Anybody remember Trouble Brewing? It’s a mini-game where players compete against one another in a form that does not involve combat. While there is still a world that devote the attention to those that like the sort of sport, the idea never really got off to an incredible start, sadly. Sure, it’s a fun game the first 5 times you play it, but then after a bit, it sort of loses its potency.

It’s the same idea with Fish Flingers. It’s a competition where players have at each other without exercising combat (catching potentially edible fish too, go figure) in attempt to get the biggest one for the most points. The winners will simply get more experience than the losers, but it’s usually worth it even for the last-place finishers, making this a potentially worthwhile 15 minutes you can do 10 times a week. Perhaps even more, if you’re lucky.

Basically, the game itself takes on the practice of trial and error. There are 4 fishing spots, 6 types of fish, 8 types of bait, 6 types of hook, 3 types of weights, and 15 minutes to work with. As you can well imagine, the combination will involve you perhaps trying a hundred different methods.

Fortunately, some baits and hooks have similar “partners” that you can most likely increase your rating with. When you play the game for the first few times, open the Runescape Knowledge base section of Fish Flingers and hold open the two charts they have on similar hooks and baits. This way, you won’t be blindly trying new types of bait, which will drastically waste your time.

The key is to catch the most weight in fish as possible, but upon starting the game, you have no idea where to catch what. If you catch a good fish, try a different type of bait. If you catch a better type of fish, keep trying until you get the bigger one with the specific bait. Then do the same with the hooks. Then the same with weights (except these are more annoyingly flexible, since you can use multiples – for best results, go medium-weight, then try highest, and if they’re smaller, go lowest, and even it out from there). Finally, once you get the best, fish a few times for all 6 species, and repeat for the other 3 fishing spots in case you simply can’t get the best of each kind.

If you hit a 100% catch, doing it with the other 5 fish will potentially earn you a medal. Otherwise, stick with that fish and go for maximum weight. Your call.

Kind of like playing Mastermind, if you’ve ever heard of the game. If you can get good at that, you’ll get good at this.

Gotta be fast, gotta be lucky. Naturally, you won’t get it spot on the first few times, and I can only give advice, but the only way to become a master at the game is to actually go there yourself, pick out a couple of “lucky spots”, and have at yourself.

At the end of the game, the total amount of numbers, weight, and solo weight of fish you have on you are added up for awards compared to other players. You can get medals for finding the perfect tackle for 3 or all 6 species of fish, getting 80% of higher average catch rating, and 80% of the catch being the heaviest species (tuna, bass, etc). This will all be totaled for a huge chunk of well-worth fishing experience and points you can use to buy fish and tackle boxes, which are basically bank-space-savers for the avid fisherman.

That’s right, folks. Instead of increasing our bank space further, we get items to store all this stuff in, and this time, we have to earn it ourselves!

Lastly, the event only takes place every 90 minutes or so, so you need to usually hang out at the fishing guild and check it occasionally, because the ability to join the competition will only be available for 5 minutes. It’s not a quest, so you can go through your Runescape life without joining it, but I recommend you give it a try, because the experience bonus you can get from it is usually worth it (again, considering its duration is 15 minutes, it can become an incredibly fast rate of experience, and it gives the easily-bored something exciting to do).

So yeah. Fish Flingers. Not the best name I’d give that minigame distraction and diversion, but it works nevertheless.

Is it good? In my opinions, I’m not much of a fisherman, and I’m not too keen on getting that skill to a significant level any-time soon, but it’s nevertheless a good game. Just doing it several times to get the master tackle-box and using it to save bank space it worthwhile by itself, but after that, there’s really not all that much point to it anymore. I won’t say it’s a bad update or anything, it’s just something I’m not too keen on fully utilizing.

Cheers, cannoneers!