Last year a fellow with the Gamertag StripClubDJ became the first Xbox 360 owner to smash through the 100,000 Gamerpoint barrier. Quite an Achievement (excuse the pun). Instead of being shunned by the gaming community for being a daylight-dodging loser, he’s been widely revered and showered with friend requests by fellow 360ites.

But if you’re not one of the Gamerscore elites, logging in to Live to see your buddies clocking up tens of thousands of points while you languish in the late hundreds is a bit demoralizing. Fortunately, help is at hand. To help you climb out of the low-score doldrums we set ourselves a challenge: get 10,000 points in less than a month, using the smallest number of games possible.

Whether you only just bagged your 360 for Christmas, or you simply don’t have enough time to finish every game you own three or four times, this indispensable guide will help you to smack up your Gamerscore in a matter of weeks with a minimal game rental budget. We suffered so you won’t have to. Here’s what we played:

Amped 3 - 790 points
Cars - 1,000 points
Condemned - 610 points
FIFA 06 - 1,000 points
Fight Night Round 3 - 1,000 points
Kameo - 600 points
King Kong - 1,000 points
Madden NFL 06 - 1,000 points
NBA 2K6 - 1,000 points
NHL 2K6 - 1,000 points
NFS Most Wanted - 1,000 points