Dr. Zany

Dr. Zany is a human character in Pocket Ants. He greets and guides the player upon the their first arrival into the game.

## General information

Dr. Zany is an entomologist who shows the player the basics of pocket ants and helps them get started. He will guide the player through the game teaching everything they need to know to start their amazing journey through pocket ants.

He only appears during the starter tutorial. After that, the only interaction with him is to battle his army.

## Starter tutorial

Main article: Starter Tutorial

Immediately upon starting the game (after entering a username), Dr. Zany will begin the starter tutorial. This tutorial is a set of information and tasks designed to get players started in the game and familiar with the most basic game functions.

Dr. Zany will teach the player how to build chambers, collect and store items in chambers, breed workers, breed soldiers, capture creatures, fuse creature, battle and so on. After Dr. Zany has taught the player everything they need to know to get started he will leave the player to continue on their journey through pocket ants on their own. The entire dialogue from the tutorial is available on the starter tutorial main page.

The starter tutorial is very basic and leaves many players with lots of questions. The FAQ has answers to most of these questions.

## Battling Dr. Zany

In the "Battle" menu there is an option to battle Dr. Zany. One battle token  is required to battle him, and the rewards for winning against him are:

* 10 fungus
* 10 leaves
* 10 seeds
* 3 body parts
* 1 pink pheromone

When battling Dr. Zany, resources are gotten as his units are defeated; but to win the battle and gain the pink pheromone, it's required to defeat all his units, including the queen ant (100% victory), unlike battles against other players where one can do this at 50%. Pheromones from Dr. Zany will always be pink. No trophies are ever gained or lost in these battles.

His army initially consists of only soldier and worker ants (25 total). Once the player has acquired a few creatures then three 1 star creatures will be added to his defense. There will be one creature on the surface, one in the hallway and one in the queen's chamber with a total of 35 soldier and worker ants. After the player has acquired more creatures then his army will add one additional 1 star creature to the surface, hallway and queen's chamber for a total of 6 creatures and 45 soldier and worker ants. His army never gets harder than this.

Battling Dr. Zany is good for beginners to train and does not trigger the game to allow other players to start attacking (*See Also: Defending*). This is a good way for early game players to build up an army without fear of losing resources to an attack.

These battles are also a good option for daily quests since they can be completed quickly and without the risk of losing many soldier ants.

Dr. Zany is not worth battling otherwise.

## Trivia

* Dr. Zany is the only human character in the game.
* Dr. Zany's age is probably over 45 years old according to Ariel Games.
* Dr. Zany had a different texture in the past.Dr. Zany old sprite.
* Dr. Zany is an entomologist specialized in ants, therefore he is a myrmecologist.
* The name "Zany" comes from Ariel Games’s nickname when he played Pokemon Go.
	+ Zany is an actual word that means "strange or unusual in a funny way".
* The name "Zany" is also present in a previous game to Pocket Ants: "**Zany** Pirates: The Caribbean".
	+ Pocket Ants was originally going to be called "Zany Ants" but Ariel Games changed it "because zany is not a word people would search for".
* *Dr. Zany probably listens to The Beetles!*

1. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/738416192255164446/771309272025137152/772149221213863986
2. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/738416192255164446/771309272025137152/843160758148792361
3. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/738416192255164446/771309272025137152/813097518585610260
4. ↑ https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/zany
5. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/738416192255164446/771309272025137152/813101341517152267