I'm beginning to think I'm not cut out for Spelunky. 241 deaths later, I've reached the ice caves twice. I think I just try and go too fast. I should really slow down and think before I leap, but my impatience has lead to most of my deaths. What about you guys?

It was around 1390 deaths before I beat the game start to finish for the first time. Now I'm at around 1450 and have beat it 5 times. The Jungle is the hardest area in my opinion but I've only reached hell once.

Where can you see your death count?I have clocked 20h. I've reached the temple once (4th level).

I'm mostly trying to open up the 2nd shortcut at this point. Need to bring a shotgun to the shortcut guy after level 2-4. I've been trying for hours. I want to find a shop at 2-4 where I can just knock out the shopkeeper and run for the exit with his shotgun.

Each times you die it gives you a little stats screen that includes a total deaths counter. I've died 222 times and have reached the caves a total of one time(s)! Still got hope though, it took me a solid 12 hours to beat The Binding of Isaac for the first time and I figure I'm still below that so far.

I'm at 440 deaths. I just did a run to check. Had the shotgun in hand at the end of 2-4 to open the shortcut, but the shopkeeper killed me. So close.

Holy crap I did it! After 396 deaths, I beat Olmec. The 10 or so hours I've spent playing Spelunky this weekend payed off.

Now I'm going to take a break, and go after Hell some other day.

You're better off waiting for a zombie level and searching for the tombstone that says Ash instead of RIP. It always appears in that level and always has a shotgun underneath.

@mosespippy: Oh sweet. Thanks for the tip. I just got my lucky run. Bought the shotgun from a vendor at 2-3, and managed to unlock the shortcut to level 3. Getting items and a cape for the caves is probably ideal, but let's see how starting at level 3 works out.

I think my friends and I have went on somewhere between 4 and 5000 runs of Spelunky on various accounts. I've beaten Hell 3 times, my brother 5 and one friend probably has 10 Hell completions just to assert his spelunking dominance over us.

I distinctly recall that i beat the game for the first time (using shortcuts) on my 501st attempt.

Hell took a lot, lot more. 2K?

Current total deathcount: 3,083

I would guess though that at least 500 deaths from the 500-3000 range are ones where i took a few hits super early in the mines and committed suicide.

Zero

I maintain a perfect zero death's in Spelunky. This I attribute to my winning strategy of not playing Spelunky, I'm fairly certain this grade of high level play is what keeps me at the top of the world Spelunky ladder.

500+, haven't played in a few months but it was my go to play something while I'm listening to bombast, watching tv show, etc.

Almost 300, but I havent been playing very long. Reached world 4 twice. The ice cave is the easiest world (especially with a jetpack and shotgun). Havent played much of the temple yet, so I have to say the jungle is the hardest main world (so far); most of my deaths happen there. I've only played the worm level once, but that's (probably) the actual hardest world Ive played in the entire game. Didnt last 30 seconds on my first try, and I was taking it slow.

Also, I dont understand why anyone would use shortcuts; it seems like it would make the game so much harder starting from a later level with nothing. You might as well be banging your head against a brick wall if you start from the jungle or the caves with nothing. Building your character up in the mines seems crucial (to me, at least).

I just clocked my 81st death. Just bought the game during the Steam Holiday Sale. I consider it a good run if I make it to the jungle without dying within the first 10 seconds I am in the jungle.

Hit 1,100 deaths this morning. Got 8 completions, and been to Hell 4 times. Got to Yama twice and each time died when his head detaches from his body.

I really think I should have finished it more often than 8 times, but I always get caught up will Hell path stuff/run everywhere.

73 deaths, but I'm definitely getting better. I'm going about things with a cooler head, acting on what I've learned instead of impulse, and after 5 hours of gameplay, I've reached the second jungle level.

Oh man, I made it to olmec tonight for the first time, but died... All I had was a cape and a boomarang, and thats good for shit against him and what he throws at you.... Jetpack seems like a must if you want to fight him on an even playing field.

