The Halloween update brings Halloween themed graphics, music and decorations to the game every year.
The third Halloween update (v1.16) was released on the 15th of October2015 for Kindle players, the 16th of October 2015 for Android players, the 21st of October 2015 for iOS devices, the 31st of October 2015 for Windows, and the 13th of November 2015 for Mac computers.
The 2015 Halloween update also introduced a new set of holiday challenges, which gave players a third chance to win the Sphere of Miracles desktop award (originally up for grabs in the first Halloween Update in 2013 and then again in the Halloween 2014) update. Players who already have the Sphere of Miracles on their Home Desktops from previous years Halloween timed challenges have the opportunity to increase the Sphere of Miracles desktop award to a new award level.
The Halloween 2015 Update is unique in the game, in that it was the first update to be released on Kindle devices first. The trend of releasing updates on different devices first started with the previous Social Events Update, which was released for Android devices before other platforms. Previously, all updates were released on iOS devices first, with other platforms coming later.
The Halloween 2015 timed challenges begin when a player reaches game level 7 in the game (or automatically after downloading the update if the player is already above level 7).
The Halloween 2015 Update's timed challenges
The Halloween 2015 timed event contains 3 challenges. Players had a set number of days to complete the following tasks:
Collect 500 potions by winning games of Gem Match to either earn the Sphere of Miracles desktop award, or increase it to the award level if you have previously won it.
Complete 30 holiday quests to win the once-off Halloween Talisman and be able to combine the newest incarnation of the Witch's Talisman Artifact.
For the duration of the Halloween challenge, Pumpkin Lantern special items are required in addition to energy points to play Spooky Yard. Pumpkin Lanterns are given as rewards for every successful investigation for every picture, and as rewards for banishing anomalies, but not for playing puzzles. Pumpkin lanterns cannot be gifted between friends, however they are given as rewards for combining some of the new Halloween2015 collections, and they can be giving as rewards by the Sphere of Miracles and Pyramid of Wonders.
Important: The amount of time available for the Halloween 2015 timed challenges will vary across platforms. It is important to note that the Challenge timer begins counting down from the moment the update is released in a devices app store, and not from the moment a player downloads the update. If an update with a set of timed challenges is released in your app store with 20 days to complete the challenges and you wait 15 days to download the new update, when you download it you will only have 5 days left to complete the challenge, not 20.
Kindle players have been given 28 days to complete the challenge, while Android players have been given 27 days, while Mac players were given only 26 days were given to complete the challenge.
The Sphere of Miracles Desktop Award[]
The Sphere of Miracles desktop award sits in the centre of the top row of players home desktop. The Sphere gives out rewards on a 12 hour timer. The first 12 hour timer starts from the moment the Sphere is won, and after that the 12 hour timer resets every time the award is discharged.
The Sphere of Miracles desktop awards. Left: Award level 1 of the Sphere of Miracles, won by completing one of Halloween Timed Challenges - either the original Halloween (2013) timed challenge or second the Halloween2014 timed challenge or this year's Halloween 2015 challenge. Centre: Award level 2 of the Sphere of Miracles, won by completing 2 of the 3 Halloween Timed Events (2013 and 2014; 2013 and 2015; or 2014 and 2015. Right: Award level 3 of the Sphere of Miracles, won by completing all 3 of the Halloween Timed Events to date (2013, 2014, and 2015)
When discharged, the Sphere of Miracles gives out a number of one of the game's special item (e.g. fireflies, ladybugs, carrots, cupid arrows, or Tokens) at random. During Holiday challenges the sphere may also reward special items needed to play the holiday picture, such as the Pumpkin lanterns needed to play the picture Spooky Yard. This means that in normal play, there is a 1 in 5 chance of receiving any one of the regular special items every time you discharge the Sphere, but during Holiday challenges there is a 1 in 6 chance of getting a specific special item when discharging the Sphere.
The Sphere of Miracles was originally offered as part of the 2013 Halloween Update. With a second opportunity to win the Sphere of Miracles offered as part of the 2014 Halloween Update. Players who have already won the Sphere of Miracles during the 2013/2014 events have the opportunity to increase its level to the next award level by completing this years challenge.
Level 1 Rewards every 12 hours:[]
Regular reward - 5 items of 1 special item type (e.g. 5x fireflies or 5x ladybugs etc.)
Rewards when award charged by any visiting friend - 10 items if 1 special item type plus 100 coins
Level 2 Rewards every 12 hours:[]
Regular reward - 7 items of 1 special item type
Rewards when award charged by any visiting friend - 14 items if 1 special item type plus 100 coins
Level 3 Rewards every 12 hours:[]
Regular reward - 9 items of 1 special item type
Rewards when award charged by any visiting friend - 18 items of 1 special item type plus 100 coins
How to Win the Sphere of Miracles[]
Players can win the Sphere of Miracles by collecting 500 Potions. Potions can only be won by successfully completing the Gem Match puzzle. For each successful win of Gem Match, you can potentially win between 1-5 Potions as one of the rewards for completing the puzzle.
