Low Scorer

Having trouble with what is most likely the last achievement in your list? Beggars can't be choosers!

0 Gold Meta

This is by a long way the hardest achievement in the game, so if you're having trouble beating the game, I'd advise you to stay out of this area. To get the achievement "Low Scorer", you must exit Olmec's lair (or King Yama's lair) without touching a single gem or piece of gold. This means that spending all your money at a shop or having a monkey steal from you won't count towards this achievement. Since you can never gain money to buy items, your only choice is to rob shops or simply go without.

Generally, you should be moving fairly swiftly through the levels, almost always taking a direct route to the exit door. Making detours and exploring the caves thoroughly is probably a bad idea, as it increases the chance of taking damage and worse, money. Gold lying on the floor can be whipped out of your way until you can pass it and more often than not, a few whips is all that's needed. Sometimes you might need to use a bomb to clear the way when you can't avoid a piece of gold, but beware of pieces blasted in your direction. You should always try to avoid using your supplies whenever possible, although there are times when doing so could be beneficial:

- When no other path is possible around gold obstacles or if you get stuck (it can happen).
- If you see a crate beyond a wall or out of reach; it's usually worth it.
- If you are particularly rich in supplies somehow, and you're making a safer path (You'll need at least 5 bombs for Olmec).

I'd advise leaving shopkeepers well enough alone. You can't buy from them and angering them will just make your game harder, especially when they leave gold lying everywhere when they die. Kali's altar however, is incredibly valuable if you get the chance to use one, as just one damsel is equal to a free item (compass, cape, climbing gloves, pitcher's mitt, spectacles, spike shoes, spring shoes or bomb paste) the first time you sacrifice one.

The Mines

Good patience is going to be what sets off a run nicely. Primarily you're after bombs, but we've got a whole run to look for that right? Remember to play it nice and safe as always, or you're going to be seeing a lot more of this area than you'd like...

There are only a few real dangers here. Arrow traps are particularly nasty as they can half your starting health with a little carelessness. If you're not familiar with arrow whipping meta, it's easier than you might think. The lead time on your whip is pretty quick but it lasts for quite a while. You can test this lead time by lining up rocks and whipping them all at once while running, to see how long the whip effect is in action. As a standard rule you should press your whip button just before you pass the trap to knock the arrow out of the way. Large spiders are also dangerous and drop money on death, so it's better to stay away, even if it means missing out on bomb paste. Be extra careful on My skin is crawling levels and be prepared to run far away.

If it's safe, it might be useful to pick up the Udjat Eye from the locked chest so you can see unwanted gold inside walls. That might come in handy later...

The Jungle

The Jungle is fairly survivable if you're careful around tiki traps, but there's a greater threat at work here. Hidden money. Some grass tiles might make it hard to see a piece of gold lying on the ground, and trees are even worse. One piece of gold is 100% invisible on this leafy menace and yes, the centre spot is a valid space and gold can spawn there! Just stand one space to the side and whip the centre to check it's safe.

Watch out for monkeys. They have a number of different outcomes if they catch you, the least troublesome being stealing gold. Most likely the worse outcome is a very long stun that leaves you wide open to all damage coming your way. If you are being grabbed by a monkey, you can use a rope to kill the offending primate, provided there is space above you for the rope to attach. When jumping across groups of vines where monkeys frequent, you can ALWAYS jump across safely if you hold up and sprinting in the direction you're moving.

Your dream come true is The dead are restless. You can pick up a shotgun with just one bomb from the ASH grave, and don't forget to look out for a vampire for the chance to use a cape on The Ice Caves.

The Ice Caves

The Ice Caves is a nasty area for spelunkers with very few supplies. Make use of your 'look down' ability by holding crouch, to be sure that you're going the right way towards the exit, so you don't put yourself in a position where you'd have to make a risky jump or use too many ropes trying to cross the chasms. If you are holding the compass, this shouldn't be a problem, and if you find a way to kill the King Yeti, you'll be rewarded with great Ice Caving equipment.

Snow partly covers gold on the floor; it never completely hides it, but you might want to keep an eye out. The Ice Caves is explosion city. Stay out of the way of UFOs as they can not only blast you to smithereens, but also send an unwanted Christmas bonus hurtling towards you. It's often worth waiting for the dust to settle before making your move.

Falling in the abyss is your worst enemy. If you are wearing the cape or your parachute triggers, you'll move much slower, but not slow enough for you to catch a rope that you throw up. Instead, quickly float under a solid block before throwing a rope and it will catch just below the block, allowing the whole length of the rope to drop down to your level. If you are carrying the climbing gloves, don't forget to make use of them in a time like this. As a side note, did you know that the Ice Caves is deep enough that it's possible to cling to the far left wall and float all the way over to the right wall under the level?

The Temple

You're getting close to the end. You're excited, I'm excited, but upon entering The Temple only one thing should be going through your mind. Get the hell away from Anubis. He spawns exclusively every 4-1, so you can breathe a mini sigh of relief once you get to your first temple exit. The Temple is just horrible to the core, but it's a manageable horror. Almost all the worst enemies only notice you when you're to the left or right of them, but not above them.

