This post was created as part of NEXON PEAK activities.

Hello.

Minigames offer a welcome change of pace in online games, whether you play with friends or on your own. MapleStory has quite a variety of them, too.

The classic minigames you can play anytime

For anyone who played MapleStory years ago, I imagine the Omok and Match Cards sets are among the most memorable. Using a set let you play directly with whoever joined, without going through matchmaking, which made them a good way to spend some time playing with friends.

These minigames are all but forgotten now, so it is worth revisiting how to make the sets. An Omok set requires 1 piece from each of 2 types of Omok pieces, along with 1 Omok table. A Match Cards set requires 15 Monster Cards.

I remembered having them crafted by Casey in Henesys, so I went to see him and was puzzled to find that I could not click on him. After that, I visited Chico in Ludibrium and confirmed that he could still craft the sets.

Omok sets currently sell for quite a bit more than their materials, so if you need one, I recommend making the extra effort to buy the materials separately and visit Chico. There is no crafting fee, either. I also read the detailed instructions for these minigames for the first time. Apparently, each round costs 100 mesos, so you cannot enter if you have fewer than 100 mesos.

Seeing the UI again after so long made me appreciate these minigames for an unexpected reason: despite all the UI overhauls over the years, they still retain their original design.

I cannot be certain, but the closed beta UI I found while searching had a similar look. Seeing it alongside the current UI is rather curious—it feels distinctly out of place.

Minigames later became part of events

After Omok and Match Cards, MapleStory's minigames became more closely tied to events. Instead of being available anytime, they were limited to event periods, with event currency or cosmetic items offered as participation rewards.

By default, you were matched with random players, but you could also play with your party members if you wanted to join specific people. Playing that way did not grant any rewards, though.

There have been many different minigames over the years, but for this post, I have picked out a few that stayed with me.

One of the best-known and most popular was [Maple One Card]. It brought MapleStory elements to the card game One Card, and many players remember having a good time with it.

Next is [초능력 윷놀이], which adds 2 kinds of supernatural abilities to traditional Yut. If you have played it, you will know how frustrating it can be—but those same mechanics can also open the way for a comeback. It is a game that can leave you with very mixed feelings.

The abilities you receive at random each round are shown above. As you can see from the descriptions, many can completely turn a game around, while some counter other abilities. It takes a little more thought than ordinary Yut.

At one point, you could also buy booths for these two games from the Meso Shop for 5 billion mesos each and place them in Maple Home. That is quite a price by any measure.

There was also [크레이지 스플래쉬]. As you can probably tell from its appearance, it was part of a collaboration with Crazy Arcade. It appeared only once and never returned, even by the time Crazy Arcade's servers shut down. Players were divided on it because MapleStory did not quite capture the distinctive feel of its controls. Still, I remember enjoying it quite a bit, so I was sorry it never came back.

Lastly, [창공의 심판자] had players compete in two teams. This one also seems to have divided opinions, but I enjoyed it. I certainly did not play well every round, though getting good items gave me a chance to make a difference around the golden hammer, which I liked.

What direction have minigames taken lately?

Over the past year, minigames like those above, which match players against one another, have appeared less often. Other kinds of games have been released under the minigame label instead.

• Virtual Combat System: A parrying game that uses only the stats provided within the minigame

• 스펙터 블래스트: A dungeon-clearing game in which 2 players split the roles

• 울티마 스쿼드: An idle progression game that runs automatically

Most recently, a block-clearing game was held to celebrate Hangeul Day. Minigames that do not require entering a separate map, including this one, have continued to follow a “play while hunting” format. As a result, it seems more players are now hunting specifically to play the minigames, rather than the other way around.

Thank you for reading.