When you open the Research Window for Gem Match by tapping on the Gem Match puzzle icon on your Home Desktop you will see Potions listed as the first item in the 'Can be found' list for the puzzle. Potions are available to win for every play of the puzzle at every puzzle level.
Potions can be won by winning games of Gem Match during the Halloween 2015 Update
You must keep playing (and winning) Gem Match until you have collected 500 Potions in order to win the (or upgrade an existing) Sphere of Miracles. Once you win the Sphere of Miracles it will automatically appear in the central spot of your Desktop Awards along the top of the playing board (to the right of the Friendliness Desktop Award. If you have won a Sphere of Miracles in a previous Halloween Update, the award will change in appearance to represent it's new award level at this point instead.
Once it appears on your Desktop, the Sphere of Miracles will be sparkling, indicating that it is fully charged and its rewards are ready to collect. Tapping on the award will release the rewards, at which point the Sphere of Miracles will start its 12 hour timer, after which more rewards will be ready.
You collect Potions by winning games of Gem Match
Note: Just because an item is on a picture/puzzles 'Can be Found' list, it is not guaranteed you will win that item every time you play that picture/puzzle. There is an element of chance in the game that determines what items you will win when you successfully complete a picture/puzzle. All items are weighted based on their value in the game. Higher value items, like the Potions needed to win the Sphere of Miracles, are weighted in such a way that they are less likely to be won than low value items such as some low level collection items and most combining elements. Since the mechanism that rewards Potions is set up so that they are always included as one of the rewards for winning games of Gem Match, it is the number that you win per play that is weighted (with low numbers more likely than high numbers). This means you will not win multiple Potions every single time you win a Gem Match Game. However, all of the Timed Challenges are designed to be completed within the given time limit, so it is possible to collect 500 Potions well within the time given. The task is designed to be challenging, but it is not impossible!
Hints/Tips for Collecting Potions[]
Although it will take many plays of Gem Match to win 500 Potions, there are things you can do to make the challenge easier:
Read the Gem Match article on this wiki for tips on playing Gem Match, including how to make special gems and combine them to create special moves to clear the board faster.
Explorer's Eyes can be used to remove a single yellow border from the game board while playing Gem Match
Use tools when playing Gem Match. You can use Explorer's Eyes and Time Machines when playing Gem Match. Using a Explorer's Eye will remove one yellow border from the game board at random. This can be particularly useful for tricky corner pieces. However, since you cannot control which border is removed by the Explorer's Eye, it is better to wait until you only have a few left to remove to increase the chances of it removing the difficult one. Time Machines add 45 seconds to the puzzle timer, which can be a great help for the more difficult board configurations.
Don't just play Gem Match over and over again; try to play a variety of pictures and puzzles as much when possible. The more you play a single picture/puzzle repeatedly, the worse the rewards for each win gets. In order to keep your chances of getting many Potions per play high, try mixing other pictures/puzzles into your playing rotation. Perhaps rotate trying to get the Sphere of Miracles with the other challenges in the Halloween event (playing Spooky Yard and completing the 30 challenge quests)
Don't rely on Luck Talismans/Artifacts. Luck talismans (e.g. Horseshoes) and artifacts (e.g. Symbol of Success) do not increase your odds of winning a particular item, such as Potions, i.e. they do not change the weighting of items. However, they do increase the number of items you will win for each successful play of a picture/puzzle. Because you can win more items for each play, you essentially get more rolls of the dice each time you win. However, since Potions are rewarded using the same mechanism as Christmas balls/Pumpkin Lanterns/Tokens special items etc during holiday themed timed challenges (i.e a number of Potions are awarded for each play, it is the number you win that is weighted not whether or not you win them) instead of using the same mechanism as collection items/combining elements (i.e. you may or may not win the item each play, it is whether the item will be won or not that is weighted), Luck talismans and artifacts will not affect the number of Potions won per win of Gem Match. Since the game is coded to give out Potions for each play, increasing the number of different items won per play, by using luck talismans, will not change anything. The number of Potions given is also based on chance, with higher numbers weighted to appear less often than lower numbers, but Luck talismans/artifacts cannot help with this since they do not affect weighting.
Use the Time Talisman artifact. If you are struggling to win Gem Match in the time given (particularly at lower puzzle levels, where less time is allotted to each play) then try to use a Time Talisman artifact. Once activated, this artifact adds 1 minute to every picture/puzzle for 24 hours.
