Mini-Games

The Ocarina of Time Remake has 17 mini-games, and nearly every one pays something you want: a Heart Piece, a bigger bag or quiver, a bottle or a new item. Most cost 10 to 30 rupees a try. The Shooting Gallery, Bombchu Bowling, the Treasure Chest Game and the Skull Kid are child games, while Horseback Archery, the Kakariko Shooting Gallery and the Big Poe hunt wait for adult Link. Each entry gives the place, price, rules and prize, with a link to the chapter that covers the route.

Quick reference

Shooting and Throwing Games

Shooting Gallery in Hyrule Castle Town

Walk across the fountain plaza in Hyrule Castle Town in daylight and go into the Shooting Gallery. The operator charges 10 rupees a round and lends you 15 Deku Seeds. You have your Fairy Slingshot and ten targets, so you may miss five shots and still clear the round. Stand in front of the counter, wait through “READY…”, then fire when the Shoot Seed prompt shows. If a round ends short, the operator tells you that you can try again.

Hit all ten and the counter reads 10/10 with a CLEARED! banner. The operator calls it a perfect score and hands over the Bigger Deku-Seed Bag, which raises your seed limit to 40. He then says the expert game holds a special prize, so come back when you are ready.

On a later visit he treats you as a repeat customer and offers a harder version. He promises 20 rupees for a basic round and 30 rupees for an expert round, and you still get 15 shots. Take the rounds if you want pocket money, and skip them if you only came for the bag.

Shooting Gallery in Kakariko Village

When you are an adult the gallery has moved from Hyrule Castle Town to Kakariko Village. The rules are the same, but the fee is 30 rupees and you shoot arrows. You get 15 shots to break ten targets, and the operator tells you that a perfect score wins a bigger quiver. Say “I’ll play!” and stand in front of the counter with the Fairy Bow equipped.

Press the Shoot Arrow button as each target pops up. The counter climbs from 0 to 10, and a Cleared! banner appears when the last one breaks. The prize is the Bigger Quiver, which holds 40 arrows. The operator adds that the expert game has a special prize of its own. The Biggest Quiver comes from Horseback Archery, and Capacity Upgrades lists every bag and quiver.

Bombchu Bowling

The Bombchu Bowling Alley in Hyrule Castle Town turns you away on your first visit, because its Bombchu deliveries have not arrived and you own none. It opens on the side trip described in Bombchu Bowling and the Great Fairy of Power. Wake the attendant, who asks 10 rupees for each play and moves the rope aside to show the lane.

Every play gives you 10 Bombchus and sets three stages in front of you. Aim at the round stained-glass target at the far end, press Release to send a Bombchu rolling and let it explode on the glass. Each stage changes the glass and the floor in front of it, so use your Bombchus carefully. Press Put Away to stop.

The first win gives you a bundle of 10 Bombchus. Pay 10 rupees again and the second win gives you the Biggest Bomb Bag, which carries 40 bombs. A third play and a third win pay a Heart Piece, #13 on your count. The three plays cost 30 rupees in all, and the attendant goes back to sleep after each prize.

Lost Woods Target Game

Deep in the Lost Woods a mossy clearing has a round target hanging from a tree branch. Climb the stump that faces it, ready the Fairy Slingshot and hit the target every time the Shoot Seed prompt appears, without a single miss. A Deku Scrub pops out of the ground cheering “100 percent accuracy” and gives you the Biggest Deku-Seed Bag, which holds 50 seeds. It costs nothing to play.

Chest, Cucco and Horse Games

Treasure Chest Game

The Treasure Chest Shop sits in the back alleys of Hyrule Castle Town and opens only at night. Play the Sun’s Song in the market to turn the day into night, follow the narrow alley to the wooden door and talk to the Treasure-Chest Shopkeeper. Every try costs 10 rupees. Choose “I’ll play” and you drop into the first room.

Each room holds two chests and a locked door. One chest hides a small key and the other a rupee, and a wrong guess ends the game. Turn on the Lenses of Truth and you see a key floating over the right chest and a rupee over the wrong one. Open the key chest, unlock the door and repeat. Five right choices in a row pass the final challenge.

