ESPNU College Town Walkthrough

ESPNU College Town: Game Introduction

ESPNU College Townis simulation game developed by Playdom and played on Facebook where you can build an amazing University! Build Living quarters for your Students, Academic Buildings, fun places for students to hang out and Venues to hold exciting events for your Students. Your sports teams can compete against your Friend’s Teams in a variety of sports and you can affiliate your school with some of the best in the Country. Gamezebo’sESPNU College Townstrategy guide and walkthrough will provide you with a quick start guide, tips and tricks, hints and cheats on how to do your best at building your dream Campus.

Quick Start Guide

Getting Started

• You must have a current Facebook account to play ESPNU College Town. If you do not have one you can register for free here http://www.facebook.com
• You can find a link to the game at the top of this page or you can visit the ESPNU College Town Facebook page shown in image above at http://www.facebook.com/ESPNUCollegetown/ This is an awesome page to bookmark as you can connect with other players and see weekly specials, bonuses and game upgrades.
• Once you reach the game you will be asked to register your email address, bookmark, and “Like” the ESPNU Facebook Page. Once you complete these tasks you will see a progress bar along the top of the screen. Once it is filled it should go away the next time you log into the game and you should have a bookmark in your Facebook game area.
• NOTE – You will earn free items for completing the tasks on the progress bar along the top of the page. Example – You will be gifted a free post office for giving the email address. You can find these gifts in your gift inventory area at the upper right of the game screen. Click on the icon of the man holding a gift to access it.
• Next you will be prompted to choose your School’s name and colors.
• You can choose a school to affiliate with from a pull down list. There is a huge choice of Universities to choose from. If you choose University of Michigan for example, you will have their team logo and team colors. You can change your affiliation at any time or just leave it undecided and make your own colors and name.
• Once you have made your choices hit “Continue”
• ESPNU College Town has many fun things to do but the main task when you begin is to name your team choose its colors and logo, go through the tutorial and invite friends to join as you will need a specific number of friends to purchase certain structures and upgrades

Game Screen Elements

• Here you will see the the game screen and its elements described in detail below.
• A. Level/Cash Indicators – Here you will see what level you are currently on and under the number is a progress meter that fills as you earn XP (Experience points for various actions in the game including purchases, adding students, and leveling up.) NOTE – You can place your cursor on this indicator and it will tell you how many more XP you will need to earn to reach the next level.
• B. Campus Controls – Here you can click to change your University’s name, Colors or Logo. You can choose which schools to affiliate with and see the statistics of your University such as number of students enrolled, alumni, and more. The smiley face icon changes if your students are unhappy. Place your cursor over this icon to see what needs to be done if your students are not happy. Usually adding entertainment buildings or starting a venue will increase happiness. You may also need to add additional living spaces to increase happiness.
• C. Game Controls – Clicking on the top button causes it to expand as shown in the image above. When expanded reading left to right you can toggle image quality, game sound, and game music on and off. The remaining buttons from top to bottom will let you play in full screen mode, zoom in and out and take images of your University which will be posted on your Facebook Profile and News feed and will be added to a special Album just for ESPNU College Town pictures.
• D. Campus Information – Click on the icon of the man in the cap and gown to find out specifics about your University such as number of students enrolled, the Spirit level you are currently at, and how many students are need to open another venue.
• E. Daily Newsletter – Click here to see the Daily newsletter. This paper will tell you about any new game additions and you can purchase special buildings that are only offered for a limited time or until they are sold out.
• F. Gift Inventory – Whenever you are awarded a gift from Playdom for an accomplishment, or from a Neighbor you will be notified and if you accept the gifts will be found here. Click on the icon to open the menu.