The Unique Avatar - Getting Spooky Yard to Academician Level[]
The avatar won for reaching Academician level in Spooky Yard
Players can win the Unique Halloween Avatar by playing the new picture, Spooky Yard, until they increase its scene progress level up to Academician Level during the Halloween 2015 update's time sensitive challenge (during the first 28 days after the update is released for a platform).
For the duration of the Halloween 2015 update, Pumpkin Lantern special items were needed for each play of the Spooky Yard picture.
While the Timed Challenges are active (before you complete all three, or the timer expires, whichever happens first), Pumpkin lanterns were given as rewards for every successful investigation for every picture in the game. At least one Pumpkin lantern is given for every game you win, but winning 2 or 3 Pumpkin lanterns at a time is also possible.
Pumpkin lanterns are required, in addition to Energy points, for each play of Spooky Yard
Pumpkin lanterns are also given as rewards from banishing anomalies, but not for playing puzzles. Pumpkin lanterns cannot be gifted between friends, however they are given as rewards for combining some of the new Halloween 2015 collections. Players with the Pyramid of Wonder or Sphere of Miracles also have a 1 in 6 chance of receiving Pumpkin lanterns from these Desktop Awards when collecting their rewards every 12 hours. The number of Pumpkin lanterns needed for each play of Spooky Yard increases as you increase the Picture Levels of Spooky Yard (+5 Pumpkin lanterns per Level increase), starting at 5 Pumpkin lanterns per play when the picture is opened at Novice Level and increasing to 40 Pumpkin lanterns per play when the picture is at Professor Level.
As a guide, in order to reach Academician Level on Spooky Yard, and win the new Avatar, you will need to play the picture approximately 150 times, which will require approximately 3,285 Pumpkin lanterns! (or 2,628 Pumpkin lanterns if using the Amulet of Santa artifact).
As you complete each Picture Level on Spooky House, holiday themed Energy items of increasing value are given as a reward:
Completion of Novice level - 1 Potion of Cheerfulness (+36 energy points)
Completion of Trainee level - 1 Sugar Skulls (+60 energy points)
Completion of Detective level - 1 Candy Apple (+120 energy points)
Completion of Pro level - 1 Pumpkin Pie (+180 energy points)
Completion of High Explorer level - 1 Vampire Drink (+300 energy points)
The goal of the challenge is to play Spooky Yard enough times to reach Academician level
Hints/Tips for Winning the Unique Avatar[]
Try to play a variety of pictures as much when possible when playing, instead of just playing Spooky Yard over and over again. The more you play a single picture/puzzle repeatedly, the worse the rewards for each win gets. Additionally, the bigger variety of pictures you play, the bigger variety of collection items you can potentially win. This will greatly increase the number of regular collections you will be able to combine, which will potentially give you more tools, energy items, talismans and artifacts that will all help with completing the quest.
If you are low on energy, but close to leveling up (at which point your energy will restore), play Buddha's Square until you level up. At higher picture levels Buddha's Square potentially rewards a cappuccino for each successful picture investigation. Cappuccinos restore 30 energy points when used, and Buddha's Square only requires 31 energy points at most to play (at professor level). This means you can play for free or next to free if you have a good success rate of winning Cappuccinos. Using Luck talismans and artifacts, like horseshoes, while playing Buddha's Square will increase your odds for winning Cappuccinos. This also means that Buddha's Square is a great picture to play when collecting Pumpkin lanterns, as by winning cappuccinos and restoring the energy you are using to play, you are basically collecting Pumpkin lanterns for free in terms of energy costs.
The 2014 version of the Amulet of Santa (note it has changed in appearance since the original version, which was a Santa icon)
If you are low on energy, avoid playing the newest pictures in the game too often (Tavern, Treasure Island, Theater, Forest House, Excavations, Winter Street, Flower Shop, Observation Deck) as these pictures do not reward combining elements and usually have a high energy demand (except for Forest House and Winter Street). Although some of the collections rewarded by some of these pictures (especially Tavern) are tempting, the lack of combining elements means you will struggle to combine the collections they reward, and the majority of collection items they reward are for collections with lesser rewards than the original pictures in the game.
Use the Amulet of Santa artifact to decrease the number of Pumpkin lanterns needed to play Spooky Hall. The Amulet of Santa artifact reduces the number of Special Items needed to play paid scenes like Spooky Hall by 20% per 24 hours once activated. All of the items for the collections needed to create an Amulet of Santa can be won by playing Winter Street (but see point 3 above about playing some pictures too often when trying to make the most of your energy while collecting Pumpkin lanterns). Using Amulet of Santa artifacts when playing Spooky Yard could potentially reduce the total number of Pumpkin lanterns you need to find to reach Academician level from 3,285 to 2,628.
