Serial Assassins - LIVE!

The Serial Assassins challenge is live. This is a "collectables" challenge much like Rendezvous at the Pentagon ... from two weeks ago. In fact, I still have some Air Force Uniforms in my unopened Free Gift list. Way to space things out!

Indeed, Serial Assassins goes live while Rumble in Russia is winding down over the next few days - so there are two challenges going on at once, just as the Pentagon Challenge overlapped with Rumble in Russia. Your home screen tells you there's plenty of busy work while we await Italy Regions 6, 7, and 8.

I hope the Holiday Traffic challenge starts TOMORROW so we can work on three things at once and totally clog up our Facebook pages with requests for Serial Assassin collectibles, Boss Fight Help, and whatever is next.

Serial Assassins will roll out three collectibles with three tiers each... oh you know the drill already ... (blah blah blah, Grand Prize = Gun Powdered Milk with 134A/105D stats). The collectibles and related rewards and stats are below:

Sadly, the Reward Point Quicksand pit is widening - with the option to waste more of you hard earned RPs buying your way into completing the Serial Assassins challenge. Be patient and collect the items by sending them to your Mafia and using the tips below.

The first collectible, the Dead Bee can be sent to your Mafia as a Free Gift.

You're going to need collect more of these than in previous "collection" challenges: 4 for Bronze Mastery, 8 for Silver Mastery, and 16 for Gold Mastery. 32 of each.

The reward associated with the Dead Bee is Bee Sharp (he is the Assassin, and the Dead Bee is his "calling card" - see below). Each assassin is an Armor piece.

With 8 more Dead Bees, you'll get the Silver Level Bee Sharp...

16 more, and you'll have the Gold level Bee Sharp - and be sick of Dead Bees.

Anyway... you need to get more Dead Bees (and the two other items) than in past challenges. To assist you, Mafia Wars offers another way to get the Serial Assassins items: Calling Cards. Each of the three assassins has a calling card - Bee Sharp leaves behind Dead Bees, etc.

You can find these as you go and post them for your Mafia to accept - and when you get a Calling Card from the Facebook board (they go fast!), you'll receive an additional Dead Bee or whatever item you're working on.

The second calling card, released Friday night/Saturday morning, is the Golden Tiger.

The assassin here is Tony Tigress:

The final Calling Card, released on Sunday night/Monday morning, is the Dried Clover:

The Serial Assassin leaving these is known simply as... Unlucky... as in, you'd be unlucky to meet him and have a dried clover left next to your body when he's done with you.

Once you obtain the 28 Dried Clovers needed for Unlucky - Gold level, you also get the Grand Prize: the Gun Powdered Milk (134A/105D) - a very nice addition to your arsenal.

And then you can brag to your Mafia...

Best yet - you can replay the event and get another round of Bee Sharp, Toni Tigress, and Unlucky - and presumably the Grand Prize. Hope you've been saving up your extra calling cards!

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Many readers are reporting that the Double Free Gift Trick is not working. I am sorry to hear that. Many people on the Mafia Wars Forum are reporting the problem too. It's still working for me - I use Google Chrome, if the browser makes any difference.

This Dead Bee (and numerous Golden Tigers and Dead Clovers) came right from the Facebook/Applications/Games list after I collected a the same Calling Card from the same person in my Mafia Wars Free Gift Envelope minutes earlier:

Another way to collect the Dead Bees and Golden Tigers is to look out for these increasingly-common posts from your Mafia members. These links work... but you can only choose ONE item.

This is done through a helpful (but unsanctioned) Mafia Wars "helper" program called Link-a-Nator. From the Comments sections, I can tell many readers are familiar with this application, but I will explain it in detail in a future series on this blog highlighting 5 Mafia Wars "tools" that will speed up your game.

Marble Slabs have been removed from the Free Gift window to make room for the Dead Bees - and once the other two collectibles go live over the next few days, Italian Hardwood will likely be removed again.

Remember - whether Mafia Wars makes them available or not, all 4 basic Italy upgrade parts - Marble Slabs & Italian Hardwood and Terracotta Tiles & Stone Columns - are ALWAYS available to you by clicking on the links in this sentence and following the instructions and links in those posts.

There's another new item in the Free Gifts window now, next to the Dead Bee:

Wow - free Game Cards! I mean, they must be free, right? They're in the Free Gifts window, after all.

Yet when you click on the Game Cards gift -- which is already preventing us from readily sending a needed upgrade part - you are redirected to Zynga's website -- with options that are decidedly NOT free:

As if Zynga doesn't already take up enough room in Mafia Wars trying to get us to buy Reward Points and Limited Edition items... and tricking you into spending RPs with boxes that pop up out of nowhere on top of a "Do Job" button so you click it before you see it... but this is the FINAL STRAW now that Zynga has resorted to the lowest of low tactics... the dreaded Free Gift bait 'n' switch... I need a Xanax.

Some people complain that these "collectibles" challenges require no skill other than begging for Free Gifts. I'm not sure that pressing "Fight" or "Do Job" requires much skill either. Think of this challenge as one that tests your tenacity, and is easier to accomplish with a larger Mafia. Plus, the 4 rewards will be in your top 501 for a long time - and that's nothing to complain about.

Happy collecting!