7. The Puzzle feature gives the player another temporary advantage in that you can ask for a particular item and try to win it from the child's guessing game. This feature is a boost to the coin/item/diamond dilemma, but it is still necessary to "do the rounds." 

8. The Spring Room 2, Anniversary Room, Halloween Room, and Christmas Room 2 bring a whole new dimension to game play. Each of those rooms has 3 HOSs (except for only 1 in the Anniversary Room) that will give you 250 coins when maxed out. Considering that the regular HOSs give you only 50 coins when maxed, this is HUGE!! …… So, during the events, set aside your character quests for the duration. Get as many friends as you can; enter as many of their rooms as you can (you can visit each one 1x daily as well as your own private room HOSs). By time the event has ended you will find yourself flush with coins, stamps, pet food, and airship items for continuing in the game.

These strategies are only suggestions. Each player must decide how best to play their game to level up.....some will rely heavily on the pet chests....some will rely heavily on crafting and selling....others will use the puzzles and/or amulets to gain advantages. And, there will be others who just decide to build coins and inventory by going into the scenes each time they are available. 

When I started this game, there were no items in pet chests, no amulets, no puzzles. So "doing the rounds" was my way of gaining coins. I didn't find the forum until I was somewhere in the 30's for leveling up. I could never understand why players were posting that they were out of unique or plain stamps UNTIL I went through the game on PC recently (when all the new features were available). 

I relied HEAVILY on the puzzles and the pet chests to get through some of the areas only to find that I could not progress with the levels because I was so low on stamps and could not craft the necessary items. 

So, my personal opinion is that “doing the rounds” is the best way to advance in the game. Use the "boosts" provided to get through the difficult areas. But use them as "boosts" not as a method of play and you will always have sufficient stamps to craft items as they are requested in the game. 

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions 
1. No, we do not know when there will be a game content update to move us beyond the current game ending. Nor do we know how often updates will be offered. Only the Developers of the game are privy to that information, and they do not share that knowledge in advance with players. 

2. The Odd Egg is just that – Odd. There currently is no use for it. It can be sold, gifted, or disenchanted. Some folklore around the Castle was that it was originally intended for crafting the Winged Cat. However, none of the Winged Cat components request an egg. This left one odd egg. 

3. No, the excess steering wheels do not get saved in inventory to be used for a future quest. It was suggested in the Suggestions to Developers thread on the original Big Fish forum numerous times, but no action was taken in that direction. 

4. There currently is no in-game messaging feature. It was briefly introduced during the fall of 2016, but was disabled due to problems players were experiencing. (This is discussed briefly in the Friends section.) 

5. The green vines that appear at the beginning of Level 28 have no seasonal association. You get a general idea of what is happening if you read the story line above the character quests. They leave toward the end of Level 29 when the King of the Elves leaves the Castle Gates. 

6. The “black matter” that permeates throughout many of the scenes and locations also is not seasonally associated. The story behind that is too complicated for this Guide. This black matter makes it a bit difficult to find some of the objects within the scenes – especially in the Unique Dishes HOS. It shows up shortly after you reach Level 50 – when you activate the Crown of Gnomish Heritage. It continues to be in all the scenes/locations until Level 56 when the Limb Entrance is opened. 

7. Gift for a Friend boxes can only be used during the Winter event when the tree (or Santa sack) in the Christmas room is activated for gift giving. These boxes are received randomly at HOS completion. You can now also trade with the children that are on the Castle Vicinity during the event. (It will be 7 holiday items to trade for a holiday wand; and 5 to trade for a gift box -- use the arrow in the “Trade with Children” pop-up to select the item for which you want to trade.) 

When gifting a box, you lose one box from inventory and receive a Santa Medallion as thanks. The friend receives some random game item. You never know what they receive; they never know who has sent what. 

8. No, the guy in the Commercial District never does get that sack/bundle lifted. 

9. A “feeder” game will mostly be referenced by someone who is playing on PC. However, the newer operating systems of iPad and Kindle also allow multiple user accounts on one device. This is what is needed for a feeder game – or a like device. Basically, you create another user account on your PC (or device). 