The Valentines Amulet artifact reduces the amount of energy needed to play pictures by 10% for 12 hours
Use the Valentines Amulet artifact to decrease the amount of energy needed to play every picture/puzzle when you are ready to Spooky Yard a number of times. The Valentines amulet reduces the amount of energy needed to play by 10% for 12 hours, so will enable you to play Spooky Hall (and other pictures) more times with your available energy.
Use luck talismans and artifacts, such as horseshoes, in conjunction with the Valentine's Amulet, and make sure to play Tree of Dates in rotation when you are playing the pictures. This will increase your chances of finding all the collection items needed to combine another Valentine's Amulet as you play.
As you play through the 30 challenge quests to win the Witch's Talisman, you will be able to combine 5 new collections added as part of the update. These quests will reward Pumpkin lanterns once combined.
The Challenge Quests and the Halloween and Witch's Talismans[]
The Halloween Talisman can be won by completing the 30 challenge quests, marked by silver thorn borders in the quests list on the left hand side of the Home Desktop
The Halloween Talisman can be won once a player completes all 30 of the special Halloween 2015 challenge quests introduced as part of Halloween 2015 update. The quests must be completed within the 28 day time limit of the Timed Challenge in order to unlock the Talisman.
Once the quests are completed, a new page of the diary 'Happy Halloween' will open and the Halloween Talisman automatically goes your inventory, and a new page of the Diary will open. A notification screen will appear to say that the 30 challenge quests are complete and you have won the Halloween Talisman, but you must go to the Talisman section of the Inventory itself to see and use the new Talisman. Once activated, the Halloween Talisman will increase the rate of energy restoration by 5 times for 24 hours.
At this point, you can also combine the new version of the Witch's Talisman Artifact. Once the quests are completed, you will have gathered all 5 collections needed to combine and create the Witch's Talisman. At this point, you must go to the Artifacts tab of the Collections Window in order to combine the Witch's Talisman to complete this portion of the timed challenges. Combining Artifacts requires a set number of clock parts to use as combining elements as well as the 5 collections needed for the artifact.
The Witch's Talisman Artifact has once again had its Collections changed with the new Halloween Update. You must now gather new collections added by the Halloween 2015 update in order to combine the Artifact
Once combined, the Witch's Talisman automatically goes your inventory, and a notification screen will appear to say that the 30 challenge quests are complete and you have won the Witch's Talisman, but you must go to the Talisman section of the Inventory itself to see and use the new Artifact.
The Witch's Talisman can be activated from the Talisman tab of the inventory like any other talisman/artifact. To activate the Talisman, open the Inventory, the Talisman tab will automatically be open (default open tab). Scroll to the Witch's Talisman and tap on it to bring up its information box. Press the green 'use' button at the bottom of the information box to activate the Talisman or the brown 'cancel' button to return to the Inventory without activating the Talisman. Once activated, the Witch's Talisman will increase the rate of energy restoration by 3 times for 24 hours.
Winning the Halloween and Witch's Talismans[]
A special decorative border in the quest list marks the 30 quests needed to win the Witch's Talisman. Other quests added by the update, with regular gold borders, do not count towards the 30 when completed.
The decorative border that indicates which quests count towards the 30 needed to win the Halloween Talisman
Note: the very first quest that displays the special decorative border is the quest to find the picture pieces needed to unlock and open the Spooky Yard picture. However, this quest does not count towards the 30 quests needed to win the Witch's Talisman. This means there are actually 31 quests that display the decorative border, but only the last 30 of them count towards the challenge. But importantly, you will need to complete this first quest in order to complete the challenge as the 30 quests that make up the challenge will not start until this quest is completed (there is only ever one quest with a special decorative border active at any one time) and the other quests require you to play the picture Spooky Yard (which this quest opens).
The special 30 quests that must be completed in order to win the Witch's Talisman consist of 5 collection sequences of 6 quests each. The first 5 quests of each sequence are to find each of the 5 items belonging to one new collection added by the update. The 6th quest is to combine the collection.
The 5 collections players gather as they complete the 30 quests are:
Theatrical makeup (combines to create "Makeover kit" and rewards 10 Pumpkin lanterns when combined)
Pirate's costume (combines to create "Alfred's costume" and rewards 15 Pumpkin lanterns when combined)
Vampire's bride (combines to create "Christy's costume" and rewards 20 Pumpkin lanterns when combined)
Wizard's costume (combines to create "Howard's costume" and rewards 25 Pumpkin lanterns when combined)
Preparations for the party (combines to create "Basket of sweets" and rewards 30 Pumpkin lanterns when combined)
All the items that make up these collections cannot be gifted between friends (they do not have green plus signs to add them to your wishlist and they will not appear in the 'Send a collection item' tab when sending gifts to your friends.
When you complete the 30 challenge quests with silver borders, the Halloween Talisman will automatically go into the Talisman Tab of the Inventory.
