As you may already know, there's only one member in Stardew Valley's development team, Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone. That's why it takes so long for an update of this amazing simulation role-playing video game to come online. The latest big content update brought us Stardew Valley Ginger Island - a brand new tropical location for you to explore.

Here's our in-depth guide about Ginger Island in Stardew Valley. Read on to find all that you need to before setting foot on this tropical paradise.

Table of Contents

Here's a complete map of the entire Ginger island.

Stardew Valley Ginger Island Location

The Ginger Island is a new location added in Stardew Valley's 1.5 update. This land of tropical climate and unearthed mystery will easily take a dozen hours to explore. Ginger Island is completely separated from Pelican Town, so prepare for something you have never experienced before.

There are puzzles to solve, characters to befriend, a dungeon to conquer, and items to earn. With so many things going on the island at the same time, the chance of you getting overwhelmed when trying to take everything in is pretty high.

Stardew Valley Ginger Island belongs to the Fern Islands archipelago to the Southeast of Pelican Town's beach. However, players can only visit Ginger Island in the archipelago, though other islands are visible from the boat on the way there.

How Do You Get To Ginger Island In Stardew Valley?

Traveling to Ginger Island is only available after you fix the broken ship in the back room of Willy’s Fish Shop. This room will unlock after you complete the Community Center. On top of that, each visit to the island using Willy's boat cost 1,000 Gold.

Here are the items you need to fix the boat:

  • 200 Hardwood: Obtained by cutting down Large Logs and Large Stumps. You can farm Hardwood daily in the Secret Woods.
  • 5 Battery Packs: Build lightning poles or go to the Skull Cavern for the Battery Packs.
  • 5 Iridium Bars: Acquired You may acquire them when beating some Iridium Bats, or by smelting 5 Iridium Ore and 1 coal with a Furnace.

Willy's boat is also your way back to Pelican Town for free. Enter the boat on the southern beach to arrive back inside the Fish Shop. On festival days when the path back to the Farm is blocked, players will be deposited at the Bus Stop instead. In case the beach is inaccessible, players will land on the bridge leading to the beach.

New NPC On Ginger Island

Leo is a new NPC who players can meet on Ginger Island in Stardew Valley. However, Leo won't be friendly right off the bat. He's a shy individual. Players must slowly befriend the NPC by befriending the parrots on the island. Once Leo is at full friendliness, he will even consider moving into Pelican Town. He will befriend Vincent and Jas once he settles into his new home.

Players have to earn Leo's trust by making friends with the parrots.

Volcano Dungeon

The new island in Stardew Valley also comes with its own dungeon, just like the desert's Skull Cavern. However, instead of having an infinite number of floors, this dungeon only has 10. The volcano dungeon requires you to navigate through the lava, fight various mobs residing inside to unlock a forge, a shop, and tons of new items.

Another difference between the lava dungeon and the Skull Cavern is that some doors will even be gated. To complete all 10 floors, players have to solve puzzles and build their path through lava using the watering can.

But rest assured that your effort will pay off. After defeating the dungeon, you unlock the Forge in the volcano caldera. This station allows players to upgrade and enchant weapons, tools, combine rings and change weapon appearances.

Always bring a watering can to the dungeon.

The Dig Site

The Stardew Valley Ginger Island's dig site is basically the tropical version of the familiar quarry, plus a few more quirks. There's a mushroom cave nearby, where you can find another new NPC, Dr. Snail. Once players rescue Dr. Snail from the area, the island field office will unlock.

Fossil Donations

Spoiler alert, completing the fossil collection on Ginger Island will give you a new and unique item: the ostrich incubator. It allows players to hatch an ostrich egg. As one can probably guess, this means that players will be able to add a live ostrich to their farm.

The fossils can be donated after players rescue Dr. Snail and unlock his office. The fossils are scattered across different areas of the island. Each type of fossil requires a different number as well. So, you'd better get to digging.

Collect all the fossils around the map.

Island Trader

The 1.5 update of Stardew Valley also introduces several new tropical crops. They cannot be grown anywhere else than Ginger Island. And the only place where players can get hold of the seeds for these crops is from the island trader. This requires the construction of the island farmhouse and the trader's hut.

