Halloween's Horror Update

The Halloween's Horror Update was released on the 12th of October 2017 for iOS and Android players, with release still pending for all other users.

When the update was released and downloaded, the Halloween's Horror Update triggered automatically.

The Halloween's Horror timed challenges begin when a player reaches game level 7 in the game (or automatically after downloading the update if the player is already above level 7).

The Halloween's Horror Update introduces 2 new pictures - Film Studio and Cosmos Hall; 136 new quests and 22 new collections.

The Halloween's Horror Event
The Halloween's Horror timed event contains 3 challenges. Players have a set number of days to complete the following tasks:



For the duration of the Halloween's Horror challenge, Pumpkin Lantern special items are required in addition to energy points to play the Film Studio. Pumpkin Lanterns are given as rewards for every successful investigation for every picture, and as rewards for banishing anomalies, but not for playing puzzles. Pumpkin Lanterns cannot be gifted between friends, however they are given as rewards for combining some of the new Halloween's Horror collections, and they can be given as rewards by the Sphere of Miracles and Pyramid of Wonder.
 * Collect 500 Film Reels by winning games of Gem Match to win the Sphere of Miracles Desktop Award, which gives you a random item to study the locations every 12 hours.
 * Complete 30 special quests to win the once-off Halloween Talisman (2017 Edition) which decreases the number of items required for investigating paid scenes by 20% for 24 hours. Upon completing these quests you will also be able to combine the Witch's Talisman (2017 Edition as the collections required to combine have changed) which triples speed of energy recovery by 24 hours.
 * Achieve 'Academician' level in Film Studio and win 2 unique avatars, one male and one female.

The Gem Match Challenge - Collecting Film Reels
Players can win the Sphere of Miracles Desktop Award, which will give you a random item to study the locations every 12 hours.

The Sphere of Miracles Desktop Award
The Sphere of Miracles desktop award sits in the centre of the top row of a player's Home Desktop. The Sphere gives out rewards on a 12 hour timer. The first 12 hour timer starts from the moment the Sphere is won, and after that the 12 hour timer resets every time the award is discharged.

When discharged, the Sphere of Miracles gives out a number of one of the game's special items (e.g. Fireflies, Ladybugs, Carrots, Cupid's arrows or Tokens) at random. During Holiday challenges the Sphere may also reward special items needed to play the holiday picture, such as the Pumpkin Lanterns needed to play the picture Film Studio. This means that in normal play, there is a 1 in 5 chance of receiving any one of the regular special items every time you discharge the Sphere, but during Holiday challenges there is a 1 in 6 (or 1 in 7 during double timed challenge updates) chance of getting a specific special item when discharging the Sphere.

The Sphere of Miracles was originally offered as part of the Halloween 2013 Update. A second opportunity to win the Sphere of Miracles was offered as part of the Halloween 2014 Update, a third opportunity was offered as part of the Halloween 2015 Update and a fourth opportunity was offered as part of the Halloween 2016 Update.

Players who have already won the Sphere of Miracles during the 2013/2014/2015/2016 events have the opportunity to increase its level to the next award level by completing this year's challenge.

It does not matter which year you previously won the Sphere or what your current level for the Sphere is, as soon as you complete the 2017 challenge, your Sphere will be upgraded to the next level.





Players can win the Sphere of Miracles by collecting 500 Film Reels. Film Reels can only be won by successfully completing the Gem Match puzzle. For each successful win of Gem Match, you can potentially win between 2-5 Film Reels as one of the rewards for completing the puzzle.

When you open the Research Window for Gem Match by tapping on the Gem Match puzzle icon on your Home Desktop you will see Film Reels listed as the first item in the 'Can be found' list for the puzzle. Film Reels are available to win for every play of the puzzle at every puzzle level.

You must keep playing (and winning) Gem Match until you have collected 500 Film Reels in order to complete the challenge. Once you have collected all 500 Film Reels, the Sphere of Miracles Desktop Award will automatically appear (or upgrade) in the row of awards at the top of your Home Desktop.

The Sphere of Miracles Desktop Award is located to the left of the Lucky Explorer Desktop Award in the middle of the Home Desktop. You can tap on the Sphere of Miracles at any time to bring up its information window.

If the Sphere of Miracles Desktop Award is charged by a visiting Friend, then its rewards will be doubled; giving you twice as many random items (special items) to study the locations the next time it is ready to collect.

