Adventure World Danger Mine Expedition: Everything you need to know

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After completing the three Indiana Jones-themed Expeditions in Adventure World, you'll have a chance to get back on track with the main game. The next Expedition on our list is Danger Mine, which asks you to recover a set of TNT crates before they can explode. This particular Expedition requires 1000 Supplies and five each of Fuel, Food and Water to begin, and you only have a single day to accomplish all of the quests therein. Here's a guide to help you out.

Crates of Boom

    * Get the First Crate of TNT
    * Get the Second Crate of TNT
    * Get the Third Crate of TNT


The crates are all sitting next to numbered rocks, so you know the order to go after them in. However, picking them up in the wrong order would be incredibly difficult, as this is one Expedition that has you navigating between open areas using mine carts. As you're underground and in a mine, after all, you'll only be able to walk long distances by pushing a mine cart in front of you. This wastes a lot of energy, but eventually you'll end up at an open area containing the TNT and other goodies that can be collected / cleared for extra energy or XP. Note that there are plenty of other TNT crates around the map, but only the ones standing next to numbered rocks really count.

Mush Rooms

    * Clear 15 Mushroom Colonies


Blocking your path(s) here in Danger Mine are Mushroom Colonies, along with spider webs and other traditional debris. These Mushroom Colonies are important, because apparently one of your adventure teammates wants mushroom soup tonight (leave it to you to be the errand boy/girl). You'll clear out Mushroom Colonies with your machete, so just clear out every colony you see to be sure.

Back on Track

    * Collect 5 Track Fragments
    * Repair 5 Broken Tracks


The Track Fragments are found scattered around the map, and a simple click on them will collect them. You'll be able to pick them out amongst the rest of the tracks as they tend to face the opposite direction and look like the picture below. Also highlighted there are the broken track areas that need to be repaired.

All in all, this particular Expedition is fairly straight-forward, and so long as you're diligent about coming back and playing more than once per day, you should have no problem completing the entirety of it within the one day time limit. Remember, you can also bring up to five friends in on this Expedition with you, for 15 free energy, making any spiders you encounter not such a great threat to your energy bar after all. Keep checking back with us as we'll bring you more coverage of all of the Expeditions in Adventure World!

Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.

What do you think of this Danger Mine Expedition? Did you find it to be one of the easiest we've seen so far, or do the spiders over-complicate things? Sound off in the comments.

The Sims Social: Grab your free Plumbob Hoodies while you still can!

While we knew that the Sims Social would be celebrating fans this week with a series of freebies (including Simoleons, collectibles and the like), here's a gift that tops them all - a free Plumbob Hoodie for both girl and boy Sims! For those that don't know, the Plumbob is the name of the Gem that appears over each Sims' head, and lets the owner know of their status based on its color. This particular Hoodie displays a bright green Plumbob, and it's yours for the taking, but only for a limited time.

To be clear, there are two links available to claim this Hoodie, and therefore two Hoodies available for all users: one for male Sims and one for female Sims. Even if you are fairly certain you'll never change the gender of your Sim, why not grab both? They're both absolutely free, after all. Here are the links to claim both (found on the game's Facebook fan page):

Female Sim Plumbob Hoodie
Male Sim Plumbob Hoodie

While you're on the game's fan page, make sure to grab the extra Simoleons and Hope items that are also being given away. Now's a great time to be a fan of the game, with daily giveaways like these, but we'll make sure to let you know when the more noteworthy prizes come along if you don't want to fan the page yourself.

What do you think of these Sims Plumbob Hoodies? Did you claim both, or just the one for your Sim's current gender? Let us know in the comments!

FarmVille Halloween Items: Nightmare Unicorn, Fire Peach Tree and more

With tonight's FarmVille update, we see a slew of new items launch in the current limited edition Halloween item theme. If you've yet to pull your Halloween items out of storage, now's the time, as you've got plenty of items to further flesh out your spooky graveyard or ghost town on your farm(s). As usual, we're here to give you a complete rundown of the items available this evening, so let's get started!

Trees

Fire Peach Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Fire Peach Tree - 14 Farm Cash
Jack O Lantern Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Giant Jack O Lantern Tree - 14 Farm Cash

For tree collectors, tonight's update is a big one as it sees the release of four new trees, along with four corresponding mastery signs. As you'd expect, the two Peach Trees are a pair, with the giant version being available for free via Mystery Seedlings. Likewise, the Giant Jack O Lantern Tree is available as a Mystery Seedling as well, so feel free to skip purchasing it and only invest in the Jack O Lantern Tree. As for mastery, all of these trees come with the same stats, and will be mastered after 75, 150 and 225 harvests each.

