At 500 Stars, you receive a new Animal in the form of the Festive Reindeer and some Diamonds. There is a prompt cobgratulating you and tellibg you that you are free now to explore, but I need to suss out why I would need to continue, apart from it being a pretty map.
At 400 Stars, the chest contains Energy, Diamonds and a Lovely Gingerbread House Decoration for Seaside.
The basis of the game is clearing obstacles and building bridges, Houses and Cottages, among other things. Items when cleared contain materials, Energy and Diamonds. I have compiled an ongoing list of the obstacles and the rewards they contain when cleared using Energy.
The game is fueled by Energy and Diamonds. Energy is required to clear obstacles. With Diamonds, you can build without having all the required materials. You can purchase adfitional Energy as well with Diamonds.
This activity combines aspects of the Unicorn/Phoenix Activity with the Cake Activity in my opinion.
The goals are twofold:
1. To obtain the final reward of a new Animal in the form of the Reindeer
2. To complete the list of goals that give you the Stars needed to reach the total required for the final Reward.
The icon on the bottom left takes you to the Reindeer Island Rewards Menu. You will see the tasks, the number of Stars earned for each, and five Reward Chests below that.
There are other tasks as well that appear at the top left of the screen and appear to be linked to specific areas on the map. They are given by Felicia or Darryl and appear in a sst order. You must complete the task given to be able to perform the next one. Completing these tasks gives you Energy as a Reward but will not give you Stars
Speaking of Stars in this context may be confusing as there are Stars that are materials for building and are completely different from the Stars that acts as currency to obtain the Rewards..
At this point, I have two unconfirmed theories about this Activity:
1. I cannot imagine a player can complete it without spending RC or cash. One receives only 100 Energy that refreshes quite slowly over time. Although there are Gift boxes that give Energy and a few that give Diamonds as well, a number of these are located on what I think may be 'bonus' map areas. These are areas where a bridge has to be made using Golden Tools. I believe there are two such bridges. The only way I have obtained Golden Tools is by spending cash. I no longer believe they are bonus arsas because altbough they have no buildings, you may need to cut down the Bell trees to complete a task that requires
200 Bells.
3. It is vital to complete the Reindeer Island task list if you wish to claim the Festive Reindeer as it can be claimed only if you earn 500 Stars. What this means is that you need to collect the various materials in quantity. If you use Diamonds to build, some tasks will remain incomplete until you collect the materials required for the task. Example: Have 200 Stars
Although this is the first Activity in Seaside that possibly cannot be completed without investment in the form of real money, remember that one could not obtain the Unicorn or the Phoenix without the equivalent of a Seaside Pass that had to be purchased using real money. Likewise, the Seaside Pass decorstion requires a cash purchase as opposed to use of RC.
On the other hand, the total investment that may be required is beginning to appear outrageous. When I discovered that building a third castle did not satisfy the task of building three castles and I discovered I was expected to upgrade a Level 1 Castle to Level 2 using significantly more materials, my hopes began to dim. How can this Reindeer cost more than the most expensive premium decorations?
I had completed all goals apart from the one of building three castles, having 200 Gingerbread Men, Having 200 Bells and finding 3 Mary's Surprise Gifts.
I proceeded to complete the task of finding 3 Mary's Surprises. This increased my total Star count to 400, allowing me to obtain more Energy and Diamonds and the Lovely Gingerbread House for Seaside
The May's Surprise Gift Boxes are hidden behind obstacles. AS IYLT TURNS OUT, THE LOCATION MAY BE DIFFERENT FOR EVERY FARM. ONE WAS HIDDEN BEHIND A LARGE GOLDEN TREE ON MY SECOND FARM. They were behind Bell Trees on my primary farm, although I did not pay attention at first. If you look at the Energy cost of cutting down a Bell Tree, you will see you need over 200 Energy to remove it. Be prepared.
I will try to describe their locations:
AGAIN EVERY FARM IS DIFFERENT!
Two are in icy areas and one in green. I am trying to describe them after the fact unfortunately.
1. One can be found on the largest area at the bottom of the map with two Wooden Suspension Bridges. Close to the lower bridge is a hedge. In front of it is a Bell Tree. When you remove that, you should find a Mary's Surprise Gift. (This is a misty area where you cannot go north until you remove a Tornado.)
2. At the top of the map in one of the central areas where you ultimately are asked to upgrade a Luxury Castle and there are many ice hedges, go to the lower right corner, to the left of an ice hedge to remove a Bell Tree to find Mary's Surprise.
3. At the area on the far right of the bottom of the Map, you will find two green hedges with an oprning with a Pit that must be covered. Go down to the far right bottom corner to find Mary's Surprise Gift. I think it was behind a Bell Tree like the others.
To build the Level 2 Luxury Castle requires 277 Diamonds or 20 Stars, 30 Gingerbread Men and 30 Bells.
Here are some Energy costs:
Bell Tree: 147 Energy followed by 98 Energy
Gingerbread House: 72 Energy, 48 Energy, 25 Energy
72 Energy gives 3
48 Energy gives 2
25 Energy gives 1
In my game, I need 34 more Gingerbread Men to reach the goal of 200. You use 145 Energy to obtain 6 Gingerbread Men. 500 Energy will give me 30 Gingerbread Men. I have spent thousands of Energy so far, only had a total of 390 Stars until I completed the Mary's Surprise Gifts goal.
