Door 8 · Slingshot
Seagull Showdown: Day 8 of Sunburnt Santa
Gulls, terns, pelicans and a chip thief land on the jetty, and you have 60 seconds and endless water bombs to send them packing. It's a slingshot frenzy where the fast birds and the fly-pasts are worth the most.
How to play Seagull Showdown
- Drag back anywhere, aim, then let go. Water bombs never run out.
- Gulls, terns, pelicans and the chip thief land on the jetty for 60 seconds. Skittish ones flap a warning, then fly off. Fly-pasts never land but are worth the most.
- Soak them in a row for a combo. Two with one bomb, or one in mid-air, for a bonus.
Scoring
| What | Points |
|---|---|
| Silver gull (seagull) | 100 |
| Tern | 200 |
| Pelican | 250 |
| Chip thief | 300 |
A skittish bird is worth 1.5x and a fly-past 2x; a bird hit off its perch scores another 1.5x, and a second bird with the same water bomb 1.5x more. Soaks in a row multiply it all: x2 from 3, up to x5 from 12. A bomb that hits nothing, or a bird that leaves untouched, resets the combo.
Stars: the three targets
Stars don't lock anything; they show how you're going, and doors with at least one star count towards the bonus games.
Tips for three stars
- Three stars is 45,000, which takes a long combo. Every water bomb that hits nothing resets it, so fire only when you have a clean line; at x5 a plain seagull is worth 500.
- Pelicans are big and slow to leave, which makes them a safe target to keep a combo going. The chip thief only sits for about two seconds, so take it first.
- Skittish birds flap a warning just after they land, then bolt. Hit one on the way out and it counts as mid-air on top of the skittish bonus. In the last 10 seconds more birds arrive and the rare ones turn up more often.
The real story: the silver gull, Australia's chip thief
The bird Australians call a seagull is the silver gull, common right around the country and in New Zealand and New Caledonia too [1]. It's 40 to 45 centimetres of pure opportunism: it eats worms, fish, insects and crustaceans, but the Australian Museum notes it "readily" pesters people for scraps, raids unattended food and searches rubbish tips [1]. Easy access to human food has helped its numbers grow wherever there are lots of people [1]. Silver gulls usually breed from August to November in big colonies on offshore islands [1].
The pelicans on the jetty are just as keen on a free feed. The Australian pelican is 1.6 to 1.8 metres long with a 40 to 50 centimetre bill, and its bill and pouch can hold up to 13 litres [2]. It mostly eats fish but will take handouts and rob other birds of their catch [2].
A summer Christmas can mean fish and chips down at the pier. Keep the chips covered, don't feed the birds, and Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide while you're out there [3]. In the game the water bombs only give the birds a soaking: they shake off and fly away.
Read more: Christmas in Australia: the complete guide.
When it opens
Door 8 opens on day 8 of your own calendar (your Day 1 is the day you first play), and for everyone by 8 December. Play the door before it to open it. Once it's open you can replay it as often as you like, and after Christmas Eve all 24 doors stay open. How the calendar works.
Play now
Same kind of game: Bin Chicken Blitz, Cocky Chaos, Snag Toss.
Sources for the real story
- Silver Gull, Australian Museum
- Australian Pelican, Australian Museum
- Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide, Cancer Council Australia