Stardew ValleyFrom the first parsnip to Perfection

• Pick a farm map. It's permanent for that save. Every map is the same size but has different amounts of usable land. For a first game, the Standard Farm has the most room for crops and animals. The others favor a skill: Forest (foraging), Hill-top (mining), Riverland (fishing), Wilderness (combat, with monsters at night), plus Four Corners, Beach, and Meadowlands. See the wiki's Farm Maps for side-by-side pictures.
• Pick a pet. Your cat or dog choice decides which pet Marnie brings you. Your gender doesn't affect who you can marry.
• Check Advanced Options (the wrench button). This guide assumes standard bundles, not remixed. If you want to finish the Community Center in your first year, turn on the option that guarantees the Traveling Cart sells a Red Cabbage seed in Year One; otherwise you'll need Year Two for the Dye Bundle.
• Watch the TV every morning: the weather tells you when you can skip watering, and the fortune teller tells you your luck for the day.
• Keep one of everything. Bundles want odd things (a Leek, a Sunfish, a Frozen Tear). Set out a chest on day one and toss in one of each new item before you sell the rest.

1. Mayor Lewis welcomes you and leaves Parsnip Seeds (15) in your house. Grab them.
2. Clear a patch of ground near the house with your axe, pickaxe, and scythe. Till 15 tiles with the hoe, plant the seeds, and water them. They're ready in 4 days.
3. Water your crops every morning. Unwatered crops don't die; they just stop growing. Refill the watering can at any pond or river.
4. Walk into Pelican Town and say hello to everyone you meet. Your Journal (the quest log) tracks introductions.
5. Buy more seeds at Pierre's General Store (closed Wednesdays). Parsnips, Potatoes, Cauliflower, and Green Beans are all needed for the Spring Crops Bundle, so plant at least one of each.
6. Forage as you walk: Leeks, Dandelions, Daffodils, and Wild Horseradish spawn all over in spring. Keep one of each for the Spring Foraging Bundle.
7. Put anything you want to sell in the shipping bin by your house. You're paid overnight.
8. On Spring 2, a letter from Willy invites you to the beach. Visit his Fish Shop and he gives you your first fishing pole, the Bamboo Pole.
9. Go to bed before midnight. Staying up until 2 a.m. makes you pass out and lose some gold.

1. On the morning of Spring 5, a letter says the landslide blocking the Mines has been cleared.
2. Between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on a day that isn't raining, walk from your farm through the Bus Stop into Pelican Town. Mayor Lewis meets you and unlocks the Community Center. Something small and green runs off before he can see it. He blames rats. This starts the Rat Problem quest.
3. Go back inside the Community Center and read the Golden Scroll in the lower-left room. You can't make sense of the writing yet.
4. Head up to the Mines, north of the Carpenter's Shop. Marlon meets you at the entrance and gives you a Rusty Sword.
5. Go down the ladder. On each floor, break rocks or defeat monsters until a ladder appears. Every fifth floor unlocks the elevator, so you can come straight back.

1. The morning after you read the scroll, a letter from the Wizard starts the Meet the Wizard quest.
2. Walk south from your farm into Cindersap Forest and follow the path west to his tower.
3. He gives you a potion. Drink it, and you gain Forest Magic: you can now read the Junimos' language.
4. Go back to the Community Center and read every Golden Scroll. Each one is a room of bundles: offerings the Junimos ask for in return for fixing up the valley. More rooms open as you complete bundles.
5. Check bundle progress anytime from the Golden Scroll icon at the top-right of your inventory menu. When you're holding an item a bundle needs, the icon pulses.

