By Brad Cook

It’s a fine day at Cleopatra’s Mini Golf Oasis. You line up your shot on the twelfth hole, nursing a two-under-par score. Shaped like an Egyptian ankh, the twelfth hole’s cup is at the opposite end, a pair of scarab beetles providing obstacles along the way. As if that wasn’t enough, a series of ramps run throughout the symbol; the arrows on them will accelerate the ball in a certain direction, which, of course, is always away from the hole.

You opt to open with a straight shot, one that will take you over just one of those ramps but through both beetles’ hiding spots. Ooh! The ball deflects off a barrier, bouncing into one of the ankh’s arms. Your next putt sends the ball around the loop at the top of the ankh, headed straight for the hole — whoops, one of the ramps rolls it back. You adjust your aim, apply a little more power this time, and bounce the ball off a wall and into the cup.

You settle for par, but you’ve learned a lesson for next time. And that’s the goal of Mini Golf: Each of its three courses features a series of 18 increasingly-difficult holes that offer a variety of physics lessons. Master them all and attain the ultimate prize: 54 holes-in-one.

The Best Things Come in Threes

Mini Golf features three courses, each with a different theme: Tommy Totem’s Tiki, Cleopatra’s Mini Golf Oasis, and Krazy Klown’s Sideshow Golf-N-Fun. Attain a par score in the first one to unlock Cleopatra’s course, and then do the same there to unlock the third one. Each course offers not only a unique visual style but also the sounds of that environment, such as a carnival barker and clown music in the background at Krazy Klown’s Sideshow.

The game keeps track of the total number of holes you’ve played, your total holes-in-one, and your best round in each course. You can return to any difficult holes and practice them any time you want. If you’d like to challenge a friend to a game of golf, you can do so through pass-and-play mode, in which you play a hole and then hand your iPod to the other player for her turn.

Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a very tricky thirteenth hole at Cleopatra’s Mini Golf Oasis to practice.

Tips and Tricks:

• Watch out for the ramps that display sets of double arrowheads. The ball will accelerate in the direction of the arrowheads when it touches a ramp, so it’s often in your best interests to put the ball just in reach of the ramp. Then let the ramp roll the ball toward its goal. Of course, if the arrows are pointing in the other direction, you’ll need to apply more power to get the ball up the ramp.
• Press the Select button after you putt the ball to fast-forward to its final resting place.
• Sometimes you’re better off setting up your next shot, rather than going for a hole-in-one, at least until you figure out the geometry of a hole. For example, one hole in the first course features a T-section halfway up from the starting position. You can try to putt past it and bounce around an obstacle, hoping you angle it correctly and send the ball down that T-section for a possible hole-in-one, or you can putt the ball to the opening of the T-section and then send it to the hole on your next shot.
• Press the Menu button while aiming, or during the power mode, to cancel the current action.

iPod Games FAQ

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Tricky Angle. Knock the ball into the windmill for a hole-in-one.

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• Site: Mini Golf
• Publisher: Apple Inc.
• Developer: Electronic Arts
• Genre: Sports

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