EDIT: I just made it to the temple with a jetpack, shotgun, kapala, the ankh, the compass, and a good amount of hearts... Died on 4-2... It was a bad seed man...

If I'm including my time playing the 360 version, I would have to say about around 1500. Granted, I've done the 500k achievement, beaten hell a few times, and filled out the journal.

So far:

• Played - 905
• Died - 900

I retired after beating Olmec, 44 plays and 43 deaths. To be fair I played the PC original a whole lot.

None yet(I have only installed it thus far).

Somewhere around the 70-80 mark. Haven't played for months. I enjoyed Spelunky and think it's a good game, it just seemed to fail to keep my intrest, which is rare for me. I do intent to come back to it very soon, however, especially with the feature Patrick is currently doing.

I could make it to the ice caves quite reliably, made it to the temple a fair few times, too. Got hung up on the tunnel man needing a shotgun for the shortcut though.

I started on the Vita a few weeks ago and have about 230 deaths. I made it to Olmec a few times but haven't beaten him yet. Also have been doing the Daily Challenges, which is a neat addition to the game. The game is much more addicting than I thought it would be.

Beat Olmec at about 200 or so deaths. Left it there, because of other games, but have started again because of Patrick's streams.

Since then I made it to Yama three times, of course also dying three times. I'm at 450 deaths now.

The first time I made it to Yama I beat him, but then was knocked into lava before I could exit the room. :) That was a little disheartening...

I've died 113 times. Only got into the game in the past week. Best I've gotten to is late in the ice caves. I agree that the jungle is the hardest -- those f*&%ing tiki traps get me so often. I've been to the worm once but died really quickly. It's so hard!! Last run I finally made it to the mothership with a jetpack and shotgun and the kapala and I got knocked out by the damn psychic attacks. Maybe I just should have gone to the temple...

I think I had around 150 on the XBL version with an appearance in the ice caves maybe 3 times. Recently I switched to the PS3 version and at an even 100 deaths I have gotten shortcuts to both the jungle and ice caves, gotten to the temple many times and successfully robbed the black market a handful of times (love that ankh). What a difference the D-pad on the Dualshock made in my spelunky play versus the D-pad on the 360 controller.

Wow, I thought I was addicted to Spelunky, but my 200 deaths is nothing compared to you guys.

And I got Spelunky at 360 launch.

BTW, I've beaten Olmec multiple times, but I'm only credited with one win because the other times were in multiplayer. And I've been to Hell once (5-3). I decided to ditch my jetpacks for demon wings.... I couldn't help it. They looked so cool, but man..... A double jump plus glide is super weird in Spelunky. lol

167 deaths, 1 almost win. I was so close...

260+ deaths on Vita/PS3. I've never made it out of the jungle. :(

I beat him with a cape instead of jetpack, but I also had tons of ropes and a pair of climbing gloves. Jetpack isn't essential, but I do agree it'd make things easier.

According to the game, 121 deaths and 122 plays. Killed Olmec on the first try. My only experiences with the game prior was the QL on Giant Bomb and then the Spelunkin' with Scoops feature. Probably should've beaten it more than once by now but there was probably a handful of times where I was super set up for success (ton of bombs, cape/jetpack, shotgun, etc) but then got greedy/did something stupid and got myself killed.

Edit: I should mention that I beat it Ironman-style. I've given Tunnelman what he wants most times (I probably ignored his pleas for a shotgun like a dozen times before finally giving it to him on my game-beating run) but never even bothered to use them for some reason...

I've died about 300+ times total (something happened and my save got completely wiped at around 150 deaths, and I have another 150 deaths on top of that now). I beat Olmec around the 190-200 mark, and even though I've had multiple attempts, I've yet to reach the City of Gold or Hell yet. I don't bother with shortcuts, but the Tunnel Man challenges are a fun distraction. Still trying to lug the key to the end of the Ice Caves.

