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TruthScape Minigame Secrets - Vinesweeper TruthScape Minigame Secrets - Vinesweeper - Introduction, Rewards and Requirements

This quick guide provides an explanation of the most important fundamentals of Vinesweeper. It is intended for those who want to learn the basics of the minigame, and as such summarizes the information in the rest of the Vinesweeper guide.

Of necessity, most of the “meat” of the full guide—details and explanations—must be omitted here. I recommend reading the full guide to really learn how Vinesweeper works. You can also click some of the links in the text below to be taken to relevant pages offering more detail in specific areas.

Vinesweeper is the first Farming-specific minigame in RuneScape. It is based on the computer classic Minesweeper, and designed to be a fun way to let players gain experience, items or both, while engaging in an activity that many consider more fun than conventional Farming. It has a multiplayer component to it that provides benefits for cooperative gameplay, and few requirements, so anyone can participate.

The setup for this minigame is a gnomish farming couple named Mr. and Mrs. Winkin who are having trouble locating the seeds in their field. Your job is to dig up the holes in the field to reveal information that indicates where the seeds are. You then plant flags in the field, and score points when NPC farmers clear the flags. You also get a smaller number of points when other players successfully flag seeds in the same area. You will face obstacles, however, in the form of rabbits that try to eat seeds under your flags, and penalties for improperly placed flags or dug up seeds.

The number of points you can earn is a function of both your Farming level and how well you play the game. I am level 78 Farming and can earn about 15,000 points per hour if I play well; sometimes more.

There are two basic rewards from the minigame, both of which can be obtained by trading in points at any time. First, you can swap points for Farming XP on a 1-to-1 basis, as long as you are above level 40 (you get less per point below that). This is the more popular option for most players. Note that you do not gain any experience for actually playing, so if you want XP from the activity you must trade points.

Second, you can use points to buy items from Mrs. Winkin. She offers 27 varieties of seeds, ranging from useless junk to valuable seeds like ranarr, watermelon and palm tree. You an also get the rare and untradeable spirit tree seed, and the useful compost potion that turns bins of compost into supercompost.

Vinesweeper does not replace regular farming; you can always get more XP per hour with conventional methods, and make more money at it as well. Rather, the minigame complements the rest of the skill, because it is an activity that requires constant attention, while Farming has long periods of waiting time.

The minigame is accessed via teleport by tool leprechauns at Farming patches, so an excellent way of using it is to play the minigame while waiting for crops to grow, then harvest, replant and repeat. You can also use it at a tree patch: harvest fruit (cactus spines, willow branches and so forth), play for a while, then harvest some more.

This is one of those rare minigames that has no skill or quest requirements whatsoever; anyone can play. (You do need to have done Garden of Tranquility to get compost potions, though.) It is member’s only, of course, as is the Farming skill itself. Item requirements are also few: you need a spade, and some coins to buy replacement flags when you lose them; they cost 500 gp each.

Vinesweeper is a safe minigame that involves no combat or other possibility of damage.

As the name suggests, Vinesweeper is strongly based on the classic computer game Minesweeper, and is played in a similar manner. There are a few important differences, though, which mean even experienced Minesweeper players will have a bit of a learning curve.

To begin playing Vinesweeper, Access Winkin’s Farm by withdrawing a spade and roughly 5,000 coins from the bank. Then right-click any tool leprechaun (except the one on Trollheim) and choosing the “Teleport’ option; you’ll be deposited in the central area of a large farm. Near the door of the farmhouse is Farmer Blinkin; right-click him and choose “Buy-flags” to get back your flags from your previous visit, and buy replacements if you lost any. (If this is your first time, you get a starting set of 10 flags for free.) Next, right-click the farmer, choose “Buy-roots” and buy around 20 ogleroots, to feed rabbits; they cost 10 gp each, which you get back for any that you don’t use.

You are now ready to play. Step over one of the stiles into the playing field, and find a quiet area away from other players, preferably one where you see floating numbers already displayed.

You can dig any hole in the field by left-clicking it. Doing this will either reveal a number, open up an area of empty space, or reveal a seed. When a number appears, it tells you how many seeds there are in the eight squares surrounding that number; empty spaces represent “zeroes”. You want to avoid digging up seeds, but the penalty for this is only 10 points.

The object of the game is to use the numbers you dig up, along with the positions of holes and empty spaces, to figure out where the seeds are. You do this using logic, whereby you can deduce where seeds must be based on how many holes are left and what the numbers are around them. For example, if you find a number “2” and there are only two holes touching it, they both must be seeds. There are many common patterns that arise in the game, and you can find seeds much more quickly once you learn to recognize them.

When you find a seed, plant a flag on it and wait for a farmer to arrive. If you were correct, you will be awarded points, and the farmer will store the flag, which you can get back from Farmer Blinkin. If there was no seed in the hole, the farmer will confiscate the flag and you must buy a replacement. You can only own 10 flags at a time, and you don’t have to be near a flag you plant when it is dug up to get points for it.