The prize room has one chest with a Heart Piece, #29. It is a one-time reward, so the shopkeeper declares you amazingly lucky and wonders aloud whether you cheated. The Treasure Chest Game chapter shows the whole shop.

Find Talon’s Cuccos

Talon naps among his chickens in the house at Lon Lon Ranch, and when you wake him he says his chickens have run loose. He offers his best prize, Lon Lon Milk, if you find them. A 30-second timer starts with “GET FINDING!” and three Cuccos are hiding in the room. Run around, press the Pick Up prompt at each one and listen to Talon count how many are left.

Bring all three back before the clock runs out, then talk to Talon. He jokes about marrying Malon and taking over the ranch, and either answer leads to the same reward: a bottle of Lon Lon Milk, which restores a few hearts. He asks you to return the bottle once the milk is gone, so it counts as your second Empty Bottle.

Lon Lon Ranch Lap Course

After the Shadow Medallion, adult Link can ride back to Lon Lon Ranch, where Malon has laid out a lap course. She tells you the fastest time on record is 40 seconds and challenges you to beat it. Say yes, mount Epona, wait for “READY” and gallop the course once with the Go button. A steady lap finishes in about 33 seconds.

At the gate Malon reads out your time and congratulates you on a new record. The prize is heavy, so she says she will deliver it to your house. Try the course again whenever you visit with Epona.

Ingo’s Horse Races

At Ingo Ranch, adult Link finds Ingo running the place and charging 20 rupees to ride. Answer “I’ll ride.” You can skip his horses: Epona’s Song calls Epona across the paddock and you mount her. Ride a few circuits to learn the Go button, which spends one of the carrots shown while you ride, and jump a low fence by riding straight at it.

Ingo proposes a race around the track: the loser pays the winner 20 rupees. Line up at the gate and win with “FINISHED!”. He demands a rematch and promises Epona if you win again. Win the second lap and the horse is yours. Ingo Ranch and Epona has the full scene, including how to jump the locked gate afterward.

Cucco Lady’s Cuccos

The Cucco Lady stands at an empty pen just inside the gate of Kakariko Village. All seven of her Cuccos have flown out. Talk to her, choose “Do you need help?” and then pick up any Cucco you find along the lanes, stairs and walkways of the village.

Carry each bird to the pen and set it down inside the fence. When all seven are back she gives you an Empty Bottle as thanks. The game costs nothing and has no timer. A Cucco in your arms also slows your fall, which is how you reach the rooftop Heart Piece in the village.

Graveyard, Woods and Music Games

Dampé’s Grave-Diggin’ Tour

The Graveyard behind Kakariko Village is open for digging at night. A Grave-Diggin’ Tour! banner appears when you reach the tombstone square, where Dampé the gravekeeper is waiting. Stand beside a mound of loose soil and talk to him. He digs for 10 rupees, and he asks 5 more for a hard spot and 20 more for a tough one. Choose “Let’s dig!” to pay, or “I’ll pick another spot” to try a different mound first.

Mounds pay out nothing, a Blue Rupee or a Red Rupee worth 20 rupees, and one of them hides a Heart Piece. Dampé shouts “Hoo-whee! We got ourselves a big win!” and the piece floats out of the soil, so grab it on the spot. Bring about 40 rupees. The Heart Piece is #2 on your count, and the smaller finds pay most of what you spend.

Dampé’s Race

As an adult, find the tombstone with a Grab prompt in the Graveyard and pull it aside. The hole under it drops you onto a yellow flower at the start of a purple tunnel, which ends at a barred gate with Dampé’s ghost behind it. He runs the tunnels and wants you to keep up. If he cannot see you for a while you are disqualified, so stay close to his lantern and follow each “Over here!” at a fork.

Reach the end and he hands over his treasure: the chest on the red rug holds the Hookshot. Return later, drop into the grave and talk to Dampé through the bars. He offers a prize if you can beat the same course in under a minute. Say yes, follow his lantern again and finish before the timer ends. The chest then holds Heart Piece #19. The Kakariko and the Hookshot chapter shows both runs.

