How to get and use Prize Tickets in Stardew Valley

By Anyka Pettigrew Published November 4, 2024

One of the many additions to the 1.6 update for Stardew Valley is Prize Tickets. This seven-year-old farming simulator has continued to gain and keep popularity among its adoring fans, and the game’s biggest update yet brought along a new bookseller, a secret Meowmere weapon, and now this mysterious collectible item.

Any players jumping back into Stardew Valley since the 1.6 update released on console and mobile, or anyone playing this indie hit for the first time, may be confused about how these Prize Tickets can be used. Not only that, but it isn’t obvious where players can receive them in the first place. Here’s how you can acquire and use these Prize Tickets in Stardew Valley.

Players can earn Prize Tickets in Stardew Valley by completing Special Orders and quests. You can also receive them by winning the Egg Festival and Festival of Ice, alongside finishing the Spirit’s Eve maze. Although you don’t win them, you can spend 1,000 star tokens at the Stardew Valley Fair to get some Prize Tickets.

Other than festivals and events, the most common way you’ll come across Prize Tickets is by completing certain quests. To see which quest will grant you this reward, check the Help Wanted board in town and look for the star counter at the top left. Once it reaches three stars, your next quest will have a Prize Ticket for a reward. Unfortunately, this counter isn’t always accurate since you can have multiple quests activated at once. Once you complete this quest, the counter resets.

In terms of Special Orders, which players unlock at the start of fall of their first year, Prize Tickets are available as rewards for completing an order by opening the mailbox beside the Special Order board. There’s no star counter for this one, so Prize Tickets should be a reward for each Special Order.

The only way to spend your Prize Tickets in Stardew Valley is through the prize machine sitting in Lewis’ house. It’ll be beside the Town Ledger on the left side of his house. Interact with the machine and you’ll be granted the chance to spend a Prize Ticket to claim a prize. While the reward is random, you can still see which reward you’ll be getting, alongside the two consecutive rewards.

While the possible rewards for the first 22 slots are predetermined, the following prizes will cycle through nine possible slots. If one of the slots has more than one possible prize, your game will choose only one of the rewards. These are all the rewards you can earn from the prize machine: