Kick the Buddy is a ragdoll-bashing arcade game from Happy Racing co-creator Chill Fleet. The goal is to use a variety of weapons and other objects, aka “Stuff,” to beat up a surprisingly optimistic and only temporarily killable doll. While …
Kick the Buddy is a ragdoll-bashing arcade game from Happy Racing co-creator Chill Fleet. The goal is to use a variety of weapons and other objects, aka “Stuff,” to beat up a surprisingly optimistic and only temporarily killable doll. While advertised more as a stress reliever than an actual game, Kick the Buddy does feature unlockables and achievements to work towards, as well as a pseudo-point system via the Bucks earned for clobbering Buddy.
The two currencies in Kick the Buddy are Bucks and Gold. Gold is a premium currency that can only be earned by purchasing it directly with real cash, or occasionally earning it as a log-in bonus. Bucks can be netted in both of these ways as well, but you can also collect it via simply playing the game—beating up Buddy.
Both currencies are used to purchase the “Stuff” used in your never-ending war on Buddy, although items cost either one or the other. You cannot buy Stuff that costs Gold with Bucks, and vice versa, so you’ll need both in order to kit out your arsenal.
The easiest way to earn free currency and Stuff is to simply open the game at least once a day. There is a new log-in reward every day you play, with large bundles of Bucks ranging from 350 to 1500 Bucks as the primary prize. If you log in for 15 days straight, you’ll earn at least 5,100 total Bucks this way.
There is a smaller amount of Gold available through these log-in rewards, as well as exclusive items that cannot be bought: weapons like the Torch, X-Ray, and Snail can only be collected via the daily reward. Even if you don’t plan on playing on a specific day, try to open the app long enough to snag these prizes.
Like any in-app currency, you can purchase Bucks and Gold directly for real money. To access the in-app shop, tap the Gold and Bucks icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. You can also pull on the red bookmark in the upper-left corner, tap Profile, and then select Bank (the Profile area is also where you can buy new clothes for Buddy or change his outfit, via the Wardrobe section).
Gold and Bucks start at $0.99 for 100 and 1,000, respectively, but there are quite a few items that cost much more than this individually. We recommend grinding a bit via the tactics below before opening your wallet.
Beating up Buddy will earn you a small amount of Bucks for the damage done. Some items are more efficient at harming Buddy and earning Bucks (and you won’t earn any Bucks for just hitting him with your fingers without an item).
Our favorite weapon for grinding Bucks is the F1 Grenade under the Explosives category: this item is unlocked at the beginning of the game, so you can use it right off the bat. Each time a grenade explodes on or near Buddy, you’ll earn four Bucks. It’s easiest to just repeatedly tap the screen to unleash a rapid volley of grenades on top of him, and then let the explosions throw him around the box. Between the first grenade you drop and the time he is KO’d, you should be able to earn at least 100 Bucks easily.
Once Buddy is KO’d, you’ll no longer receive Bucks for harming him. You need to wait a few seconds for him to automatically revive—his eyes change from X’s back to the normal buttons—before damaging him again. If you notice that you aren’t earning as many Bucks from a weapon as you previously were, try switching to a different item for a short period—until his next KO—and then swap back to the one you were using.
Quite a few items within the Stuff menu have a large, green “Free” sign in place of a price. Tapping on these will bring up a cost in Gold as well as an alternative way to earn the item. The types of alternatives include watching videos, inviting friends, or following Shelzy on Instagram.
For the latter two options, as long as you are connected to the internet you should be able to fulfill them fairly easily. You can simply tap the Instagram link given in-game to open the web page, even without being logged in to Instagram, and it will count as following—once you return to the app, the item will be unlocked.
If the requirement is to invite friends, tap the button and the contact options (email, messaging, etc.) will pop up. Choose email and email yourself. Do this three times to unlock the item.
The video requirements don’t have any special tricks, but they at least don’t have to be done in a single sitting. Kick the Buddy will track how many videos you’ve watched even if you quit the game. However, the video requirements are per item, not total, so if there are two items that require you to watch 100 videos, you’ll have to watch a total of 200 videos to unlock both.
The video requirements also seem somewhat arbitrary: for example, the Bio Weapon Acid Balloons can be earned by watching 100 videos or by paying 379 Gold outright. Meanwhile, another Bio Weapon—Prion A-51—can be earned after watching only five videos, despite costing 499 Gold. Because of this, we strongly recommend checking the Gold requirements and buying reasonably priced items directly before settling in for a massive video-viewing binge.