Skull Kid Melody Game

In a clearing in the Lost Woods with two tree stumps, a Skull Kid sits on the taller one and asks whether you have an instrument. Stand on the stump in front of him and play the Fairy Ocarina. He plays a phrase, the staff shows its notes and “Your turn!” tells you to copy them with the buttons. A session has three phrases, counted 1/3, 2/3 and 3/3, and each one is longer than the last. A slip makes him laugh “Too bad, hehe” and restart the session.

Finish the first session cleanly for a Blue Rupee. Accept another go and the phrases lengthen, and the second clean session pays a Red Rupee worth 20 rupees. Play a third session and finish it for Heart Piece #8. He cries “Whoa!” when you win and asks you to play again another time.

A second Skull Kid sits on a stump by the stream farther into the woods. Stand in front of him and play Saria’s Song, the melody you learn in the Sacred Grove. He calls you a friend and gives you Heart Piece #9, which is the fourth piece of its set and adds a heart. Lost Woods and Sacred Grove covers the route.

Fabulous Five Froggish Tenors

Five frogs sit on stumps in a clearing past the waterfall pool on Zora River. As a child, talk to them and play the Song of Storms. They dance and sing about the rain, and then drop Heart Piece #27. Epona’s Song also makes them leap and applaud, but it pays nothing.

Talk to the frogs again after the first song. They ask for another, and you play the Song of Time. They say they want to become famous as the Fabulous Five Froggish Tenors and will give you a Heart Piece when they are full. Answer “I’ll try it” and the screen flashes “Ready…”. Play notes on the Ocarina while the frogs hop to catch insects. A Cleared! banner appears when they have eaten their fill, and Heart Piece #28 is yours. It is a fourth piece and adds a heart. The frogs are a stop in Nocturne of Shadow.

Water Games

Diving Game

The diving instructor stands in a high-vaulted cavern in Zora Domain, up the stairs from the pool where you can scoop fish. He wants you to leap off the ledge and retrieve all five scales he tosses into the water before time runs out. There is no fee.

The timer starts at 40 seconds with a counter showing 0 of 5. Jump, hold the dive button to swim down and grab each glowing scale, dashing between them. The fifth scale ends the dive, and you should have roughly a dozen seconds to spare. The instructor praises you and gives you the Silver Scale for deeper dives. The route is in Zora River and Zora Domain.

Fishing Pond

The Fishing-Pond Man runs a log hut at Lake Hylia with a “Wanna fish?” sign. As a child you pay 10 rupees for a rod and fish as often as you like. Walk around the pond, cast near a fish with the Cast Line prompt, wiggle the lure until it bites, press Hook and tilt the rod the way the fish swims. Press Reel once it tires. A sign warns that the sinking lure is forbidden and fish caught with it do not count.

Land a big fish and he measures it. A catch of 56 cm beats the 40 cm record on his board, and he calls it a BIG one and gives you Heart Piece #6. Keep the fish when he offers, take it to the counter and say you are finished.

Come back as an adult and the hut sits across the dried lakebed, reached by a flower platform. He charges 30 rupees for the rod. A glittering Sinking Lure lies on the bank, and it hooks a 90 cm fish, but he refuses the prize because the lure is banned. Pay again, use the normal lure and land a fish over 60 cm. A 73 cm fish earns the Golden Scale for even deeper dives. The adult trip is in Poes, the Hall of Fallen Foes and Lake Hylia.

Gerudo and Poe Games

Horseback Archery

The Horseback-Archery Attendant waits under a red awning in Gerudo Fortress, near the sign for the Gerudo Proving Grounds. Bring Epona and the Fairy Bow. A round costs 30 rupees and gives you 30 arrows. The closer you are to a target, the more points it scores, and the round ends when your arrows run out or you finish the lap. Choose “I want to try!” and wait for “Ready”.

Gallop along the fence, switch to the bow and shoot the targets as you pass. Reach 750 points for a Heart Piece, #31 on your count. A strong lap can reach 1,520 points. At 1,400 points the attendant also gives you the Biggest Quiver, which carries 50 arrows. After you take every prize the attendant says he is out of items worthy of you and offers 50 rupees instead. See Mirage Desert and Evil Desert Colossus for the ride.