Secret Pirate Cove And Mermaids

Remember the mermaid from the festival in Pelican Town, well, she's on Stardew Valley Ginger Island as well. You may catch the mermaid during rainy days on the southeastern part of the island. Spoiler, there's a puzzle relating to the mermaid song for you to solve.

On non-rainy, even-number nights, players can head to the secret cove to meet some pirates. Here, you can play a game of dart to win some Golden Walnuts, the island's unique currency.

Here's a puzzle for you to solve.

Pirate's Wife Quest

There's another NPC on the island that you want to visit. She's Birdie, the Pirate's wife. Upon meeting her, players will trigger a quest, well, a very long quest. Birdie will give you a war memento and task you with hunting down another one from her husband that has been lost for years.

The quest is basically endless trading back and forth from one item to another with NPCs in Pelican Town residents. You have to keep trading with the residents until you earn the Fairy Dust recipe. Bring it back to Birdie to complete the quest. Keep in mind that Birdie does not have a friendship meter and she doesn't take gifts either.

You will find Birdie on the western side of the island.

Farm Area

Wondering where you will plant the tropical seeds you get? Well, this is the place. Players can choose to build a farmhouse and settle down on Ginger Island. It will definitely take a lot of work and quite a chunk of your time, but it's nice to getaway to the island once in a while.

On top of that, crops planted on Ginger Island are not affected by the current season. Think of it as a giant greenhouse, meaning players can grow crops all year long.

Build your very own topical farm.

The Resort

Players can build a resort on Stardew Valley Ginger Island, right at the dock where they first visit the island. Once the resort is online, NPCs from Pelican Town will occasionally come and visit. They will switch to swimwear and have all new dialogue about being on vacation.

Gem Birds

Gem birds are located in the eastern part of Ginger Island. They only appear on rainy days, one at a time. When approached by the player, they will fly off, leaving a gem behind.

There's a quest related to these gems. Players have to collect all four gems and place them onto the correct pedestal. In return, you get 5 Gold Walnuts for your trouble.

Gem birds only appear when it rains.

Golden Walnut

By now, you may have seen us mentioned the Golden Walnuts many times in this article. So, what is a Golden Walnut? To put it simply, Golden Walnuts are the currency of the parrots on Ginger Island.

If you wonder how many Golden Walnuts you have, just open your inventory and look under your picture in the skills tab. Walnuts are shared amongst players in Multiplayer.

Acquire 116 Golden Walnuts to unlock everything on the island.

Golden Walnuts are used to unlock different areas and build things on Stardew Valley Ginger Island. Wherever you see a parrot sitting on a pole, you can feed it some Golden Walnuts to unlock something. In total, players need 116 Golden Walnuts to complete the whole island. However, one can collect 130 Golden Walnuts scattered on the island, by exploration, killing monsters, farming, fishing, mining, and breaking crates.

Qi's Walnut Room

Once players manage to find 100 Golden Walnuts on Ginger Island, a lab opens. Here you will find Qi, a mysterious figure that gives out big rewards in the game. The lab also contains tons of extra goodies, like a shop with exclusive items, the advanced challenge shrine, and a request board.

Qi gems will need to be earned in order to purchase items from the shop, and the challenge shrine summons harder monsters. Players can also keep track of the number of Golden Walnuts they've found in each location.

FAQs

What Should I Do First On Ginger Island?

The first thing you want to do on Ginger Island is to visit Leo's at his place and get your first Golden Walnut. From there, proceed to collect other Walnuts on the map and from the Lava Dungeon, which unlocks immediately. We suggest you build the unlock the farm area first since harvesting crops also gives Golden Walnuts.

Build the farm as soon as you can for additional income.

Where Does Ginger Grow Stardew Valley?

Ginger is a forage item that can be found randomly on Stardew Valley Ginger Island. This root spawns everywhere on the island randomly.

Can You Sleep On Ginger Island?

Yes, you can sleep in the Sleep Hut, which can be unlocked with 20 Golden Walnuts.

What Is Willy's Favorite Gift?

Unsurprisingly, Willy loves fish, more specifically, four species including catfish, octopus, sea cucumber, and sturgeon. He also likes other universally loved gifts like diamonds, iridium bars, mead, and pumpkins.

Enjoy your trip to the tropical paradise.

That's everything you need to know on Stardew Valley Ginger Island. It provides a ton of new content for you and your friends to explore. Want to read more about gaming, visit our website at GuruGamer.com.

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