After the account is created with a password, you log onto your PC with that new account. Midnight Castle game icon will already be on the “desktop” for you to click….when you do, the game opens to the beginning of a brand new game. It will then be necessary to play that game to some level (most players want their feeder game to at least be up to Level 24 because the Column of the Fallen is opened during Level 23). Once the feeder game is established, you then send a friend request from one of the games to the other. You can then exchange goodies – but you can still gift that account only one time during each 24-hour GMT period. 

10. Trina is in memory of a player who created games (on Facebook) for other players to test their knowledge and who was always helping others. At the time of her death, Darcie posted the following to MC Facebook site: Hi everyone! As some of you know, we lost Trina, a wonderful member of the Midnight Castle community at the beginning of this year. Many of you had the privilege of knowing Trina, and now just how amazing she was. She brought a lot of fun to the community with her artwork, games, and willingness to help everyone, and she is truly missed. In her memory, the Midnight Castle team has invited Trina to stay in the castle that she helped bring so much life to. Stop by and say 'Hi'! And don't worry, Trina's wolves are friendly! ~ Darcie   

11. The “A” and “S” collars on the wolf pups in Trina’s Key Master Shop are for Apollo and Shadow. The bird next to Trina’s chair is a robin. These 3 additions were added as a tribute to Robyn (game names Apollo and Shadow; forum name as Apollogold) who died on August 29, 2017. Robyn was one of the original “list makers” and many of the threads in the Tips and Tricks section of the Helpful Links for Midnight Castle on the original BFG forum were created/started by her.

12. The fox inside of Trina's room was added in July 2020 to honor an original MC player, Cynthia Gessner (game name Silver Fox), who died March 20, 2020.
 
13. There used to be no “short cut” to getting more coins. However, with the introduction of the event rooms that give a maximum 250 coins (instead of the regular 50), that’s no longer the case. The events generally last 40+ days. If you have 15 friends displaying this room, you can earn 750 coins daily from each friend (15 x 750 = 11,250 coins). And 11,250 coins x 40 days = 450,000 coins for the event duration! 

Quests to Level Up – The actual place in your game where you reach the next level may differ slightly from those posted here. Some players prefer to do all the quests in character order – that is, finish with one character before going to the next character. Others prefer to go as far with the first character as they can and then see if they can perform some of the quests for the next character. (The levels in this Guide are based on completing all quests for each character in the order they are listed within the Prof. Pinfeathers section.)

While a level may be reached at some other quest, the quests will all be listed. All quests presented in Prof. Pinfeathers window must be performed before you will receive the next set of quests. There are a couple of places where the game does not tell you about some quests for a character. (The game will say a character has 8 quests for you to complete, when there are actually 9 quests for that character.) There’s a note added during the character quest listing to indicate known areas for these discrepancies. 

The Character Quests are listed by level. The amount of coins and stamps needed to complete each level is listed at the end of the character quests for that level. You may, however, get through that level using fewer coins or stamps if someone gifts you a crafted item or if you win it from the Fortune Wheel and as a result do not need to craft it for the character.

The game cost is just a “raw” number because there is no way to compute the amount of coins you get as you go through the game. (Bonus coins when crafting will be player specific; coins from pet chests will vary depending on frequency of feeding pets and the type of chest received; items received from friends or the Fortune Wheel will not need to be crafted; you will win or lose coins while playing dice; you may pay extra coins for additional Wheel spins. These are only some of the examples in how coin accumulation/usage can vary.) 

So, while there is no real way of determining the exact/true cost for advancing in the game, the level-cost totals will give you guidance for when you need to stop following character quest, perhaps, and just “do the rounds” for a while. 

Opening new areas, HOS, ZZ will be in bold black 
Helpful comments will be in purple 
Crafted items will be in green 

DISCLAIMER: The character quest listing reflects those in the game after the drastic change to the lower levels made in November 2016. Naturally, we have no way of knowing whether the Devs will be making changes to the current quests in future updates. As a result, over time, these quests may not be entirely accurate. I have no plans of periodically restarting the game to determine their continued accuracy. But, in the past, when the Devs made any changes, they only made the levels easier…. So, these are here as guidelines for future players. 

