Christmas 2015 Update

The third Christmas update was released on the 9th of December 2015 for Android and Kindle players, with release still pending on all other platforms.

The 2015 Christmas update introduced 1 new picture, Wonder Shop, 16 new collections, and 100 new quests.

The 2015 Christmas update also introduced a new set of holiday challenges, which gave players a third chance to win the Pyramid of Wonder desktop award (originally up for grabs in the first Christmas Update in 2013 and then again in the Christmas Update in 2014). Players who already have the Pyramid of Wonder on their Home Desktops from previous year's Christmas timed challenges have the opportunity to increase the Pyramid of Wonder desktop award to a new award level.

The 2015 Christmas Update is unique in the game, in that it was the first update to be released simultaneously on 2 platforms on the same day, being released both on Kindle devices and Android devices together.

The 2015 Christmas Timed Challenge
The 2015 Christmas 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 2015 Christmas timed event contains 3 challenges. Players had a set number of days to complete the following tasks:


 * Collect 500 snowflakes (?) by winning games of Gem Match to either earn the 'Pyramid of Wonder' desktop award, or increase it to the award level if you have previously won it.
 * Achieve 'Academician' level in Wonder Shop to win a unique avatar.
 * Complete 30 holiday quests to win the once-off Christmas Talisman and be able to combine the newest incarnation of the Amulet of Santa Artefact.

For the duration of the Christmas challenge, Christmas ball special items are required in addition to energy points to play Wonder Shop. Christmas balls are given as rewards for every successful investigation for every picture, and as rewards for banishing anomalies, but not for playing puzzles. Christmas balls cannot be gifted between friends, however they are given as rewards for combining some of the new 2015 Christmas collections, and they can be giving as rewards by the Sphere of Miracles and Pyramid of Wonders.

Important: The amount of time available for the 2015 Christmas timed challenges will vary across platforms. It is important to note that the Challenge timer begins counting down from the moment the update is released in a devices app store, and not from the moment a player downloads the update. If an update with a set of timed challenges is released in your app store with 20 days to complete the challenges and you wait 15 days to download the new update, when you download it you will only have 5 days left to complete the challenge, not 20.

Kindle and Android players have been given 28 days to complete the challenge.

The Halloween 2015 Update Pumpkin Lanterns and Spooky Yard
As part of the Halloween 2015 Update the picture Spooky Yard required special items called Pumpkin lanterns, in addition to energy points, for each play. These Pumpkin lantern special items were removed from the game as part of the 2015 Christmas update and Spooky Yard is now a regular picture that just requires energy points to play. The Halloween 2015 collections that rewarded Pumpkin lanterns as rewards for combining changed to reward regular game items instead.

At the beginning of the 2015 Christmas update, any remaining Pumpkin lanterns in a players inventory are converted into equal parts Fireflies, Ladybugs, Carrots, Cupid arrows, and Tokens, the 5 main special items needed to player the regular paid scenes in the game.

As Spooky Yard has been made into a regular Picture, it has been upgraded to a high Level Picture (to bring it in line with new Pictures being higher and higher levels). When the Picture was introduced to the game, it was used as a Timed Challenge Picture. All Pictures used as part of Timed Challenges can be opened at experience level 7 in order to allow all players to take part in the Timed Challenges. They are given the energy point requirements and experience points/coins rewards to match this level, in addition to the rate of progress per play of the Picture at different Picture levels to match this low level. This means players can play the Timed Challenge picture for relatively few energy points, and will need fewer plays to increase the Pictures Level for the Novice - Pro Picture Levels (all pictures have the same rate of progress from High Seeker level on-wards).

The 2015 Christmas Update has changed Spooky Yard from a low level picture to a high level picture. It's unlocking level has been increased from level 7 to level (to be confirmed, 100-102). Its energy point requirements have been increased to match this increase in unlocking level, as well as a corresponding increase in experience points and coins earned for every win of the game. It also takes more plays of the picture to work through the first few Picture levels (Novice - Pro) as the percentage increase at each level is lower, like other high level pictures (e.g. 2% per play at Pro level rather than 4% per play).

Other Changes Made by 2015 Christmas Update
coming soon

Glitches Fixed by the 2015 Christmas Update
you might get lucky

Glitches Not Fixed by the Halloween 2015 Update
more likely

Server Problems Gifting and Visiting
As with all large updates released for the game, the Christmas 2015 update may cause an overload in the games servers during peak times for a couple of days immediately following the release of the update on any platform. During this time players may encounter problems visiting and gifting, and be given a "Failure to connect to the servers" error message when trying to interact with the Friends portion of the game. The servers normally go back to normal after a couple of days once all players on that platform have downloaded the new update.

Related

 * SS Home
 * Updates
 * Holiday Updates
 * Halloween Update
 * Christmas Update
 * Valentines Update
 * Tavern Update
 * Treasure Island Update
 * Christmas Update 2014
 * Valentines Update 2015
 * Spring 2015 Update
 * Travel Time Update
 * Social Events Update
 * Halloween Update 2015
 * Quests
 * Collections
 * Artefacts
 * List of Artefacts