Shopper

(Up to Schemes)

Shopper, also known as shoppa, is one of the oldest fan made schemes of Worms Armageddon, in which the goal is to use the ninja rope to collect a weapon crate and use those weapons to destroy the opponent.

History

Shopper was created around 1999 on Worms Armageddon. It was in that time known as rope shopping. Though it is unknown who was the original creator of shopper, it is clear that one of the most important contributers from the very start of shopper was the player Dogma. With the creation of his shopper map City shopper he set the tone for the design and layout of shopper maps for many years to come.

In the earlier days of shopper it was commonly considered to be a game for newbies. The most popular scheme in that time was roper and proper, which required a lot more rope skill then shopper. It was common that most newbies would start practising their rope skills on shopper maps, moving to the more difficult rope games once their skills had grown.

Around 2002, the attitude towards the scheme has started changing. Many who were considered to be elite roper players had left Worms and with it the strong dislike towards shopper. The shopper game grew more and more in popularity, passing proper as the most popular game on the way.

In 2004, a new variation of shopper hit the community like a bomb. Star Worms came out with his idea for the Wall-X-wall shopper. This idea caught the attention of the community and soon became as popular as the shopper scheme itself.

The rules

Shopper uses a set of rules commonly known as the PACK rules. Where PACK stands for;

• Pile (In order to hurt the player who is last with a weapon in your inventory, damage must be spread to at least 1 other team. generally the PILE rule is combined with ABL these days.)
• ABL (Injuring any team with a weapon in your inventory. Do NOT injure the last team.)
• CBA (Collect a Crate at the start of each turn Before Attacking with a weapon from your inventory)
• KTC (Kill The Cow or person who is breaking the games rules.)

• KTL (Injuring the 'leader' with a weapon in your inventory. Damage can be spread amongst other teams as well.)

Around 2000, a new rule which originated from the roper scheme made its entrance into shopper: the combination of AFR and the PACK rules then became known as the proPACK rules. Around 2003, the AFR rule got so integrated into shopper, that the difference between PACK and proPACK was forgotten and AFR became a standard shopper rule.

• AFR Attacking from the rope when it is possible with the chosen weapon.

As well as the rule mentioned in PACK, shopper had a few less formal/agreed upon rules:

• No girders.
• No nukes.
• No permanent blocking (e.g. using arrows).

The maps

Shopper maps on WMDB

Shopper maps on Blame the Pixel

Variations

Of all the schemes known in Worms, Shopper probably has the most variations. Because of its extensive popularity, many people came up with their own variations to the shopper scheme, some better known then others:

• Wall-X-wall shopper (The player has to touch a number of specified walls.)
• Fly shopper (The player has to fly across a pillar in the middle of the map.)
• Chamber shopper (The map is divided into chambers, often with open tops and separated by a number of vertical pillars. The fly before attack rule may apply.)
• Drive-by shopper (The player has to make a lap around the map.)
• Pod shopper (The map consists of 2 or more separated pods.)
• Crate collector (A WWP game with a cavern map, super rope and crate mode on.)
• Moon shopper (Low gravity shopper.)
• Tunnel shopper (A mix of Rope race and shopper.)
• Speed shopper (A 10 or 15 second shopper.)
• Power shopper (A shopper with high power weapons and 15 seconds turns.)
• Surf shoppa (The player must skim their worm across the water onto an island to gain attacks.)
• Chute shopper (Shopper without ninja rope, and a map designed for parachuting around. Players must attack from parachute.)
• Bungee shopper (Shopper with bungee instead of ninja rope, and a map designed for bungeeing around. Players must attack from bungee.)
• Loser shopper (Shopper played on any map where you can't drown. First to kill all their own worms is the winner.)