As soon as the reward is collected, a new 12 hour timer starts to count down before the next reward is ready for collection. Note that the timer doesn't restart until the reward is collected, so leaving the Sphere of Miracles for more than 12 hours before collecting the reward does not change the rewards and delays collecting the next reward.

All items are weighted based on their value in the game. Higher value items, like the Film Reels needed to win the Sphere of Miracles Desktop Award are weighted in such a way that they are less likely to be won than low value items such as some low level collection items and most combining elements.

Since the mechanism that rewards Film Reels in Gem Match is set up so that they are always included as one of the rewards for winning games of Gem Match, it is the number that you win per play that is weighted (with low numbers more likely than high numbers). This means you will not win a high number of Film Reels every single time you win a Gem Match game, often you will only win 2.

However, all of the Timed Challenges are designed to be completable within the given time limit, so it is possible to collect 500 Film Reels well within the time given. The task is designed to be challenging, but it is not impossible!

Hints/Tips for Collecting Film Reels
Although it will take many plays of Gem Match to win 500 Film Reels, there are things you can do to make the challenge easier:
 * 1) Read the Gem Match article and PDF on this wiki for tips on playing Gem Match.
 * 1)  Use tools when playing Gem Match. You can use Explorer's Eyes and Time Machines when playing Gem Match. Using an Explorer's Eye will remove a single yellow border from the game board at random. This can be particularly useful for tricky pieces. Time Machines add 45 seconds to the puzzle timer, which can be a great help for the more difficult board configurations.
 * 2)  Don't just play Gem Match over and over again; try to play a variety of pictures and puzzles as much as possible. The more you play a single picture/puzzle repeatedly, the worse the rewards for each win gets. In order to keep your chances of getting many Film Reels per play high, try mixing other pictures/puzzles into your playing rotation. Perhaps rotate trying to get the Sphere of Miracles with the other challenges in the Halloween's Horror event (playing Film Studio and completing the 30 challenge quests). This will also help avoid feelings of frustration with the game and challenge.
 * 3) Don't rely on Luck Talismans/Artefacts. Luck Talismans (e.g. Horseshoes) and Artefacts (e.g. Symbol of Success) do not increase your odds of winning a particular item, such as Film Reels, i.e. they do not change the weighting of items. However, they do increase the number of items you will win for each successful play of a picture/puzzle.
 * 4) Use the Time Talisman artefact. If you are struggling to win Gem Match in the time given, then try to use a Time Talisman artefact. Once activated, this artefact adds 1 minute to every picture/puzzle for 24 hours.

The Unique Avatars - Getting Film Studio to Academician Level
The avatars won for reaching Academician level in Film Studio. Players can win the unique Avatar by playing the new picture Film Studio until they increase its scene progress level up to Academician Level during the Halloween's Horror time sensitive challenge.

For the duration of the Halloween's Horror Update, Pumpkin Lantern special items are needed for each play of the Film Studio picture.

While the Timed Challenges are active (before you complete all three, or the timer expires; whichever happens first), Pumpkin Lanterns are given as rewards for every successful investigation for every picture in the game (except Film Studio itself). At least 1 Pumpkin Lantern is given for every game you win, but winning up to 3 at a time is also possible.



Pumpkin Lanterns are also given as rewards from banishing anomalies, but not for playing puzzles. Pumpkin Lanterns cannot be gifted between friends, however they are given as rewards for combining 5 of the new Halloween's Horror collections. Players with the Pyramid of Wonder or Sphere of Miracles also have a 1 in 6 chance of receiving Pumpkin Lanterns from these Desktop Awards when collecting their rewards every 12 hours. The number of Pumpkin Lanterns needed for each play of Film Studio increases as you increase the Picture Levels of Film Studio (+5 Pumpkin Lanterns per Level increase), starting at 5 Pumpkin Lanterns per play when the picture is opened at Novice Level and increasing to 40 Pumpkin Lanterns per play when the picture is at Professor Level.

As a guide, in order to reach Academician Level on Film Studio and win the new Avatar, you will need to play the picture approximately 150 times, which will require approximately 3,285 Pumpkin Lanterns! (or 2,628 Pumpkin Lanterns if using the Amulet of Santa/Amulet of Rarities Artefact).

