Interview With Top Fun Run Players: Millwall

Our first superplayer is Millwall from London, England, long-time Fun Run player and current champion of the Top 50 list with 987 000 points. His account has been active since January 2013, and Millwall’s current goal is to be the first player to reach a rating of 1 000 000.

How and when did you first start playing Fun Run?

My girlfriend at the time introduced me. She probably heard of it from university friends. My girlfriend was too easy to beat, and I’m very competitive so it wasn’t enough to play against her. So I started setting myself goals, like earning enough coins to buy the next animal or accessory. The final goal was to become number one in the world at the top of the leaderboards, which was 100,000 points at the time.

How many times per week and for how long do you play?

When I was trying to get on the top of the leaderboards I’d play for 6–8 hours a day, during lunch at work and any time I could spare. Nowadays it’s more like 2 hours a day, after work and dinner. I prefer to play at home, with a stable WiFi connection.

What’s your favorite avatar, and what are your favorite accessories in Fun Run?

I like the blue Bear with white shades and white sneakers because it’s basic, but I always tend to go back to the clops shoes. They are my favourites. I tend to avoid using trails because they make it easier for the players behind you to see what route you’re taking, and to see how close you are to throw a saw blade at you. If you play with the Golden Fox or Diamond Doe other players tend to target you more with the Sword. Some of the newer avatars, like the Lion are too bulky for my taste. I prefer smaller, they feel more nimble.

What’s your favorite map and why?

Jelly Cave! It’s short, it requires a lot of skill and if you can finish it in under 35 seconds, that’s a real good time.

You originally said you’d stop playing Fun Run when you reached 300 000 points. What made you come back?

You gave me the Golden Fox! I had to use it, and I had fun teasing other players with it. I also didn’t like seeing other players overtake me on the leaderboards, players I knew weren’t on my level but played a lot more games, so overtook me. It took about six months of hard playing to make it back to the top of the list, I added 90,000 points in one month to chase down Osubuckeyefever (one of the best players in the world.) Now I can relax and play more for fun than for competition. Fun Run is supposed to be fun!

Do you often get contacted by other Fun Run players, and what do they say?

All the time. A few Fun Run players talked to me on Twitter, but I am more active on Facebook. I like the community feel to the game and how other players smack talk each other. I’ve spoken to people all throughout the world from this game, from Iran, to the US, Saudi Arabia, China, Norway, Australia. They ask me how I got certain items in the game, or how I did things in a race. They often have screenshots or videos of Fun Run games I’ve played that they ask about. It’s just a game, I didn’t realise that people would look up to me. Other players often tell me that, and it’s quite humbling. I used to look up to the player who was number one in the world when I started playing, ols. They had the best win % I’d ever seen (at the time.)

What do you think is missing from Fun Run?

I’d like to see more game mechanics, something similar to the Minecart from Dino Dash (see picture) would be cool. That reminds me of playing Donkey Kong Country. A great game! Also more customization, like wearing glasses and and a hat at the same time would be nice. And more customization for different countries, like you already have the American hat and the Middle Eastern kufiya. Maybe a cup of tea for Britain? I think many players would appreciate a more customizable profile as well, like the ability to add your country’s flag and a little message next to your player stats.

Do you have any funny stories related to Fun Run that you’d like to share?

My girlfriend wanted to play on my account, but I didn’t want her to mess up my stats, so I put her in practice mode! I’d never let anyone use my Fun Run account to play online, I’m too competitive for that.

Other players would purposefully try to kill me in-game because they recognize my username, so I would change up the cases of the letters in my username to make it harder to recognize (you can do this when you login). I was also invited to Friend games just so other players could kill me, so I stopped accepting invites. It often gets boring when it’s 3 against 1!

And did you ever get the signed jersey you were promised for beating NFL american football player Arian Foster?

No! I never received the jersey, and he deleted me as a friend from Fun Run after I beat him 3–0. It was interesting being contacted by TMZ about Fun Run, and I never really cared about the jersey in the first place. It was nice to help Fun Run get some publicity!

MILLWALL’S TIPS

Hold on to your power-ups:

Don’t use your power-ups straight away. Hold them, let everyone else use theirs and then use yours. The best players will always be holding a power up, and use it just before they pick up the next and so on. This is the best way to win 1v1 games.

Set goals for yourself:

To always keep improving set yourself targets, like when the weekly leaderboard resets each week, see how many games you can win in a row to start the week. I’m currently at 31 wins. If you beat it, post a screenshot on the Fun Run Facebook wall!

Beware of suicide:

Aim to commit suicide as little as possible in the game. 1 suicide every 5 games (20 suicides every 100 games) is excellent, but very hard to achieve. I noticed the less times I killed myself, the higher my win % got.

Buried Treasure’s secret route:

In the map Buried Treasure, if you get a high jump power to start the game you can take the secret route at the top of the map. Just after the first power up use the high jump (hit both the jump and power up button together at the same time). You will find a much easier path with power ups to take the lead.

Placement of Boxes and Bear Traps:

Place traps and boxes just slightly before a power up or on it when in 1st. Also, place boxes and traps on top of small walls (for example the last wall in Candy Shop). This is near impossible to avoid unless you have extremely fast reactions. You can jump over a box on a wall with a double tap jump, but if the box is right on the edge, you won’t be able to avoid it unless you have a shield.

Effect of holding your power-ups and careful placement of boxes: You get a box, hold it. Don’t use it straight away, put it right before the next power up. If the power up is by a wall you can get two items from it: You jump, drop a second box and as you’re climbing the wall drop down for a third box. You now have three boxes on top of each other which will be near impossible to dodge.

Best of luck with your Fun Run game!

Millwall visited the Dirtybit offices back in February. Watch him play the developers here: