What is a good strategy for quickly earning money in Plants vs. Zombies on the iPhone?

Question

I'm trying to collect all the achievements in Plants vs. Zombies on the iPhone. I need lots of money to buy all the plants so I've been trying to work out a way to basically farm some money in the game. I've tried using Marigolds and the Magnet with a bunch of Tall-Nuts to slow the last few zombies down considerably, but the Marigolds only spawn money a few times before stopping.

Asked by spilth

Answer

For the iPhone version i recommend using Marigolds on lvl 1.1 (only the base zombie)

Basically you want to set up 3 lanes of marigolds with a single garlic at the front to divert the zombie into the other 2 lanes.

I hope this unicode art makes sense

┌─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┐  
│S│M│M│M│M│M│M│M│G│ ← Z
├─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┤   
│P│T│W│ │ │ │ │ │ │ ← Z 
├─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┤    
│S│X│M│M│M│X│M│M│G│ ← Z
├─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┤   
│P│T│W│ │ │ │ │ │ │ ← Z
├─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┤   
│S│M│M│M│M│M│M│M│G│ ← Z
└─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┘

Legend:

• S = Sunflower/TwinSunflower
• M = Marigold
• P = Peashooter
• G = Garlic
• X = Gold Magnet shrooms
• T = Tallnuts
• W = Spikeweeds

The idea is to slow do how you kill the zombies. So as quickly as possibly place the garlics to direct the zombies into the two lanes that are protected. After the initial setup, it's just a matter of place the marigolds as quickly as possibly.

EDIT: I should have said that you place the gold magnet shrooms so thank you get automatic coin collection, having two means less chance of a miss.

Answered by Alastair Pitts

Check more discussion of this question.

What's the best strategy for Survival: Endless mode in Plants vs Zombies?

Question

I'm trying to beat my high score in the Survival: Endless mode in Plants vs Zombies.

So I'm looking for a good strategy of what (endgame) units I should be placing to make it as far as possible.

Any suggestions?

Note: I'm aiming for the swimming pool level (see image)

Asked by Ivo Flipse

Answer

This website lists a bunch of strategies. Here is one example of a strategy:

Essentially, at higher levels, almost all strategies rely on having a constant supply of Cob Cannons to take out the Gargantuars with. The Winter Melons are used to slow down incoming enemies. The Gloom Shrooms in the pool are to damage pool-dwelling zombies and also attack zombies in the second and fifth rows. The Gloom Shrooms near the house are to kill Miner Zombies in the event that they spawn, and the Banana Leaves are to protect against Catapult and Bungie Zombies. The Ice-Shroom is placed in the pond to wake up with a Coffee Bean in the event that it needs to be used, Spikerock is to protect against vehicles and zombies that get too close to the Cob Cannons, and the Twin Sunflower to generate sun.

Answered by Kevin Y

Check more discussion of this question.

Do I need to buy seed packets from Crazy Dave every time I want to use them?

Question

Crazy Dave just opened shop and he sports two very interesting "plants": twin sunflowers and gatling peas. However, I'm afraid that the price tag of $5k is per use, rather than "buy once, use forever," in which case the price tag is way too steep for all practical purposes.

Which is it?

Asked by badp

Answer

It is buy once use forever, once you buy them they will always be available to you in your arsenal of extremely deadly plants.

Answered by Emerica.

Check more discussion of this question.

In Plants vs. Zombies, can I increase the gameplay speed?

Question

Is there any way to increase the speed of gameplay in Plants vs. Zombies? It's a great game, but it can get a bit slow.

Answer

The game offers no such option.

Check more discussion of this question.

Does the iOS version have Survival mode?

Question

I'd already been all the way through PvZ on my iPhone before the zen garden upgrade. I've continued playing, farming coins to unlock minigames, etc. However, the game seems to have entirely stopped giving me new plants. I've resorted to buying them expensively from the new store options.

How do I get more plants for my Zen Garden? talks about 'survival' mode, but I don't see that anywhere on my phone. Does it have some other name, or is it not in the mobile version?