1. Plant Cauliflower by Spring 16. It takes 12 days, and every crop dies when Summer begins.
2. Green Beans need 10 days to grow, then produce every 3 days. They climb a trellis, so you can't walk through them.
3. Aim for five gold-quality Parsnips for the Quality Crops Bundle. Fertilizer (Basic Fertilizer is a farming recipe) raises your odds.
4. On Spring 13, go to the Egg Festival in the town square. Win the egg hunt if you can, and buy Strawberry Seeds from Pierre's booth. Strawberries take 8 days, then regrow every 4.
5. Upgrade your backpack at Pierre's as soon as you have 2,000g. Twelve more slots makes every trip to the Mines better.
6. Keep pushing down the Mines on rainy days, when the crops water themselves.
7. On Spring 24, go to the Flower Dance in Cindersap Forest. If you have enough hearts with a bachelor or bachelorette, ask them to dance.
8. Optional — the Desert Festival (Spring 15–17) only opens once the bus is repaired, so skip it this year.

1. Clear away the dead spring crops and replant on Summer 1.
2. Blueberries are the summer money crop: 13 days to grow, then a harvest every 4 days.
3. Plant the Summer Crops Bundle: Tomato, Hot Pepper, Blueberry, and Melon. Melons take 12 days; plant extras for five gold-quality Melons.
4. Corn grows in both summer and fall, so a summer planting keeps producing until fall ends. Save five gold-quality ears for the Quality Crops Bundle.
5. Plant some Wheat late in summer or in fall. You need 10 for the Fodder Bundle, and Marnie sells Hay.
6. Forage the summer items for the Summer Foraging Bundle: Grape, Spice Berry, and Sweet Pea.
7. Optional — Red Cabbage (Dye Bundle) isn't in Pierre's shop until Year Two. Check the Traveling Cart in Cindersap Forest on Fridays and Sundays in case it shows up.

1. You wake up on Summer 3 to news of an earthquake. The rockslide north of the Mountain is gone, and the Railroad is open.
2. Visit the Spa by the tracks. Stand still in the water and your energy refills, any time you need it.
3. Trains pass through some days. Freight cars sometimes drop items beside the tracks; pick them up after the train passes.
4. Stop by the Fish Shop sometime this summer. Willy mentions an old friend in his back room. That's a story for later (Act V).

1. Fish in each kind of water: the river in town and the forest (River Fish), the lake by the Carpenter's Shop (Lake Fish), and the beach (Ocean Fish). Each fish only bites in certain seasons, weather, and hours. The wiki's Fish page has the table.
2. Fish after dark for the Night Fishing Bundle: Walleye, Bream, and Eel.
3. At Fishing level 3, you can craft Crab Pots. Bait them and drop them in any water; check them each morning. Five different catches fill the Crab Pot Bundle.
4. The Specialty Fish Bundle needs a Sandfish from the Desert, so it can't be finished until the bus is fixed (Act IV). Grab the Pufferfish, Ghostfish, and Woodskip whenever you find them.
5. When the whole Fish Tank is done, the Junimos clear the glittering boulder by the river, and Willy gives you a Copper Pan for panning ore from shimmering water.

1. On Summer 11, the town holds the Luau on the beach. Put something good (a gold-quality crop is ideal) into the potluck soup. The Governor tastes it, and a great soup earns friendship with everyone in town.
2. Optional — on Summer 20–21, the Trout Derby takes place in Cindersap Forest. Catch Rainbow Trout for prizes.
3. On Summer 28, come to the beach at night for the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies. Just watch and enjoy.

1. Floors 1–39 have Copper Ore. Floors 40–79 are frozen and have Iron. Floors 80–119 are fiery and have Gold.
2. Smelt ore into bars in a Furnace (you get the recipe from Clint early on). One Copper Bar, Iron Bar, and Gold Bar fill the Blacksmith's Bundle.
3. Collect gems for the Geologist's Bundle: Quartz, Earth Crystal (floors 1–39), Frozen Tear (40–79), and Fire Quartz (80–119).
4. For the Adventurer's Bundle, you need two of: 99 Slime, 10 Bat Wings, Solar Essence, Void Essence. Slime and Bat Wings come with time.
5. Take tools to Clint to upgrade them. It takes two days. Upgrade the watering can the day before rain, or the pickaxe before a long weekend away from the Mines.
6. Upgrade to a Steel Axe to clear the big log at the northwest corner of Cindersap Forest. Behind it are the Secret Woods, where six stumps give you Hardwood every day.

