Vinesweeper

Vinesweeper is a Farming/Hunter-based, members-only minigame. It is located on Winkin's farm.

Requirements

 * Spade (or 5 coins to buy one; the Tool Leprechaun can store a spade) (A spade in the toolbelt works just fine)
 * At least one flag, 10 flags are given free at the beginning; replacement flags up to a maximum of 10 are 500 coins each or 50 points per flag as trade with Mrs. Winkin.

Getting to the minigame
At any farming patch with a Tool Leprechaun wandering around, except on Harmony Island or Trollheim, right-click him or her and click 'teleport'. Request to be teleported to the minigame. He will then say "Avach nimporto" and you will find yourself at the minigame site. There is a portal North-East of the farmhouse to return to the patch. Familiars and pets cannot be brought into the minigame.

Playing the game
To start, speak to Farmer Blinkin or Mrs. Winkin, who will give you 10 free flags and tell you how to play the game. You can have a maximum of only 10 flags.

The game involves a grid of holes. After digging at a hole with a spade a number will appear at the digging location. The number indicates the number of adjacent squares that hold a seed. The numbers range from zero to seven. (0 is invisible, 1 is blue, 2 is green, 3 is red, 4 is yellow, 5 is purple, 6 is teal, 7 is very light brown.)

In case of a zero, the minigame will show an empty area if the edge of the empty area is close enough the numbers on the edge will be displayed instantly too. Digging at a location that carries a seed, destroys the seed.

After locating a square with a seed indicate the location by planting a flag. A farmer will retrieve the seed and give points as a reward. If the indicated location does not carry a seed, the flag will be lost and the number of points is reduced.

Once you have used your 10 flags, you will need to retrieve them from Farmer Blinkin or Mrs. Winkin, who will also offer to replace any you have lost for 500 coins each. Mrs. Winkin will also sell them for 50 points.

Rabbits
After planting a flag, rabbits will race the farmers to the indicated spot. Rabbits will shrink and run away when fed an Ogleroot. Ogleroots can be bought from Farmer Blinkin for 10 gp, by right-clicking on him, or found randomly during the digging process. This will give you 30 Hunter experience. If a rabbit reaches your flag before the farmer is finished digging up the seed, you lose the flag and get no points. Any excess ogleroots are refunded when you leave the minigame. If a rabbit has already "locked on" to a flagged seed, then any attempts to feed it an ogleroot will fail.

There are a total of 8 rabbits which respawn from the rabbit holes at the border of the field, 2 holes on each side.

Tips

 * There is never a seed on the edge of a numberless spot, so if there are mounds next to an empty spot it's always safe to click those.
 * If you get a message saying you're unsure of what is in the hole, search again until you're sure.
 * If you do not know where to start or if you think there is a seed but you are not sure, use the investigate option. It does not always work, but it does not hurt to try.
 * Don't plant a flag near a rabbit hole (they're on the outer rim of the fields).
 * Always stay close to farmers to increase the chance a rabbit will be too late.
 * If you can't figure out where the seeds are, it is possible to follow other players, but you get fewer points that way too.
 * The number of points received for identifying a seed is related to your farming level. At very low levels, digging up ground is more efficient than planting flags.
 * As this minigame is based on Minesweeper, see the Wikipedia page for more information. If you do not wish to risk losing flags while learning to play, playing Minesweeper can be a good way to start off. Many computers automatically have this game, and free online versions can be found.
 * Playing near edges helps you when a seed is near your chance to pick a seed, because there are fewer holes to pick from.
 * Whenever possible, play with other players. It allows you to cover more land and locate seeds quicker. You should remember that you can get points for their finds as well as yours (providing you are close enough). It also makes the game more enjoyable as a whole.
 * However, a down side to playing with others is that sometimes less experienced players will dig up a seed near you or start flagging all of your spots without permission. It is suggested that you either choose to work alone, which often provides the largest amount of possible points, or choose with others, which will be more fun and slightly easier, but at a slower point gaining rate.
 * When a seed is dug up, the numbers around the area where it was are cleared. This is mildly annoying, however, the seed positions themselves will not reset (though new ones may be added in previously safe spots), so a solution is to bring disposable non-stacked items, and drop them on known seed holes before flagging nearby seeds. Then the holes can be immediately flagged, regardless of whether the numbers are there or not.