As soon as you return to your Home Desktop after playing Film Studio for the 150th time, a notification screen will appear to say that the avatar challenge is complete and you have won both of the unique Avatars.



Both Avatars will automatically go into the Avatar section, but will not automatically replace your current Avatar. To use either of the new Avatars you must tap on your current Avatar, then you can select the new Avatar and tap the Save button.

Hints/Tips for Winning the Unique Avatars

 * 1) Try to play a variety of pictures as much as possible when playing, instead of just playing Film Studio over and over again. The more you play a single picture/puzzle repeatedly, the worse the rewards for each win gets.
 * 2) If you are low on energy, but close to leveling up (at which point your energy will restore), play Buddha's Square until you level up. At higher picture levels Buddha's Square potentially rewards a Cappuccino for each successful picture investigation. Cappuccinos restore 30 energy points when used, and Buddha's Square only requires 31 energy points at most to play (at Professor level). Santa_amulet_2014.png
 * 3) If you are low on energy, avoid playing high energy pictures in the game too often as many do not reward combining elements.
 * 4) Use the Amulet of Santa or the Amulet of Rarities Artefact to decrease the number of Pumpkin Lanterns needed to play Film Studio. Both the Amulet of Santa and the Amulet of Rarities Artefacts reduce the number of special items needed to play paid scenes like Film Studio by 20% for 24 hours once activated. Artefacts_portal.png
 * 5) Use the Valentine's Amulet Artefact to decrease the amount of energy needed to play every picture/puzzle when you are ready to play Film Studio a number of times. The Valentine's Amulet reduces the amount of energy needed to play by 10% for 12 hours.
 * 6) Use Luck Talismans and Artefacts such as Horseshoes in conjunction with the Valentine's Amulet, and make sure to play Tree of Dates in rotation when you are playing the pictures. This will increase your chances of finding all the collection items needed to combine another Valentine's Amulet as you play.
 * 7) As you play through the 30 challenge quests to win the Halloween Talisman, you will be able to combine 5 new collections added as part of the update. These quests will reward Pumpkin Lanterns once combined.

The Challenge Quests: The Halloween Talisman, the Witch's Talisman and Creator's Amulet Artefacts
The Halloween Talisman can be won once a player completes all 30 of the special Halloween's Horror challenge quests introduced as part of the update. The quests must be completed within the time limit of the Timed Challenge in order to unlock the Talisman.

Once the quests are completed, the Halloween Talisman automatically goes into your Inventory.

A notification screen will appear to say that the 30 challenge quests are complete and you have won the Halloween Talisman, but you must go to the Talisman section of the Inventory itself to see and use the new Talisman.



Once activated, the Halloween Talisman decreases the number of items required for investigating paid scenes by 20% for 24 hours.

In addition to winning the Halloween Talisman, players will also be able to combine the Witch's Talisman once they have completed the 30 challenge quests since the collections combined as part of the 30 quests create the 5 items needed to combine this Artefact.



Once the quests are completed, players must manually combine the Witch's Talisman. To do this, open the Collections Window and select the Artefacts tab. Locate the Witch's Talisman and press the green combine button.

You will need 20 each of the following combining elements to combine the Artefact - Second Hand, Minute Hand, Hour Hand and Clock Face. All Artefact combining elements can be won by combining collections in the game. You can also be given these combining elements as free gifts by your friends. Like collection combining elements, Artefact combining elements are free gifts and do not come out of your inventory when you send them as gifts to your friends.

Once combined, the Witch's Talisman will go into the Talisman tab of your Inventory, where it can be activated. Once activated, the Witch's Talisman triples speed of energy recovery for 24 hours.

Winning the Halloween Talisman
A special decorative border in the quest list marks the 30 quests needed to win the Halloween Talisman. Other quests added by the update with regular gold borders, do not count towards the 30 when completed.



Note: The very first quest that displays the special decorative border is the quest to find the picture pieces needed to unlock and open the Film Studio picture. However, this quest does not count towards the 30 quests needed to win the Halloween Talisman. This means there are actually 31 quests that display the decorative border, but only the last 30 of them count towards the challenge. Most importantly, you will need to complete this first quest in order to complete the challenge as the 30 quests that make up the event will not start until this quest is completed (there is only ever one quest with a special decorative border active at any one time) and the other quests require you to play the Film Studio picture (which this quest opens).