I currently have about 640ish deaths. 1 from old age.

I beat the game starting from 1-1 somewhere around my 530th death, I think. It was the 4th or 5th time I faced Olmec, all but 1 of which I'd started from 1-1. After that I have been attempting hell runs, and went from consistently making it to the jungle and ice caves to dying a lot in the mines again.

I got so close to hell once... Died fighting Olmec due to my own stupidity.

Just got it a week ago I'm unto 67 deaths and I've made it to Jungle second level.

@pyromagnestir: Yep, this is the same cycle I ended up in once I finally beat Olmec. I ended up making tons of stupid and careless mistakes in the Mines and Jungle and it took me a bit to start consistently getting back to the Ice Cave and Temple. I think beating Olmec, or even just getting really far and having your best run ever, instills a lot of confidence that you end up going overboard with and start getting careless all over again.

@sunbrozak: When I played the freeware version of Spelunky, I died almost 1000 times and never beat it, only reached the temple a dozen times or so. It takes a lot, duder. Don't give up!

It's also that I was flying through the mines when I was just trying to beat Olmec, sometimes not even bothering with the udjet eye and the black market, but hell runs means trying to collect as much gold and the chest and all that stuff as possible and has led to me fucking up a lot more in the mines.

Some of that is being careless, but that carelessness is a result of breaking one of my own tenets of Spelunky, don't try to do too much, and I end up paying the price I deserve.

Started playing a lot about 3 weeks ago. I'm around 260-270 deaths. I've beaten Olmec 7 times without shortcuts. I made it to the City of Gold for the first time last night. Never been to hell.

What's been really interesting to me is the moments of breakthrough in the game, where things just click and what seemed impossible before is now achievable. It took me about 30-40 tries just to get out of the mines, then that started to become routine. I made my first run to Olmec around death 100. It wasn't until 200 deaths that I finally beat him. Getting to Olmec and beating the game has started to happen a lot more frequently, but now getting to hell seems like a whole other level of challenge.

It's definitely helped that I've been watching Spelunkin with Scoops and Lord Remo's Daily Challenges, and I've learned a ton about playing the game just by watching others play it. Pretty sure that this is the first game that I've gotten better at by watching streams.

Zero

I beat Yama around the 65 death mark (plus 30 or so deaths on the Vita version). Now I'm at around 140 deaths after all the Speedlunky and Low Scorer achievement attempts I've been doing the last few days. Got Speedlunky today while listening to the Bombcast, but that Low Scorer achievement still eludes me. Fuck is it ever hard.

o_O 65? Are you some kind of Spelunky savant? That's insane.

At 203. I beat Olmec before I hit 100, and then I looked at the sequence to really beat the game. So I was done and satisfied.

Then the daily challenges came around, the Daily Spelunky hit, and boom... doubled my deaths within a month!

Is there a way to type an infinity symbol?

I'm at 400-and-change. I've been trying to get to Hell, but I've never gotten out of the City of Gold with that book. I have no desire to finish Hell; I just want to see it.

I've been wishing that the Xbox version had the Daily Challenge.

Make sure you have a clear path to the exit, grab the book and then go directly to the exit. Anubis II will follow you to Olmec's Lair, which is a much easier place to battle him in.

I just killed him for the first time on my 732nd run. No shortcuts or anything... Quite possibly my finest achievement in gaming, if not life, to date... I'm a little breathless...

I died 1200 times before I completed the game. I'd unlocked world 3's warp around 600 deaths.

Every time.

I have the Steam Achievement for playing 1000 times, and most of those are deaths, so over 1000 at least. I started playing on 360 originally and played for around 30 hours but never got that Achievement. I have 112 hours logged on Steam, but thanks to the game not having Steam cloud support, I've lost all my progress like half a dozen times. And I've played it on PS4 as well. So I really have no clue, other than it's over 1,000. It's one of my favorite games ever though, so it'll just keep going up.