GAME GUIDE TO MIDNIGHT CASTLE
                 By AEGram
Written January 2017; Revised April 22, 2023

Dedication
This game guide is dedicated to:
**the game developers – what can I say? The graphics are awesome; you wow us with every update; you’ve created a one-of-a-kind game for so many people to enjoy
**every player who’s played this game – without you playing, there would be no game
**every player who’s documented game information and shared it with others – without you, others would struggle (as we did when we first started)
**every player who will download and play the game in the future – we welcome new, fresh “faces”

Disclaimer
This is a reference document/thread. As such, players/members of the forum should not post questions or comments herein. The document is updated with each content update. If there’s a litany of questions/comments/posts between updates, the document becomes unusable. Please, please, please help us keep this as a good research tool.

This document is meant only to be a guide/an overview of the game features. While the explanations will not be “one sentence long” (as if I could even do that!), they will not contain all there is to know about that subject. Those who desire additional information or have specific questions can create a separate post/thread, or add a post to the comments and questions thread in the Tips, Tricks, Guides and Advice folder.

Post any Questions here

Brief Overview of Game
Midnight Castle is a unique, one-of-a-kind Hidden Object Scene (HOS) game. As such, the object of the game is to open the various scenes, find the objects hidden within the scene, and collect your reward. Professor Pinfeathers will always be on the left of your screen to send you to characters or areas. These characters will request you to perform tasks for which you receive coins and experience points upon completion. You advance through “levels” in the game by gaining experience points. Almost always in the game, you will have some “artifact” loaded to the bottom of the screen that is necessary for you to repair.

When you begin the game, the cost for your quests will be relatively minimal. However, as you progress, the costs increase. Some of the new areas cost 15,000 or 20,000 coins just to open the area. The initial cost to open the new scenes will be quite low in the beginning, and also increase as you progress through the levels. 

There is no “energy” that runs out and prevents you from playing the game. However, after you have entered an HOS, there is a cooldown time before you can re-enter. By the time you get to about level 40, you will have sufficient HOSs opened to literally play as long as you choose. That said, this game is very repetitive. You will be asked to do some tasks over, and over, and over. But, if you can endure the repetitive nature of the game, you will see scenes and artwork that is glorious to behold. The Developers have also inserted some “interactive” areas – you press something and something happens. (These are both in the areas and within some of the HOSs.)

Please try (it will be difficult) to go through the game at a steady, slow pace. There currently is no place to go once you reach game content end, so there is no real hurry to get there. Take time to enjoy all the animation, interactives, and amazing graphics the Developers have incorporated into the scenes. And, take time to read the content above the Prof. Pinfeathers character quests because: As you advance in the game, the characters move around. The scenes also change, and reading the storyline will help explain some of these movements/changes. 

However, if you forget to read as you go along, whitebuterfly54 created a marvelous document detailing the whole story line. She has graciously created a copy for this site and it includes pictures!!!!

NOTE: This game has “no end.” Every 3 or 4 months we get a download with new content to take us through further levels in the game. We only advance 2 or 3 levels in each new content download/update. When you reach maximum content level, there will be some character message to indicate you must wait for “a future update” to progress further.

Disclaimer
If you continue to read this document, there will be many “spoilers.” If you want to remain in the dark about the game…..if you want to discover this info for yourself…..then it probably is best to discontinue reading at this point.

History/General Game Info
According to Midnight-Castle Wiki, Midnight Castle was launched for PC on December 20, 2013, and released as a separate version for iPad on March 20, 2014. (December 20, 2013, is the date the beta version was released. According to Big Fish’s Top 100 Downloadable PC Games pages, Midnight Castle was released on January 22, 2014.)

There are now 3 platforms on which Midnight Castle can be played: PC, iOS, and Kindle/Android. 

These platforms cannot co-mingle…..all of us can post to the forum together, but each of us can only interact with players of the same platform within the game. PC players usually get new content pushed to them first. Generally, iOS and Kindle players receive the same updates within 2 to 7 days after PC players. 

Originally, if you started playing on one platform and wanted to change to another platform, you would have to restart the game. (Your game progress could not be transferred from one platform to another.) However, in 2019, players were reporting that Big Fish customer support can sometimes transfer your game from one platform to another. You will, of course, need to acquire different friends because friends cannot gift across platforms.

