Merge Mansion is the first game released by the Finnish studio Metacore Games, previously known as Everywear Games. The company secured and €15 million investment and €10 credit line from Supercell to fuel the game’s global release and currently the new discovery puzzle game is available for both Android and iOS users to install and play.
In Merge Mansion, you get to play as Maddie, a young woman visiting her grandmother who is tasked with uncovering her family’s mysterious past by restoring an old mansion. With her nanny dropping clues regarding the dilapidated estate hidden in the back of her garden, Maddie is eager to get to work and expose the truth about her ancestors.
The young woman sets out to rehabilitate the mansion and adjacent gardens, and she will require your help! The game employs merging-mechanics to allow players to craft the tools needed to start renovations on the estate. There are no levels to pass in Merge Mansion, instead users will be able to unlock various locations where they can work to create new objects.
You start off in the Garage which is initially filled with countless boxes and items. Locate two that look the same and drag one over the other to merge them and create a higher-tier one. Continue doing so until you uncover what we call “permanent source items”. These are objects that constantly drop other items, which you can use to complete tasks.
The Garage has a limited number of slots (7×9), so you’ll need to be careful if you are to avoid overloading it. Merge Mansion boasts a wide palette of items to discover and hundreds of puzzles to solve, so users taking up the new title won’t have to worry about finding another source of mobile entertainment for a while.
On the other hand, Merge Mansion can be accused of progressing a bit too slowly, especially when compared to the majority of mobile games out there. If that has been your experience so far, know that’s not you doing anything wrong. It’s just how Merge Mansion is build. Moreover, the game doesn’t offer much in the way of a tutorial and so players will have to spend longer than usual just to figure out how stuff works.
If you too have been struggling with finishing tasks and moving the storyline ahead, you’ve landed in the right place. Look no further than our Merge Mansion beginner’s guide to solve your woes, as it comes packed with several tips, tricks and explanations so that you can get a better idea at how to approach and deal with the challenges of this game.
1. Get Your Permanent Source Items Up And Running
Permanent source items are central to this game, given as their purpose is to drop other items on the board. These are higher-tier items that are crafted by merging lower level ones. Take, for instance, the Tool Barrels (part of the Garden Toolbox line of items).
You start by merging a level 1 Closed Tool Crate with another element of the same tier, which creates a level 2 Dusty Tool Crate. Continue merging until you can create a level 4 object. This is called the Tool Barrel and it’s the first item in the line that can produce items. In this case, it can drop Gardening Tools, as well as Gardening Gloves.
The Toolbox produces a tool as soon as you tap it, in exchange for an energy point. Yes, Merge Mansion makes use of an energy bar which caps at 100 units if left to regenerate on its own. It’s possible to exceed the maximum, with no imposed limitation.
Each Toolbox has a different item capacity, depending on its level, and this applies to all elements you’ll stumble across in this game. For instance, the Tool Barrel (III) can drop 12 items after which it will need to recharge to be able to produce more stuff. The exact time needed for a source item to do a full recharge cycle isn’t disclosed, but we do know that it varies based on the element’s level. The higher the tier of your source item the faster it will recharge.
Most items on the board have the potential to become a permanent source item if merged up enough. As a result, in the early stages of the game, our advice is that you merge indiscriminately. Go ahead and explore the board, get acquainted with the objects so that you can understand what produces what. In the process you’ll probably unlock some permanent source items, which is great because you need those to be able to start producing the items required for tasks.
Making the connection between source and end-result can be a bit tricky in Merge Mansion. A lot of times, you won’t know what you need to make a certain item. One of example of this, is the Soap element. You can get Soap from the Cabinet (which to be fair looks more like a Closet), but making this association won’t come naturally to a lot of players.
You can start building a Cabinet by merging Bolts and Screws which transform into Handles, then Bolts and eventually into Screws and Handles. Finally, you’ll be able to craft the Cabinet which can drop Toothpaste and then Soap.
Source items are not always permanent, they can also be temporary. For example, the level 6 Moth can drop exactly 12 Balls of Silk before it disappears from the board. You’ll have to make another Moth if you need more of that Silk.
In conclusion, our first advice is to concentrate on uncovering as many permanent source items as you can, so you can begin the production of the items you need. Merge any type of elements and see what happens, don’t hold back!
2. Don’t Ignore Those Dusty Elements
Surveying the board, you’ll probably notice a bunch of elements that are covered with cobwebs and appear to be inactive. Indeed, you’re supposed to unlock these items by merging them with an active element of the same tier.
These objects can’t be moved back and forth on the board, so they will just lie there until you can activate them. In order to free as much space as possible on the board, it’s would be a good idea if you could actively work to unlock these cobwebbed items.
