Festive farm
The Festive farm is a seasonal event you can only reach through the airport, and only for 30 days. I help Nils Nordson get his festive production going, something his meeting with Santa Claus himself inspired him to do. Buildings I put up and goods I sell earn me festive coins, which I then swap with the winter trader or use to climb as high as I can in the event leaderboard.
The Festive farm is worth it mainly for the horseshoes, which I then put to use on the horse ranch, and for the one-off rewards for the chapters and for my leaderboard placement – it is a short but packed event that I definitely wouldn't skip.
The Festive farm is a time-limited trip beyond the Arctic Circle
The character who introduces me to the event tells how they got to know Nils Nordson while sailing around the North Cape in the Arctic Ocean – Nils was on a polar expedition at the time and, purely by chance, ran into Santa Claus himself there. The meeting inspired him so much that he decided to expand production on his farm to include festive items, and that's why he needs a hand.
I reach the Festive farm through the airport, which I have to unlock first. Right at the airport it pays to exchange dollars for snow dollars at a favorable rate – snow dollars are available on the Festive farm straight away, so I can get to work the moment I land.
Access is limited to 30 days. The Festive farm is only a temporary build that wouldn't survive the summer without maintenance, so every year it's torn down once the event ends and everything I built turns into festive coins. The story of the event is split into three chapters.
- Chapter 1 – On Santa's trail
- Chapter 2 – A good team
- Chapter 3 – The real recipe for success
Production splits into fields, livestock, orchards and processing
The Festive farm has fourteen buildings split up by the same logic as a regular farm – fields, livestock, orchards and processing buildings, plus housing and one special structure, the festive bank.
- Winter field – I sow seeds here, or set out eggs of sardines, herring or red flax. Every resource has its own growing time and its own yield. Sardines and herring go into animal feed, while red flax is turned into festive items in the festive workshop.
- Livestock – the Penguin pond and the Seal pond, where I raise penguins and seals on feed made from fish.
- Orchards – the Berry orchard, the Fir grove and the Sheep pasture supply berries, fir wood and dyed wool.
- Processing – the Stone mill, the Silo and the Kelp tank turn resources into manure, plant remains and winter fertilizer (including the premium versions) and into seaweed feed and seaweed fertilizer.
- Festive workshop – this is where the finished festive items come together, such as the Santa hat, the Reindeer figurine, the Festive wreath or the Festive tree, which I then sell for festive coins.
- Housing – the House and the Fancy house.
All told, twenty-five different products pass through my hands on the farm, from raw resources to finished festive items.
The festive bank turns dollars into snow dollars at a favorable rate
The festive bank is there to exchange dollars for snow dollars, and at a particularly favorable rate. The snow dollars are available on the Festive farm immediately, but I have to wait before the next exchange, because the bank has a cooldown.
It pays to upgrade the bank step by step – it goes all the way up to level eight, and every upgrade lets me exchange a bigger amount at once, so I sit through the cooldown less often.
Festive coins lead through the trader all the way to horseshoes for the ranch
Buildings I put up and goods I sell earn me festive coins. I then swap them with the winter trader, who offers decorations and special seeds in return – and those are best put to use in the greenhouse on the main farm.
I sow the trader's seeds in the greenhouse and grow rare fruit from them. Once I have enough of it, Captain Barnacle loads it onto his ship after the wind blows him right into my harbor. As a thank you for the cargo I get a reward that I use when training a horse on the horse ranch.
Among other things, Captain Barnacle hands out horseshoes for the goods he loads, and according to the horse ranch hints, taking part in the Festive farm is the best way to collect them. I need horseshoes to even get started on the ranch – a horse of my own, a paddock, a riding arena and a stable are all waiting there for me.
The leaderboard and festive offers pile on extra rewards
The event leaderboard shows me how I'm doing against the other players, and it goes by how many festive coins I've collected. There's a sensational prize for the top places, but sheer hard graft is rewarded too – collecting as many coins as possible earns a separate hard work reward that has nothing to do with placement.
On top of that, festive offers from Omar pop up over the course of the event, time-limited deals on goods. If I don't like an offer, I just turn it down and wait for the next one, which is every bit as good. The symbol on the offer tells me which farm it can be used on.
An overview of the buildings on the Festive farm
The farm has fourteen buildings, and putting them up and upgrading them eats snow dollars or, in the case of the fancy house, Gold. Most of them go up to level four, the exception being the festive bank with its eight levels.
| Building | Category | First level cost | Max. level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farmhouse | Main | — | 4 |
| Stone mill | Production | 15 000 snow dollars | 4 |
| Penguin pond | Livestock | 25 000 snow dollars | 4 |
| Seal pond | Livestock | 60 000 snow dollars | 4 |
| Silo | Production | 25 000 snow dollars | 4 |
| Kelp tank | Production | 30 000 snow dollars | 4 |
| Berry orchard | Orchard | 78 000 snow dollars | 4 |
| House | Housing | 10 000 snow dollars | 4 |
| Fancy house | Housing | 250 Gold | 4 |
| Festive bank | Special | 10 000 snow dollars | 8 |
| Festive workshop | Production | — | 4 |
| Winter field | Field | 20 000 snow dollars | 4 |
| Fir grove | Orchard | 60 000 snow dollars | 4 |
| Sheep pasture | Orchard | 100 000 snow dollars | 4 |
