Chapters 1 to 15: Where to Put Your Time, Money and First Evolutions

If you play free or spend very little (think a few dollars on a strong event, and no more than about $25 a month), the order of game modes is story, then Boss Challenge, then Gold Rush, with Horde last. Food and are the scarce things, so push chapters to unlock the candy boosts that make every pinball pay more. The levels that come with that carry you up the Boss Challenge board, which is where your food comes from, including the +30 gold food that T4 evolutions eventually require. Build just enough to field a respectable beginner Gold Rush squad. For Horde, look for someone willing to carry you through D1 to D3 rather than investing in it yourself. For events, put Fishing on top and Cozy Farm at the bottom; between them, Zobo Shooter beats Raft Race, which beats Treasure Hunt.

If you spend moderately (somewhere between ten and twenty dollars an event, up to about $200 monthly), the mode order is nearly the same, but Boss Challenge and Gold Rush sit level with each other. What changes is budget: you can fund the evolutions it takes to chase team placements and MVP in Island Gold Rush, as long as you avoid a whale's bracket. Fishing still leads the events, followed by Zobo Shooter and Treasure Hunt (aiming for 12 keys), then Raft Race and Cozy Farm. If your Zobo Shooter team clears 100M points, swap Zobo Shooter into first place.

If you spend heavily, bought pinballs will push you past chapter 70 quickly, and a first-place Boss Challenge finish is likely. Your real project is building an Island Gold Rush squad, which stays relevant well into the late game. Zobo Shooter edges out Fishing for you, with a big gap to Treasure Hunt, Cozy Farm and Raft Race. Once your team passes 500 km in Raft Race every reward after that is cosmetic, which is why it falls to last.

Note that Zobo Shooter is listed as temporarily paused for a rework at the time of writing; slide the next event up while it is away.

Buy gems through Shop → Club (look for the Club button in the shop's upper corner). The rate there was about 105 gems per US dollar against 100 in the normal shop, though it varies by currency.

By value per dollar, measured in pinballs, and capsules, the packs rank roughly like this:

Two extras are worth knowing: the 2× multiplier inside the $4.99 Event Packs is strong value, and the Piggy Bank gives the best dollars-to-pinballs rate in the game. Those prices date from about October 2026, so check before buying.

The early Dojo is your map. Dojo 1 for an element opens once you own five Tatari of it, usually within a day or two. Dojo 2 asks for five T2s of that element, Dojo 3 for a single T3. Card backgrounds tell you the tier at a glance: yellow for T2, red for T3, rainbow for T4.

Because evolutions are cheap early on, you can time two or three T3s to land together. Sit on your Dojo and event payouts until the trials line up. Suppose Fishing is next on the event schedule: you could save up to push a Grass Tatari whose trial asks for 15,000 pinballs, a Water one that wants 2,000 rods, and a Rock one that wants 5,000 energy cans, all in the same window.

These are cheap, flexible picks that hold up across most early content. Blueflick, Frostnip and Frugling also have a quick path to T3. The table is not an evolution order.

Element	Tatari	Why it earns a slot
Water	Frostnip	Your main damage dealer from start to finish, and cheap to upgrade
Water	Capypapa	Common, but its healing carries you until better supports arrive
Water	Waddledo	Shields itself and holds a lane at T1–T2; skip its T3
Water	Maskfry	Pairs with Shellshy to hold a lane in story
Fire	Blueflick	Needs fewer copies than most and hits hard in nearly every mode
Fire	Pyropup	The top Fire tank, with a three-lane attack
Fire	Tindercub	Retreats to heal when low, so it works without upgrades
Grass	Manteeny	The best Grass tank, used everywhere
Grass	Frugling	Inexpensive starter damage
Grass	Goonbug	A T1 stun that trivialises a few chapters and Dojo stages
Grass	Cluckeroo	Healer for story and the Road Bully boss
Rock	Rubblet	The best Rock tank everywhere except Horde
Rock	Gibber	Early damage outside Horde
Rock	Snoozebo	Common backup tank for early Gold Rush
Lightning	Zappur	The best Lightning tank, with knockbacks once evolved
Lightning	Cheerling	Its 3×3 buff makes the early game much easier
Lightning	Zapooch	Common, but strong damage early

For the longer view, see the evolution roadmap.

• FrostnipWater · main DPS all game
• CapypapaWater · common, good healer
• WaddledoWater · T1–T2 tank, skip T3
• MaskfryWater · pairs with Shellshy
• BlueflickFire · main DPS, cheap
• PyropupFire · best tank
• TindercubFire · usable at T1, early stages
• ManteenyGrass · best tank
• FruglingGrass · main DPS, cheap
• GoonbugGrass · usable at T1, stun
• CluckerooGrass · healer, Boss Challenge
• RubbletRock · best tank
• GibberRock · early DPS
• SnoozeboRock · common, backup tank
• ZappurLightning · best tank, knockback
• CheerlingLightning · 3x3 buff, best early get
• ZapoochLightning · common, early DPS

Push hardest in a new account's first three days; the Zobo Buster event rewards an early lead. Copying other people's line-ups rarely works yet because you lack their units, so lean on commons. Plenty of them are excellent even though they never reach high tiers.

• Pick a lane depth. Units placed near the top of the board hit Zobos early, which suits fights you need to win fast. Units placed low buy time and dodge damage.
• Hold a lane with two. Manteeny with Goonbug, Maskfry with Shellshy, or Rubblet with Gibber can each cover a lane alone. That frees four units for the lane that is struggling, for example to kill a Shaman quickly.
• Place supports for coverage. Cheerling's buff covers a 3×3 square, so park it in one of the three middle lanes on your weaker side. Ashlarva's attack buff and healing spread in a plus-shaped pattern.

Stuck on a specific stage? The campaign line-up pages show what has cleared it. For quick daily habits, see the ten habits guide.

The priority table by spending level is useful, but Fox thinks what all three levels share matters more: plan evolutions around the Dojo and push the story hard in the first few days. Get those two right and you can move fast even without spending much.

If you plan to spend, Fox suggests looking at the Growth Fund and Monthly Pass before other packs, since they pay out as you keep playing. Remember the two-Tatari-per-lane trick too, because everyone runs short of Tatari early on.