• G. Students ready to move in Indicators – When you see this icon over a building be sure to click on it right away as this moves more students into the building and earns you XP each time you click on it. More expensive buildings allow more students that can live there
• H. Venu Locations – These are 2 of many different venue areas you can purchase. Once you purchase a venue area click on it and then a menu will appear.
• I. Build Menu – Clicking here will expand the build menu and open several categories from which you can purchase academic buildings, residences, venues, entertainment, expansions of the land and more.
• J. Competitions Menu – Here is the Menu that allows you to choose a sport and challenge your Neighbors or other Players for XP and coin rewards. You can purchase players for your teams to make them stronger and more likely to win when you are challenged. The menu will expand with a row of categories to choose from. Mouse over these with your cursor to see what they are.
• K. Friends Menu – Click on the Female Icon to expand the friends menu. Here you will see which friends have accepted your invitations as they should be listed side by side in order of score. To visit a Neighbor simply click on their Icon. You can visit your Neighbor anytime but once every 24 hours you can visit to earn cash and XP bonuses and send free gifts daily. Hopefully your friends can send you a free item each day.
• TIP – Be sure to send out the free gifts so your friends will send one back to you. These gifts will earn you money and XP when placed on your campus. This will also save you money from having to buy decor which you should not purchase until you are well established in your game.

Basic Game Play/Building up your Campus

• The goal of ESPNU College Town is to build the biggest and most lucrative University possible and the majority of the game depends on your purchasing items to build up your population and to keep that population happy.
• You begin the game with 100,000 Campus Coins and 10 Campus Cash to get you started.
• Campus Coins – Coins are the games main currency and is earned by collecting money from venues and entertainment buildings you place on campus.
• Campus Cash – Is a secondary currency which allows you to purchase higher end items which earn more XP and Coins when you collect from them. You can purchase additional Campus Cash and coins by clicking on the tab next to the indicator. Campus Cash can purchase very attractive buildings with clever animations and sometimes placing these buildings add new cars and people that will walk or drive around campus.

Purchasing and Placing Buildings/Decor Items

• To purchase a building click on the ” Build” icon which is the first of the 3 tabs at the bottom left of the game screen.
• A menu will come up with several tabs . Click on the type of building you wish to purchase.
• Now the building or Decor item will be stuck to the end of your cursor.
• Your campus will now be open and you will see a grid in the land.
• When you go to place your building or decor item note the color. If you see it turning red the item can not be placed there. If it turns green you are free to click on that spot and the building or decor item will lock into place.
• Once it locks into place the cost will be deducted from your cash total.
• NOTE – If you have an item picked out but have not placed it and change your mind simply click somewhere off to the side of the game screen to cancel the purchase.

Types of Buildings to place on your Campus

• Residential Buildings – Placing Residential buildings such as dorms and apartments allow students to move in at various intervals. Once you place a residential structure each one has a certain amount of time that needs to pass before a few students move in.
• Once you see the icon above the building click on it to let the students move in and you will also earn XP each time which helps you to level up faster.
• The more frequently you are in the game to let students move in the higher the student population will get which means you have a larger number of people to keep happy.
• Note that more expensive and larger buildings allow larger groups of people to move in at intervals. Note this time and number when purchasing Residential buildings.
• Venues and Entertainment Buildings – These are the buildings that increase the happiness of your students on campus. You will need to keep an eye on the smiley face at the top right corner of the game screen to see if your students are happy. If not add more entertainment buildings and venues and keep clicking on them to keep them active.
• Entertainment buildings would include restaurants, movie theaters, Grocery stores or anything to help students meet daily needs.
• Venues are areas where special activities can be hosted. You can purchase a football field and use it for a homecoming dance, marching band performance or an outside movie. There is an entire venue section in the build menu but you are only allowed to have so many per population. If it tells you that you can’t purchase a venue work on increasing your population and it will let you purchase a venue location.
• To start an activity simply click on the structure and then click on “Start Event” A menu will appear with several things to choose from for different costs. When the venue is successful and you click on it when finished you will earn a cash bonus and XP points.
• When you start the game the venues are fairly short so make sure you can come back and click on them frequently.
• You will also need to clean the venues after they are complete and will have to pay a small fee each time this is done.
• Population and Venues and Entertainment buildings are closely related so try to keep a healthy balance of the two on your campus so everyone is happy.
• Academic Buildings – These are the buildings where your students attend classes and are responsible for the amount of School Spirit your Campus has. Each building earns you a certain amount of school spirit over time and when you see the icon over the building click on it to collect the the school spirit and XP. Mouse over the building to see how much school spirit it adds each time you click on it. You will need to add more academic buildings as your population increases to keep the spirit level high.
• You will start out with art, math, and journalism buildings but as you level up more advanced subjects will become available such as medicine and law which will earn you much higher amounts of school spirit.
• Periodically an academic building will need to be cleaned and you will see the mop icon over it. Click on it and pay a small fee to clean the building. It will be out of commission until you clean it.

