First perhaps I should explain my title, which may in fact seem rather odd to some people. Experiment_ex is an account I created a little while ago after being told by a Neopets user that making NP is harder that I think, that I'm very lucky to be so rich, and that I should give them a Halloween Paint Brush. I'm sure you can work the rest out. So armed with my brand new account that had not been tinkered with I set off to make NP quickly and easily. But what good would such exploits lead to if the whole of Neopia or at least a large portion of Neopia didn't know about it? None, so here's this article.

Aim
The aim of this experiment is to prove just how difficult it isn't to earn NP and just how little time it takes while exploring different techniques that you can use to make NP.

Hypothesis
I predict that it will take less than a week to make my target of 10,000 NP. I predict that it will take very little time each day to make this meagre amount of NP.

Method One
The first method used to achieve my goal of 10,000 NP was the shop. I reverted to the shop basically because that's where I feel that I made my fortune (almost 2,000,000 NP before I went and spent it all on stamps - what a waste). As you may or may not know it costs 150 NP to start a shop, a pleasant surprise as it cost me 100 more Neopoints when I started playing Neopets.

Step One
My first point of call as a technical newbie was to get my hands on something I could sell. My newbie pack, another charity that I did not receive, was perfect for this and went straight into my shop. Next I popped over to the Shopping Wizard and looked each item up and worked out what the maximum number of Neopoints that I could price each items at was and priced my items accordingly so that they would sell reasonably quickly and not be hanging around for weeks.

Step Two
After creating a shop, even though I quite obviously had 50 NP from creating my pet: experiment_why I needed more NP if I were ever going to start using my shop as an NP-making tool. So I played a few games to give my initial bank account a bit of boost and off I went.

Step Three
Now armed with more NP I paid another visit to the Shopping Wizard and used something that most newbies would not have and that's prior knowledge. I knew that items such as a Fire Jug, Nanka Bottle, Steam Jug, Stream of Light, Downpour Bottle, Starburst Bottle, Firestorm Bottle, Flamestrike Bottle and Zap Bottle could if I were patient enough be snapped up for 100-300 NP cheaper than the average selling price. So I scoured Neopia with the aid if the Shopping Wizard and bought as many items as my limited supply of Neopoints would allow me. These were then put in my shop and priced a bit below the lowest on the Shopping Wizard so that they would sell quickly.

**Note: the prices for these items have increased and they are not as good for this purpose any longer but I would still recommend the Fire Jug and Nanka Bottle and also Exploding, Icy and Sticky Snowballs.

**Also, it is possible to buy the above-mentioned items from the Magic Shop and make an even larger profit in some cases but compare the shop price and the Shopping Wizard prices to ensure that you will make a profit when you buy them on the next restock.

Step Four I collected my earning from selling my Newbie Pack and those initial items that I bought and headed off to repeat step, buying items priced cheaply and marking them up to a bit below the average selling price. Alternatively you could hang out in the Neopian Book Shop and buy up some books and then complete step three with the remaining NP. Books as a general rule sell quite well and a handsome profit can be made from them the only problem is that it is only profitable to buy them from the Book Shop and not through the Shopping Wizard.

Times Summary

Session one	20 minutes	1,250 NP
Session two	5 minutes	2,235 NP
Session three	17 minutes	5,793 NP
Session four	6 minutes	6,883 NP
Session five	15 minutes	9,599 NP
Session six	5 minutes	10,351 NP
Session seven	23 minutes	13,928 NP

Landmark NP Summary
1,000 NP - 5 minutes
2,000 NP - 25 minutes
5,000 NP - 34 minutes
10,000 NP - 38 minutes

Method Two
The second method I used to test how long it would take to make 10,000 NP was to simply play games. In the table below is the name of the game I played with how much NP I earned from it and how long it took me to earn that amount.

Discussion
The shop method does not take a lot of your time. You stock your shop, go away and then come back later to pick up your earnings. The projected earnings of your restock can be calculated by subtracting the price that you bought an item from the price you are selling an item. So theoretically as long as you Nanka Bottle that you bought for 150 NP sells for 500 NP you've earned yourself 350 NP the second you submit your shop prices. The games method takes quite a bit more time but once you've sent your score in you've earned those Neopoints and they are in your pocket and not just a prophesised profit sitting in your shop.

When you glance at the results running a shop looks like the more effective method to make Neopoints; it take much less time and effort. But this is quite deceptive, as the amount of Neopoints made using the shop method uses projected earnings and the time when you are logged off does not count as your time. So basically only the time you spend stocking the shop is time that you spend trying to earn Neopoints Games on the other hand once you've played them you've got the Neopoints sitting in your hot little hands and ready to spend.

The pros of the shop method are that you can theoretically make one thousand or so Neopoints in ten minutes, log off and come back later to collect the Neopoints But it's also bad because the Nanka Bottle market can change and your forecasted profit can disappear. The games method is good because you play the game and collect the Neopoints, there's no sitting around tapping your fingers, waiting for someone to buy an item.

Conclusion
To make a conclusion short and sweet shops are probably the better method if you haven't got a lot of time to spend on Neopets; they will allow you to spend more time pampering your pet. While games are good if your want some Neopoints and you want them now, but they will cost you more time.