The order for presentation of the content in this Game Guide was based on the order presented in one of the MC Tips and Tricks sites from the original Big Fish forum. That order is as follows:

*Getting Started 
*User Interface 
*Hidden-Object Puzzles 
*Questing 
*Unlocks 
*Crafting Items and Pets 
*The Inventory 
*Friends 
*Player Profile and Achievements 
*The Airship Tower 
*The Fortune Wheel 
*Morphing Flowers 
*The Archivist 
*New Areas 
*Tournaments 
*Seasonal Events 

Additional sections in this Guide that were not included in the Tips and Tricks: 
*Trina and the Private Room 
*Mini-events and Castle Challenges 
*Amulets 
*Puzzles 
*Strategy 
*Answers to Frequently Asked Questions 
*Quests to Level Up 

Note: When I first wrote this document, BFG had an awesome help area that explained a great deal about the game and had videos for viewing. Unfortunately, those videos are no longer available. What a loss to the players!

Getting Started – The game starts on the Castle Vicinity and you get introduced to Prof. Pinfeathers (the Crow). You’re given a few coins and diamonds to start the game. As you play and complete achievements, those coins and diamonds will increase. As you open new areas, the coinage will decrease.

Each new day in the Castle starts at midnight GMT, so it will vary based on your time zone. When the new day rolls, you are presented with 3 gift boxes….you choose 1 and will receive coins, a diamond, or a unique stamp. These “gifts” are presented in increasing increments up to 5 days. Then it reverts back to the 50 coin increment: 
50 coins / 1 diamond / 1 unique stamp 
200 coins / 1 diamond / 1 unique stamp 
500 coins / 2 diamonds / 1 unique stamp 

As you progress in the game, you will periodically be presented with messages that you need to download the next part to continue. This is to accommodate those players who have a slow Internet connection, or have a limit to the amount of data they can download each day. It CAN be a bit annoying to be “into” the game only to be delayed a few minutes while the next “chunk” downloads to your device. However, if you have a strong Internet connection or no monthly data limit, you can download the entire game and it will just continue to play out until you reach the maximum game content that has been released. 

If you want to download the full game content…..click on your gear in the upper right corner of your game, then select “Download Full Content.” It will tell you the size of the remaining content, and you can either accept that download or X out of the screen. 

800 coins / 2 diamonds / 1 unique stamp 
1500 coins / 5 diamonds / 1 unique stamp 

As mentioned in the brief overview, Prof. Pinfeathers will always be on the left of your screen with quests for you to follow. This is how you advance (level up) in the game. 

save for future expansion

User Interface – Some things will be on all locations/pages:
1. Avatar (game picture) and name (initially “player”) will be at the top left of your screen.
2. Prof. Pinfeathers will be below that Avatar.
3. The Daily Quest gnome icon will be toward the bottom on the left 
4. Your pet will be at the bottom left of the screen after this feature is introduced
5. Your coinage and diamond inventory will show at the upper right of your screen
6. Goal, inventory, lab and map icons will be at the lowest right of the screen once each feature is introduced
7. There will be a pull out tab just above the goal, inventory, etc. icons that will contain icons for additional game features: private room, album, tournament, castle challenge, puzzles, social, mini-events, and enchanted amulets. These icons will activate when each feature is introduced. (The album is only published to this area during the seasonal events.)

Some significant milestones: 
Level 3: The Fortune Wheel (Castle Entry) is available 
Level 4: Get Beginner’s pack with 10 diamonds; Gentleman and Lady avatars are unlocked 
Level 4: Mini-Event feature is unlocked 
Level 4: The Dice Table (in Tavern) is available 
Level 5: Game directs you to open the Airship Tower -- of note, it CAN be opened earlier 
Level 5: You will be introduced to the “Laboratory” 
Level 6: Just John arrives to introduce the friends aspect of the game
Level 7: Message from Prof. Pinfeathers: Interactives added to the game when the Anniversary Room was created
             In July 2019 are now available to new players 
Level 7: You get your first pet, Griffin (all others must either be crafted or achieved) 
Level 8: You can now participate in Tournaments (currently this feature is disabled) 
Level 9: The Amulet feature is introduced 
Level 10: Daily Quest Gnome and Castle Challenges are available 
Level 11: Puzzle feature is unlocked 
Level 13: Trina and the private room are available 

Hidden-Object Puzzles – These are the “scenes” or the main object of the game. You open the scenes to find the objects hidden in plain sight. There are “levels” to each scene…..the first time you open it, there will be 6 items to find. Gradually, more items will be listed for you to find, with a maximum of 22 items displayed. 

