If you’ve ever played farming simulators before such as Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, Rune Factory, and most prominently Stardew Valley, then you’re no doubt familiar with this story: your character just minding their business, when one day, they get torn away from their families and are drafted into helping repair an island where apparently nobody lives.
That’s not how the story usually goes? Well, get ready to work on the fields anyway – it’s the only way you’ll be able to get your old life back!
Mini Mini Farm is a much lighter take on these aforementioned farming simulators. With pared-down mechanics and simplified controls, Mini Mini Farm is a great way to pass the time, and is perfect for those who like to play in quick bursts. Thanks to the easy controls and streamlined systems, you can even play the game one-handed.
This game is available on both iOS and Android platforms. An extra word of caution here – Mini Mini Farm doesn’t seem to play nice with emulators, and I haven’t found any success trying to run it on my usual fallbacks (Bluestacks and Nox).
Mini Mini Farm has neither a time limit nor a loss condition, meaning you’re entirely free to play at your own pace. Don’t mistake this for a lack of depth though – while the initial systems are simple and intuitive enough to understand, progressing through the game unlocks more areas for you to cultivate and supervise, such that you’ll always have something to do. For those who are feeling daunted by this task, however, you’ve come to the right place.
Master Area One
Mini Mini Farm’s core gameplay loop is such: repair enough nodes in an area until you can build a house, then once that house is built, you’re free. Simple, right?
Now that you know what a humongous task lies ahead of you (seriously folks, we’re talking Animal Crossing depths of debt here), you’ll want to master each area so you can progress as quickly as possible. Or not – there’s no time limit, after all, and you’re free to play as you wish. To help you not be like me and get stuck without some vital resources, I’ll walk you through the first area in the game, with a crappy map I drew on my own.
The Area 1 Middle section is where you begin by default. This area provides a fair amount of resources. In this area, I highly suggest investing in the orange tree near the upper right, as there are only two orange trees in Area 1. You might also want to grab the farm animals in the barn ASAP – one sheep, one cow. They won’t produce too much milk and wool, but having some on hand is better than having none.
To the left of Area 1 Middle lies a fishing spot, where you can trade time and timing for gold. Since you have to watch ads between every fishing session (and no, turning your internet off causes the game to flip out), go for the biggest fish whenever you can.
Above the fishing spot is the key maker. Chest opener. I forgot the official term. Anyway, this lass is “key” (hehe) to opening boxes that you can randomly get while harvesting stuff. You can opt to either pay 5 copper and 300 gold to craft a key or just watch an ad to waive the fee and crafting minigame. I’ll expound on this later – there’s a lot more island to see.
Area 1 Middle also features two farm plots: a 3×3 turnip garden to the left and a 2×3 tomato garden to the right. Always check these as they’ll provide a steady stream of income, and they’re not very hard to maintain.
Secret Area 1 is located in the upper rightmost sector of Area 1 Middle. This is a small area that’s gated by a tree. Look for a small blue flower in the upper right of Area 1 Middle – said flower is resting directly below a tree you can cut for wood, and which bars access to the secret area. Keep these blue flowers in mind – when they’re alone, they often signify that there’s more than meets the eye in the area.
Once you’re in the secret area, you’ll gain access to a 2×2 corn garden. More importantly, you’ll also be able to swing by periodically to collect a chest, which gives both gold and a random assortment of resources. Do note that you have to watch an ad to open the chest, but it’s well worth it.
Area 1 East is unlocked by paying a small amount of gold to defeat a terrible waist-high fence. Take that, fence!
Once you’re in the area, you’ll gain a new 2×2 blueberry garden, as well as gain access to another orange tree, which you have to pay to restore. There’s also another fishing spot which contains a different selection of fish to lure out of their homes and condemn to either being eaten or becoming part of an aquarium that really ties the room together. I digress.
Area 1 West contains a humble amount of resources, but they’re all essential. Once you’ve paid the upfront fee to repair the bridge, you’ll gain access to a 2×2 strawberry garden. More importantly, you can unlock a copper node here – one of only two copper veins in Area 1.
Secret Area 2 requires you to invest quite a bit of gold to unearth a sandbar that will let you cross the water. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to reach the one and only apple tree in Area 1. I forgot if you have to pay for the tree, but you will most likely have to. If you need lots of apples, don’t accidentally cut down the tree – regrowing takes a while!
Area 1 South requires you to first rebuild the southern bridge from Area 1 Middle. Crossing this bridge reveals ideal pasture land, and it’s here that you can buy more animals – 2 cows and 2 sheep, to be precise. But wait – there’s more, in the form of a blue flower on the lower right of the island…
Secret Area 3 is found by raising yet another sandbar by paying a large amount of gold. Secret Area 3 also only has a single resource node, namely, the one and only silver vein in the entire Area 1.
Area 1 North requires you to vanquish yet another terrible waist-high fence. In return, you’ll gain access to a 1×2 carrot field, as well as access to the single most underwhelming secret area in Area 1. Said secret area is found by walking directly east of the blue flower to the upper right of the area
If my memory is correct, Secret Area 4 costs 900 gold to access…and in return, you can pay more money to set up another copper node. Unless you’re already gunning for the house, or need lots of copper for opening your boxes, I suggest unlocking this area for last – you already have copper on the western island, after all.
Setting Up Houses
So now the first island is in an acceptable state, and you’re ready to go home.
Well, just hold your (metaphorical) horses. Before you leave the first area, you’ll need to build a house. Said house not only requires that you have most, if not all of the structures rebuilt – and yes, that means the random piles of rocks – but also costs a pretty penny – 18,000 gold, 200 wood, 120 stone, 80 wool, and 30 copper. And even once the house is set up, you’re not done.