Answer

New plants are given out randomly, so sometimes it will take a while to get one. You can only receive a plant if you have space for it in the main garden (regardless of how much space you have in the mushroom/aquatic gardens).

Also in my experience, the game seems to favour giving you chocolate for Stinky the Snail first. Try keeping the chocolate until you have 10 (the maximum) and perhaps you will gain more plants.

There is no survival mode in the iOS version yet, but they seem to add new features (more mini-games, puzzle mode) from the other versions every few months, so it may be added eventually.

If you want to play a mode with lots of zombies (to increase chances of getting a ZG plant) then I'd recommend playing the Last Stand or Column Like You See 'Em mini-games.

Check more discussion of this question.

How do I get more plants for my Zen Garden?

Question

I have recently unlocked the Zen Garden, but there are only 3 plants for sale in the shop and there is tons of empty room in the garden. How do I fill up the garden?

Also, I have 2 grave-eating plants in my garden that just kind of appeared with no action taken on my part. Why did this happen?

Answer

Plants are rare drops for playing the puzzle, survival, and adventure modes after you beat the game. Furthermore, the three sold in the shop reappear each day, allowing you to buy three per day.

Check more discussion of this question.

Do I need an empty slot in my Zen garden to get new water or night-time plants?

Question

I'm trying to fill up my night-time and water gardens in Plants vs. Zombies. My regular Zen garden is completely full, and I know that when I picked up plants from dropped presents while in game previously, they would default to the regular Zen garden. Then I had to move them to their proper garden with the wheelbarrow.

If there aren't any open slots in my Zen garden, will any water or night-time plants ever drop?

Answer

If your zen garden is full, you won't get any more plant drops since water/night drops go to your regular zen garden.

Check more discussion of this question.

Plants Vs Zombies :- Switch House

Question

In Plants Vs Zombies there is an option to "Switch House" at Crazy Dave's shop. What exactly does this do. I've switched house and not noticed any difference in game play.

Thanks!

Answer

In the XBox 360 version of the game, you can purchase additional blueprints from Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies that change the appearance of your house on the Leaderboard screen. Using "switch house" is how you swap to one of your other houses.

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I beat the Bobsled Bonanza Mini Game?

Question

I just purchased a new mini-game pack in Plants vs. Zombies on my iPhone. One level is Bobsled Bonanza, which puts you against a ton of Zombonis and Zombie Bobsled Teams. To kill these zombies you have to use either the jalepeno (which costs 125 sun points) or the Cherry Bomb (which costs 150). The problem is, there are not enough spaces to plant on or time to plant flowers to generate the sun point to buy jalepenos or Cherry Bombs quickly enough. I have:

• Used the imitater plant to mimic the jalepeno, so I can use two back-to-back. This works, but I also rarely have time to generate enough points to buy two quickly.
• Used the Squash (which is a cheap 50 points), which efficiently takes out Zombonis. The problem is they don't take out the entire Bobsled Teams and regenerate slowly. I don't see any other cheap options for taking out Zombonis, and no cheap options for taking out Bobsled Teams.
• I tried planting sunflowers in the water, to free up grass space for Peashooters and Potato Mines, but I have to plant lilypads if I do that, which takes an extra 25 points, and means I can plant fewer sunflowers in the same amount of time.

I have made it 75% of the way through this mini-game before being overwhelmed by the onslaught of zombies. What strategy am I overlooking?

Answer

This page lists a variety of strategies you can use.

Here are just a few of the strategies they suggest:

Alternate Strategy One: The player will be most vulnerable at the beginning. Get a double column of Sunflowers up fast and three in rows 1 and 6. Plant a Cattail after the first eight Sunflowers and as soon as they finish their cooldown after that. Plant Potato Mines as soon as they are available, but prioritize Spikerocks. If a Zombie Bobsled Team makes it past the ice in an unprotected row, drop a Wall-nut, wait for them to bunch up, and use a Squash. Once the lawn is under control, you can replace Sunflowers with more Threepeaters (on land) and Cattails (in the pool). Use the Squash, Jalapeno, Cherry Bomb, and Spikeweed As written here, this strategy includes 11 plants: 1 Sunflower 2 Lily Pad 3 Cattail 4 Potato Mine 5 Spikeweed 6 Spikerock 7 Wall-nut 8 Squash 9 Threepeater 10 Jalapeno 11 Cherry Bomb