They are all also 'Quest only' items, which means that they cannot be won normally by playing pictures/puzzles. They are only available to win in pictures while the quest for the particular item is activated and will stop being available to win in that picture once the quest is completed. They may also drop as random items when you are visiting your friends and charging their desktops; from the Collectors Desktop award when collecting its rewards; and from opening Pandora's Chests, however whether or not you get any of these items in those ways is completely up to chance. This means that the only way to complete these quests is to follow the quest instructions as you get the quests. This makes these 30 challenge quests slightly more difficult than the challenge quests in recent Timed Challenges, all of which could be gifted between friends or won in regular play of certain pictures.
These are the 5 collections needed to combine the new Witch's Talisman artifact, so once a player completes all 30 quests they are automatically able to combine Witch's Talisman artifact.
The Witch's Talisman itself is the same artifact that was offered in the 2013 Halloween update and the 2014 Halloween update, however the collections needed to combine it have been changed to the new quest collections (from the last Halloween quest collections).
The artifact triples a players energy restore rate for 24 hours once activated. Once combined, it can be found in the Talisman section of the Inventory and can be activated any time by tapping on it there.
The Challenge Quests[]
The 30 quests that are needed to win the Witch's Talisman are:
Quest Number
Quest Name
Quest Instructions
Item Won
Collection Sequence
0
Mystical Photo
Investigate the photo in Text mode to find an object
Pieces of "Spooky Yard" Picture
N/A
1
Party Invitation
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Mastix skin glue
Theatrical Makeup
2
Pirate's Beard
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Fake beard
Theatrical Makeup
3
Thick Lashes
nvestigate 'Spooky Yard' in Text mode to find an object
False eyelashes
Theatrical Makeup
4
Full Metamorphosis
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Colorful face paint
Theatrical Makeup
5
Magical Glimmer
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' in Silhouette mode to find an object
Set of glitter paint
Theatrical Makeup
6
Cautionary Maneuver
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Makeover kit
Theatrical Makeup
7
Exquisite Waistcoat
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Velvet waistcoat
Pirate's costume
8
Soft and Silky
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' in Night mode to find an object
Silk shirt
Pirate's costume
9
Required Eye Patch
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Eye patch
Pirate's costume
10
Solid Belt
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' in Text mode to find an object
Leather belt
Pirate's costume
11
Captain's Hat
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Pirate hat
Pirate's costume
12
Seadog
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Alfred's costume
Pirate's costume
13
Bridal Dress
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' in Morphs mode to find an object
Bertha collar
Vampire's bride
14
Beautiful Necklace
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Cameo necklace
Vampire's bride
15
Tight Corset
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Corset
Vampire's bride
16
Fluffy Skirt
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' in Silhouette mode to find an object
Fluffy skirt
Vampire's bride
17
Lace Sleeves
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Lace sleeves
Vampire's bride
18
Mysterious Bride
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Christy's costume
Vampire's bride
19
A Modest Choice
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' in Night mode to find an object
Pointed hat
Wizard's costume
20
Wizard's Cloak
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Gray cloak
Wizard's costume
21
Spacious Bag
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Duffel bag
Wizard's costume
22
Magical Scarf
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' in Morphs mode to find an object
Silver scarf
Wizard's costume
23
Important Element
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' to find an object
Wizard's staff
Wizard's costume
24
Wandering Wizard
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Howard's costume
Wizard's costume
25
Lost Tickets
Investigate "Spooky Yard" to find an object
Alfred's entrance ticket
Basket of Sweets
26
Established Order
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' in Pairs mode to find an object
Howard's entrance ticket
Basket of sweets
27
Fuss
Investigate "Spooky Yard" to find an object
Christy's entrance ticket
Basket of sweets
28
Sweet Treats
Investigate "Spooky Yard" to find an object
Pumpkin lollipops
Basket of sweets
29
Funny Gingerbread Men
Investigate 'Spooky Yard' in Silhouette mode to find an object
Skeleton gingerbread cookies
Basket of sweets
30
Sweet Tooth Basket
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Basket of sweets
Basket of sweets
Hints/Tips for Winning the Witch's Talisman[]
All of the Collections that you will combine when working through the Special Quests require the 'Halloween' combining elements to combine (Dragon's claw; Mermaid Scale; Basilisk fang; Salamander Tail; Griffin Feather; and Unicorn blood) so make sure you stock up on these combining elements so that you do not get stuck on one of the combine quests. All of these combining elements can be won by playing Witch's Hut, and they can also be given as free gifts between Friends (they do not come out of your inventory when you send them to friends).
Use the strongest Luck Talismans/artifacts you have available whenever you are playing. This will increase the number items you win for each play, which will increase you chances of winning the quest item.
