Garbage Can
| Garbage Can | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Mechanic |
Garbage Cans are the bins standing beside buildings in Pelican Town, and rummaging through them is one of the cheapest daily routines a farmer can keep. Each one holds a predetermined item for the day, the odds of finding anything at all swing with daily luck, and a few of the cans carry special drops the ordinary pool never produces. A full circuit takes a couple of minutes on the way to or from town and can turn up ore, gems, geodes, cooked dishes from the Saloon's kitchen, a free Movie Ticket or a hat made from a bin lid. The catch is social: being caught with an arm in a bin costs friendship with whichever villager sees it, and only Linus approves.
Overview
The cans all stand in Pelican Town: outside The Stardrop Saloon, at 1 River Road, at the Mayor's Manor, at 1 Willow Lane and 2 Willow Lane, by the Blacksmith, by the Museum and outside JojaMart, which later becomes the Movie Theater. Each is good for one search a day, and the contents are decided before the farmer arrives, so reloading the day will not change what is inside a given can.
Daily luck is the lever that matters. The chance of the day's item actually appearing rises and falls with the fortune announced on the television, which makes a lucky day the right day for a full circuit and an unlucky one barely worth the detour. The special drops attached to particular cans follow the same pattern in part. Reading The Alleyway Buffet lifts the chance of finding something by a fifth, permanently, which turns the circuit from a gamble into a habit worth keeping.
The common pool is a grab bag that leans useful. Quartz, Amethyst and Topaz turn up, along with Earth Crystals, Cave Carrots, Red Mushrooms, Green Algae, Seaweed, Bread, Joja Cola, Field Snacks and tree seeds of all three kinds. Mixed in are the genuine rubbish items, Trash, a Soggy Newspaper, Broken Glasses and a Broken CD, which sell for nothing but still count as a find. Two rarities sit in the same pool: a Garbage Hat, which is a bin lid worn as headgear, and the Trash Catalogue, which hands over a free supply of trash-themed decorations for anyone furnishing a house with a sense of humour.
Several cans have their own shelf. The Museum's can produces Geodes and Omni Geodes, which the Blacksmith can crack open. The Blacksmith's own can produces Coal, Copper Ore and Iron Ore, which is a small but free supply in the first Spring. The can at 1 River Road, where George, Evelyn and Alex live, turns up a Cookie. JojaMart's can leans Joja Cola while the warehouse story is still unresolved, and once the Movie Theater stands there it starts offering Corn and the occasional Movie Ticket, which is worth real money and doubles as an invitation to take a villager to the cinema.
The Saloon's can is the most interesting of them, because it holds whatever was on as the dish of the day. That means a cooked meal straight out of a bin, and the rotation covers almost everything on the menu, from a Fried Egg worth very little up to a Fish Taco or a Pink Cake worth a few hundred gold. A farmer who checks it daily eats well for free.
What the cans can produce widens as a save progresses. Reaching the frozen middle of The Mines adds Aquamarine, Jade, Frozen Tears, Purple Mushrooms and the occasional Diamond to every can in town. Reaching the lava floors adds Emeralds, Rubies and Fire Quartz. Getting the furnace plans from Clint adds finished Copper, Iron and Gold Bars and Refined Quartz, which is a strange thing to find in a bin but a welcome one. Completing the Vault bundles adds desert goods, Cactus Fruit, Coconuts, Sandfish and Scorpion Carp. During Mr. Qi's crop errand, Qi Beans join the pool as well.
The season changes the catch too. Each season brings its own list of fish and forage, so a Spring bin might hold a Catfish, a Leek or a Daffodil, Summer adds Pufferfish, Octopus and Sweet Peas, Fall adds Blackberries, Hazelnuts and Salmon, and Winter adds Crystal Fruit, Snow Yams, Winter Roots and Squid. Several of those are awkward to catch or find any other way, which makes the bins a quiet shortcut for a stubborn bundle slot.
Notes
Getting caught is the only real cost. Any villager within a wide radius who sees the farmer searching a bin loses a slice of friendship, and the radius is generous enough that someone walking past a hedge counts. Linus is the exception and gains friendship instead, which fits a man who lives off what the valley provides. His own feelings about it come out in one of his heart events, although he is almost never standing near a bin to witness it: the Desert Festival and his walk to the Night Market are about the only times it happens.
The town gets its own warning about all this. One of the episodes of Livin' Off The Land explains the practice and the consequences, which is a nice touch given that the advice arrives through a television in the farmer's own house.
Linus also keeps a can of his own at the Desert Festival, and that one produces Calico Eggs rather than the usual mix.
All Mechanics
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
