Piñata

Piñatas are the primary inhabitants of Piñata Island, and are the central focus of the game. Every species is different, but all share a paper-mâché exterior and a sweet-filled interior. Happy piñatas get sent to parties around the world, but will come back home perfectly intact.

Characteristics

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There are many different species of piñatas, but all share certain characteristics. All piñatas are made from paper, and are covered in paper strips similar to fur. Each one is filled up with candy-- the happier the piñata, the more candy inside. They all have stub or stump-like legs, with no feet. They are brightly colored and possess a wide variety of patterns with each species bearing its own unique pattern.

Piñatas are named after the real-world animal they are based on, combined with a type of sweet. For example, a Bunnycomb is named after a bunny and a honeycomb. Some piñatas are even based on fantastical creatures that have no real world counterpart.

Attracting Piñatas

Wild Piñatas

The core gameplay of the series revolves around attracting piñatas from the wild and convincing them to live in the garden. Every species has unique requirements, and just finding them in the first place can be obtuse. Wild piñatas are black and white versions of their resident counterparts.

There are three stages to attracting a piñata to the garden. First, a piñata must appear outside the garden. This adds the piñata to the Journal, and shows a cutscene of it emerging from its habitat. Getting a piñata to appear is usually a simple task. Growing new plants, having another piñata resident, or even unlocking a new upgrade can attract a new species. Species that have already appeared will wander around the outside the garden borders, waiting for the player to make it feel comfortable enough to visit.

The next stage is visiting. In order to visit the garden, its visit requirements must be met (detailed in the Journal, or by hovering the cursor over a wild piñata and pressing .) When its visit requirements are fulfilled, the piñata will enter the garden and begin exploring. Convincing a piñata to visit can be trickier-- piñatas often like a garden with plenty of food and the right atmosphere before they come in.

Once a piñata is visiting, it will begin working to fill out its resident requirements. Sometimes, a piñata won't want anything more than what it already wanted to visit. More often than not, however, a piñata will want more than that, often wanting to actually eat the food left out-- sometimes even including other piñatas.

Wild piñatas will sometimes hunt residents. When this happens, the predator will begin stalking their target. They will attempt to sneak up on the piñata, which will occasionally turn around to look. If the prey spots the predator, they will run away and the hunt will fail. If this does not happen, the predator will draw close and attack its prey, throwing its projectiles. The piñata will explode into a shower of sweets, and reform outside the garden. The predator will quickly eat the piñata's life sweet before any other piñatas get the chance. Once it has eaten this sweet, the requirement to eat that piñata will be fulfilled.

When all of a piñata's requirements are fulfilled, it will decide to make its home in the garden. Music will play, and the piñata will jump up in celebration, gaining its colors. Once a piñata has its colors, it is now a permanent resident in the garden and will live there as long as nothing bad happens to it.

Sour Piñatas

Not all wild piñatas look so friendly. Some piñatas are known as sours, piñata that have been created by Professor Pester to cause mischief and mayhem. All of them are dark red in color, with glowing green eyes and black patterns reminiscent of tribal tattoos. Where normal piñatas are soft and round, sours are sharp and pointy. Watch out, or they’ll ruin your day!

Unlike normal piñatas, sour piñatas need little convincing to visit the garden, appearing as the player's gardener level increases. Once they do start visiting, they will cause all sorts of trouble. These annoyances can be minor (e.g. eating loose seeds) to massive (destroying objects, starting fights).

While they may seem to be nothing more than pests, sour piñatas can actually become residents of the garden just like any other species. They also have requirements to fulfill, and doing so should be a priority. Once a sour has fulfilled all its requirements, it will enter a cocoon. Once it emerges, it will be in its normal, unsoured form, and look more like the other piñatas. Upon a sour's initial taming, Jardiniero will appear to gift the player with the sour's corresponding piece of the Tower of Sour, preventing it from returning to the garden.

Tamed sours all possess unique abilities that can help in the garden, often the opposite of what they did as sours, or redirecting their mischief towards better targets. Otherwise, they will live in the garden like normal piñatas, and their unsoured version will begin appearing in the wild as well.

Other Types of Piñatas

Some species of piñata cannot be attracted from the wild like normal. Instead, they are only found through special methods.

Evolution

Some piñatas are capable of evolving into a completely new type of piñata. These piñatas cannot be found in the wild, and can only exist if created by the player. Most commonly, evolution requires a piñata be fed a certain item. For example, if a Newtgat eats a chili, it will evolve into a Salamango. Other piñatas however, have more complicated methods, often unique to that species. These methods are often quite strange, and require things the plyaer normally wouldn't do. Even hitting piñatas with the shovel can lead to unique outcomes-- the only way to know is to give it a try.

Domestic Piñatas

Certain species of piñata can only be found for sale at Paper Pets (or Gretchen Fetchem's in Pocket Paradise). Obtaining these piñatas requires the player to achieve a certain gardener level (unlocking it at the store) and then simply purchase it. Domestic piñatas are expensive but valuable, as they often have unique abilities.

In Trouble in Paradise, Paper Pets no longer sells piñatas and all domestic species must be attracted from the wild like normal.

Trapping

Exclusive to Trouble in Paradise, players can leave the garden and visit two brand new locations: the Dessert Desert and the Piñarctic. There are certain species that only live in these locations and won't come to the garden themselves. These piñatas need to be trapped to visit the garden. Traps and bait can be purchased from Langston's TrapEase. Place down a trap, bait it, and wait. If a piñata steps on the trap, it will trigger, catching the piñata and sending it straight to the Post Office. The crate can then be delivered and opened in the garden, allowing the player to fulfill the piñata's requirements as normal. Like piñatas that enter the garden of their own accord, trapped piñatas will leave the garden after a while if their resident requirements have not yet been fulfilled. If a trapped piñata exits the garden, it will need to be trapped again.

Special Piñatas

There are two species of piñata that are unlike any other: the Dragonche and the Choclodocus. These elusive creatures have unique, complex processes to obtain them, and only one can exist in a garden. They cannot be destroyed, nor can they romance or even wear accessories. They are the ultimate prize, and hunting them down has led some to disaster.

In Pocket Paradise, the Jeli is treated similarly to a special piñata. Only one can be found in the wild per save file (if it appears at all), and obtaining one can be very tricky and unlike any other species. However, the Jeli can still be romanced, sold, and traded between players like normal. In Trouble in Paradise, it is a normal piñata, and can be found in the Piñarctic.