Vinesweeper

Vinesweeper is a Farming-based members-only Activity released on 19 February 2008. Official worlds for this activity are 51 and 78.

Requirements

 * Spade (or 5 coins to buy one; the Tool Leprechaun can store a spade)
 * 1,500 coins to rent 10 flags, possibly more in case you lose a flag. First 10 flags are free.
 * Or, 50 points per flag.

Getting to the Activty
At any farming patch with a Tool Leprechaun wandering around, right-click him and click 'teleport'. Request to be teleported to the activity. He will then say "Avach nimporto" and you will find yourself at the activity site. There is a portal North-East of the farmhouse to return to the patch. Familiars and pets cannot be brought into the activity.



Playing the game
It is suggested to go to world 78, for world 78 is where most of the players go. To start, speak to Farmer Blinkin or Mrs. Winkin, who will give you 10 free flags and tell you how to play the game. You can only have a maximum of 10 flags.

The game involves a grid of holes. After digging at a hole with a spade a number will appear at the digging location. The number indicates the number of adjacent squares that hold a seed. The numbers range from zero to seven. (0 is invisible, 1 is blue, 2 is green, 3 is red, 4 is yellow, 5 is purple, 6 is teal, 7 is very light brown.)

In case of a zero, the activity will show an empty area if the edge of the empty area is close enough the numbers on the edge will be displayed instantly too. Digging at a location that carries a seed, destroys the seed.

After locating a square with a seed indicate the location by planting a flag. A farmer will retrieve the seed and give points as a reward. If the indicated location does not carry a seed, the flag will be lost and the number of points is reduced.

Once you have used your 10 flags, you will need to retrieve them from Farmer Blinkin or Mrs. Winkin, who will also offer to replace any you have lost for 500 coins each. Mrs. Winkin will also sell them for 50 points.

Rabbits
After planting a flag, rabbits will race the farmers to the indicated spot. Rabbits can be chased away by feeding them Ogleroot, which can be found during the digging process. This will give you 30 Hunter experience. If a rabbit reaches your flag before the farmer is finished digging up the seed, you lose the flag and get no points.

Tips

 * There is never a seed on the edge of a numberless spot, so if there are mounds next to an empty spot its always safe to click those.
 * If you get a message saying you unsure what in the hole, search again until your sure.
 * If you do not know where to start or if you think there is a seed but you are not sure, use the investigate option. It does not always work, but it does not hurt to try.
 * Don't plant a flag near a rabbit hole (they're on the outer rim of the fields).
 * Always stay close to farmers to increase the chance a rabbit will be too late.
 * If you can't figure out where the seeds are, it is possible to follow other players, but you get (less) points that way too.
 * The number of points received for identifying a seed is related to your farming level. At very low levels, digging up ground is more efficient than planting flags.
 * As this activity is based on Minesweeper, see the Wikipedia page for more information. If you do not wish to risk losing flags while learning to play, playing Minesweeper can be a good way to start off. Many computers automatically have this game, and free online versions can be found.
 * Playing near edges helps you when a seed is near your chance to pick a seed, because there are less holes to pick from.
 * Whenever possible, play with other players.It allows you to cover more land and locate seeds quicker. You should remember that you can get points for their finds as well as yours (providing you are close enough). It also makes the game more enjoyable as a whole.
 * When a seed is dug up, the numbers around the area where it was are cleared. This is mildly annoying, however, the seed positions themselves will not reset, so a solution is to bring weeds or other disposable non-stacked items, and drop them on known seed holes before flagging nearby seeds.  Then the holes can be immediately flagged, regardless of whether the numbers are there or not.

Points


Points can be spent by trading with Mrs. Winkin inside the house.


 * Note 1 You have to be close to the spot where the flag is planted

Farming experience
One farming experience costs from 1 point (at level 40+) to 7.75 points (below level 40.) A player would need around 101.01m vinesweeper points to get 1-99 farming in one exchange unless the game automatically changed the rates while exchanging; in this case a player would need around 13.16 million points.

You only get farming experience for trading in points.

Farming Seeds (and other items)



 * Note 1 The Super compost potion needs the Garden of Tranquillity quest to be completed. Although labeled as Super compost potion in the trade window, the item name is Compost potion (4).

Making money
Most items traded from Mrs. Winkin can be sold to other players or at the Grand Exchange. Flags are not tradeable. Experience for planting per seed bought is also given. It assumes an average harvest of 15 for allotments, 7 for clean herbs, 10 for hops, 4 for bushes, and 6 for fruit trees (even though bushes and fruit trees can be harvested more than once). Experience growing a seed can be compared to the points needed to buy it, as points can be traded directly for experience. Note that allotments and hops require planting multiple seeds.

Prices are updated at Grand Exchange Market Watch/Farming.


 * Experience and return/point values for "harvesting" supercompost are the differences between using/selling supercompost versus using/selling compost.
 * For a lot of the high level seed rewards, the amount of experience for growing per seed is less than the experience you could get by purchasing farming experience. For example, it takes 29000 points to purchase a yew seed. The experience for growing per seed is only 7150.9 experience while purchasing farming experience is 29000 experience (if your farming level is 40+).

Music

 * Charmin' Farmin' - Visiting the area

Trivia

 * Vinesweeper is similar to minesweeper, a computer game.
 * The house in the farm is similar to that of the Hobbit holes in The Lord of the Rings.
 * The main NPCs bear the names "Winkin" (the Mrs. and absent Mr.) and Farmer "Blinkin". This is a reference to a bedtime poem about three fishermen named Wynken, Blynken, and Nod who sail into the sky in a wooden shoe. The poem alludes to a sleeping child and, specifically, the world of dreams. "Now Winkin' and Blinkin' are two little eyes and Nod is a little one's head. And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies is a wee one's trundle bed." Full text at Home of Love - Nursery Rhymes.
 * When you examine the entrance portal is says: Gnome sweet Gnome?, a pun on Home! Sweet Home!
 * The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a children's book about a rabbit sneaking into Mr. McGregor's garden and eating as many vegetables as he can before being chased around. He is also in another book The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (name similar to Mrs. Winkin).
 * During the quest Grim Tales it is possible to find Mr. Winkin imprisoned near the Witch's Experiments.
 * You are not able to enter Vinesweeper - even after the Christmas Event - with an Ice amulet.
 * It is very difficult to completely solve the entire game as dug up holes will eventually reset.
 * If you are wearing a Cap and Goggles or a Runecrafter hat, with the goggles on, you can still get the message, "You get some mud in your eye and it stings! You have no idea what is in the hole."
 * It is possible to trade while playing the activity, so it is useful for giving items to a friend who would normally be far away.