1. Replant on Fall 1. Your summer Corn keeps going; everything else summer-only wilts.
2. Plant the Fall Crops Bundle: Corn, Eggplant, Pumpkin, and Yam. Pumpkins take 13 days; plant extras to get five gold-quality ones.
3. Cranberries are the fall money crop: they regrow every 5 days and give two berries a harvest.
4. Forage the Fall Foraging Bundle: Common Mushroom, Wild Plum, Hazelnut, and Blackberry. Blackberries cover the bushes in the second week of fall.
5. Tap a Maple, Oak, or Pine tree with a Tapper for Maple Syrup, Oak Resin, and Pine Tar. They count toward several bundles.

1. Have Robin build a Coop, then a Barn, when you can afford the gold and lumber.
2. Buy chickens and a cow from Marnie. Pet every animal every day; happy animals give bigger, better products.
3. The Animal Bundle wants five of: Large Milk, Large Brown Egg, Large White Egg, Large Goat Milk, Wool, and Duck Egg.
4. Turn produce into artisan goods for the Artisan Bundle (six of the twelve): Cheese from a Cheese Press, Honey from a Bee House, Jelly from a Preserves Jar, Cloth from a Loom, Truffle Oil, Goat Cheese, or any six of the listed fruits.
5. Optional — fruit trees take 28 days to mature and only fruit in their season. Plant Apple, Apricot, Orange, Peach, Pomegranate, or Cherry saplings early if you want fruit for the Artisan Bundle.

1. On Fall 16, set up a grange display at the Stardew Valley Fair. Fill all nine slots with a variety of high-quality items from different categories.
2. Play the Fair's games to win star tokens. If you can save up 2,000 tokens, buy the Stardrop. It raises your max energy for good.
3. On Fall 27, come to town at night for Spirit's Eve. Find your way through the haunted maze to the Golden Pumpkin at the end.

1. Push on through floors 80–119. Bring plenty of food, and a good sword.
2. On floor 120, open the chest and take the Skull Key. It opens the Skull Cavern in the Desert (and the Junimo Kart machine in the Saloon).
3. Finish the Boiler Room: the Blacksmith's, Geologist's, and Adventurer's bundles. The Junimos repair the Minecarts, for fast travel between the Bus Stop, town, the Mines, and the Quarry.
4. Finish the Crafts Room (the four foraging bundles, Construction, and Exotic Foraging) to have the bridge repaired to the Quarry, full of ore and gems.

1. Nothing grows outside in winter except Winter Seeds (a reward from the Winter Foraging Bundle). Use the Greenhouse if you've restored it.
2. Hoe the ground and dig up Artifact Spots for Winter Root and Snow Yam. Forage Crystal Fruit and Crocus. That's the Winter Foraging Bundle.
3. On Winter 8, enter the ice-fishing contest at the Festival of Ice in Cindersap Forest.
4. Optional — SquidFest (Winter 12–13) and the Night Market (Winter 15–17, at the beach) are worth a visit.
5. On Winter 25, bring a gift to the Feast of the Winter Star for your secret friend. You'll find out who it is in the days before the feast.
6. Spend the extra time on friendships. Each villager accepts two gifts a week, and a gift on their birthday counts eight times as much.

1. The Vault opens after you've finished four bundles. It wants gold: 2,500g, 5,000g, 10,000g, and 25,000g (42,500g in all). You can pay them one at a time.
2. Finish all four and the Junimos repair the bus at the Bus Stop. Talk to Pam at the Bus Stop and buy a ticket to the Desert.

1. Sandy runs the Oasis, which sells seeds you can't buy in town, including Starfruit, Rhubarb, and Beets.
2. Forage Coconut and Cactus Fruit for the Exotic Foraging Bundle.
3. Fish the desert pond for a Sandfish. That finishes the Specialty Fish Bundle.
4. Use the Skull Key on the cave door in the northwest to enter the Skull Cavern. There's no elevator: every visit starts from floor 1, and iridium shows up more the deeper you go.
5. The day after your first visit, a letter from Mr. Qi challenges you to reach floor 25 for 10,000g.