Expanding your University

• As you fill up your land with buildings you will find the need to expand. When this happens go into the build menu and click on the “Campus Limits” button.
• Here you will see your options for expansion. You can use either campus coins or campus cash to purchase the expansion and there are also neighbor requirements for some expansions.
• Once you reach level 20 in the game you will be allowed to purchase additional districts. Each district has a different requirement to purchase it so once you reach level 20 you will be able to read about these requirements and make your plans to purchase them.
• At this point your University will be well established and making lots of money and XP for you with happy Students

Sports Competitions

• There are two types of competitions you can participate in with your neighbors which can earn each of you extra money and XP to reinvest into your Universities.
• To access the Competition area go to the bottom of the game screen and click on “Competitions” which is the button right next to the “Build” icon.

Gameday Challenge

• In a Game Day Challenge you will choose a sport from the pull down list as shown in the image above. (At first you are only allowed football and basketball but more will be on this list as you level up.) This is an instant challenge and does not require permission from your Neighbor to participate.
• You are given 3 Gameday Instant Challenges per 24 hours.
• Note the tabs along the top of the competition menu. Be sure to visit each one so that you can purchase or recruit players, study your statistics and make sure you have your strongest players in place for the challenge.
• You have the option to recruit from the team you already have or to purchase additional players to add to your teams.
• Next you will choose someone in your friend list or list of other players to compete against.
• To win a game day challenge you will need to have an overall higher amount of strength, speed, endurance, and or leadership.
• Your Spirit level also factors into the challenge so having more academic buildings raising your spirit score can help you win Game Day challenges.
• Whichever player has the overall highest total of these attributes will win the challenge.
• You will see your score and your opponent’s score in each category flash across the screen and then the results of the challenge will be seen in a screen such as the image above. Click continue to see a more detailed breakdown of the challenge if you wish.
• You have the option to post a win on your Facebook Profile if you choose.

Rival Challenge

• In the Rival Challenge you must send a challenge invitation to your Neighbor after choosing which sport and Starters will be in the challenge.
• The challenge invitation is good for 24 hours and if your Neighbor does not accept they will forfeit the challenge and you will win.
• If they accept the challenge it works basically the same as the Game Day Challenge and players are matched up based on strength, speed, endurance, leadership, number of athletes and total amount of spirit.
• You will be notified of the results of the challenge via a message when you enter the game and it may be posted on your Facebook profile page.

Visiting Your Neighbors

• To visit your Neighbors click on the third tab with the female picture on it at the bottom of the screen.
• The neighbor menu will open showing your Neighbors in order of level and score.
• Note the “!” in the corner of their icon in the Neighbor menu means you have not visited that neighbor in this 24 hour period. Once you visit them the “!” will disappear.
• To visit click on the Neighbor’s icon and you will be taken to their University.
• There will be a message there asking you to help them with some kind of crisis.
• Click on “Help” and you will be rewarded with a cash bonus that varies from 200 to 500 Coins.
• You can also click on “Share” and your Neighbor will get this cash reward as well.
• You can only visit a Neighbor once every 24 hours for a cash bonus

Congratulations!

• You have completed the basic game play quick start guide for ESPNU College Town by Playdom Games at Facebook. Be sure to check back often for game updates, Staff and user reviews, user tips, forum comments and much more here at Gamezebo!

Kellie Cardwell-Winters