The Cake-Shaped Arena

The Cake-Shaped Arena

The Cake-Shaped Arena is located in The Nearby Plains and is run by Susie, the Arena Mistress. Here you can send your familiar to compete with the House Familiars for "experience, prestige, and fabulous prizes".

Entering your familiar in an event costs 100 Meat and one Adventure. There are five House Familiars to compete against each day, and four events:

• Ultimate Cage Match
• Scavenger Hunt
• Obstacle Course
• Hide and Seek

When your familiar wins, it gains experience (equivalent to a number of kills) according to the margin of victory:

• 5 or less: 5 kills
• 6: 4 kills
• 7: 3 kills
• 8 or more: 2 kills

The formula changes slightly for the Ultimate Cage Match, which has no margin of difference, only rounds of battle:

• 15 or more: 5 kills
• 14: 4 kills
• 13: 3 kills
• 12 or fewer: 2 kills

For every ten Arena wins, you receive a piece of familiar equipment as a prize. 75% of the time, this item will be suited to your familiar; 25% of the time you receive a lead necklace. However, if you are using a Comma Chameleon, you will receive a random piece of familiar equipment every other win. [1] If you're using an elemental gravy fairy, Susie will look at your familiar strangely and give you a lead necklace as the prize every time:

Susie looks at your familiar oddly.

"I've never seen one of those before. I don't think we have any stuff in here that's specifically geared for this familiar..."

Maximizing Your Familiar's Experience

Your familiar's performance will always be between one of five numbers, as will the house familiar's. Therefore, there are 25 possible outcomes in any given match.

Between two familiars of equal ability (see Strengths and Handicaps below), you'll want your familiar to be 3 pounds heavier than the house's familiar. This will generate an average of 4.64 experience, and a victory 96% of the time. At 4 pounds heavier, your familiar will receive 4.6 experience, and a victory 100% of the time.

Below is a chart that shows the ability of your familiar vs. the house's familiar, and how much more your familiar should weigh to gain maximum experience. (The first number emphasizes experience, the second 100% victory.)

		House Familiar
		Weak			Average			Strong
You	Weak	3	/	4	6	/	7	9	/	10
	Average	0	/	1	3	/	4	6	/	7
	Strong	-3	/	-2	0	/	1	3	/	4

Familiar weight can be altered in a number of different ways. See Familiar Weight for a full list.

Strengths and Handicaps

Familiars have one of four different levels of competence in each of the events. This level determines how much more effectively than can perform in that event, as compared to another familiar of the same weight. The levels are:

• Strong: Familiars will receive a bonus equal to their weight + 3.
• Average: Familiars will receive a bonus equal to their weight.
• Weak: Familiars will receive a bonus equal to their weight - 3.
• Unable to Perform: Familiars will receive no bonus, and will perform the same regardless of weight.

Familiars that are unable to perform an event will state as such during the competition. About half of the familiars have one event that they are unable to perform in, the Comma Chameleon has three, and the O.A.F. and Reassembled Blackbird have four. Most common familiars will have one Strong event, one Average event, and one Weak event. Some rarer familiars, such as the Snowy Owl, are strong in multiple events.

Because of the negative applied to a weak familiar's bonus, it is possible for a low-weight weak familiar to lose to a familiar that is unable to perform in that event.

The following is a list of events, with the familiars that are unable to perform in them. The events pages (linked above) list how each familiars ranks in that event.

Ultimate Cage Match

• Baby Gravy Fairy
• Barrrnacle
• Blood-Faced Volleyball
• Comma Chameleon
• Cuddlefish
• Dandy Lion
• Hovering Sombrero
• Levitating Potato
• Nervous Tick

Scavenger Hunt

• Angry Goat
• Astral Badger
• Comma Chameleon
• Grue
• Mad Hatrack
• MagiMechTech MicroMechaMech
• Ninja Snowflake
• Sabre-Toothed Lime
• Wind-up Chattering Teeth

Obstacle Course

• Clockwork Grapefruit
• Cocoabo
• Comma Chameleon
• Crimbo P. R. E. S. S. I. E.
• Evil Teddy Bear
• Ghost Pickle on a Stick
• Ghuol Whelp
• Green Pixie
• Leprechaun
• Origami Towel Crane
• Sweet Nutcracker
• Teddy Bear

Hide and Seek

• Ancient Yuletide Troll
• Exotic Parrot
• Howling Balloon Monkey
• Killer Bee
• Magic Dragonfish
• Mosquito
• Penguin Goodfella
• Scary Death Orb
• Spirit Hobo
• Spooky Pirate Skeleton
• Stab Bat
• Star Starfish
• Whirling Maple Leaf
• Wild Hare

The following familiars do not have an "extremely handicapped" event:

• Attention-Deficit Demon
• Baby Yeti
• Cheshire Bat
• Coffee Pixie
• Crimbo Elf
• Cymbal-Playing Monkey
• Doppelshifter
• Emo Squid
• Feather Boa Constrictor
• Flaming Gravy Fairy
• Frozen Gravy Fairy
• Fuzzy Dice
• Gluttonous Green Ghost
• Hand Turkey
• Hanukkimbo Dreidl
• Imitation Crab
• Inflatable Dodecapede
• Jill-O-Lantern
• Jitterbug
• Misshapen Animal Skeleton
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot
• Personal Raincloud
• Pygmy Bugbear Shaman
• Ragamuffin Imp
• Sleazy Gravy Fairy
• Snowy Owl
• Spooky Gravy Fairy
• Stinky Gravy Fairy
• Temporal Riftlet
• Wizard Action Figure

The following familiars are handicapped in every event, but can still win:

• O.A.F.
• Reassembled Blackbird
• Black Cat

Notes

• It was rumored that switching a familiar for another when you have one turn left to win the equipment will give you the lead necklace, but this has been disproven. It is not yet known whether switching familiars alters the one-chance-in-four of getting the lead necklace, but it certainly doesn't force the situation.
• If you are falling-down drunk, Susie glares at you, and says, "You're too drunk to even tell the difference between your familiar and the House Familiar. Come back when you sober up."
• The Pet Rock, Toothsome Rock, and Bulky Buddy Box cannot fight in the Arena.
• A tie will result in a win for your familiar.
• Despite Susie saying, "I don't think we have any stuff in here that's specifically geared for this familiar..." a Comma Chameleon can still get Elemental Gravy Fairy equipment from the Arena.
• The Disembodied Hand will only ever receive lead necklace as it does not have a single piece of familiar equipment.

References

• The message you receive when attempting to compete drunk refers to a casino, where the dealer is the "House."
• The Arena looks like the Colosseum in Rome.

External Links

• The Rye's website has a fully automatic setup by Vladjimir to help you figure out which familiar to fight for maximum experience.