Stardew Valley mystery boxes live up to their name, with contents and locations that come as a surprise every time you find one. These boxes might reward you with anything ranging from rare items and meals that grant useful buffs to flower seeds and iron ore. It’s probably not worth going out of your way to find them, but if you do get a mystery box, you’ll walk away with something useful and potentially even valuable.
We’ve explained where to find Stardew Valley mystery boxes below, along with what you’re likely to find inside.
Where to find Stardew Valley Mystery Box locations
Mystery boxes have a small chance of turning up when you:
- Till the ground where an Artifact Spot appears
- Artifact Spots have three small brown spires sticking out of the ground
- Fish up a treasure chest in the river or from the ocean
- Mine – anything, whether it’s in the mine or busting rocks around town
- Win them from the Trout Derby
A bit of confusion surrounds when mystery boxes start appearing. Some have said you have to earn the millionaire achievement, though I found one without earning that achievement yet. Some fans also think you have to win one in the Trout Derby or the Squid Fest to unlock them across the town, something that also didn’t happen to me.
However it happens, there’s no doubt you’ll know when mystery boxes start appearing, as Stardew 1.6 includes a cutscene that introduces them. One night, you’ll see the mysterious Mr. Qi flying over town in his airplane, dropping boxes as he goes.
How to open mystery boxes in Stardew Valley
Stardew treats mystery boxes like geodes, which means you need to visit Clint the smith. Clint’s shop is open every day except Friday, from 8 AM until 4 PM It’s easy to get busy during the day and miss his closing time, so you might want to make visiting his store your first task of the day.
Clint charges the same amount for opening mystery boxes as he does for smashing geodes 25 gold–so it won’t break the bank.
What’s inside Stardew Valley mystery boxes?
From our experience, you have a random chance of finding one of the following:
- Pepper seeds
- Parsnip seeds
- Cauliflower seeds
- Radish seeds
- Mixed seeds
- Mixed flower seeds
- Fruit tree saplings
- Random books
- Treasure chest
- Rings
- Prismatic shard
- Shrimp cocktail
- Omelette
- Vegetable medley
- Quality fertilizer
- Hardwood
Other surprises are likely inside, though we just haven’t found enough mystery boxes yet to be sure. For more on the big patch, don’t miss the new crafting recipes and everything else in Stardew Valley 1.6