Diamond Horseshoes increase you chance of winning items by 90% for 2 hours
Diamond Horseshoe talismans (+90% chance of winning items for 120 minutes) and the Symbol of Success artifact (+50% chance of winning items for 24 hours) are the most powerful luck talismans available in the game, so when playing other pictures choose pictures which award items needed for collections that reward these talismans. You will need to play other pictures during the challenge anyway to collect Pumpkin lanterns to play Spooky Yard, so by making sure that Tavern (rewards items for collections that reward Diamond horseshoes) and Venice; Buddha's Square; Throne Room; Mayan Temple; Ghost Town; Joy Café; Amusement Park; Bungalow; Misty Shed (rewards items for collections needed to combine Symbol of Success) are in your rotation while you increase your chances of getting more of these powerful luck talismans to use for the quests.
Use your Magic Crystal Talismans during the challenge. The Magic Crystal Talisman works as a luck talisman (it increases your odds of finding objects by 12% when activated), and the Social Events Update has fixed the problem where no other luck talisman could be activated while using it, so now you can use them again together again. This means you can add an additional 12% increase in odds of finding objects to other Luck Talismans that you use during the challenge. You can only use one other Luck Talisman once the Magic Crystal Talisman is activated (as you cannot use more than one Luck Talisman at a time), but you can use one of any other Luck Talisman or the Symbol of Success Artifact at the same time as Magic Crystal Talisman again. The Magic Crystal Talisman lasts for 10 days.
The Challenge quests usually ask for you to play Spooky Yard, so it is best to continue to work on Spooky Yard as normal when playing and not to worry too much about the quests themselves, they will be completed as you go. That is, it is better to concentrate your resources just working on the Avatar challenge - getting Spooky Yard to Academician level. You will complete the quests naturally as you increase the picture to Academician level. The hints/tips for that challenge will therefore also aide in completing this challenge.
Read the quest instructions carefully. Most quests just ask you to play Spooky Yard, but some will specify a mode or anomaly. The item will only be available to win when the picture is in the correct mode. Most modes cannot be 'forced', which means you cannot make them appear in rotation. However, 'Text' mode can be triggered by banishing (not playing) an anomaly in the picture. If the quest asks for Text mode in Spooky Yard, then play other pictures until an anomaly appears in Spooky Yard. You can then banish the anomaly, making the next mode Text mode. (Make sure the picture is not in Night mode while waiting for an anomaly, play it to change the mode if it is in night mode).
The items needed to complete the quests cannot be gifted between friends. However they may drop as random items when you are visiting your friends and charging their desktops; from the Collectors Desktop Award when collecting its rewards; and from opening Pandora's Chests. Whether this happens or not will be completely up to chance, but in order to increase your odds it is a good idea to visit your friends every day when doing the challenge.
You can complete a quest by combining the collection involved in the quest. E.g. if you already have all 5 items for a collection and are currently on the quest for the 3rd item in the collection, then combining the collection will automatically complete the quest. The next quest to start will be the quest for the 4th item in the collection and you will have to find both the 4th and the 5th item in the collection as normal, but the 6th quest in that sequence - to combine the collection - will also complete automatically when it starts. However, it will be rare to be able to complete any of these collections early since the items do not have a regular play location, so do not rely on being able to do this to skip difficult quests.
After the Challenge is complete[]
Once you complete all three Halloween 2015 Challenges, or after the challenge timer expires, Pumpkin lanterns will be restricted to Japanese House and Amusement Park scenes (instead of in all the Pictures like during the Timed Challenges).
This restriction of the challenge quest special items after completion has been a feature of the last few timed update challenges (e.g. Christmas 2014, Halloween2014, Travel Time Update, Social Events Update) and is designed to allow players to collect enough to complete the challenge within the short time frame but not amass a large quantity after the challenge is over in the months leading up to the next update. The game does not want players to have an excess of these items as they would give an big advantage in the game after the update.
Typically, Pumpkin lanterns are used as the Special item for Halloween updates (like Christmas balls are used for Christmas updates), so they do not stay in the game once the next update is released.
When the next update is released, then usually the Pumpkin lanterns are removed from the game, and any remaining in the players inventory may be converted to other special items (such as Fireflies, Ladybugs, carrots, cupid arrows and tokens).
This means that, keeping the number of Pumpkin lanterns a player can accumulate down will keep the number of other special items the player can win down, since these items are meant to be rare.
This is why players being able to accumulate a large amount of Pumpkin lanterns (by winning them in every picture) after the challenge is over but before the new update arrives would give them too large a boost in game resources compared to what would normally be accomplish-able in the same time period, which is why recent updates have introduced the restriction after the challenge quests are complete or the timer expires (whichever happens first).