Realistically, you won’t be able to do it super quickly. Merge Manor is a rather slow game, but it’s nevertheless a good idea to keep this goal in the back of your mind. Don’t forget about these dusty objects, because they are important parts of the puzzle.
Take the Handle, for example. As you start off the game, you’ll notice a few inactive ones on the board. These are level 2 components in the Broom Cabinet line of items, which can produce things like Soap, and other cleaning tools. Well, identifying a few active Handles won’t prove too easy especially for those who haven’t been playing Merge Mansion for long. Yet, merging these Handles is essential to completing quite a few tasks. Continue reading below, to find out how you can get yourself some.
3. Concentrate On Doing Tasks
Try to prioritize crafting the items needed to complete the available tasks. Tapping indiscriminately on whatever source item is available only works in the beginning of the game. Once you make some progress and the board starts getting cluttered, you will need to slow down and focus your attention on the elements that can help you get tasks done.
For example, spending your precious Energy points on Drawers might not be a good idea. Drawers drop items such as Vases and Pot Fragments, among other things, and you won’t be needing their byproducts until much much later in the game.
So make sure you identify those particular source items that can produce stuff you need to complete the tasks at hand. It would be in your best interest to ignore the others you don’t need right now as to converse your Energy and not to overload the board with items you don’t need for the time being.
By the way, each time you actually use a particular item to finish off a task, it will disappear from the board thus making more space for your merging activities.
4. How To Level Up (Reasonably) Quickly
Completing tasks across the estate gets rewarded with little blue stars or XP. The simplest tasks like planting a flower bed is worth a sole XP point, but more complex ones can yield more than that plus bonuses – which are very important as well.
The main function of collecting XP points is to allow you to level up in the game, once you’ve gathered the right amount. Every time you reach the next level a number of Boosters will be unlocked for you, and they are quite vital for your progress.
Collecting blue stars is quite a slow affair in Merge Mansion, but fortunately there’s one thing you can do to speed things up a little bit. Crafting upper-level objects on the board will yield small blue stars. For example, start merging the tools produced by the Gardening Toolbox until you create a five-tier element (the Spade). From this level onwards, every other tool you make will also yield an extra energy point. That’s not a lot, but you can merge XP stars too. Merge enough and you can collect 50XP energy points with just one tap.
It’s easy to continue making XP in the game by employing this simple strategy. In Merge Mansion you’ll experience a lot of idle moments during which most of the permanent source items will be inactive and recharging.
During these phases, turn your attention to your Gardening Toolboxes. There are the most common item droppers and a constant presence on your board. Chances are at least one of them will be active and ready to produce at any time. Take up the opportunity and start merging until you are able to craft level 5+ items and so you can earn additional stars.
Focus on creating higher-tier Gardening Toolboxs, so you can get more items in one session and have it recharge faster. This should allow you to keep yourself busy with merging most of the time. Don’t forget to merge the XP you obtain as well, so that you can create larger XP bundles.
This tactic should enable you to level up reasonably fast. But don’t expect any miracles, it might still take a full day to hit a new milestone.
5. Feeling Stuck? Drop A Booster On The Board
Leveling up unlocks a series of three Boosters you can then use while merging on your board. For instance, hitting level 8 will be rewarded with a Brown Chest, Energy Chest and Bronze Coin Chest.
Now, these items are extremely important, especially the Brown Chest and here’s why. These boxes usually contain items that you need to complete certain tasks down the road.
The Brown Chests might include stuff like Closed Tool Crate or Drawer Knob which are level 1 items that can eventually be morphed into source items like the Gardening Toolbox or Drawer. Additionally, these chests can also contain extra items such as Coins, as well as Energy bubbles.
Remember our previous example with the Broom Cabinet? You start building one of these elements by merging level 1 Bolts and Screws. If you just started playing this game you might be having a bit of a hard time identifying how you can get ahold of this particular item. Well, turns out you it’s available in Chests.
These boxes can be of various tires. The lowest type is the Brown one. Up next, there’s the level 2 Brown Chest and then the Fancy Blue Chest (level 1 and 2). It takes time to open up a chest, so keep in mind that you won’t be able to take advantage of their contents instantly.
Another way to obtain these helpful Chests is to complete tasks in the game. Keep an eye on those jobs that offer more than XP in return for your efforts. For example, placing three Post lights in the Grand drive will be rewarded with 3XP and a Brown Chest. If you can, it’s a good idea to merge these Chests, so that you can obtain higher-tier ones which include more elements.
The problem with Chests is that they are offered up for use in the order which you’ve collected them. Basically, you don’t get to choose which Booster you get to use next. Need an item that could be hiding inside a Fancy Blue Chest? Though luck, you’ll have to go through several power-ups before grabbing the actual Chest you need.