1. Open your bundle menu and list what's missing. The usual leftovers: Red Cabbage, the seasonal fish you missed, and the quality crops.
2. On Summer 1, Year Two, buy Red Cabbage seeds from Pierre for the Dye Bundle.
3. Plant extras of every bundle crop on the first day of its season. Keep the best ones.

1. Turn in the last bundle. The Junimos restore the building and say goodbye.
2. On the next sunny day, enter Pelican Town for the reopening ceremony. Lewis gives you the Stardew Hero Trophy.
3. Morris from JojaMart storms in. You choose how it goes ("Let's be reasonable" or "Let's settle this the old-fashioned way"). Either way, JojaMart closes for good.
4. On the first night before rain, lightning cracks open the abandoned JojaMart. Inside is The Missing Bundle: silver-quality or better Wine, Dinosaur Mayonnaise, a Prismatic Shard, 5 gold-quality Ancient Fruit, and a gold-quality Void Salmon. Finish it to build the Movie Theater.

1. After the Community Center is done, Willy invites you into his back room. His old boat needs three repairs: 200 Hardwood for the hull, 5 Iridium Bars for the anchor, and 5 Battery Packs for the ticket stand.
2. Bring all three and Willy and Robin fix the boat overnight. A round trip costs 1,000g.
3. On the island, follow Leo through the jungle to his hut. He and his parrot open the way north.
4. Collect Golden Walnuts: they're hidden everywhere, dug up, fished up, and won from puzzles. Parrots take them to unlock new areas, starting with your Island Farmhouse.
5. Rescue Professor Snail from the mushroom cave near the Dig Site with a bomb. He opens the Island Field Office, where you can donate fossils.
6. Once you've found 100 Golden Walnuts, Qi's Walnut Room in Island West opens, with the Perfection Tracker and Mr. Qi's Special Orders.

1. At the start of Year Three, Grandpa's spirit returns to judge your first two years. He lights one to four candles on his shrine, based on your money, skills, friendships, and achievements.
2. Light all four and he leaves you a Statue of Perfection.
3. Didn't get four? Place a Diamond on the shrine anytime to ask for another evaluation.

1. Reach level 10 in all five skills (Farming, Mining, Foraging, Fishing, and Combat). The Mastery Cave in Cindersap Forest opens, with a letter from Grandpa and new mastery perks.
2. Check your score at the Perfection Tracker in Qi's Walnut Room. It averages everything: items shipped, fish caught, recipes cooked and crafted, friendships, skills, walnuts, monster goals, stardrops, and the special buildings.
3. Reach 100% and the Summit opens above the Mountain, with one last cutscene.

The Museum

1. Optional — Donate artifacts and minerals to Gunther at the Museum. He gives you rewards as your collection grows. Dig up Artifact Spots (the wiggling worms) with your hoe.

Friendships & marriage

1. Optional — Talk to people every day and give gifts they like. You need 250 friendship points per heart. Villagers send recipes and gifts as you get closer.
2. Optional — Twelve villagers can be dated and married. Give a Bouquet at 8 hearts, then a Mermaid's Pendant at 10. The wiki's Friendship page has the details.

Shops worth knowing

1. Optional — The Traveling Cart visits Cindersap Forest every Friday and Sunday, with rare seeds and hard-to-find bundle items.
2. Optional — The Quarry (after the Crafts Room) and the Secret Woods (after the Steel Axe) are both great for resources.

The Joja route

1. Optional — If you'd rather buy than build, the Joja membership (5,000g at JojaMart) replaces the bundles with a Community Development Form. You buy the same unlocks (Bridge, Greenhouse, Minecarts, Bus, Panning) with gold. You miss out on the Bulletin Board's friendship reward, and the Community Center becomes a Joja Warehouse for good.