Shopper

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	W:A replay: An example of a Shopper game (3vs3) with DarK, Random00, SPW, Incog, Paya and REM; taken from Worm Olympics
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Use the rope and 'shop' for crates

Shopper (originally Rope Shopper) is a scheme in which players start with few or no weapons and must use the Ninja Rope to navigate a specially-designed, indestructible map and collect crates to build their arsenal. The scheme and its variations are generally the most popular schemes played on WormNET.

Description

Game setup
Scheme
Shopper: Download View scheme settings
Map
Specially designed map Examples at the WMDB
Worms
Usually 3

The goal in Shopper is to kill all opponents using weapons obtained from crates, collected within the relatively short turn time by using the Ninja Rope, which is provided in unlimited quantity and given a power setting of 5 to allow unlimited repeat swings.

Maps designed for the Shopper scheme provide a roof along the top and wide open spaces in which to swing around on the ninja rope, and typically include a large number of platforms, nooks and crannies where worms can try to stay safe from enemy attacks. Maps usually also include some hazards, such as holes at the bottom or sides of the map through which worms can fall and drown.

Considerable skill with the Ninja Rope is required for playing Shopper competently. However - unlike some of its variations, noted below - the classic Shopper scheme is very accessible to new players and suitable for practicing with the ninja rope.

The scheme is supported by HostingBuddy.

Rules

In this picture, 3-UP is the leading team while 2-UP is the last.

The main rules for Shopper being used nowadays on WormNET are as follows:

• Crate Before Attack (CBA) - Players must collect a crate at the start of each turn before attacking with a weapon from their inventory.
• Attack From Rope (AFR) - Players must attack while using the ninja rope, unless the weapon being used cannot be used from the rope.
• Kill The Leader (KTL) - Players must injure worms belonging to the team in first place.

To acknowledge to someone that you understand the rules and will abide by them, one shall reply "CAK" (usually as a private message, to avoid copy + paste from cows).

Historical rules and other details

Historically, Shopper was played with a different set of house rules. Some of them sometimes get played in different schemes, but nowadays, that's rare. These rules are described below:

• Crate Before Attack (CBA) - Same as above.
• All But Last (ABL) - Players must not injure any worms belonging to the team in last place, with the exception outlined by the Pile rule below.
• Pile - Players may only injure worms belonging to the team in last place if they also injure other worms in the same attack. Only applicable if the ABL rule is in force.
• Kill The Cow (KTC) - Should anyone violate the rules, players must target that player (regardless of the ABL rule) until they have been killed off.

These four rules are collectively known as the PACK rules (standing for Pile, ABL, CBA and KTC).

The ABL rule is often substituted with KTL (explained above). Around 2000, Shopper started to adopt a rule which originated with the Roper scheme: AFR (explained above). The combination of AFR and the PACK rules then became known as the proPACK rules. Throughout 2003, the AFR rule became so integral to Shopper, that the difference between PACK and proPACK was largely forgotten.

As well as the rules above, Shopper was sometimes played with additional rules prohibiting certain super weapons and the way that weapons can be used:

• No girders. - Players must not use girders, even if they collect girders or a Girder Starter Pack in a crate.
• No nukes. - Players must not use the Nuclear Bomb, even if they collect one in a crate.
• No permanent blocking. - Players must not use any weapon in such a way that it permanently blocks a worm from fully navigating the map.

Shopper rules are generally addressed purely by the acronyms of the 3 fundamental rules - AFR, CBA, KTL/ABL; others (such as the rules on the use of weapons above) are considered common sense.

Variants

Creative modifications of the scheme.

Of all the schemes known in Worms, Shopper probably has the most variants. Because of its extensive popularity, many people came up with their own versions to the Shopper scheme, some better known than others. The variants often rely on the specific design of the map, and sometimes involve new rules. In some cases, variants require the use of TestStuff.

Wall-X-Wall Shopper

Main Article: Wall-X-Wall Shopper

In this variant, an additional rule is in force: the player must touch a number of specified number of walls during their turn before attacking. This is played on specially-designed maps which highlight the walls to be touched.

Fly Shopper

	W:A replay: An example of a Fly Shopper game with Random00 and z3r0; taken from Worm Olympics
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WO icon

Map
Specially designed map Examples at the WMDB

In this variant, the map has an open roof and a large pillar in the middle. Players must fly their worms over the pillar at least once during their turn before attacking. For this, an additional rule is in force:

• Fly Before Attack (FBA in worms terminology) - Players must use the ninja rope to fling their worm over the map's central pillar, without touching it with their worm, and without the ninja rope being attached to anything during the crossing, before attacking.

The rope may be attached to the central pillar before and after the crossing - e.g. when doing a special kind of fly called "mexi".

The player is not required to attach the rope again after the crossing - e.g. if the worms hits terrain and the parachute activates, the fly is still considered to be valid. Also, when TestStuff is activated, it is common practice to consider a fly valid if the player activates the parachute manually after the crossing.