It is worth noting that some of the regular quests that were introduced with the update require you to play Spooky Yard (including some of the very last quests of the new crop you will work through). In order to maximize how many Pumpkin lanterns you can earn to aid in these quests, it is best to not complete all 3 of the timed challenges until the challenge timer is nearly finished. Keeping one of the 3 challenges incomplete for as long as possible will keep the time period that Pumpkin lanterns can be won in every picture in the game open as long as possible.
Normally, the best Challenge to leave incomplete is the Gem Match challenge of finding 500 items by winning games of Gem Match (in this case Potions). However since this particular Challenge gives the Sphere of Miracles as a reward, most players will probably want to complete it as quickly as possible to get the coveted desktop award (or upgrade it if they already have one).
So, for this update, it is better to leave one of the other challenges incomplete instead. The best option is the 30 Special Quests, as this is the easier of the other 2 challenges to control. As you work through the 30 special quests, or other quests from the update you may reach Academician level in Spooky Yard, so sometimes it is difficult to avoid finishing the Avatar challenge.
The 30 Special Quests consist of 5 'collection sequences' of 6 quests each, where you first complete 5 quests, each asking you to find an item from one particular collection and the 6th quest then asks you to combine the Collection. This means that the last special Quest needed to finish this challenge is to combine a collection.
To avoid completing all the Timed Challenges, and having Pumpkin lanterns restricted, just don't combine this collection (you will need to be careful when combining collections normally with sorting enabled, to be sure you don't accidentally combine it).
By leaving this last quest, you will have already gathered all the items needed and will not need to play Spooky Yard again. Combining the collection can be done in seconds, so you will not accidentally leave it too late to finish the challenge. Just make sure that you have the right amount of the correct combining elements available when the time comes, or you could be stuck trying to play Witch's Hut over and over to gather combining elements in time.
By leaving this Challenge to the last possible moment, you can complete the other two challenges and still continue to collect Pumpkin lanterns in every picture to build up a stockpile of Pumpkin lanterns to use after they become restricted (while still being confident that you can complete all 3 challenges before the timer expires).
The Social Events Update Invitations and Banquet Hall[]
As part of the Social Events Update the picture Banquet Hall required special items called Invitations, in addition to energy points, for each play. These Invitation special items were removed from the game as part of the Halloween 2015 update and Banquet Hall is now a regular picture that just requires energy points to play. The Social Events collections that rewarded Invitations as rewards for combining changed to reward regular game items instead.
At the beginning of the Halloween 2015 update, any remaining Invitations in a players inventory are converted into equal parts Fireflies, Ladybugs, Carrots, Cupid arrows, and Tokens, the 5 main special items needed to player the regular paid scenes in the game.
The Social Event's Invitations being converted into the standard 5 special items at the beginning of the Halloween 2015 update!
As Banquet Hall has been made into a regular Picture, it has been upgraded to a high Level Picture (to bring it in line with new Pictures being higher and higher levels). When the Picture was introduced to the game, it was used as a Timed Challenge Picture. All Pictures used as part of Timed Challenges can be opened at experience level 7 in order to allow all players to take part in the Timed Challenges. They are given the energy point requirements and experience points/coins rewards to match this level, in addition to the rate of progress per play of the Picture at different Picture levels to match this low level. This means players can play the Timed Challenge picture for relatively few energy points, and will need fewer plays to increase the Pictures Level for the Novice - Pro Picture Levels (all pictures have the same rate of progress from High Explorer level on-wards).
The Halloween Update has changed Banquet Hall from a low level picture to a high level picture. It's unlocking level has been increased from level 7 to level 97*. Its energy point requirements have been increased to match this increase in unlocking level (it now takes 88 energy points to play Banquet Hall at Novice level rather than 17), as well as a corresponding increase in experience points and coins earned for every win of the game (300 exp/320 coins at Novice level rather than 70exp/90coins). It also takes more plays of the picture to work through the first few Picture levels (Novice - Pro) as the percentage increase at each level is lower, like other high level pictures (e.g. 2% per play at Pro level rather than 4% per play).
*Note that when you first start a game, Banquet Hall will say that it unlocks at level 95. Once you reach level 95, this requirement will increase to level 97. This is the case for the vast majority of the Pictures in the game now, the unlocking level increases from what is originally stated. The idea is that the original level you see is an 'early' unlocking level, the point at which you can pay with crystals (i.e. real money) to open the Picture early and the new, higher, level that is then required when you reach the early level is the 'real' unlocking level, where you can open the picture through normal game play rather than by paying. Players are not informed that the first level they see is actually a 'pay to play' level and that the real unlocking level is higher until they reach the 'pay to play' level, so in essence players have the goalposts moved on them when they think they have finally reached a level to open a picture and suddenly the game requires them to reach a higher level instead.