Animals

Nightmare (Pony) - 26 Farm Cash
Nightmare Unicorn - 30 Farm Cash
Nightmare Sheep - 20 Farm Cash
Nightmare Cow - 24 Farm Cash

All of these animals have one thing in common, other than having "Nightmare" in their names: they are all a dark brown/black animal with some kind of flames for "hair." In the case of the Nightmare Unicorn, the flames are an awesome bright blue color, while the other three animals have orange flames. Keep in mind, farmers, that the Nightmare Pony (officially called just the "Nightmare") was originally released in last year's Halloween theme, and then again in the Birthday event last June. Make sure you don't already have one in your collection before spending anymore Farm Cash on the animal.

Buildings

Ghost Inn - 30 Farm Cash

Yet again, we're seeing a fairly awesome Halloween building being released for Farm Cash (unfortunately). This one is a few shades of purple and has glowing windows. Perhaps I'm just partial (my favorite color is purple, after all), but this one is definitely temping my wallet.

Decorations

Raven - 18 Farm Cash
Trick or Treat - 15 Farm Cash
Misty Waterfall - 18 Farm Cash
Skeleton Flamingo - 30,000 coins
Black Rose Planter - 8,000 coins
Dreadful Fence - 5,000 coins

If you already own a few of the Black Rose items from previous themes, know that this one is a different item that you can add to your collection. As for the Dreadful Fence, this is a re-released item that would make the perfect accompaniment to any Graveyard area you have setup on your farm with previously released tombstones.

Avatar Costumes

Ugly Duckling - 50 Farm Cash
Duck - 45 Farm Cash
Black Sheep - 40 Farm Cash
Sheep - 45 Farm Cash
Pink Cow - 35 Farm Cash

Unfortunately, if you want your avatar to be dressed up as any of the most basic animals from FarmVille, you're going to have to shell out a ton of Farm Cash to do so. Hopefully, we'll see additional costumes released in the future - even if they're re-released ones - that are a bit cheaper.

As usual, these new items come with a two week time limit, giving you plenty of time to purchase Farm Cash if you need to, and enough time to pull out your other Halloween items to see just which of these new items go best with those already in your collection. Just remember to go shopping sooner, rather than later, so you don't forget about these new items entirely (trust me, I've been guilty of that more than once).

What do you think of these new FarmVille Halloween items? Have you already decided which costume to dress your avatar up in this year? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille Raffle Booth (10/02/11): Royal Steed and Flower Bridge up for grabs

The FarmVille Raffle Booth has been updated this evening with two new items, along with three which have clearly become the standard "filler" prizes for the feature. One of these new items was free in a previous release, while the other would have set you back quite a few Farm Cash. Here's a complete list of this week's prizes, along with your odds of winning them.

    * 10 Special Delivery Boxes - 1:5
    * 3 Farmhands - 1:20
    * 5 Love Potions - 1:50
    * Flower Bridge - 1:200
    * Royal Steed - 1:500


All told, the 1:500 odds for the Royal Steed (horse) aren't the worst we've seen, but then again, this item isn't as limited as other top prizes either. It was originally given away for free to users that collected enough guests in the Royal Wedding event. Meanwhile, the Flower Bridge has even better odds, but is arguably more valuable. It was released back in July of last year in the New England event, but it cost a whopping 42 Farm Cash to purchase at the time. I don't know about you, but I'm hoping my tickets earn me that item, rather than another Royal Steed.

Either way, remember that while you can purchase additional Raffle Tickets for Farm Cash, the rest can be earned for free from friends. Just remember to ask for as many as you can between now and next Sunday, when the drawing will take place. Good luck!

Which of these prizes are you hoping to win in this week's Raffle Booth? Let us know in the comments!

