Plushies

Plushies were introduced in March, 2020, with version 2.11 and unlock at guild level 50. Plushies are craftable miniature versions of various heroes, equippable as guild leader accessories. Available plushie recipes can be found in the Alchemy window on the last tab, which is normally hidden from view; the tab list must be scrolled before it becomes visible.

Before a plushie can be crafted, indeed before it even appears in the Alchemy station, its recipe must be unlocked by meeting specific criteria which are not always explicitly known. Plushie recipes can be unlocked even if the hero it represents has not yet been acquired. When a recipe is unlocked, a notification appears briefly at the bottom of the screen with the following message: "A new Item has been unlocked in the Alchemy Station…" (This notification has been known to be delayed, however. The guild hall screen might need to be reloaded—by opening a different screen, eg. the Fortress or the Hero Book, and returning to the guild hall—before the plushie recipe appears in the Alchemy station.)

Progress related to plushie unlock requirements is not counted until a guild has reached level 50. When new plushies are released, however, progress toward meeting their unlock criteria is applied retroactively for players who have already reached level 50.

More than 30 plushies are available to be unlocked, or at least crafted, at any time while others are event-specific and can only be unlocked and crafted while the event is ongoing.

*Note: As of September 2023, there will not be any new plushies for future events until the developaws "figure out something more fun to do with them."*

## Empty Plushies

Every plushie recipe requires an empty plushie of a certain color as one of its ingredients. Empty plushie recipes can be found at the end of the Quest tab in the Alchemy window. They cost 250 cloth, 2 silks and 10 rare embers each and take two hours to craft.

## Event Plushies

Event Plushies are available for unlocking and crafting only during the specific events with which they are associated. Once crafted, however, they remain permanently available and can be equipped at any time. Plushies introduced in an event in one year become available again in the same event in subsequent years, at least that's been the case so far.

### Spring Festivals

#### 2020

During Spring Festival 2020, players could unlock two plushies by collecting decorated eggs that randomly dropped when cats were shaken for gold.

#### 2021

The 2020 plushies were again available during the 2021 event, unlocked by collecting decorated eggs that dropped when cats were shaken for gold; these eggs were tracked on the last line of the inventory screen (below the reputation tokens). The 2021 event introduced two additional plushies that could be unlocked by picking sufficient quantities of small flowers that occasionally sprouted from the grass of the guild hall. Tapping a flower ten times would cause it to grow and eventually disappear in a flash. Each tap cost one of the decorated eggs, and no flowers would appear until a player had collected at least ten of the decorated eggs.

#### 2022

The four existing plushies returned in 2022, unlocked as described above, and four new plushies were also available for collecting more decorated eggs, growing more flowers, unlocking other plushies, and using the Theater on April Fool's Day.

#### 2023

In addition to the eight existing plushies from previous year's events, unlocked as described above, three new plushies could be earned by matching gold stars in the Matching Mania mini-game.

### Call of Heroes

#### 2021

The Call of Heroes Event 2021 introduced an event-exclusive mini-game, a Minesweeper clone called Super Sweeper. Players got five lives a day and could get three additional lives by watching an ad as often as desired. Four plushies could be earned by winning and losing the mini-game in various ways, as described below.

#### 2022

Super Sweeper and its four 2021 plushies returned in 2022, along with new ones also unlocked by playing the mini-game.

#### 2023

The Super Sweeper mini-game—*which became available after updating* Castle Cats *to version 3.13.2*—returned for a third consecutive year. However, there were no new plushies added for the 2023 event.

### Anniversary Events

#### 2021

As part of the Anniversary Event 2021 celebration, balloons occasionally floated across the guild hall, from bottom of the screen to top, and could be popped by tapping on them before they flew away. Two plushies could be earned by popping balloons.

#### 2022

The 2021 plushies could again be unlocked by popping balloons. Two new plushies could be unlocked by matching gems in Matching Mania, and a third became available by shaking heroes for gold.

#### 2023

All previous methods and plushies were available to be unlocked, but no new plushies were added for the 2023 event.

### Summer Events

During rainy Summer Events, players can collect pearls that randomly spawn near the arch in the guild hall. Pearls spawn a maximum of once per day and only do so when the sky is clear. The rain returns when a pearl is successfully collected. (VFX must be turned on in order to see weather effects but is not required to be on in order to collect pearls.) Three plushies that could be unlocked by collecting pearls were introduced in the events of 2020 and 2021.

#### 2022

In addition to the plushies from previous years, the 2022 event also featured four new plushies that could be unlocked by entering battles and collecting bonus loot in quests with the beach and/or desert backgrounds.

#### 2023

All seven plushies from previous years were available to be unlocked, but there are no new plushies for Summer 2023 due to new plushies being put on hold for a while.

### Halloween Events

To celebrate Halloween, Stitch occasionally comes trick-or-treating at the guild hall. Tap on Stitch when he appears below the arch to open a pop-up window offering a choice of "Treat" or "Trick". All Halloween plushies are unlocked by interacting with Stitch through this dialog.