New Collections Added with the 2015 Halloween Update[]
Yet another new character was introduced to the game with the 2015 Halloween Update. Dietrich Maximillian von Rätselschmidt, the grandson of Gustav Rätselschmidt, and Head of the Department of Magical Photo Studies.
Dietrich joins the cast of other characters in the game that give players Quests.
Glitches Fixed by the Halloween 2015 Update[]
Banquet Hall Charges Fixed[]
Banquet Hall can now accept charges from multiple visiting Friends like all other Pictures/Puzzles in the game.
Friends Only Option in Top 1000 Fixed for Windows[]
The Travel Time Update removed the Friends Only option in the Top 1000 for tab for players using Windows. This was fixed in the Halloween 2015 Windows update, and now Windows users once again have this functionality like all other players on all other platforms.
Glitches Not Fixed by the Halloween 2015 Update[]
Talismans/Artifact Timers Still Running Down Too Fast[]
This is a problem that has been reported by some players (mostly those on the Kindle platform) since the Christmas 2014 last year, and became widespread across all platforms during the Travel Time Update and more noticeably the Social Events Update (when number of complaints by users increased exponentially). The problem continues to exist in the new Halloween 2015 update, and is now affecting players who have not experienced it before resulting in new complaints, mistakenly blaming this update for the problem.
Talismans and Artifact timers are running too fast, and so they are expiring long before their advertised time frame. The effect can be small on shorter running Talismans (2 hour Talismans expiring after 90 minutes instead of 2 hours) but is much more noticeable the longer the expected Talisman timer (e.g. 24 hour Artifacts expiring as much as 4 hours before they should).
Problems with the Halloween 2015 Update[]
Sphere of Miracles Crashing Game in Top 1000 again[]
Just like when the Level 2 Sphere of Miracles was introduced to the game during the Halloween 2014 Update, the new Level 3 Sphere of Miracles has not been fully integrated into all areas of the game.
A smaller image of the Level 3 Sphere of Miracles has not been added to the thumbnails used in populating the Top 1000 list. This means that when a player wins the Level 3 Sphere, there is no image available to display in their list of awards in the Top 1000 lists. The Sphere of Miracles slot will be empty in their lists of awards, and tapping on this empty slot will cause the game to crash instead of bringing up the information box for the Sphere. Tapping on the avatar of a player who has this empty slot where a Level 3 Sphere of Miracles should be will also crash the game.
Both the Sphere of Miracles and the Pyramid of Wonder do not appear in the full top 1000 list for any player since the introduction of the Level 2 versions of these awards were introduced and not fully integrated into the system. When a player looks at the Top 1000 list the only Sphere of Miracles or Pyramid of Wonder they will see in any category will be next to their own name (if they are in the top1000 for that category). It will appear as if all other players in the game do not have either award. However, if you press 'Friends only' in any category to see the rankings amongst your game Friends, you will see everyone's Spheres and Pyramids and can interact with them (tap on them to bring up information boxes about them).
When a player obtains the Level 3 Sphere of Miracles and then looks that top 1000 list for their entry, they will see that the Sphere has completely disappeared from its slot in their list of awards. Tapping on this empty slot will cause the game to completely crash. Tapping on their own Avatar in the top 1000 will also cause their game to crash. When they tap on 'Friends only' to bring up the rankings of their game Friends, they will also see an empty slot where their level 3 Sphere should appear, and tapping on the empty slot will also crash their game, and again tapping on their own avatar will cause their game to crash. If any of their Friends have also obtained the Level 3 Sphere of Miracles, they will also see an empty slot where their Sphere should be, and again tapping on the empty slot will crash their game, and tapping on that Friend's avatar will also cause their game to crash.
If any of your Friends used to have a Level 2 Sphere of Miracles, and now have the Level 3 Sphere of Miracles (which you will see when visiting them), then you will see that they now have an empty slot where their Sphere should be when you are looking at the 'Friends only' section of the Top 1000.Avoid accidentally tapping on this empty slot when scrolling through you friends to avoid potential game crashes. Your game will not crash in the main Top 1000 list since the game does not display any Spheres or Pyramids for any other player in this list when you view it. Only players with the Level 3 Sphere will find their game will crash when tapping on the empty slot in the main Top 1000 since the game does normally display their Sphere in that slot for them.
(whether a game crashes when tapping on a ghost empty slot for the Level 3 Sphere of Miracles in the Top 1000 lists may be device dependent, and at the moment is only confirmed on iOS and Android devices).
Server Problems Gifting and Visiting[]
As with all large updates released for the game, the Halloween 2015 update caused an overload in the games servers during peak times for a couple of days immediately following the release of the update on any platform. During this time players may encounter problems visiting and gifting, and be given a "Failure to connect to the servers" error message when trying to interact with the Friends portion of the game. The servers normally go back to normal after a couple of days once all players on that platform have downloaded the new update.
