The Mines

Where it is

The Mines sit in the north of the mountains, northeast of the carpenter's shop and west of the Adventurer's Guild. A landslide blocks the door on Spring 1 through Spring 4 of year 1. On Spring 5, a letter from Morris says Joja has cleared it.

The entrance has a ladder to floor 1, an elevator, and a minecart. The minecart starts working after the Boiler Room bundles, or after buying Minecarts on the Joja form for 15,000g. Marlon meets you the first time you walk in and gives you a Rusty Sword. The Dwarf's shop is through the rock to the east. A steel pickaxe or any bomb breaks that rock.

• Floor bandsEarth, ice, and lava, plus the chest every 10 floors
• ElevatorStops on visited multiples of 5
• MonstersWho shows up in each band
• First daysSpring 5, copper, and the furnace

One hundred twenty floors

There are 120 floors. Ore gets more common as you go down. Break rocks with a pickaxe for stone, ore, and geodes. Hoe the dirt for minerals, artifacts, ore, clay, and cave carrots.

The floors split into three bands of 40. Floors 1–39 are brown earth, 40–79 are frozen, and 80–119 are lava and dark purple. The last stretch of each band changes the theme: 31–39 are shadowed, 70–79 look like a castle, and 110–119 are a darker crimson. Floor 5 uses the same layout as floors 45 and 85. The same pairing holds for the other matching numbers, such as 19, 59, and 99.

A ladder down appears when you break rocks or defeat a monster. Killing monsters finds a ladder without spending energy. After you take a ladder you are invulnerable for one second. On an infested floor every monster has to be defeated before a ladder appears, including duggies under the dirt. A staircase also skips an infested floor.

• Copper, iron, gold, and iridium
• Skull Cavern, after floor 120

Floor 120

Floor 120 holds the Skull Key. It opens the Skull Cavern door in the desert, and it also unlocks the Junimo Kart machine in the Stardrop Saloon.

Reaching floor 120 changes the rest of the game and stays changed. Prismatic Shards and diamonds can rarely drop from any monster. Most monsters get 50% more defense, twice the chance to miss, extra health from 0% to 100%, and extra damage from 0% to 50%. Twenty alternate mine layouts can start appearing. Those changes stay even when the Danger in the Deep quest resets the elevator.

After Qi's Walnut Room is open and Danger in the Deep is finished, the Shrine of Challenge on floor 120 toggles dangerous monsters. The toggle takes effect the next day. Dangerous mines can spawn radioactive nodes on floors that are not multiples of 5. On the day you first finish Danger in the Deep, a note on the shrine says to come back tomorrow.

Passing out

Passing out from empty energy, or at 2:00 am, costs 10% of your gold, up to 1,000g. You wake at the mine entrance.

Passing out from empty health costs 5% to 25% of your gold, up to 15,000g, and can take items, weapons, and tools. The Galaxy Sword stays. Lost tools come back in the mail the next day. Fishing poles and weapons do not. Marlon at the Adventurer's Guild sells one lost item, or one stack, for its base sell price. After the Mapping Cave Systems book, that price is halved. His stock lasts until the next time you lose items in the Mines.