Players start the game on Castle Vicinity with 100 coins & 5 diamonds. You get the Compass with a message the it is broken. Note: You can change your in-game name, but no avatars are unlocked yet. 

LEVEL 1 
Pinfeathers - Open: Carriage (no coin) -- add Needle to compass -- level 1 completed Note: There is a bubble to open Airship Tower. That opening and cost is added when a message directs player to opening the Airship Tower in Level 5. 

LEVEL 2 
Pinfeathers - Unlock: Castle Gates (Level 2; 5) & Anabel (1 task) & place missing letter into Compass 
Anabel - Open: Broken Well (5) for Forged Key & Open: Rock Garden (10) for Nephrite Fan 

Pinfeathers - Anabel (1 task) & Iron Knight (1 task) 
Anabel - Shard of Soul (get Rune Stone for reward) 

LEVEL 3 
Unlock: Castle Entry (3 & Rune Stone from Anabel above) to get to Iron Knight. Note: When enter Castle Entry, Bubble (600) to open Fortune Wheel 
Knight: Winged Amulet & Open: Astral Lamp (20) for Demonic Ring 

Pinfeathers - Anabel (1 task) & Innkeeper (3 tasks); Fix compass & use it inside the Castle
Anabel - Open: Crypt (20) for Eight-Pointed Star (also get Forged Key as reward) 

LEVEL 4 Mailman delivers "Beginner's Pack" with Gentleman and Gentle Woman avatars unlocked + 10 diamonds 
Unlock: Tavern (Level 4; 150 & forged Key from above) to get to Innkeeper Note: When enter Tavern, there is a Bubble (600) to unlock the Dice Game 
Innkeeper - Murder's Eye 
Innkeeper - Dragon's Fang & Midnight Rose 
Innkeeper - Torch & Open: Burnt Tree (40) for Demon's Eye Activating the Compass, reveals a secret door to right of the door opening behind the Knight. Get Key Ring to unlock/open that door 

Cost Levels 1 - 4 = 1,500 coins

LEVEL 5 
Pinfeathers - Open: Laboratory (no coin) 
Aquamarine Charm (180) & Open: Belfry (80) for Polestar 
Message presents that you need Stamps for crafting and you can get them from sending airships. You are then directed to the Bubble on Castle Vicinity -- Open: Airship Tower(200) 

Pinfeathers - Iron Knight (2 tasks); Anabel (1 task); Innkeeper (1 task) 
Knight - Open: Stone Gargoyle (50) for Sun Amber & Links of Steel 
Knight - Open: Prison Cell (60) for Rusty Cage 
Anabel - Eight-Pointed Star & Seal of Courage 

Cost Level 5 = 570 coins 
Stamps: 2 Plain 


LEVEL 6 
Get a Message that you have a friend request (from John); set up friends (no coin) 
Innkeeper - Aquamarine Charm (180) 

Pinfeathers - Innkeeper (5 tasks) & Lord Chamberlain (6 tasks) 
Innkeeper - Fibula of Rage & Polestar 
Innkeeper - Sun Amber & Grave Blade 

Cost Level 6 = 180 coins 
Stamps: 2 Plain 

LEVEL 7
--Get Griffin (free pet) 
Innkeeper - Dragon's Fang & Demon's Eye 
Innkeeper - Bow and Arrow of Stoppage & Sign of Steadfast Faith 
Innkeeper - Eight-Pointed Star & Elephant's Bone -- also get Smoking Device for below 
Unlock:Throne Hall (Level 6; 500 & Smoking Device) to get to Lord Chamberlain 
Chamberlain - Open: Fairy Sculpture (120) for Bear's Fury & Nocturnal Ring 
Chamberlain - Harpy's Feather & Polestar 
Chamberlain - Heart of Moonlight & Eye of Manticore 
Chamberlain - Eight-Pointed Star & Seed of Life 
Chamberlain: Open: Dead Ambassador (180) for Stardust Crystal & Aquamarine Charm (180) 
Chamberlain - Innkeeper (2 tasks) 
Innkeeper - Open: Iron Chest (70) for Strangled Ruby 
Innkeeper - Voodoo Doll 

Cost Level 7 = 1,050 coins 
Stamps: 2 Plain