Getting Started
- Gnome Town can be played by clicking on the "Play Now!" button at the top of this page. You must have an active Facebook account in order to play. You can register for a free account here - www.facebook.com
- You will have to play through a very brief tutorial where you will meet the "Wise Ol' Gnome" who is your guide at various times in the game. The brief tutorial will show you how to do basic navigation around the game screen. This guide will give you a more detailed tutorial to get you through the first few levels.
- Once the tutorial is over you may want to adjust to full screen mode and toggle the music or sound effects off. To do this look to the upper right corner for the gear icon. Click on it to expand the menu and make your choice.
- Along the top of the screen there are options to send free gifts, invite people to be your neighbor, and to join the Playdom forum where you can connect with other players and ask questions about the game.
- You will be asked to choose your character's gender ("Are you a 'Gnome' or a 'Gnomette'") and then give your character a name.
- The game will be updated with new items especially around holidays so be sure to check the market for new additions each week.
Game Currency
- There are three types of currency in Gnome Town. The game refers to these items as "Shinies."
- Silver coins - This is the basic game currency and used to purchase items from the market. You can also collect these when you harvest a crop, finish a quest, collect rent from buildings, or reach a new level in the game. The game starts you out with 250 silver coins.
- Gold bars - This is the premium game currency used to purchase high end items or special privileges such as finishing a task instantly. The game starts you out with two gold bars and the Gnome King can grant them to you when he sends messages. You can also earn them when you complete certain quests or level up in the game.
- How to purchase more currency - You can purchase more currency by clicking on the "+" symbol to the right of the currency indicator. These can be purchased with Facebook Credits via PayPal or a major credit card.
- Food - This is indicated by the cupcake icon and collected by harvesting crops or bushes or when your neighbors gift it to you during visits or once per day gifts. You will need food in order to speed up processes or work done in the forest by your character and the animal helpers. Whenever a task is underway, such as chopping down a large mushroom, you will have to wait a certain amount of time until it is completed. The only way to speed up this process is to pay in food points. Clicking on "Speed" will take you to the menu that allows you to pay in food and speed up the work. Click on the food button agreeing to the amount and the work is instantly complete allowing you to collect your rewards.
- Wood - Wood is collected from chopping down items such as mushrooms and acorns, completing quests, and clearing debris from the enchanted forest. You will need wood to build structures once you purchase them from the market.
- Machetes - You are only given a certain number of machetes per level and once you use them all you will have to purchase more at a rate of 10 machetes per seven gold bars. You can also wait until you complete a quest or level up to earn a few more. Since the forest is enchanted the machetes are gone after one use. They do not regenerate over time so use them wisely.
Experience Points
- Experience points (XP) are earned for just about all actions in the game. If you purchase an item you will earn some XP. If you complete a job or finish a process such as building a house or completing a task you will also earn XP.
- XP are seen as stars in the game and when they land on the ground you can click on them to add them to the XP indicator located at the top center of the game screen faster.
- XP are what determines when you reach a new level in the game. If you look at the top center of the game screen you will see your level/XP indicator. It will tell you how many XP you currently have and how many you need to reach the next level.
- The star on the XP indicator shows you your current level in the game.
- Each time you level up you will earn machetes, additional XP, food points, collectibles, silver coins, and sometimes gold bars. You will also unlock several items in the market which will allow you to place more items in your town and increase your overall town value.
- Click on "Info" under your user name to see your game statistics.
- This can be very helpful when you want to throw a party or participate in the "Gnomespedition" feature of the game.
- You can see how many neighbors you have as well as your values in the "Gnomespedition" categories.
- You can change your user name here without charge or penalty.
Navigating The Game Screen
- The enchanted forest is much larger than what will fit on the game screen even if you have it in full screen mode, so you will need to learn to drag the scene in order to reach all areas.
- Click on an area of the enchanted forest and hold your left mouse button down while dragging the scene in the direction you wish to move.
- You will see the cursor turn into a hand when you have done this correctly.
- Full screen mode/settings navigation menu - Look for the gear icon at the top right and click on it to expand. Here you can enter and exit full screen or windowed mode, toggle sounds on and off, and adjust picture quality if needed. You can also hit "Esc" to exit full screen mode and any time you send out a message to post on your or a neighbor's live feed the game will automatically enter windowed mode. You will have to go in and reset it to full screen mode after you post any messages in the game.
- Move, rotate, sell, and store items - At the bottom right of the game screen will see four buttons. Click on the arrow button to expand the menu allowing you to move, rotate, sell, or place an item in inventory. Click on the action you wish to perform to cause it to stick to your cursor and then click on the item you wish to act upon. When you are finished click on the arrow to clear the instruction out and return to normal game play.
- Inventory/collections - To access your inventory (this is where gifts go when you accept them from neighbors) or collection status, click on the bag icon at the bottom right of the game screen. There are two tabs along the top of this menu allowing you to access your inventory and collections information easily.
- The second tab will allow you to see which collections you have completed as well as turn in the completed collection for reward. (See "Collections" below for more detailed information.)
- Starting with the tutorial you will be given many quests to guide your progress in the game.