CityVille Pet Show Timed Goal: Everything you need to know

If there's one thing we know about the character Ruth in CityVille, it's that this woman loves her pigeons. That's true to such an extent that she's decided to enter her pigeons into the local pet show. This is done through a new timed goal called "Pet Show" (or, just "Best in Show," if you prefer), and it must be completed in just 24 hours to receive the best prizes. Here's a look at what you'll need to do:

    * Get 12 Pet Shampoos
    * Collect 12 Times from any Zoo enclosure
    * Collect 12 Dubai Shipments


If you have multiple Zoo habitats in your city, just make sure you collect from all of them at once to maximize your points. You can collect from them every few hours, so if you have four habitats (for example), you'll only need to collect from each one three times. While you're waiting, you can send off for Dubai Shipments which take 12 hours to return, and can also gather the bottles of Pet Shampoo, which is accomplished via a general news item posted to your wall.

If you can finish this goal within the first 24 hours, you'll receive the Gold Trophy, 10,000 coins, 3,000 Goods and a Poodle Statue decorative item for your town. If you can't finish within the first day, but finish within 72 hours, you won't receive the Poodle Statue, but you will earn a Silver Tophy, 2,300 coins and 1,200 Goods. Finally, if you finish the goal at any point after the first 72 hours, you'll receive a Bronze Trophy and 1,200 Goods.

Remember, while you are timed once you start the goal, there doesn't appear to be any time limit for when you need to start it. That is, you are only placed on a time limit once you manually start the countdown in your game. Feel free to ignore it entirely until you're truly ready before beginning and you'll still have the full time available to you to finish (and a better chance of actually doing so).

What do you think of the Pet Show Timed Goal? Have you already started it in your game, or are you waiting for a better time before you take on a time-sensitive goal? Sound off in the comments.

Pioneer Trail End of Summer Sale offers 50% off Horseshoes and more

If you thought that 40% off Horseshoes purchased when redeeming a Zynga Gift Card was a good deal, try this one on for size. As part of the Pioneer Trail "End of Summer Sale," you can now take 50% off all Horseshoe purchases for a limited time. Leave it to Zynga to tell us about these things at the last minute, but you only have a few hours to take advantage of this Horseshoe deal, and a few others (for your reference, this sale places 170 Horseshoes in a package for $10, as an example).

Other items are on sale as well, including Mystery Animal crates from a variety of themes (including winter and Halloween) that are priced at 30% off, bundles of Critter Milk, Chunky Chow and Fuzzy Blankets at 40% off, and even Wedding Gift and Poker Card packages being 40% off as well.

Of course, this deal applies only to those items that you'd purchase with Horseshoes, and not anything coin-related, but it also includes the ability to purchase Beef Jerky (permanent boosts to your maximum energy) or Badgers, which are a limited edition animal. All in all, if I had to personally judge which item was the most valuable, I'd say the Beef Jerky for 16 Horseshoes is definitely something that's more worthwhile than not. Think about it - you'll be able to raise your maximum energy, allowing you to do more tasks in a single sitting and make progress faster. Purchase more than one Beef Jerky and you'll really be in business.

Again, though, you won't have much time to splurge on these items, or the Horseshoe packages proper, before the sale ends at midnight tonight (Eastern time). I wouldn't be surprised if Zynga extended the sale beyond this point to make more money, but if not, you've been warned!

Will you purchase any of these End of Summer Sale items? Which ones? Sound off in the comments.

FarmVille: Halloween Black Belgian horse available for coins

If you're a Horse collector in FarmVille, you'll likely be happy with the following news: a new Horse called the Black Belgian is now available in the game's store for coins. However, unless you've been saving up, you may not be able to afford its high price tag. How high? How does the million coin mark sound to your wallet? Good? Then you're just fine, as that's its exact price.

Interestingly, this Black Belgian horse is marked in the Halloween limited edition item theme, but it doesn't do anything to scream "Halloween" other than being black. Still, I suppose this gives Zynga a way to bring more attention to it in the store, as its part of the theme that will only last for a limited time. The Black Belgian will only be available for the next two weeks, but you'll receive one heck of a bonus for purchasing it: 10,000 XP.

At that point, you can either place the Horse into your Horse Paddock to be able to collect from it once daily, or you can keep it outside on display and collect from it once every three days. Remember, if you store it, you have a chance to breed a Black Belgian Foal, which would of course be even more limited. Whatever the case, make sure to head into the store sooner, rather than later, if you have any interest whatsoever in purchasing one of these expensive Horses for your farm(s).

Will you purchase the Black Belgian Horse for the whopping price tag of 1 million coins? Sound off in the comments.