There are also rabbits roaming the field, which will notice your flags and try to get to them to eat the seeds under them before the farmers. If they do, your flag will be destroyed. To fend off the rabbits, click to feed them ogleroots, which makes them disappear and keeps your flag safe; these roots can be purchased and are also occasionally found when you dig holes.

Finally, there’s an “Inspect” option for each hole, which gives you a chance to figure out whether or not it contains a seed. The drawback of this feature is that it is very slow, so you are better off learning how to identify seeds based on board patterns and number positions. Inspecting should only be used in cases where the information is ambiguous or you get stuck.

Whenever you either dig up a seed or successfully flag it, after the seed is cleared the area three squares in each direction from it (7x7 squares total) is reseeded. This entire area is covered with holes again, and any indicator numbers are removed, forcing you to dig again to reveal them.

It’s important to note that reseeding can potentially add new seeds to an area but will never remove existing ones. So, if you’ve mentally located two seeds, and you flag one and the farmer clears the flag, you can still flag the second one after reseeding—assuming you remember where it was. Reseeding also will not impact any flags already planted—if there was a seed when you planted the flag, you still get points for it.

You can leave the farm at any time by clicking the portal near where you entered, or just teleporting out. Your flags will be stored and you’ll be reimbursed 10 gp for any ogleroots you bought or found. Any Vinesweeper points you did not redeem for XP or seeds will be saved for your next visit.

The full Vinesweeper guide is packed with advice on the best strategies and tips for success. I’ll summarize the basics here for you.

There are two good strategies for approaching the game: you can either try to locate many seeds in an area and flag them all at once, or find a seed, flag it, allow the area to be reseeded and then repeat the process. The “reveal the field” strategy is more rewarding, because you really are solving part of the puzzle, and it is better suited to group play. On the other hand, it is slower, it allows other players to interfere with you, and any mistakes you make undo a lot of work. The “dig and flag” strategy is faster and less prone to problems, but more repetitive and less suited to play with others.

Each time you successfully flag a seed, Vinesweeper awards a fraction of the points you earn to others around you; the amount given is somewhat random, but based on the Farming levels of both players. For this reason, some players prefer to do the minigame as a team, benefiting from each other’s work. Most people also think it is more fun to do activities with friends than by themselves, and if two players are both good at Vinesweeper, each can get more points than it possible individually.

Playing solo has its own benefits, though. It is simpler, and there’s less concern over players interfering with each other. You can more easily use the faster “dig and flag” technique, and you don’t have to worry about making a mistake and mucking up someone else’s hard work.

You can trade your Vinesweeper points for Farming XP, item rewards, or both. Most players will prefer to spend their Vinesweeper points on XP, because most seeds can be purchased from other players, and you get more XP from the points directly than by using them to buy seeds. Many of the seeds offered by the game are also rather useless (nasturtium? dwelberry?).

That said, those who have always had trouble getting specific seeds they want to plant, such as ranarr or watermelon seeds, may well chose to spend their points to get some. The spirit tree seed is also a nice reward, not to get to plant for XP, but rather if you want the seed for transportation purposes.

You can use points to get replacement flags (rather than spending gold on them); this is a tradeoff of 50 points versus 500 gold pieces. The compost potion can be handy, especially when used in conjunction with a compost mound Summoning familiar.

Here’s a final summary of my most important tips for success at Vinesweeper:

• Play Vinesweeper in conjunction with regular Farming, not instead of it (unless you really hate regular Farming, I guess!)
  
  
• Always buy some ogleroots when you start, so you can protect flags before you find roots on your own.
  
  
• Choose a quiet world and location away from others to play.
  
  
• Dig randomly to start, until you open up part of the field; then make use of empty spaces, numbers and hole positions to identify seed locations.
  
  
• Never use the “Inspect” feature as a primary way of playing; it wastes time. Use it only to help out when you get stuck.
  
  
• Learn the common patterns that appear on the field, so you can flag seeds quickly.
  
  
• Don’t underestimate how many points you can get from digging, especially at lower levels.
  
  
• Look carefully for rabbits before and after planting a flag. Feed all rabbits on sight, even if you don’t have flags down.
  
  
• When an area is reseeded, any new holes that appear next to blank spaces or remaining numbers are automatically safe to dig.
  
  
• Reseeding doesn’t remove seeds, so it needn’t interfere with planting flags where a seed is known to be.
  
  
• Run back for replacement flags as soon as you are sure a farmer will get to your last one before any rabbits do.
  
  
• When playing solo, you can get more XP per hour by planting flags as you find seeds, rather than digging out a whole region.
  
  
• If other players start competing with you (such as flagging seeds you have revealed), move or switch worlds.
  
  
• You can only trade points for XP all at once, so if you want both seeds and XP, get the seeds first.
  
  
• Trade points for XP and not seeds, unless there’s a specific seed type that you really want and can’t buy.

TruthScape Minigame Secrets - Vinesweeper TruthScape Minigame Secrets - Vinesweeper - Introduction, Rewards and Requirements