When "Treat" is chosen, Stitch takes a few Halloween event materials. (Note that players who do not have at least 25 of each material in inventory will not be allowed to choose the "Treat" option.) For players willing to give up some of their hard-earned event materials, there are five known plushies that can be unlocked by treating Stitch, one introduced in 2020, three in 2021, and one in 2022.

When "Trick" is chosen, Stitch does not get any treats and will therefore play one of the following randomly chosen tricks on the guild:

* Setting fire to the cauldron
* Enshrouding the guild hall in a purple mist
* Entangling the basic materials stations in vines
* Covering the fortress with a black flaming shadow
* De-materializing the bodies of the guild's cats so only their faces are visible, like "Cheshire Cats"
* Abducting a cat from the guild in a beam of light, as if from an alien spaceship

To dispel the effects of the tricks, simply tap repeatedly on the affected areas, or in the case of "Cheshire Cats", shake them to return them to full visibility. There are six plushies known so far that can be unlocked by cleaning up after each trick a certain number of times: three introduced in 2020, at least one in 2021, and two in 2022.

Because Stitch only appears a few times a day and his actions are random, it can be difficult to unlock all of the plushies in one event. Players are therefore advised to stick with either treating or tricking rather than alternating between the two, until the desired plushies associated with that choice have been unlocked.

### Purrismas Events

#### 2020

During the Purrismas Event 2020, wrapped gift boxes were available as quest rewards and could be given, one at a time, to the heroes in the fortress. Two plushie recipes could be unlocked by giving the required number of gifts. A third plushie was made available for crafting by completing the Advent Calendar.

#### 2021

Gift boxes were again available as quest rewards and a new recipe for a Nicholas plushie unlocked when one of the heroes disappeared after receiving a gift, which seemed to occur at random. Also new in 2021, snowballs dropped from heroes when shaken for gold and could be used to build a snowman in the guild hall (between the Questboard and the Alchemy cauldron), unlocking a Frosty plushie.

#### 2022

Five new plushies are available in 2022 by lighting (or not lighting) the sky when it goes dark. Usually when the sky is dark, candles appear in the snow on the ground of the guild hall. When a candle is tapped, a window pops up in which Christian offers to light the candle for a cost of between one and five common red embers. Players are awarded plushie recipes after spending certain amounts of embers or by declining to light candles. On Saint Lucy's day (December 13) however, the sky could only be lit by tapping the lamp between the archway and the Questboard, with another event plushie as a reward for doing so.

### Mew Year's Eve

Beginning in 2020, a plushie recipe can be unlocked by watching the fireworks that appear over the guild hall on New Year's Eves, from 11 pm on December 31 to 1 am on January 1, local time. (As Mew Year's Eve is a mini-event that runs concurrently with Purrismas, this plushie requires Purrismas materials for crafting.)

### Valentine Events

#### 2021

The Valentine Event 2021 introduced a new feature called "Ember", a Catanian version of the friend-matching app, Tinder.

Players can use Ember to like, superlike or dislike other Ember participants, who consist of 33 guild heroes and known allies. After liking or disliking the character currently showing in the window, a new one will appear. Players get to like only 10 cats and superlike only 1 cat per day. The allotment resets to those numbers at midnight (00:00) local time regardless of how many had been used up the previous day. Players can get five additional likes by watching an ad and additional superlikes for 25 gems each as often as desired after using their daily allotments.

Sometimes after liking a character, Ember will indicate that a match has been made. When this happens, players are offered the option of sending "Sweets", a "Letter" or "Flowers" to their match, and a random amount (estimated to be between 5 and 25) of the corresponding event material will be taken from inventory. (Note that players who do not have at least 25 of each material in inventory will not be allowed to send anything.) Plushies can be unlocked by liking cats, making matches, and sending materials, as described in the table below.

#### 2022

The Ember plushies introduced in 2021 were again available in 2022. Additional plushies could be unlocked while playing Matching Mania.

#### 2023

Previous plushies were again available in 2023. Additionally, at least four new plushies can be unlocked by using the Ember "app" that was first released in 2021 (see above) and another by tossing cats for gold.

## Trivia

* Plushies can be picked up and moved around the guild hall, independently of the guild leader, like normal-sized heroes.
* Plushies appear to attack in battle alongside the guild leader but they do not do any actual damage.
* Svea is the first and so far only event cat to have a regular, non-event plushie; although it can only be unlocked on a single day of the year, the recipe remains available for crafting year-round.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/castlecatsgame/photos/a.1091007500921428/3032204790135013/ *Castle Cats* Facebook post explaining plushies, April 20, 2020.
2. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/697368878246002749/745264663222157412/1147635948675416155 Discord post by developaw Robin about new plushies being put on hold, Sept. 2, 2023.
3. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/401029535744655361/401030010929938433/855348789380120576 Discord post by *Castle Cats* developaw Henrik, June 18, 2021.

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