With that in mind, it’s a wise idea to start setting materials aside for the house when you’ve rebuilt every resource node in Area 1. In my case, I started hoarding all the wood, stone, wool, and copper once I hit 13,000 gold, and mostly kept resetting the requests board to get urgent quests that requested crops or other materials, such as silver.
Residents
At least you won’t have nothing to show for the new house you’ve built. Once you’ve completed a house’s construction, you can go in and add furniture. If you have enough furniture, a squatter new resident will show up and live in that house.
The new resident isn’t just for show though. They’ll automatically generate resources for you, which they’ll then deposit in the small box outside each area’s farm. Workers can be upgraded too – increasing their level makes them yield resources faster, while increasing the storage box’s level increases the amount of materials you get each time you visit.
Completing Your Artifacts
Seeing as you’ll be stuck in Area 1 for a while, why not use the time to complete your artifact collection?
Whenever you harvest anything, there’s a small chance that you’ll get a box along with your other items. These boxes contain precious artifacts, and by completing a collection of artifacts, you’ll be able to upgrade your tools and gain various permanent buffs!
However, these artifact boxes are both sensitive and fragile, and you’ll need to employ the key maker to unlock them. This lass lives on the left side of Area 1, near the bridge. If you want to open a box, simply approach her, then select whether you want to pay 300 gold and 5 copper to do the key minigame, or just watch an ad to waive the whole process.
If you choose to play the game, you’ll be tasked with making a key of a specific shape. You’ll have multiple molds to choose from, and the key at the top of the screen will indicate what shape you’ll need to chisel each of the key’s teeth into. Do well in this minigame, and you’ll be rewarded with a high-quality key: the higher a key’s quality, the less likely it is to give you a duplicate of an artifact you already own. Alternately, watching an ad guarantees that the artifact you get will not be a duplicate.
Note that each area has its own artifact pool, as well as different chest colors. If you want to complete an artifact set, you’ll need to grind for boxes in the appropriate area!
Minimize Labor, Maximize Profits
There’s a ton of work to do in rebuilding the island, but just like real life, working hard isn’t necessarily working smart. Here’s some tips to help you squeeze the most profit out of your time in Mini Mini Farm.
Using Urgent Quests
You’ll be bombarded by your mysterious employers with requests, which is the main way to earn money in the game. But you don’t have to take requests that you don’t want to, and in fact, it’s generally better to wait for urgent quests to turn in your goods.
Urgent quests are highlighted in green, and while they ask for more or less the same amount of resources as other quests, urgent quests pay double. This allows you to get far more mileage out of the same resources you would have surrendered anyway!
If you don’t have any urgent quests or don’t like your current lineup, you can choose to reroll all quests on the board, for the “low” price of watching an ad. If you see one that you like though, do hurry; just like regular quests, urgent quests can and will be overwritten if they time out, and the oldest quests on the board are removed and reshuffled every two minutes.
Use The Warp Wells
Once you’ve gotten yourself out of Area 1, you’ll quickly notice that Area 2 has its own set of facilities – crop plots, animal pens, rocks, and trees – all of which are independent from Area 1. It’s time to exploit nature to its fullest!
You may have noticed wells in the many areas you’ve been to. You may even have preempted this section and jumped down a well already. If you have, you’ll know that you can use these wells to warp to other wells.
While I would advise against doing this in Area 1, things will change quickly once you get to Area 2. You’ll not only have much longer paths to walk in Area 2, but you’ll also want a fast way to dip back into Area 1, grab your resources, and flee. With that in mind, make liberal use of these wells – even if you have to watch an ad every time you jump down.
This is doubly important whenever you unlock a new area as most of your profits will still come from selling the items available in the previous area, unless you hoarded money.
Fish in Your Downtime
The early game can be quite frustrating – there aren’t many crops and resource nodes, and you may find yourself twiddling your thumbs. Let’s put that restlessness and time to good use by fishing.
Fishing is easy. All you need to do is walk up to a fishing point, confirm you want to fish, then throw the line in the water. Three fish will then swim up to you, and they’ll switch their positions from time to time. You can cast your line at this point to lure the middle fish in the formation. Once that’s done, all you have to do is tap the reel button to pull in your catch, and instantly sell it for free money.
Things aren’t quite as simple though. While you can fish for free once in any fishing point, any subsequent interactions require you to watch an ad, unless you’re willing to wait out the cooldown period (roughly 2 minutes, I believe).
Fishing is also dependent on your fishing level – the higher your fishing level, the better the chances of getting big fish that worth a lot more. Conversely, the lower your fishing level, the rarer these prize catches are. Building up your fishing level is easy though: just keep fishing!
Each fishing spot also contains its own unique pool of fish, and once you’ve caught every single kind of fish in that area, you’ll receive a one time fishing exp bonus as well as some gold for your efforts.
Leverage Area Features
Each area in Mini Mini Farm has something unique to offer, whether that’s a rare resource or just good resource node placement. However, some areas are worth more. For example, there’s a private farm in Area 2 that you can steal from visit to gain resources for free off the bat, such as cheese, pears, grapes, and gold ore. Explore each area thoroughly – you never know what opportunities await a keen eye!
Enjoy The Road To Rebuilding
While the road to rebuilding the island and reuniting with your family is long, it’s a task that’s best suited to a long-term mindset. Remember: this is a marathon, not a sprint. Enjoy each area and what it offers, and play the game however it suits you.
With that, my Mini Mini Farm beginner’s guide comes to an end, and I hope I was able to help you formulate a better strategy for min-maxing your profit. If I’ve missed something, or if you’d like to share a few tips of your own, make yourself heard in the comments!
Hamster
Saturday 9th of July 2022
Cool guide, thanks