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How to get Mystery Boxes in Stardew Valley & what to do with them

stardew valley mystery box air drop

Mystery Boxes are a new addition to Stardew Valley in the 1.6 update, but how are these unlocked and where can they be found?

Geodes are a staple of Stardew Valley. While fans were already familiar with multiple iterations of them thanks to Omni Geodes, the in-game gacha system was expanded even further with Mystery Boxes. While both the drop rate and the contents vary wildly, finding and cracking Mystery Boxes open is well worth the effort.

But how can players actually get Mystery Boxes in Stardew Valley 1.6? What do they do?

How to unlock Mystery Boxes in Stardew Valley

Mystery Boxes automatically become available after 50 in-game days have passed in Stardew Valley 1.6. But it’s also possible to hasten that unlock by simply redeeming the second Prize Ticket from Mayor Lewis’ Prize Machine.

Either way, a cutscene will play the next time the player goes to bed, depicting Mr. Qi in a biplane flying over the valley, air-dropping dozens of Mystery Boxes across the region.

A message stating “Mystery Boxes can now be found…” will also appear. From there, players can begin finding them in and around Pelican Town.

How to find Mystery Boxes?

Mystery Boxes can be found randomly in almost all of Stardew Valley’s RNG-based drops.

Players’ best means for getting Mystery Boxes is through fishing. Other repeatable methods include digging Artifact Spots, panning, and monster slaying.

Chances of getting a Mystery Box can be significantly improved through a variety of modifiers. Daily luck and luck buffs raise the chances of Mystery Boxes being available. This can be raised further by reading the Book of Mysteries, which just so happens to be one of the major drops from Mystery Boxes.

Having Foraging Mastery will spawn Golden Mystery Boxes instead, overriding ordinary Mystery Box drops. The contents of Golden Mystery Boxes are virtually identical to those of theirregular counterparts with only two additional items added to the loot table: the Golden Animal Cracker and the Auto-Petter.

stardew valley clint geode processing

What to do with Mystery Boxes

Mystery Boxes are opened by visiting Stardew Valley’s blacksmith, on any day except Friday. In the early game, it might behoove players to hoard five regular Mystery Boxes to complete the Helper’s Bundle for the Bulletin Board, in the event that it even appears as an option. This is especially useful as an early method to get Stardop Tea.

There are 130 potential items in the loot table of the Mystery Box ranging from seeds to swords, but only 53 in the Golden Mystery Box, including the aforementioned two unique items The significantly reduced size of the latter’s loot table raises the spawn chances of more appealing items such as books and rings.

Both types of Mystery Box are utterly detested as gifts by every single NPC in Stardew Valley. Mystery Boxes have no sale value, but can be used as either a dark cyan or gold dye for the regular and gold boxes, respectively. This isn’t recommended, however. Players are better off simply opening the box.

Written by Michelle Pereira

After playing at least one good game in every genre, Michelle Pereira has arrived at the conclusion that while she can find something to like in almost every niche, she really doesn’t enjoy rhythm and dance games. Why strain herself when she can sit back and strafe the enemy team with a biplane in Battlefield 1, or meticulously plot the every move of her misfit crew of mercenaries in Jagged Alliance 2?

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