- The quests are found in the quest list along the left side of the screen. Simply click on the icon to read about the quest.
- Most quests have two or more tasks that you must complete. You will see the word "Progress" appear over the icon anytime you complete a task or a portion of it.
- When you complete a quest you will be notified and you will earn a large reward of coins, XP, food, wood, and sometimes gold bars and machetes.
- You will also be offered the option to share this bonus with your neighbors. If you choose the share option a message will post on your profile page and on the live feeds allowing them to click on a link which will reward them with silver coins, XP, and other bonus items.
- As you clear away items in the forest you will find relics that you will need to clean and investigate to learn things about the game and to give you tips for game bonuses and completing certain quests.
- It is a good idea to clear out as much forest as possible each time you play to expose as many relics as possible. You will use up your machetes but you can earn them back as you complete quests.
Purchasing Items From the Market
- To purchase items from the market click on the market icon at the bottom right of the screen.
- At the top of the menu there are several categories you can purchase from. Choose your category by clicking on the appropriate tab.
- You may see that some items are locked. You must reach a certain level of the game before some items are unlocked for purchase.
- Note that each item will earn you a certain number of XP, and contributes a certain number of points to either the "Journey," "Party," or "Brawl" categories in the "Gnomespedition" or "PvP" feature of the game. (See "Gnomespedition" below.) You should consider these points when making a purchase as they can help you win in certain categories during your five challenges per day.
Animal Helpers
- As you clear debris away in the enchanted forest you will come upon crates that contain animals that were captured by the evil gnome. You will be able to free these animals. Some will take a few seconds and others may take hours or even days to free.
- You can spend food points or gold bars to speed up this process.
- Once the animals are free they will live in your gnome town with you and you will build them a house and they will become your helpers in the game.
- When you click on an item to clear away the first animal you freed will go do the job. If you click on another task such as clearing a second item or harvesting a crop the second animal freed (there may be two in a crate) will take that task, and so on.
- Each animal works on the task and has the option to speed up the work available.
- Tip - Some animals will be working on long term jobs that take several hours. This will put that animal helper out of commission from doing other jobs unless you choose to pause the job. This will halt the long term job and free the animal helper to work on other things. When you are ready simply resume the job and the timer will start counting down again.
- Around the perimeter of the camp you will see dark, dead looking brush and this is the part of the enchanted forest that will need to be cleared away using your machete.
- Simply placing your cursor over this area will change it to the machete.
- You only get a few at a time, and as you complete tasks you will earn more machetes to use.
- After you clear away the brush, this will cause several other items to appear on the land that need to be cleared individually.
- If you place your cursor over these brightly colored items such as acorns, mushrooms, weeds, leaves, and dandelions you will see a time listed. This is the amount of time it will take for your gnome or animal helpers to clear it away. You can speed up this process by clicking on the speed button and agreeing to pay in either food points or gold bars to speed it up.
- It is not a wise move to spend your food items on speeding up processes under one minute. It is best to save the food items for the processes that take several hours to complete instead.
- Once you do clear away these items stars (XP), logs (wood), cupcakes (food), and sometimes collectibles will fall onto the ground. You can click on these to add them to the meters at the top of the screen where you can see your overall totals or if you wait a few moments they will just add on their own. Clicking them does not give you any advantage except they are out of the way faster.
- Each time you clear away a section of the dark forest you will reveal more of these smaller debris items that will need to be cleared away. Clear out the small ones first and save the large ones for a worker that will be out of commission for a few hours. If you want to use food points to speed up the processes that take several hours you can or you can leave the game for a few hours and come back as they will work while you are out of the game.
- Note - If you really need a worker that is tied up with a project that takes several hours you have the option to pause that job and this will free up the worker but stop the progress on the job they were working on. You will have to use your judgement as to when this is a smart move.
- Placing your cursor over any item that is being worked on by an animal helper will tell you if the process is eligible to speed up. If so, you will see the word "Speed" and clicking on it will bring up the menu showing you what you can pay to speed up the process to completion.
- You usually have the option of using food points or gold bars to purchase the speed up option.
- Once you choose it the food points or gold bars are deducted and whatever you have chosen to speed up will be instantly completed and ready for reward collection.
- Tip - Do not use the speed up feature for any process that takes under one minute. This is a huge waste of your resources.
- There are currently over 15 different buildings that can be placed in your gnome town.
- These buildings unlock at various levels and are purchased with either silver coins or gold bars.
- Click on market then on the building tab along the top.
- Once you choose your building it will stick to your cursor. Place it on a cleared area of land and look for the base to turn green. If it turns red there is an obstacle in your path. Adjust until you see a green outline and then click on the land to lock in the purchase.
- Now you will have just the frame to the building.
- You will need to click on the frame at least twice having an animal helper work on it.
- Once you complete the frame you will be asked to staff the building. Not all buildings need to be staffed, but most do, and the number of neighbors required varies.
- You will need to find at least two of your neighbors willing to staff the business.
- You will need to click on "Hire Friends" in order to send invitations out to all neighbors.