Currently, there are 8 “levels” to each room: 
*0 - 75,000 -- 6 items -- 10 coin -- 30 sec recharge -- enter early for free ----Note: Silhouette Mode is unlocked at 75,000 -- Bonus: 20 coins when level up 
*75,001 - 150,000 -- 6 items -- 10 coin -- 90 sec recharge -- enter early for free ---- Note: Mirror Mode is unlocked at 150,000 -- Bonus: 30 coins when level up 
*150,001 - 200,000 -- 8 items -- 11 coin -- 2 min recharge -- enter early for free ---- Note: ++Night Mode unlocked at 200,000 -- Bonus: 40 coins when level up 
*200,001 - 250,000 -- 10 items -- 13 coin -- 2 min; 30 sec recharge -- enter early for free -- Bonus: 50 coins when level up 
*250,001 - 500,000 -- 12 items -- 15 coin -- 5 min recharge -- enter early for 1 diamond -- Bonus: 100 coins when level up 
*500,001 - 2,500,000 -- 14 items -- 20 coin -- 10 min recharge -- enter early for 2 diamonds -- Bonus: 150 coins when level up 
*2,500,001 - 10,000, 000 -- 18 items -- 30 coin -- 30 min recharge -- enter early for 3 diamonds -- Bonus: 200 coins when level up 
*10,000,001 is max amount -- 22 items -- 50 coin -- 1 hr recharge -- enter early for 5 diamonds 

++Some people were physically bothered by the night mode feature of the game. The developers have allowed you to disable this feature by clicking on the gear at the top of your game page. Select “Additional Settings” then select the amber box next to “disable night mode” to put a check mark in the box and disable the feature. Click x in the upper right corner to close the boxes. 

When you complete the scene, the Leaderboard or Statistics screen will show your score, your ranking in the player list, how far you are toward the max level, your coin reward, and what you have found. Your placement in the leader list does not impact your progress in the game. It is provided so you can see how you fair in relation to your friends on your social page. There are only 6 places that show, so if 5 of your friends have higher scores than you do, you will be in 6th place. 

You can choose to go as fast as you can to find the objects, hoping to level up faster and get more coins. You can choose to go very, very slowly to stretch out the time it takes you to find things to slow down the leveling up so you can return to the room sooner. Or, you can do a combination of both. There is no right or wrong way to approach this, just your own personal strategy. 

Additional note about the "scoring" on the Leaderboard: When you are in the HOS, there is a slider bar at the top left of the screen. As you find the items, the indicator on the bar will move toward the left. To get a high score, you would want to find the items in a rhythmical manner so the slider bar does not completely go away (and the bar will slide faster as you get toward the end of the item collection). You also need to find the items quickly......so a good score is a combination of rhythm and speed. There is no penalty in the scoring for random clicking/tapping of objects. The speed with which you complete the HOS has no bearing on what you receive (item, coin, shard) upon completion. 

When you complete the HOS, you will receive coins (amount will depend on your level within the HOS), an airship item, and one of the following: 15 coins, shard, or HOS item. Sometimes when completing the HOS, you will also receive a bag of pet food, a stamp, or a Gift for a Friend. Randomly, you will also receive an Energy Unit. Because the HOS is the source for your airship items, stamps, and pet food, it is important to visit them frequently to get these items. 

In addition to the HOSs on each location, you will also be opening other areas that are called Zoom Zones (ZZ). These are areas that you use various HOS items to open and get another item from inside. Further into the game, some of the ZZs will require one or more item located in a ZZ to open it. For instance, the Astral Lamp is one of the first ZZs you open in the game. It opens with a Winged Amulet (found in the Broken Carriage). Inside, you will find: Obsidian Whirlwind, Demonic Ring, Dragon’s Fang. The Dragon’s Fang is one of the items needed to open the Wooden Panel (ZZ) in the Elvyn Forest – Tree Top. 

Several lists have been created for where you could find objects, how much is each object worth, how many coins or shards you could get from crafted items, and a listing of all the interactive items in all the HOSs. As a result, that information will not be included in this Guide.