Alternate Strategy Two: This strategy is so simple, nine words can describe it: two columns of Sunflowers and two columns of Gloom-shrooms. Nothing will get past it. [Note]The trick is building it. The iOS version only has 3 ice free columns, and the bobsledders will overrun you early. You need a lot of defense before you can build the columns.

Alternate Strategy Three: Plant eight Sunflowers on the first and second columns at the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th rows. In front of the Sunflowers, plant at least two Peashooters at every lane. Plant two Peashooters for the pool lanes as well, on top of Lily Pad, to have Defense against Ducky Tube Zombies. Melt the ice as soon as possible with Jalapeno. After melting ice, add Spikeweeds and upgrade to Spikerocks as soon as possible to prevent more ice from coming in. Plant Cattail and Wall-nut or Tall-nuts for more Defense.

Alternate Strategy Four (the “Armageddon” method): Plants: Lily Pad, Sunflower, Wall-nut, Squash, Potato Mine, Jalapeno, Cherry Bomb, Doom-shroom and Coffee Bean. Plant a minimum of eight Sunflowers in the leftmost ranks.

Use the Squash (cheap) wherever possible to stomp Zombonis, and plant Potato Mines (cheap and quick to regenerate) as backup Zomboni killers and to take out entire Bobsled Teams. As things get more chaotic, move up to the heavier explosives. When things get really crowded, place a Doom-shroom on a Lily Pad midway down the pool, then drop a Coffee Bean on it to detonate and clear the yard nearly fence-to-fence. Clean up smaller groups with Cherry Bombs (if they are compact) or Jalapeños (if they are strung out along the file).

Bide your time and wait till the last possible moment to detonate your Doom-shrooms; they take a long time to regenerate and the longer you wait, the more zombies will enter the yard (and the kill zone). If you wait too long and miss a few, or want to wait longer to draw more in, or need a few more seconds for a plant to recharge or to gather more Sun, drop in a Wall-nut to slow ’em down, bunch ’em up, and give you more time to Squash ’em or blast ’em.

Try to reserve the Jalapeno as your ace-in-the-hole; if your explosives timing is off and you miss a few zombies, you can use it to zap the endangered file. If you can, wait while they eat a Sunflower or two (easily replaced) and you may also be able to nail a Zomboni or Bobsled entering from the right as a bonus.

Alternate Strategy Five: Pick the following plants: Sunflower Jalapeno Imitater Jalapeno Cherry Bomb Squash Repeater Lily Pad Spikeweed If you have 9 slots, pick the Torchwood, and if 10 slots, pick the Twin Sunflower. Procedure:

1.) Plant Sunflowers on the first two columns of the lawn (making you have 12 Sunflowers).

2.) When a Zomboni appears, plant a Spikeweed in front of it.

3.) When a Zombie Bobsled Team appears, use the Jalapeno to kill those four.

4.) If a Zombie Bobsled Team appears and your two Jalapenos are still recharging, plant a Repeater immediately. (I assume that you have enough sun for it at this point.)

5.) You must have planted Repeaters on the third column (and later on, probably on the fourth) before or during the next huge wave of zombies.

6.) Use the Squash or Cherry Bomb whenever some zombie get past your current defense.

7.) Only use Spikeweeds to kill Zombonis!

8.) Use again the Jalapeno when a row gets huge amount of ice. (Use the Imitater if the zombies are far away and use the real one if the zombies are near.)

9.) If you have enough sun and time, plant Torchwoods and Twiin Sunflowers.

If there are too many Zombie Bobsled teams in one row, use the Cherry Bomb in the middle of them. Reserve your Jalapenos for urgent uses. Don't waste them on rows with just ice and no zombies! If a Zomboni crushes your Repeater, use the Squash to prevent them from proceeding to your house.