- Important - Once you reach the menu look for the pull down menu near the top left of the screen. Be sure to choose "Friends Playing Gnome Town" to make sure the list includes those already playing the game. If you send to any of the other options you will send to those that don't play the game and they may not respond to you.
- Once the required number of neighbors agree to help you out you will see that the notification on the building has changed and it prompts you to finish it.
- Click on "Finish" and the building will change into its final form and you will earn XP, coins, and possibly other items as your reward.
- You can place more than one of a type of building on your land but you will have to find staff for each building.
- Tip - It is best to wait until you have a quest prompting you to build a building. For example, if you build a farm before a quest requires it, you will not get credit for the one you have already built. You will have to pay to build another one to get credit for completing the quest.
- Anytime you complete a task you will see small icons fall to the ground which represent different kinds of rewards.
- The following is a breakdown of the different items:
- Cupcake - Food
- Star - XP
- Log - Wood
- Coins - Silver coins
- Machete - Machetes
- Gold Bars - Gold bars
- Collectibles - These vary but you will see an item related to the item you are collecting from. For example if you are collecting from the strawberry bush you will see strawberry items.
- When you see these items fall to the ground you can either click on them or after a few moments they will automatically add to the running totals.
- Bushes - Bushes are different as they are a renewable resource and will produce for you over and over.
- Strawberry bushes are the first bush available. Remember, they do not disappear like the crops do so place them in a strategic area. If you place several together it will be known as an orchard.
- You will need to have your animal helpers water the bushes the first time they are grown. Once mature you will need to harvest them. You will see an orange arrow pointing downward over each bush when it is ready to be harvested.
- Once complete all of the food, coins, XP, and collectibles will appear.
- Collectible items will appear from crops and bushes and are important as this is the only way to collect these items.
- You may, for example, see carrot soup thrown out with the rewards of the carrot crop. Click on these when you see them. (See "Collections" below for more detailed information.)
- After you progress a few levels you will be introduced to creatures, which are like pets to your animal helpers.
- Purchase creatures in the market and place them in your town in what you consider a permanent location. (You can always move them later but they must be in your town to be useful to you.)
- You will need to feed the creatures, also known as tending to them, and once you do they will grow until they reach full size.
- Click on them to feed them and an animal helper will walk over with a bag and start feeding them for the amount of time needed. You can speed this up if you want to pay to do so.
- Once finished you will see a gold star over the creature, which when clicked on will allow you to collect rewards.
- You will need to feed some creatures a second time before they are fully grown such as the snails.
- Once fully grown you will see an orange down facing arrow over each creature, which means you can click on them to collect funds.
- After you collect your rewards you must wait until you can feed the creatures again and there is a countdown clock you can see any time by placing your cursor over the creature.
- You will earn XP and silver coins as rewards from creatures.
- Creatures include snails, ladybugs, caterpillars, moles, and hummingbirds. (More may be added in future game updates.)
- Each creature has a different amount of time they will need to be tended to and will offer varying amounts of reward once completed.
- How to accumulate points - As you place decorative items around your town you may notice that they have a value associated to them. These values fall into three categories which are:
- Brawl - (Items include - fire pits, rack of armour, and tool shed)
- Journey - (Items include - hay bale, bonsai tree, bakery, and wheelbarrow)
- Party - (Items include - picnic tables, flower pots, gnome tavern, and condo)
- When you purchase items or when you are gifted items by friends and place them in your town you add to the collective total of each type of points.
- If you purchase items with gold bars in the "Special" or "Decoration" menu you can give yourself a huge boost in points in one of the three areas.
- The more of these items placed in your town the higher your scores.
- The number of neighbors you have and helpers appears to play a part in your score as well. It is not known how this is scored but it is best to keep these numbers as high as possible.
- Do not let decorative items gifted to you just sit in your inventory. Be sure to use them and place them in your town right away. For example, if neighbors send you five potted flowers each with a party score of four points, placing all of them in your town will increase your party score by 20 points. If they sit in storage they will not count toward this overall total.
- The higher end items in the market will add hundreds of points to your score so you may want to consider purchasing a few if the rewards in this area are important to you.
- Place your cursor over any item in your town to reveal its point value if it has one.
- How to play - Once you click on the bottom right corner icon you will bring up a menu like the one shown in the image above.
- Look at the number of wins and losses, as well as the level. You may want to stay with people closer to your level but this isn't always indicative of who will win.
- If you see someone you want to challenge click on the "Interact" button at the far right.
- Analyze - Now you will be taken to a screen such as the one shown in the image above.
- Here you will see a breakdown of each of the three categories.
- Before you challenge this person place your cursor over the category area until it turns gold in color.
- Note the comment at the top of the box. If it tells you that you can't win in that category then do not attempt to challenge this person. Click on "Back to List" and search for another candidate.
- It may take a while to win especially in the early levels, but your best bet is to have a lot of neighbors gift you items and place them in your town to get your numbers up.
- There is a quest in the game that requires you to win one of five games, which is actually very difficult to do, so concentrate on getting your number up in each of the three categories before you even attempt this feature.
- You are allowed only five challenges per 24 hour period.
