Black Spider
Pattern: The Black Spider is the first spider you will encounter in this classic, they are obviously the easiest spiders to beat in the game. They move in a straight forward pattern, meaning wherever they start climbing up, thats the direction they will move for the moment.
Strategy: Unless your a beginner, then you really shouldn't have the least bit trouble with this enemy, all you have to do is release the pot in the direction they are moving in, wherever you see them climbing up, drop the pot!
Blue Spiders
Pattern: The Blue Spider is also relatively easy to master tactics, they move in a slightly zig zag-like pattern, but straight, just like the Black Spiders. So basically, they move the exact same way except in slight zig-zag patterns, but don't worry about it.
Strategy: If you can apply the Black Spider strategy correctly [and their really is no excuse] then you should have no problem with these critters.
Red Spiders
Pattern: Okay, heres where the difficultly increases dramatically, the red spiders move in a complicated pattern, but once you see exactly how they move, you can master them. What they do is move in some sort of diangonal pattern, from wherever they start, they will move three "slots" over from their original position.
Strategy: Focus on one spider at a time, but perform this strategy with some speed, as their will be other spiders on the screen here. Watch the spider your focusing on at the moment, from the "slot" you see him in, move three "slots" over and drop a pot as he is underneath it. The main thing not to do is to drop pots everywhere in sight, this is a bad approach. Just follow the strategy above and you will be fine here.
Green Spiders
Pattern: Here are the game's hardest spiders, the green ones! What makes these
spiders so hard is that they don't have a specific pattern. They are completely random and unpredictable.
Strategy: Well, the best strategy I can give you with the limited amount of info on their patterns, the best thing to do is to try to predict exactly where they will end up. The best strategy I can come up with is to try to hit the green spiders as they are just appearing on the bottom of the screen, so that they don't have the chance to confuse you.
Spider Strategy
A good little strategy here, is to hit the spiders while they are just appearing on the screen. The reason this is recommended is because it's very dangerous, many players think that the closer the spiders are to you, the better. Wrong. Very wrong. The closer the spiders get, the more risk you take. This strategy works fairly well on the green spiders, as they are completly confusing, so use this tip and shut them out quickly! Do all in your power to stop them from reaching higher on the screen.
Common Player Mistake
Another common mistake, some players think that if they throw the pots down in a blind rage, they will hit all the spiders. I think not. This is the worst thing you can do in this game, is to just blindly throw the pots. Release the pots with strategy and you will most likely be successful.
Game Tip
The last tip is probably something you have heard before. Practice and expierence is the key to anything. Don't expect to master Crackpots over night, it will take awhile before you get the hang of things, remember much pratice makes perfection. And of course, have fun, it's only a video game after all, try not to get frustrated, frustration ruins everything.
Back to Atari 2600