Mini-Games and Secrets

Twilight Princess has about a dozen optional mini-games. Several pay out items you need for 100% (quiver and bomb bag upgrades, the Frog Lure) and seven of them hand over a Piece of Heart. All of them can be replayed after the first win, though most only pay Rupees afterwards. This page gives the place, cost, rules and prize for each, and then the other small secrets that are not worth a page of their own.

Quick reference

Castle Town

STAR Game

The circus tent is in a back alley off West Castle Town Road (it can also be reached from the lower-left alley of South Road). Purlo runs the game, and the three spectators outside cheer for you after your first win and drop Hearts. It has three stages. In the first you pay 10 Rupees, ride a wooden cage on rails and collect every glowing orb with the Clawshot before time runs out; winning upgrades your quiver to the Big Quiver (60 arrows). After the City in the Sky you can pay 15 Rupees for the Double Clawshots stage, where nearly every orb hangs in mid-air. Collect them all within 1 minute 30 seconds for the Giant Quiver (100 arrows). The last stage costs 20 Rupees and is a time trial against your own best time; beating it pays Rupees only.

Collect as many orbs per swing as you can. In the second game the orbs start in a line from your position, and one hangs from the very centre of the ceiling that you can grab on your way down at the end.

Charlo’s donation

Near the central plaza of Castle Town a man named Charlo accepts Rupee donations. Keep giving until 1,000 Rupees in total have been donated and he rewards you with a Piece of Heart. It is a reliable heart if you have spare Rupees.

Upper Zora’s River and Lake Hylia

Rollgoal

Inside Hena’s hut, look at the game board by the door in first-person view. Rollgoal costs 5 Rupees per play and pays 10 on a win: tilt the board to roll the ball to the goal before time runs out. Clearing the first eight levels earns the Frog Lure. Clear all 64 levels (the eight courses replay mirrored with 20 seconds less) for a full wallet and free play of any level. Hena catches you if you cheat by rolling over gaps. The fishing guide has the full set of tips.

Iza’s Rapid Ride

The ride is at the Boat Rental Cabin in Upper Zora’s River, run by Iza and her Zora assistant. At first the river is blocked by rocks and Iza is closed; defeat the Shadow Beasts around the Fishing Hole and she lets you in. She then lends you a Bomb Bag and fills your quiver. Shoot the boulders you can see from the cabin with Bomb Arrows, then ride the canoe down to Lake Hylia to clear the river for good, and you keep the Bomb Bag.

Afterwards you can ride whenever you like for 20 Rupees. The goal is to shoot pots with Bomb Arrows: yellow or green pots are worth 1 point and red pots 2, and bumping an obstacle loses a point. Steering matters more than shooting; you may also turn round to hit pots you have passed. The first time you reach 25 points by the end of the course, Iza’s assistant gives you the Giant Bomb Bag, which increases the capacity of all your bomb bags. After that, 25 or more points pays 50 Rupees and a perfect 30 pays 100.

Fruit Pop Flight Challenge

After Lanayru Province is freed, go as Wolf Link to the patch of Hawk Grass near Plumm, the bird at Lake Hylia by Fyer’s cannon, and howl (high, low, high, low). Plumm only talks to wolves. A Kargarok carries Wolf Link and Midna through the same cave you used to reach Upper Zora’s River. Fly into fruit balloons to pop them for points. Popping balloons of the same fruit in a row doubles the score each time up to ten pops, and the streak resets on a different fruit. A watermelon tops out at 512 points per pop, an orange at 1,536 and a strawberry at 5,120, so chase a long line of strawberries. Hitting a wall ends the run.

Reaching 10,000 points wins the Piece of Heart. After that, beating your best score pays 100 Rupees, and the top score of 61,454 pays 200 Rupees.

Flight-by-Fowl

Falbi’s hut is high above Lake Hylia, in Fyer and Falbi’s Watertop Land of Fantastication. Pay Fyer 10 Rupees to be fired up there from the lower lake, or walk in from Hyrule Field. Pay Falbi 20 Rupees, pick a Cucco and jump off the ledge. Glide down onto the Isle of Riches in the middle of the lake; the prize chests sit on tiers. The chest holding the Piece of Heart is on the second tier from the top, the highest small platform that does not spin. A Poe also floats on the second platform from the bottom at night, and the other chests hold Rupees and the Cucco Miiverse stamp.

Target the weather vane on top of Falbi’s hut with the Gale Boomerang to stop the spinning top platform. You can also use Iron Boots, tapped on and off, to drop faster onto a lower tier. The Cucco can reach other places too: a cave on a ledge below Falbi’s hut and two chests above the entrance to the Spring of the Spirit Lanayru.

Snowpeak

Snowboard Race

At Snowpeak Top you ride a frozen leaf down to the Snowpeak Ruins entrance: hold the button to crouch and release it to jump, and steer with the stick. After you clear Snowpeak Ruins, go back up (Midna warp) and challenge Yeto to a race. Win, then return later to race Yeta, who is much faster. Take the shortcut over the tree tops by the ramp at the start of the wood, then the ice ledge on the left just after the trees (the right side in Hero Mode) for the long shortcut, or slash Yeta to make her spin out. Beating Yeta gives a Piece of Heart. Iron Boots make the board go faster.

Ordon Village and Hidden Village

Goat herding

Once Eldin is freed and Epona is with you again, talk to Fado at Ordon Ranch during the day and ask to herd goats. Round up all 20 into the pen in under three minutes to win a Piece of Heart. The earlier herding sessions in the opening chapters only give story items.

Cat hunt

After Ilia’s memory is restored, the cats in the Hidden Village tell Wolf Link to find the Cucco Leader, who is inside the large building on the east side (break the window). He asks you to play with his flock by talking to each one, working from one end of the village to the other. Pick up the Piece of Heart he leaves before you go.

Sumo

In the story, Mayor Bo trains you in sumo in Ordon Village, and Gor Coron challenges you on Death Mountain before you can enter the Goron Mines; beating him earns the Iron Boots. Grab your opponent and push them out of the ring; the Iron Boots make you heavy. The game also leads into the fights against Dangoro in the Goron Mines.

Fishing and the Fishing Hole

Lure fishing for the Piece of Heart

Hena’s Fishing Hole has a Piece of Heart on the rock arch in the middle of the lake, an Empty Bottle near the bridge, and the Hylian Loach in summer. The fishing guide covers each in full.

Secrets worth knowing

Other things to do

Seven Hidden Skills (howling stones), 24 Golden Bugs (golden bugs) and 60 Poe Souls (Poe Souls) have their own guides. The Cave of Ordeals (50 floors) and, in the HD version, the Cave of Shadows are combat challenges with permanent rewards. Donations to Malo Mart (Malo Mart and the Magic Armor) lower its prices, and the Castle Town branch is where the Magic Armor is sold.