Golden Pumpkin
| Golden Pumpkin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Collection |
| Location | Artifact Trove (3.6%); Mystery Box; Golden Mystery Box |
| Sell Price | 2500g |
The Golden Pumpkin is the treasure at the heart of the Spirit's Eve maze, and it is one of the few items in the game that every single villager loves. Its own description claims it is good for nothing but money, which is not quite true: the shipping bin pays handsomely for it, the Sewing Machine turns it into a Witch Hat, and handing one over on a birthday buys more goodwill than almost anything else that can be carried. The maze in the town square on Fall 27 is the reliable way to get one, though the hedges only hide the pumpkin in alternate years. Artifact Troves and Mystery Boxes of both kinds also cough one up now and then, which is the only way to find a second in a lean year.
Overview
Spirit's Eve takes over Pelican Town square late on Fall 27, running from ten at night until a few minutes before midnight. Lewis puts on the decorations, the villagers stand around the square, and a hedge maze fills the north-eastern corner near the clinic. Walking into it starts the hunt, and nothing is lost by failing, since the farmer is simply put back out into the square when the festival ends.
The maze is not the same every year. In some years the route ends at a Treasure Chest with the pumpkin inside, and in others a longer maze leads to a Prize Ticket instead. The pumpkin years are the odd ones, counting the first year on the farm as the first.
Finding the end is a matter of knowing one trick. The hedge beside the signpost marked with a question mark is not solid, and the gap behind it leads into a dark passage. That passage cannot be read at all in the gloom, so a ring that gives off light, the Glow Ring being the easy one, makes the difference between walking straight through and wandering in circles until the clock runs out.
The other routes are slower but need no festival. Artifact Troves, which Clint cracks open at the blacksmith, hold a pumpkin now and then. Mystery Boxes and Golden Mystery Boxes carry one on the same sort of odds, and since the boxes turn up from fishing chests, panning, trees and monsters all year round, a farmer who hoards boxes will eventually open a gold one by accident.
What to do with it is the interesting part. Every villager in the valley, the Wizard and Krobus included, counts the pumpkin as a loved gift, which makes it a perfect birthday present for a character whose tastes are awkward. Shipping it instead brings in a sum that rivals a good artisan good, and that has to go through the bin on the farm because Pierre will not take it over the counter. The Sewing Machine at Emily's house, or the one Emily gives away, takes the pumpkin in the spool and returns a Witch Hat, and the dye pots in the same house read it as a yellow dye.
Notes
A pumpkin spent on friendship is rarely wasted. Loved gifts count double on a birthday, so one pumpkin handed over on the right day moves a heart meter further than a week of ordinary presents.
Nothing stops a farmer collecting several over the years. Each maze that offers one offers it again on the next odd year, and the boxes keep their small chance forever, so the pumpkin can be both a gift and a payday rather than a choice between the two.
All Collections
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