These Chests take up a spot on your already crowded board, so our recommendation would be to use them up before you drop another one. Unless, you want to attempt merging the Chest with another one. In which case, make sure you still have space for other maneuvers.
Use power-ups in moderation, and try not to become over-reliant on them, or you risk running out of them pretty quickly. Be constant in your efforts to level up in the game, so that you can secure a steady influx of Chests. Alternatively, you can use coins to purchase an Energy chest from the Shop.
6. Merge Coins, Energy Bubbles And More
There are additional specialized Chests offered in this game. The Bronze Coins one is filled with, you’ve guessed it, coins while the Energy Chest can give you extra energy whenever you need a quick infusion. Make sure you always merge the contents of these chests to you can redeem a larger sum of Coins and Energy. Finally, you can also get your hands on the occasional Gift Box.
This is not technically a Chest, so it can drop items immediately. It contains Time Skip Boosters which allow you to speed up waiting time for all source items. The Box also contains Energy Bubbles that can also be merged.
The idea is this, every time you stumble upon these special items like Bronze Coins or Energy, don’t immediately jump to collect them. Merge first so you can get better rewards. When you crack open a Chest, you can easily do some merging because the box usually contains a bunch of items of different tiers.
Especially, when it comes to coins, it’s a good idea not to simply collect. You’ll need the money later, when it’s time to expand your Inventory. Coins can be very handy if you find yourself in acute need of a certain item. You can go to the Shop and purchase them if you have enough to spend. Players can get additional coins by using real-world money, as well.
Energy Chests enable you to continue playing when you run out of energy, but don’t forget you always have the option of taking a prolonged break from the game to allow the Energy bar to regenerate on its own.
7. Don’t Spend Gems, Unless You Really Must
You start off your journey with 100 Diamonds under your belt, which are a type of resources that can really help with speeding the game up. For this reason, it’s might be quite tempting to want to use them to, say, accelerate the time a source item needs to regenerate or to unlock certain cobwebbed items that might be useful to you.
Our advice is to avoid spending those Diamonds as much as possible. Earning these precious stones back is incredibly difficult, so once you run out of them, it will take a lot of time before you can regenerate your stash.
Gems can also be used to buy Double Bubbles (bubbles containing a duplicate item), which again can speed up the game considerably. These offers, when they do appear can be quite alluring, although it would be best if you could just ignore them. The main reason is that these bubbles are extremely expensive. Just a level 3 Drawer Box costs a whopping 76 Diamonds.
Instead you could sporadically use small Diamonds amounts to speed up the regeneration process of certain source items. Or you can spend them in the Shop buying extra items. For instance, you can get a level 4 Plunger in exchange for 8 Gems.
If you really want, you can use your credit card to purchase more precious stones from the same shop. But if you wish to remain in F2P mode, then keep hanging on to your Diamonds.
8. Grab A Free Piggy Bank Every Morning
The only way to get more Diamonds in Merge Mansion is by breaking Piggy Banks. This is a power-up that you can win by completing various tasks. Alternatively, remember to check the shop every day for a free level 1 Piggy Bank.
Like most objects in this game, Piggy Banks are merge-able and so technically, you could get a Level 3 (maximum) every 4 days by merging the ones you get from the shop – provided you have the space for them on the board. Piggy Banks usually contain coins, and a few Diamonds. Make sure to merge them, so you can redeem the maximum amount.
9. Expand Your Inventory
Your merging board will soon get extremely crowded, to the point that you won’t have enough space to drop items if you don’t pay attention.
To help with that, the game opens up an Inventory for you where you can place items that you’re not currently using. The problem with this storehouse is that it’s quite small and to add extra slots, you are supposed to spend some of the coins you’ve accumulated.
The good news is that the game makes it relatively easy to collect coins, at least during the initial phase. So you should make it a habit to invest a sum to expand your inventory. You’re going to need a larger place where you can safely deposit some of your items, especially the higher-tier ones as you make progress in the game.
10. Only Sell Lower-Tier Items That Are Easy To Produce
Alternatively, you can always sell items to make room on the board in exchange for a few coins. Our advice in this case is to limit yourself to selling only lower-tier items which you can easily replace.
Don’t go selling items which took a long time to craft, use the Inventory for these ones instead. Check your list of current tasks and review the elements you’re supposed to be working towards in order to hit these goals. Make sure the item you’re thinking of selling wouldn’t be of use to you in this context.
If you made a mistake and sold an item which you shouldn’t have, quickly tap the Undo button at the top to get it back.
With this last tip we wrap up our Merge Mansion beginner’s guide. We hope that you’ve enjoyed reading our article and that you’ve discovered some useful tips and tricks which you can incorporate into your own gameplay. If you’ve been playing Merge Mansion for a while and you’ve identified some strategies that haven’t been included in this guide, do let us know in the comment section below!