There are 30 special quests that must be completed in order to win the Halloween Talisman. They consist of 5 collection sequences of 6 quests each. Note: While USUALLY the first 5 quests are to find each of the 5 items while the 6th quest is to combine the collection, this is not the case with the Halloween's Horror Update. The Director's screenplay quests have been mixed in with the first 2 collections and the 4th collection. This appears to be intentional for effect with the sequencing of the storyline related to the quests.

The 5 collections players gather as they complete the 30 quests are:


 * 1) Horror movie collection (combines to create "Horror movie collection" and rewards 10 Pumpkin Lanterns when combined)
 * 2) Movie props (combines to create "Creepy doll" and rewards 15 Pumpkin Lanterns when combined)
 * 3) Director's screenplay (combines to create ""Epilogue" sequence" and rewards 20 Pumpkin Lanterns when combined)
 * 4) Film equipment (combines to create "Film stock" and rewards 25 Pumpkin Lanterns when combined)
 * 5) Mystifier's things (combines to create "Mystifier's diary" and rewards 30 Pumpkin Lanterns when combined)

All the items that make up these collections cannot be gifted between friends (they do not have green plus signs to add them to your wish list and they will not appear in the 'Send a collection item' tab when sending gifts to your friends).

They are all also 'Quest only' items, which means that they cannot be won normally by playing pictures/puzzles. They are only available to win in pictures while the quest for the particular item is activated and will stop being available to win in that picture once the quest is completed. They may also drop as random items when you are visiting your friends and charging their desktops; from the Collectors Desktop award when collecting its rewards; and from opening Pandora's Chests, however whether or not you get any of these items in those ways is completely up to chance.

This means that the only way to complete these special quests is to follow the special quest instructions as you get the quests. This makes these 30 special challenge quests slightly more difficult than the challenge quests from previous updates, which as noted above are not giftable during the event.

Note: There is an Amulet available near the end of the new 130 regular quests for this update. This is the Creator's Amulet Artefact, which once obtained will decrease energy consumption from investigating locations and solving puzzles by 10% for 24 hours. You will need to combine this Artefact manually.

The Challenge Quests
The 30 special quests that are needed to win the Fabulous Talisman are:

Hints/Tips for Winning the Halloween Talisman and the Witch's Talisman Artefact

 * 1) Use your Magic Crystal Talismans during the challenge. The Magic Crystal Talisman works as a Luck Talisman (it increases your odds of finding objects by 12% when activated). You can only use one other Luck Talisman once the Magic Crystal Talisman is activated (as you cannot use more than one Luck Talisman at a time), but you can use one of any other Luck Talisman or the Symbol of Success Artefact at the same time as the Magic Crystal Talisman again. The Magic Crystal Talisman lasts for 10 days.
 * 2) The Challenge quests usually ask for you to play Film Studio, so it is best to continue to work on Film Studio as normal when playing and not to worry too much about the quests themselves, they will be completed as you go.
 * 3) Read the quest instructions carefully. Most quests just ask you to play Film Studio, but some will specify a mode. The item will only be available to win when the picture is in the correct mode. Most modes cannot be 'forced', which means you cannot make them appear in rotation. However, 'Text' mode can be triggered by banishing (not playing) an anomaly in the picture. If the quest asks for Text mode in Film Studio, then play other pictures until an anomaly appears in Film Studio. You can then banish the anomaly, making the next mode Text mode.

Changes with this Update
Random modes: You can now opt out of playing a certain mode (i.e. Pieces) for the cost of 5 crystals. Players do not get the option to choose which mode they'd like to play.

Collection Items: Now state at which scene level they can be found when a player looks under the Collections Tab in their game.

Time Travel (on iOS for the time being): iOS players have reported that they can no longer Time Travel (or TT) on their devices to set their Talismans or 'farm' their Desktop Awards (travel back and forth in time to recharge them). There are however discussions taking place on still being able to use TT to multi-gift. See http://the-secret-society.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:509996 for further information as well as the following YouTube video found here. Err on the side of caution if trying to farm special items by either going into the past or future as there's a good possibility you may lose your Update.

Ghost Town: Has been redone and the picture looks clearer for players.

If you'd like to list hints or glitches associated with this Update, please do so in the Comments section below.

Related

 * SS Home
 * Updates
 * Quests
 * Collections
 * Talismans
 * Artefacts
 * List of Artefacts