Alternate Strategy Six: Plant Sunflowers in the back and build up Starfruit in the pool while you hold the initial waves off with Potato Mines, Squashes and Jalapenos. Once the Pool is full of Starfruit, nothing can get past them.

Also, here is a Youtube video that illustrates another strategy you could try.

Check more discussion of this question.

Where does Plants vs. Zombies store its savegames?

Question

I'd like to backup my Plants vs. Zombies savegames. Where are they saved?

Answer

From this blog: AndrewBlock.Net

Steam version

• Vista/Window 7: C:\ProgramData\Steam\PlantsVsZombies\userdata
• XP: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\plants vs zombies\userdata

Non-Steam version

• Vista/Windows 7: C:\ProgramData\PopCap Games\PlantsVsZombies\userdata
• XP: C:\Program Files\PopCap Games\Plants vs. Zombies\userdata

So, locate the files on the computer you're currently playing on. Then, copy all of the .dat files into the directory on the computer you want to start playing on (in my case, I copied them from the netbook to the desktop). Note that this will overwrite any progress on the target computer, but you probably figured that already.

Note: I can't vouch for XP, but in my Windows 7 + Steam scenario, the 'C:\ProgramData\Steam\PlantsVsZombies\userdata' folder is hidden. I had to turn on viewing of hidden files: Computer > Organize > Folder and Search Options > View > Show hidden files, folders, and drives (works in Vista too). In XP it's My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files — or something like that.

Check more discussion of this question.

Does collecting coins in Plants vs. Zombies play a song or just random notes?

Question

Playing in my Zen garden I sometimes collect 20-30 coins, and they tend to make very melodic tunes. Do the coins play the notes of a particular song or is a random note played each time? I've tried collecting them with different beats to reveal a song with no luck, maybe someone with a larger zen garden can figure it out?

Answer

I played the game to death, unlocking every single thing in it and I also tried to find a pattern to picking the coins up. From what I could tell, they're just different notes that link well together.

Check more discussion of this question.

Using chocolate in Plants vs. Zombies

Question

I started finding chocolate for my snail. It says that chocolate makes your snail gather coins faster in your Zen garden, but how long do the effects of chocolate last? Also, can I feed my snail multiple chocolates to make the effect last longer? It would be cool if I could feed my snail enough to work while I sleep.

Answer

The Zen Garden - Automation page/section from Plants vs. Zombies Wikia answers your question:

[after feeding a piece of chocolate to the Snail] he will become extremely hyper and continue to collect coins at a high rate of speed (for a snail) for about an hour. However, he cannot be fed more than one piece of Chocolate at a time.

As weird as it is, you can also feed chocolate to your plants, causing them to drop coins more quickly.

[after plants start glowing in a gold aura, and without using chocolate on them] The drop rate starts out relatively high, and decreases as the day progresses.

[…]

As stated previously, plants drop more often right when they become happy; as a result, Chocolate is best given at that time, when they give the maximum increase.

You say you would like to leave the Zen Garden open while you sleep, however I don't know if that's a good idea:

it will glow with a gold aura (signifying that the plant is "happy") […] and then drop coins and occasionally diamonds for the rest of the day.

I don't know what happens to the Zen Garden right after the midnight. I know that closing the game before the midnight and opening it after the midnight will make the Zen Garden "reset" to all plants needing watering. I don't know if the same happens if the game is left open during the midnight.

Finally, the same page from that wiki says that you can move the mushroom and aquatic plants into the main garden section (if they are already happy/glowing), and they will still drop coins even in the "wrong" environment. Read that page for more details.

Check more discussion of this question.

When should I stop playing endless mode in Plants vs Zombies?

Question

I don't think there's already a clone question, if there is I apologize but I didn't find it.

It's kinda of a spoiler but not really a spoiler.

So I'm using this strategy and I have 142 flags:

The thing is since flag #50 I'm not noticing changes in the behaviour of the AI. Basically I'm winning easy, I have just to restore the Pumpkin shield on the plants. I really don't care about doing 1000 flags so should I expect some increase in difficulty or is that it?