Competitive events

Fly Shopper was featured on 2 cups hosted on TUS: one in 2017 and other in 2022. It was featured in several WOs too (for example, check WO 2008, WO 2011 and WO 2013 tournaments).

Chamber Shopper

Map
Specially designed map Examples at the WMDB

In Chamber Shopper, the map has an open roof and is divided horizontally into several chambers, typically 4 or 5, separated by vertical pillars.

The FBA rule (see Fly Shopper, above) is sometimes used in this variation.

History

Chamber Shopper was created by Chance (see this 13th October 2003 archive snapshot). The oldest colored map of Chamber Shopper was released on WMDB on 21st February 2004 by Star Worms, but there are older .bit maps of this scheme.

Similar ideas

A scheme named Chamber Roper was released after the existence of Chamber Shopper and it uses very similar maps to play.

Pod Shopper

Map
Specially designed map Examples at the WMDB

Pod Shopper maps are designed with 2 or more 'pods', which may be considered miniature shopper maps in and of themselves. These pods are separated from each other by open space.

Players typically have to travel from pod to pod during their turn in order to collect a crate and to find a worm to attack. Pod Shopper games tend to be short, as drowning is more common (there are players who say that POD stands for Plop Or Die). The common Shopper rules KTL and ABL are sometimes omitted to allow players to more easily find a target.

Surf Shopper

WO icon

In Surf Shopper, players must skim their worm (this is the additional rule) across water onto some land. This variant is played on maps specially designed for this (two styles). Most players play with TestStuff features, but it's possible to play without them. Some players like to use the Anti Sink feature of RubberWorm/Extended Scheme Options.

Rules

With TestStuff features

Surf Before Attack (SBA in worms terminology) - Players must skim their worms over water during their turn before attacking. This rule is played with TestStuff, which stops worms losing their turn after skimming water or bumping their heads and also allows for firing the ninja rope while a worm is still in flight after skimming. After v3.8, with its Extended Scheme Options, TestStuff features can be included separately in the scheme file.

Without TestStuff features

There's also an alternative rule for those that cannot or don't want to use TestStuff: Surf After Attack (SAA in worms terminology) - Players must skim their worms over water during their retreat time, after having made an attack. This rule was mainly used in Worms World Party, that took the influence of WA, but it didn't have TestStuff there.

Map styles

Map
Specially designed map Examples at the WMDB

There are two map styles of Surf Shopper.

Narrow surf areas

	W:A replay: Surf Shopper game on narrow surf areas map style with Zogger and Dulek (taken from Worm Olympics). Note: to watch this replay properly, the .reg file "EmulateRubberWorm_Off" must be activated on Tweaks folder.
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This style with narrow surf areas forced players to skim half of the map until the worm lands, and not only one skim. Usually the landing area is a small island on the middle of the map, with a ramp to make friction on the worm and stop it, with a plop protection in its center. The island and surf areas are usually separeted from the rest of the map due to the terrain or walls. There are only some small passages that connects the map parts, usually stairs like this one, where the worm can leave that center island and access the rest of the map (bigger area) by walking (without the rope). Others have narrow passages that were made to connect the map parts using the rope, like this example.

Wider surf areas

This style has wider surf areas that sometimes players only skim once to obey the rule and often don't land on the island, just continue roping after skimming. Sometimes players don't even cross the water to the other side of the map. These wider surf area maps are often Fly Shopper maps as well (being Fly Surf Shoppers): the original .bit version of this map is a notable classic example, played often in WA and WWP.

History

The authorship of Surf Shopper variant is unknown. The oldest Surf Shopper map present on WMDB was added on 22nd March 2006 by BigBilly, having a broad surf area. Right after this map, the respective Surf Shopper maps released on the platform (WMDB) were mainly of the narrow surf areas style. After many releases of the narrow surf areas style, the wider surf areas style once again received many maps, while the narrow surf areas style didn't receive more maps since then. The .bit maps of this scheme were probably realeased earlier than the ones present on WMDB.

Competitive events

Surf Shopper is often played in WormNET. However there were only a few competitive events of this scheme.

There was only two Surf Shopper tournaments on Worm Olympics, this one in the 2008 edition and another one in the Winter Worm Olympics of 2010. The vast majority of the games played in the 2008 tournament were played using the narrow surf areas style. Although, there were a few games played on the wider surf areas style. The 2010 event was the opposite: most games were played on wider surf areas style maps, and only a few ones were played on the narrow surf area style map.

There was a TUS cup that took place on 31st March 2022 called Wave Riders. The maps used on the cup were from this mappack, representing the wider surf areas map style.

	This article has a to-do list:
	Discover who is the author of this variant Discover when this variant was created Check for old possible .bit Surf Shopper maps to know more about its history

Attack From Air Shopper (or AFA Shopper)

WO icon

	W:A replay: Air Shopper game with Random00, Unique, spw and flint (taken from Worm Olympics). Note: to watch this replay properly, the .reg file "EmulateRubberWorm_Off" must be activated on Tweaks folder.
	Download · Info

Download (.wsc) · View scheme settings
Map
Specially designed map (mappack) Examples at the WMDB

Played on specially designed maps, and with TestStuff enabled, this variant has Fall Damage turned off, and makes use of an additional rule:

• Attack From Air (AFA in worms terminology) - Players must attack during a "rope-roll", where a worm has disengaged the ninja rope and is in flight. Players do this by pressing Enter while their worm is in the air.

