How to Get the Gnome Achievement

I have to admit, this was by far the most rewarding achievement I have ever gotten... but I think it was also one of the most frustrating?

1. Shooting Gallery

First things first, you have to get 750 points at this shooting gallery.

There will be a red button to push on the edge of the shooting gallery, it will start a timer for 30 seconds.

Makes sure the other players are around in case some zombies show up.

Skeletons: 10 points

Mustachio: 100 points

Peanut: -100 points

Note the minus symbol in front of the 100 for the peanut character. This is not a typo. Don't shoot the Peanut Character! Hitting the peanut takes away 100 points.

2. Grab the gnome.

You can use Chompski as a weapon... kinda. I have found it takes three hits to a zombie with Chompski in your hands. So if there is only one zombie you're okay... otherwise you can only really use him to push the zombies out of your way until you get to the next safe house.

Also, if you throw Chompski at a zombie, it actually just goes through the zombie.

3. Leaving Chompski Behind

My biggest problem with this achievement is losing Chompski after frantically throwing him in order to shoot zombies. Later I learned to just drop it down instead of throwing him. A couple of times when I threw him he must have been thrown into a building or some sort of unreachable place because I never did find him after that. It was sad to have to restart the game.

Fun Story: One time I dropped Chompski after being jumped on by a Jockey. Apparently, where I was at that time was an endless horde run because the zombies just kept coming… and coming. Since I am super stubborn and determined, I did find him in a pile of dead zombies eventually. But I almost died twice.

Long story short, Chompski gets a light blue line around him sometimes when you are looking for him. I think the curser needs to be over Chompski for this to happen, but don’t quote me on it.

4. The Drop Off

Leaving Chompski behind in the safe room ended up really helping me get this achievement and I recommend doing it. Unfortunately, you can’t do this the whole time because there are a few places I like to call 'points of no return.'

The 'points of no return’ are places where you need to be carrying Chompski with you as pass that point. That is, if you want the achievement. The first is this drop-off.

5. The Fence

The next ‘point of no return' is this fence.

This fence is located right before the roller coaster ride.

(Good luck with the roller coaster part, it's pretty frustrating).

6. Into the Sewers

Another ‘point of no return' is the hole into the sewers.

This hole is located right after the maintenance room in the tunnel of love.

Pro Tip: if you have one, throw a pipe bomb into the hole first. There are all kinds of zombies down there and you don't want a special to attack you when you have Chompski in your hands. Otherwise, you might lose him forever... or at least just have to restart from the last safe room.

7. Determination

It turns out you need to take Chompski with you all the way to the end of the campaign, not just the end of the one level. So I put a bit more on my plate than I was expecting when I first decided to get this achievement. Luckily, if you die in a later level, then you can simply start over from the begging in the safe room with Chompski again. Needless to say, I ended up dying on purpose a couple of times just to get Chompski back.

Fun Fact!: Gnome Chompski is named after Noam Chomsky.

You probably already knew this, but just in case you didn't ...

Noam Chomsky was a linguistic academic that made a huge impression in his philosophical theories. He seems to be best known by millennials for his debate with Foucault. Chomsky argued that "[people's] nature is heavily determined by biology," while Foucault said, "social structures determine human values."

He's in the intro photo for 'Dark Carnival!'

If you look between Ellis's feet you can see Gnome Chompski. It's something you don't see until someone points it out to, but once you see ... you can't unsee it.

Clown Nose Honking!

There is another achievement for Dark Carnival that is simply just hitting clowns with melee weapons. You will hear a honk is it's successful, but you can only honk one clown's nose once. So if you're trying to get this gnome achievement anyway, then you might as well honk a few noses while you are at it. I mean, why not. Right?

Can't get enough of Left 4 Dead 2? Check out this beginners guide. Who knows, you might even learn a new trick or two.

If you liked Left 4 Dead 2, then you will love these games.

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