Star Bush: 50 Energy, 18 Energy
The goal list in the Reindeer Island Menu, not in order, is:
Build 7 Wooden Suspension Bridges
Clear 30 Rocks
Cut down 20 Trees
Build 2 Orange Cottages
Deal with 2 Tornadoes
Build 4 Wooden Suspension
Bridges
Build 1 Castle
Deal with 1 Tornado
Build 1 Wooden Suspension Bridge
Build 1 Orange Cottage
Find 3 Mary's Surprise Gifts
Have 200 Bells
Have 200 Gingerbread
Have 200 Stars
Build 3 Orange Cottages
Build 2 Castles
Build 3 Castles
Deal with 5 Tornadoes
Deal with 4 Tornadoes
Deal with 3 Tornadoes
You receive Stars when you complete one of these goals, and at specific totals, receive Chests containing Rewards. At 500 Stars, you should receive the Festive Reindeer.
Gift Boxes contain 20 Energy
Pink Gifts: contain Energy and Diamonds (20 Energy and 5 Diamonds)
Blue Gift Box with Blue Bow contains 50 Energy but no Diamonds
Mary's Surprise contains Energy and Diamonds
Another Blue Gift Box with a Bow gave 100 Energy but no Diamonds
Some gift boxes give as many as 120 Energy.
Rocks contain Stones
Trees contain Wood
Bushes contsin Branches
Grass contains Grass
Star Bushes contain Stars
Gingerbread Houses contain Gingerbread Men
Bell Trees contain Bells
The icon on the bottom left gives the lists of tasks. Completing tasks earns Stars towards the final Rewards.
When you find a bomb, you can use 30 Diamonds to detonate it.
WARNING: Felicia tells you to build a Luxury Castle. You build the 2nd Castle but it does not satisfy the task. You must rebuild that castle to Level 2:
Level 2 Luxury Castle: 20 Stars, 30 Gingerbread, 30 Bells
You cannot complete the goal of building three Castles until this is done!
Strategies:
You can go through the map and clear obstacles everywhere as well as collecting all the gifts. Your Energy will refresh at reset. I do not know honestly if you can reach the final goal, however, if you do not pay either RC or cash for more Energy.
You can pay for additional Energy and/or Diamonds. The game offers special bubble deals that include some of the rare materials.
The Mary's Surprise Gifts are useful as they contain Energy and Diamonds and by finding all three, you earn Stars. They generally become visible when you cut down a Bell Tree. One needs more than 200 Energy to cut down a Bell Tree.
Tip: There are little tasks that pop up when you are in a specific area, given by Felicia or Darryl. You often have to complete this task before you can perform another one in that area.
Although every obstacle yields useful materials, try to be aware of the materials needed for the next goal. Your Energy is best used to obtain Stars, Gingerbread Men and Bells if those are needed to build the structure required in the current task instead of destroying obstacles that yield Grass or Rocks. Ultimately all materials are useful but the order in which you clear obstacles can matter.
These are some requirements for building. Note that every structure, even if there are more than one of the same type, has its own requirements. As with most options in Seaside, they become progressively more expensive.
Orange Cottage: the 1st one required 1 Branch, 4 Grass
Wooden Suspension Bridge: 1st one required 4 Branch, 4 Stone
2nd Wooden Suspension Bridge: ? Stone, ? Star, 3 Gingerbread Men
Pit: 10 Branch, 10 Wood, 10 Stone
Note that the task to cut down one Mature Pine requires you cut down a specific tree in the North. Use the magnifying glass to identify it.
Tornado: 1st one requires 9 Grass, 9 Branch, 5 Gingerbread Men
Ice Pit: 1st one requires 8 Grass, 6 Branch. 5 Wood
Luxury Castle: 1st one requires 5 Stone, 4 Stars, 4 Gingerbread Men
Ice Pit : 6 Branch, 6 Wood, 5 Gingerbread Men
Ice Bridge; 6 Wood, 6 Stars
Ice Pit: 10 Grass, 10 Stone, 5 Gingerbread Men
Tornado: 15 Grass, 10 Branch, 8 Bells
Bridge: forgot to log this but it required Grass, Branches and Wood
Pit: 25 Wood, 25 Stone, 20 Stars
Tornado: 20 Stars, 15 Gingerbread, 15 Bells
Later tasks:
Pit: Required 45 Branches, 45 Wood, 16 Gingerbread Men
Wooden Suspension Bridge: 3 Golden Pickaxe, 3 Golden Saw, 3 Golden Shovel
Tornado: 25 Stars, 20 Gingerbread Men, 20 Bells (5th Tornado)
Orange Cottage: 30 Stars, 30 Gingerbread Men, 30 Bells (3rd one)
Luxury Castle: 15 Stars, 45 Gingerbread, 18 Bells (3rd one)
Chest for 300 Stars: 500 Energy and 20 Diamonds
