Home Before Dark

Home Before Dark is a Webkinz World Arcade game. It was added to Webkinz World on September 27, 2007.

Overview

The object of this game is to create paths to move the Webkinz from the park on the left to the homes on the right before the sun goes down. Go to the party house or walk through toys to get extra points, and drop the obstacles by running paths underneath them until they fall off the board.

Left-click the tiles to rotate them clockwise. Valid paths automatically connect, turn blue, and walk pets through. The sun rotating to the moon at the top acts as a timer, and the game is over when the moon is at the highest point. The timer pauses while the pets are walking and when the obstacle tiles fall off the board.

You receive 1 KinzCash for every 40 points you get.

End Game

This game runs endlessly but has a hard score limit. The maximum score is 30,000 points in the arcade and 20,000 points in the tournament arena. If a game exceeds this score, an error message will display, the score will not register, and KinzCash will not be rewarded.

There is no trophy for this game.

Scoring

Create paths from the park on the left to the houses on the right to score points.

• A base value per homed pet is given depending on the level, which doubles for the party house.
• Walk through toys to add double the home points to your score.
• Paths through which the pet walks offer an increasing level of points depending on the level, whereas dead-end paths attached to the main path give a flat 1 point per tile.

The game increases in difficulty and the points offered per item increase as the game progresses, according to the following values.

Level	Houses Available	Home Points	Path Points
1	7	10	2
2	7	10	2
3	7	12	2
4	6	12	3
5	6	12	3
6	6	14	3
7	5	14	3
8	5	14	4
9	5	16	4
10	4 (floor)	16	4
11	Floor	16	4
12	Floor	18	5
13	Floor	18	5
14	Floor	18	5
15	Floor	20	5
16	Floor	20	6

gifted9's Strategy to Maximize Score

the objective of this game is to get the webkinz on the left to the houses on the right by rotating path tiles to connect a path. get extra points by going to a party house or running through toys, and drop the obstacles by running paths underneath them until they fall off the board. the sun rotating to the moon is your timer, so act quickly.

if you've made a valid path, the game will automatically connect and run pets through. if your objective is to set up a multi-path, ensure at least one end is disconnected while you work on it - straight tile turned sideways is easiest to switch once you're ready to go.

counterintuitively, your broad strategy in this game is inefficiency. when possible, add on dead ends or make a path longer to grab a toy out of the way. path tiles the pet walks on will give more points (2 each on lower levels, increases as levels increase) and path tiles attached but not walked over give a flat 1 point each. note that pets will walk the shortest path possible if there is redundancy, so disconnect where necessary to guide the pet through any toys.

the timer pauses when running pets through, and when obstacle tiles drop from the bottom. use these free few seconds to plan out your next path.

sometimes after a tile drop, chance will create a valid path, which will result in them all being turned sideways. this can be useful in locating a quick path to get quick points.

i divide gameplay into three stages, where each one has a different top priority. stage 1, levels 1 to 4: max points. make multiples until you have one pet left, then make the largest, most convoluted path possible, maxing out your dead ends, toys, and multiples. try to cover the entire board! stage 2, levels 5 to 10: play well. make multiples, grab some toys or go to the party house, but disregard the pet countdown. stage 3, levels 11 to game end: avoid death. drop the obstacle tiles by any means necessary, otherwise they will pile up and make it geometrically impossible for you to complete any paths. your pet does not need to walk underneath them, you only need to connect all the path tiles underneath it to your active path in order to drop them. you can also take multiple paths to remove them all. the closer to the houses the obstacles are, the more imperative it is that you drop them.

the level divisions are fluid and dependent per game. when the game is going well, retreat to the previous stage's strategy. for example, if you've cleared all obstacles on level 15, make multiples and go to the party house; if you have one pet left and there's plenty of sun, max out your last path.

as far as i can tell, the levels will continue as long as your human reflexes are willing to go, but the score limit in the arcade is 30,000 and the score limit in the tournament arena is 20,000 points. if you score higher than this, the game will reject you and you will not receive your kinzcash. if you want to play it safe, prepare to exit approximately 300 points away from the score limit.