The version is Game of the Year.

Answer

I've searched fairly extensively and I can't find anything that suggests it gets harder.

Check more discussion of this question.

Plants-vs-Zombies gameplay speed

Question

is there any way to increase the speed of gameplay in Plants-vs-zombies? its a great game but it can get a bit slow.

Answer

The game offers no such option.

Check more discussion of this question.

Can I start with Plants vs. Zombies Game of the Year edition?

Question

I've never played any Plants vs. Zombies games. The PopCap site says this on their: Plants vs. Zombies page:

Get ready to soil your plants! Again! PopCap's fun-dead game of the year is updated and expanded with 20 new achievements and the interactive Zombatar™. Make your very own zombie, then watch it come to "life" in your game!

Stop 26 types of zombies dead in their tracks with your arsenal of 49 zombie-zapping plants! Battle through 50 Adventure levels, 20 Mini-Games, plus Puzzle and Survival modes. Or dig into the zombie-free Zen Garden. The fun never dies!

Looks like this is a sequel. Is there another version that I should get to get into the series? Or is this the original, with extra features?

Answer

No, it's not - it's the same game, with a few bits added on.

Check more discussion of this question.

How does Plants vs. Zombies differ from platform to platform?

Question

Plants VS Zombies is available for PC, iPad, and iPhone so far as I know. I'd like to help answer Plants vs. Zombies questions, but my knowledge is based on the PC version. So...

What platforms is Plants vs. Zombies available on?

Are there any major differences between the versions available on each platform: gameplay, campaign, puzzles, survival, achievements, or anything else?

Answer

Plants vs Zombie is only available on those 3 platforms currently. Since you are already familiar with the PC, I'll go into the other ones. The iPhone version is a bare-bone version of the game, specifically it doesn't have survival mode. It is also missing quite a bit of the bonus games (including the plant garden, the tree of wisdom, as well as the Zombiequarium minigame). It contain the entire campaign, as well as different achievements (also different easter eggs, such as what happen if you scroll down the achievement listing continuously). The puzzles are mainly the same as well.

The iPad version is identical to the iPhone version, except it now includes the survival mode. However, now it includes a new way to improve the power of your cobb plants (by putting butter on enemies first). This is making use of the iPad multitouch mode of up to 11 touches at once (think launching multiple walnut in walnut bowling at once). Still no zen garden.

Check more discussion of this question.

Good strategy for earning money fast in Plants vs. Zombies on iPhone

Question

I'm trying to collect all the achievements in Plants vs. Zombies on the iPhone. I need lots of money to buy all the plants so I've been trying to work out a way to basically farm some money in the game. I've tried using Marigolds and the Magnet with a bunch of Tall-Nuts to slow the last few zombies down considerably, but the Marigolds only spawn money a few times before stopping.

Answer

For the iPhone version i recommend using Marigolds on lvl 1.1 (only the base zombie)

Basically you want to set up 3 lanes of marigolds with a single garlic at the front to divert the zombie into the other 2 lanes.

I hope this unicode art makes sense

┌─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─┐  
│S│M│M│M│M│M│M│M│G│ ← Z
├─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┤   
│P│T│W│ │ │ │ │ │ │ ← Z 
├─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┤    
│S│X│M│M│M│X│M│M│G│ ← Z
├─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┤   
│P│T│W│ │ │ │ │ │ │ ← Z
├─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┼─┤   
│S│M│M│M│M│M│M│M│G│ ← Z
└─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┘

Legend:

• S = Sunflower/TwinSunflower
• M = Marigold
• P = Peashooter
• G = Garlic
• X = Gold Magnet shrooms
• T = Tallnuts
• W = Spikeweeds

The idea is to slow do how you kill the zombies. So as quickly as possibly place the garlics to direct the zombies into the two lanes that are protected. After the initial setup, it's just a matter of place the marigolds as quickly as possibly.

EDIT: I should have said that you place the gold magnet shrooms so thank you get automatic coin collection, having two means less chance of a miss.

Check more discussion of this question.