The common Shopper rules KTL and ABL are usually omitted for this variant.

This variant was created in December 2008 (see the 2008 winter WO tournament) by Crowe, originally under the name of Air Shopper.

Bungee Shopper

	W:A replay: An example of a Bungee Shopper game with OREL and Uzurpator; taken from Worm Olympics
	Download · Info

WO icon

Download (.wsc) · View scheme settings
Map
Specially designed map Examples at the WMDB

This is a Shopper with bungee instead of ninja rope, and maps designed for bungeeing around. Players must attack from bungee or during flying. The use of TestStuff is required, this allows players to use parachute in the middle of the bungee rope-roll.

It was featured in the 2009 WO (checked in the backup replays) and also in the 2009 Winter WO.

Chute Shopper

Download (.wsc) · View scheme settings
Map
Specially designed map (example)

A variant without ninja rope, and with maps designed for parachuting around. Players must attack from parachute.

Drive-by Shopper

Map
Specially designed map (examples: [1], [2], [3], and [4]) Examples at the WMDB

Created by sfNOrds (source) and played on maps designed with a circuit, including Wascar maps (though sometimes they need to be modified to make all crates reachable). Many drive-by maps also have a Fly Shopper-style opening at the top. This variation makes use of an additional rule:

• Lap the map - Players must make a lap around the map before attacking.

Loser Shopper

Played on any regular Shopper map where it's impossible to drown, players must attack their own worms. The first to kill all their own worms wins the game.

Similar ideas

After Loser Shopper, a scheme with the same concept of suiciding your worms was created: Abnormal. But, the gameplay is very different, since abnormal is derived from Intermediate.

Tunnel Shopper

A blend of Rope Race and Shopper, with the Shopper scheme played on maps designed for Rope Race.

The author of this scheme is Evil Bunny according to this edit made in 2006 on Evil Bunny's page.

Crate Collector

Map
Randomly generated cavern map

This variant can only be played with Worms World Party, making use of that game's WormPot mode "Super Rope" and "Crates, crates and even more crates". This scheme has no rules at all (players don't need to say any rules to play). It is also known as Ropes and Crates or RnC in worms terminology, as it's written in the title of this tournament in WO 2011.

Variations

Modifications with relatively small detail changes to the scheme.

Moon Shopper

Download (.wsc) · View scheme settings

Played on regular Shopper maps, this variation makes use of an additional rule:

• Use Low Gravity every turn - Players must activate Low Gravity at the start of their turn.

The author of this scheme is Evil Bunny according to this edit made in 2006 on Evil Bunny's page.

Speed Shopper

Played with 10 or 15 second long turns.

Power Shopper

Played with weapons on higher-than-normal power settings, along with 15 second long turns.

History

WO icon

When Roper exploded in popularity on Worms 2, some players modified it and included every weapon that could be dropped from rope, or replaced the health crates with weapon crates. Similar modifications were not well received by ropers on Worms Armageddon, but it became known at the time as Rope Shopper to distinguish it from the original Team17 "Shopper" scheme, which makes minimal use of the Ninja Rope. Unlike in the Worms 2 roping schemes, Shopper evolved to have its own distinct style of maps and include weapons which can't be dropped from rope, making for more varied gameplay.

Though it's unknown who created Shopper as we know it, it's clear that one of the most important contributors from the very start was Dogma. With the creation of a series of high-quality maps starting in late 2000, most famously his Shopping 2002 map (a colorized version of which can be found on the Worms Map Database here), he kickstarted Shopper's popularity and set the tone for the design and layout of Shopper maps for many years to come.

In the earlier days of Shopper, the scheme was commonly considered to be a game for newbies. The most popular roping schemes at the time were Roper and Proper, which required a lot more skill with the ninja rope than Shopper and did not rely on the luck of crates. Newbies would typically start practising their rope skills with the Shopper scheme, and then move to the more difficult rope schemes as their skills grew.

Around 2002, the attitude towards the scheme had started to change. Many who were considered to be elite Roper players had left the Worms community and took with them their strong dislike of Shopper. The Shopper scheme became more and more popular, passing Proper as the most popular scheme on WormNET.

In 2004, Star Worms created the Wall-X-Wall Shopper, a variation of the Shopper scheme which became very popular very quickly.

Competitive events

The scheme has featured consistently in competitions, featuring in every year of the Worm Olympics from when it started in 2006 to when it ended in 2016, and in cups and tournaments hosted on The Ultimate Site between 2010 and 2019.

See also

• WormNET Etiquette

External links

• Shopper on Nanacide
• Complete explanation of Shopper rules on The Ultimate Site of Worms Armageddon

References

	This article has a to-do list:
	add replays for the various variations add a line about the history of each variation