Points


Points can be spent by trading with Mrs. Winkin inside the house.


 * Note 1 You have to be close to the spot where the flag is planted

Farming experience
One farming experience costs from 1 point (at level 40+) to 7.75 points (below level 40.) A player would need around 101.01 million vinesweeper points to get 1-99 farming in one exchange unless the game automatically changed the rates while exchanging; in this case a player would need around 13.16 million points.

You only get farming experience for trading in points.

Instructional Signs
Use a spade to dig in the farmer's field and try to work out where the seeds have been planted. Try not to dig up the seeds, as this will lose you points! Usually, when you dig a square, you will uncover a number, which shows how many seeds are in the holes next to.

Plant your flags in holes where you think that seeds may be found. If you are correct, you will get lots of points, but if you are wrong, you will lose the flag. If you are close to other players, you might get some points if they find seeds, too!

Farmers wander the area looking for seeds that have been dug up by mistake. They will also collect any flags you have placed, resetting the nearby area and giving you points if the flag is in the right place.

If you place a flag over a seed, you will be able to get the flag back from Mrs. Winkin or Farmer Blinkin. If you placed a flag wrongly, you will have to pay 500gp for a new one.

Watch out for rabbits wandering around the farmyard. They are hungry and will look for flags, as they often mean hidden food! If a rabbit eats the seed under a flag, you will not get any points for it and will lose the flag.

You can improve your Hunter skill by finding ogleroots in the farmyard and feeding them to the rabbits. Ogleroots are magical vegetables and will cause the rabbit to disappear for a short amount of time.

While you are in the area, you will be able to see your points total in the top-right corner of your screen. Your points are saved, so you can leave if you wish and return another time to pick up from where you left off.

You can trade your points in for prizes or Farming experience by speaking to Mrs. Winkin in the Winkin shop.

Making money
Most items traded from Mrs. Winkin can be sold to other players or at the Grand Exchange. Flags are not tradeable. Experience for planting per seed bought is also given. It assumes an average harvest of 15 for allotments, 7 for clean herbs, 10 for hops, 4 for bushes, 6 for fruit trees, 3 for the cactus, 1 for belladonna and flowers (except limpwurt, which is 3), and 6 for mushrooms (even though bushes, fruit trees, and the cactus can be harvested more than once). Experience growing a seed can be compared to the points needed to buy it, as points can be traded directly for experience. Note that allotments and hops require planting multiple seeds.


 * Coins/point is a measure of how profitable it is to buy seeds with Vinesweeper points and sell them for coins.
 * Coins/harvest/point is a measure of how profitable it is to buy seeds with Vinesweeper points, grow them, and sell the harvest for coins.
 * Experience and return/point values for "harvesting" supercompost are the differences between using/selling supercompost versus using/selling compost.
 * Experience/seed can be used to judge how much sense it makes to buy the seed for points and grow it for experience. For most of the mid to high level seed rewards, the amount of experience for growing per seed is less than the experience purchased directly with the same number of points. For example, it takes 29,000 Vinesweeper points to purchase a yew seed. The experience for growing per seed is only 7150.9 experience points, while purchasing farming experience is 29,000 experience points (for farming level 40+). As such, it is advisable to avoid spending points on seeds costing over 100 points apiece, with the possible exceptions of the Spirit Tree Seed and Compost Potions, both of which are much more difficult to obtain otherwise.

Music

 * Charmin' Farmin' - Visiting the area

Trivia

 * Vinesweeper's name and mechanics are derived from the computer game minesweeper.
 * The house at the centre of the farm is architecturally similar to Peter Jackson's depiction of Hobbit holes in the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
 * When you examine the entrance portal it says: Gnome sweet Gnome?
 * The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a children's book about a rabbit sneaking into Mr. McGregor's garden and eating as many vegetables as he can before being chased around. He is also in another book The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (name similar to Mrs. Winkin).

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