 as you dare with out going over 21. Once you've both draw as many cards as you want, you and your pet both reveal the cards you hold and their total value. The person with the highest number under 21 wins (ok there are other rules too, but you'd need to look at the game).

Before playing, you get a chance to bet on whether you will win. If you win, you get your bet back, doubled. If you loose, you loose to your Pet, so the Neopoints you bet also go to your Pet. But what would your pet do with a load of Neopoints? I'm sure my Pets would give them straight back to me, after all, I'm the one that looks after them, and buys them things!

I think the money that your Pet "wins" goes straight to the Shadow Government, and you're given a bogus message to keep you happy!

Scorchy Slots

This is another game, based on a Slot Machine. Now, if you've ever played a real slot machine, you'll know that you have to put money (or Neopoints) in, in order to be able to pull the level and possibly win a prize. The only money you risk loosing on a real slot machine, is the money you put in the slot.

Does this happen in Scorchy Slots? Yes, but there's something else that happens that makes me very suspicious!

At the bottom of the Scorchy Slots machine, is a trail of numbers, the idea is to highlight all the numbers (by rolling up icons with a number value in the win line), this will cause the volcano to explode, and you get a prize! Most of the time. Sometimes you'll get the volcano erupting merrily, when all of a sudden one of your Neopoints bursts into flames! Nope, it goes to the Shadow Government, the flames are to distract you. Or maybe an Evil Scorchio or a flock of Korbats will fly out of the volcano and steal Neopoints from you, and who do they work for…well done, the Shadow Government.



Other Games

There are loads of games out there that you have to pay to play, examples include NeggSweeper, Snow Wars, The Wheels, and any of the card games. There are more, but I can't list them all here.

Now some of you may argue that the Neopoints paid to play these games go towards the upkeep of the games, and the prizes for the lucky ones. Maybe this is true, but when I think back to how often I have played Dice-a-roo, and just how many Neopoints I must have paid… I'm not so sure!



Once again, I'm afraid I must leave you, I have my own secret mission to go on, and I may be gone some time!

Oh, and for those of you that were worried, my missing Agent was rescued! (



Onugu