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Event Appendix: The Great Winter Hunt 2011

• On December 2, 2011, it was annouced that Calamity Carl's Toy Factory was built in the Event Lot. Nothing could go wrong, right?
• On December 7, 2011, the Festive Comet lands, smashing poor Carl's factory! Toy parts have been scattered all over Gnawnia and hoarded by mice; it is the hunters' job to track them down and rebuild the toys!
• The first thing you should do is to go to your Hunter's Profile (by clicking the MouseHunt shield). There, you can choose a gift to be given to you when friends visit your profile. You'd likely want to change it from the default "Christmas Coal", unless you wish to get one for your Collectibles page. I suggest "Festive Feta" at first.
• You can then visit your friends' profiles. Here, you can give them what they have chosen with the "Send Help" button; it won't cost you anything, and you get one Ice Coin each time you do! Keep in mind that there is a limit of 5 gifts a day through this method both ways; i.e. you can't receive more than 5 gifts from friends a day, and you can't give more than 5 gifts.
• You can also leave them "a gift under the tree" with the "Send Gift" button, which can only be opened when the Community Toy Drive is complete and the Great Gift Opening Ceremony is annouced. There is no limit to the number of these gifts you can send, but they will cost you either gold or real money.
• Speaking of Festive Feta, it is a new cheese that is required to hunt for the mice with the toy parts. To acquire it, go to the Festive Comet. Visiting it for the first time gives you 30 Festive Feta. You can hunt there to collect more Festive Feta. Festive Feta is also given to you via the Loyalty Chests, so be sure to check MouseHunt at least once a day!
• If you have real money to spare, you can also purchase more Festive Feta via the "Donate" button.
• Once you have a supply of Festive Feta, you can then start looking for toy parts. On the travel page, you can see exactly which places contain which toy parts.
• To find out what toys you can build, click on the Build Toys! button that appears in your heads-up display.
• Recruits through Grandmasters should aim to build Wooden toys. These toys' recipes are simple and only consist of basic materials like Wood, Springs, and Screws, which are found in all locations.
• Legendaries and Heroes should aim to build Clockwork toys. All these toys require Cogs, and the best toy requires Ghostly Cloth, found only in the Catacombs and Balack's Cove.
• Knights and up should aim to build Metal toys. These toys require Cogs, Metal, and the better toys need either the Doohickey or Fire Bulb. Dracano contains all the toy parts you need.
• Travel to your desired location and equip your Festive Feta, and you'll soon start collecting toy parts!
• Building toys give you Ice Coins and Festive Toy Receipts. You can use Tan's Toy Calculator to calculate how best to use the parts you have collected.
• If you can't use this calculator, try to aim for these toys (highest priority listed first), as they're generally the most efficient:
• Wooden toy makers: Ball and Cup, Spring Toy
• Clockwork toy makers: Ghastly Jack-in-the-box, Wind Up Toy, Ball and Cup
• Metal toy makers: Tin Larry (best for receipts), Ghastly Jack-in-the-box (if you have Ghostly Cloth, best for coins), Draconic Toy (good for coins)
• You also get a Winter Hunt Gift Box for every toy that you build for the first time, so it may be worthwhile to build some simpler toys too. You also receive these boxes from Elf Mice. These can be opened from Inventory → Special.
• Ice Coins may be spent in the Festive Comet shoppes for crafting items, trap skins, and seasonal trap components! Festive Toy Receipts are not spent, but having a certain amount may be required for certain Ice Coin purchases.
• The Candy Cane Base is a solid buy. It has amazing luck and makes the Aqua Base mostly redundant, however keep in mind that you need 110,200 points in order to use it.
• The Gingerbread Base is a good choice if you don't have enough gold or points for the Candy Cane Base; it's similar to the Dehydration Base, but with more power.
• The Gingerbread House Surprise is an acceptable (slightly weaker) substitute for the Mutated Venus Mouse Trap. I would suggest you get it if you haven't already purchased the Venus Mouse Trap; otherwise, it's probably better to just mutate it once you have reached 827,500 points.
• Festive Feta can also be traded in the Festive Comet Charm Shoppe for Winter Charms. These give an extra 4 luck to your trap, and will allow you to attract Snowflake mice.
• If you're trying to fill in the silhouettes, note that some event mice are only found in some locations. Refer to this spreadsheet (offsite) for details.
• You may now purchase charms in the Festive Comet Charm Shoppe using Ice Coins. These charms increase the rate of drops of one of the three basic toy materials (Wood, Spring, Screw). Save these for when you really need more of one material to complete toys. (Note that you can still change the item on your profile to request these materials)
• On December 19th, 2011, the toy-drive goal was reached and the Great Gift Opening Ceremony was announced. You may now unstuff the stocking on your Team Profile (accessible from the Teams button), and open the gifts under your tree from your hunter's profile (click on the MouseHunt shield to get there). Even if you haven't received any gifts from friends, you will find 3 gifts under your tree from various residents of Gnawnia, as a thank-you for completing the toy drive!
• If you earn 500 Toy Receipts, you will receive the Nutcracker Trap Blueprints as a reward! You will also gain access to the Snow Fortress, accessible from the Travel Menu.
• It is recommended you stockpile a supply of Festive Feta before going there, as it is the only cheese that is effective there.
• The Snow Fortress consists of three sections; you must catch the requisite number of mice in one section to move to the next.
• The last mouse in each section is always the Squeaker Claws mouse. He will drop an Irradiated LED shard and 2 Splintered Wood.
• When you have passed through all three sections, the Mad Elf mouse would be available. However, he may only be caught by the new Nutcracker Nuisance Trap.
• You'll need 6 Splintered Wood, 3 Irradiated LED shards and 1 Nutcracker Trap Blueprints to build the Nutcracker Nuisance Trap. Once you have these simply click the "Build Trap" button in the Snow Fortress.
• The Nutcracker Nuisance Trap is an Arcane trap. It is stronger than the Obelisk of Slumber and Obelisk of Incineration, and is also very useful in the Mousoleum (it should perform much better than the Portal traps). It is weaker than the ACRONYM, but has the added bonus of allowing you to receive extra loot from the tribal Liches in Balack's Cove.
• On December 28, 2011, Hunting Tournaments are back in the game. View this page for details.
• On December 30, 2011, the New Year's mouse makes a return, along with a new mouse, the Party Head mouse. They may be attracted by Festive Feta in all locations. Catching New Year's mice will net you Firecracker Charms.
• Firecracker Charms give a small power bonus to your trap, but if you collect 100 of them you can trade them in the Festive Comet Trapsmith for the 2012 Big Boom Trap. It'll also cost you 600,000 gold, and you need to have earned 600 Toy Receipts.
• The 2012 Big Boom Trap is a Tactical Trap. It is quite expensive, but will last you until you get the Dimensional Chest Trap or Sphynx Wrath. Even if you have those traps, its high attraction bonus might still prove useful.

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