Hawk Men act the same as gunless shopkeepers except they forget you were ever there if you stun them. The Mummy's flies deal a stun as well as a whopping two damage. It's best to stay away unless you really must pass them. You can get them to walk into tiki traps, or you can pull off the tough stunt shown in the screenshot, although that's only as a last resort.

Crush blocks are both your worst enemy and your greatest tool, used right. They can crush enemies and gold alike, and can be a satisfying method of clearing your path.

The Temple is also the time to check your supplies for five bombs and three ropes. You're going to need them for Olmec. If you're coming up short, it's time to steal from shops!

Olmec

As the final challenge between you and victory, Olmec won't go down without a fight. Typically you will need just five bombs to make a hole big enough for our friend, so long as you start burrowing in the spot where he initially stomps. Don't worry if you don't bomb here, it just means that Olmec will have to stomp the last layer himself. If you found The Spectacles or The Udjat Eye, you'll be able to tell which rocks are dangerous to bomb. It might affect your choice of hole placement...
You're looking to place your bomb on the join between two blocks so that you blast a hole four blocks wide, just enough for Olmec. Now you just have to dig in the same way, making sure to make use of ropes to get out the way of the spray of gold from the walls. Coax Olmec over, and teeter on the edge of the cliff. The game will think you're in the next space and Olmec will stop and stomp there. Walk yourself over to the exit and claim your prize.

...I paid my Bedouin guide...

So time for a little confession. I don't have this achievement. It's the last one I need to complete the game. Perhaps this shows just how difficult Low Scorer really is. Shown above is the lowest score I've managed in a full run of Spelunky. $50,000 is given for beating the game. $350 is the value of one tiny nugget of gold on Olmec's Lair. That's right. I was that close. Over all the attempts I've had, I've built up a little mindset of tips and tricks to help me get through. This is what I've written in this guide, but it's clearly not enough.
So this is an open invitation to anyone with any extra knowledge that I've overlooked or forgotten, as well as any tricks of their own, to add their two cents in the comments section below. In addition, if you're looking for more advice, take a look below for other people's ideas.

Best of luck to all of you. The 0 gold run is just around the corner. I can taste it.

Edit - 21/10/2015 4pm:

Totally just got the achievement. I was completely stoked at the completion of it and I guess I followed my own advice here and it eventually worked. I was relatively lucky with the Olmec fight which I entered with 7 bombs and 5 ropes. There was gold in the wall on the way down but it was only small pieces and I could avoid it without too much trouble. Only problem now is that my favourite game is complete. Maybe I'll do streaks.

[samspot]

Nice guide! if you are looking for more things to do in Spelunky HD, MossRanking has waaaay harder achievements than this one.

[cheep crybabby hatter]

I got my low-scorer relatively recently. In fact, I got it at the same time as I got Speedlunky.

[Some Guy]

I got this achievement recently, and this guide was useful for getting it with a lot of great information in it, but I did do some things differently, showing the variety Spelunky allows. I think the best way for me to get through IS robbing the shopkeepers, as getting through with no money is a huge resource grind, and the black market gives you what you need to get through. A lot of it is remembering that you can whip treasure, and that most items can be picked up just before you touch money, so even if the items are against the wall you can get them. Also, you never really have to kill them; jumping on them can stun them long enough to sneak through, and bombs can blow up the floors in the temple if he dies by traps in front of the exit (this does use up a bit more resources, but that's why you rob them in the first place). In short, this guide is great and as a lot of tips and tricks in it, but if you're still struggling to get the achievement, then it might be worth trying this

[Crunch Wrap Supreme]

After reading this guide, I ended up getting low scorer myself. I have yet to finish the game through hell. Made it to King Yama once but somehow died to his goons. lol

[Lion Almighty]

I think the most useful equipment for Low Scorer is the combination of Mattock(guaranteed in the snake pit of 1-X), Jetpack(guaranteed in the crashed alien ship of 3-X) and Udjat Eye(guaranteed in 1-X). The Mattock is the most necessary one among all three.

[Lochlan]

i think that if you see a shop with a jetpack/multiple bomb boxes you should rob it because the bombs/jetpack will help alot when it comes to olmec (don't have the achievement but i have gotten VERY close multiple times)

[Neon Henchman]

When I fought Olmec, I made him crush the gold and jewels on the arena, so that they wouldn't get in my way. Takes a while, as I pretty much had to flatten the whole stage, but it worked well enough, I could take out the enemies it spawned from offscreen.

[Bomi]

i just got this achievement recently... That was so scary. In Olmec's Lair I decided to rope my way across the top to get to the door. Thing was, from the last rope beside the door, the ground was too low, so any treasure underneath me I couldn't see. I took a leap of faith and got knocked over to the right where there was no money, while an emerald sat directly to my left... I'm so lucky. T_T

[Redless]

I got this, and it's no walk in the park. The tech I used on the olmec fight is use ropes to go to the upper area and get a lot of bombs, THEN blow up a hole (I could afford to be very messy and drop bombs from the top of the hole instead of going down and placing them, as a result of having bombs form the upper area).