Mystery Box

Mystery Box is a random loot item that can be found throughout Stardew Valley and opened to receive a variety of rewards. It is also used as a currency for some special exchanges and can be turned in for other box types once the relevant late-game conditions are met. Many different activities can spawn a Mystery Box, including fishing treasure chests, panning, shaking seeded trees, monster drops, breaking containers in the Mines, Skull Cavern, and Volcano Dungeon, chopping trees, and train car presents in winter.

Mystery Boxes are not used in any quests. They are also not used in any tailoring recipes, but they can be used for dyeing: at the dye pots in Emily’s and Haley’s house, a Mystery Box acts as a blue dye, and in the Sewing Machine spool with a dyeable clothing item, it acts as a dark cyan dye.

Several sources can produce Mystery Boxes even after late-game progression, but the game’s spawning rules change with Foraging Mastery. If the player has not claimed Foraging Mastery, certain activities can attempt to spawn a Mystery Box; if Foraging Mastery has been claimed, those same attempts fail and instead try to produce a Golden Mystery Box. The chance of a successful spawn from those methods is 66% without the Book of Mysteries power and 88% with it. Some sources are also affected by daily luck and Luck Buffs.

• Regular Fishing Treasure Chests: 9–17%, depending on daily luck
• Golden Fishing Treasure Chests: 12–21%, depending on daily luck
• Panning: 5%
• Shaking trees with seeds: 3%
• Monsters: based on daily luck and Luck Buffs
• Breaking containers in the Mines, Skull Cavern, and Volcano Dungeon: based on daily luck
• Chopping trees: 0.5% per axe hit
• Train cars during Winter: 2%

Other ways to obtain Mystery Boxes do not rely on the same spawn check. These include purchasing them from the Calico Egg Merchant at the Desert Festival, receiving them from the Trout Derby and SquidFest festivals, trading a Book of Mysteries with the Bookseller, digging Artifact Spots, opening treasure chests in the Skull Cavern under certain conditions, opening Golden Mystery Boxes or other Mystery Boxes, completing Raccoon requests beyond the fifth one, using the prize machine in Mayor’s Manor, chopping down a giant Qi Fruit when “Qi’s Crop” is not active, and placing Milk or Cookies on a table during the night of Winter 24th.

Mystery Boxes can also be traded to the Raccoon’s wife for one Golden Mystery Box, but only after the sixth Raccoon family request has been completed and Foraging Mastery has been claimed. Three Mystery Boxes are required for that trade. Opening Mystery Boxes can also yield a wide range of items, with some results becoming available only after opening more than 10 Mystery Boxes and/or Golden Mystery Boxes, and the Book of Mysteries affecting the odds of certain contents.