Uploaded August 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
A different kind of challenge run: Minimalist 100%
Part 16 - Minigames
I still needed a ton of cash for Tarrey Town and the Fairy Fountains. As a reminder:
The first Fairy Fountain costs 100 rupees, but I've already paid that in part 10 of the series because I needed the picture for Pikango.
The second one costs 500
The third one costs 1,000
The last one costs 10,000
Malanya costs 1k fix no matter when you unlock the Horse God Spring
Tarrey Town itself doesn't cost any rupees, but Hudson only moves there AFTER you bought the house, so you have to pay 3k rupees and 30 wood bundles. It also unlocks the Hylian Homeowner quest, and later "From the Ground Up". Luckily, the residents and "upgrades" to Tarrey Town are optional again, so I won't have to farm a hundred more wood bundles for that guy.
Total amount of cash needed: 15,500 rupees. And I started with 50 rupees.
As for how viable the various minigames are for this run:
Footrace: Relieable, easy to do, but hella boring after the 50th time and (minus the entrance fee) you only earn 30 rupees per win, which takes forever.
Deer Hunting: Forget it. The only reasons I played this at all was to include it in the video, and then again at the end to round up the rupee count to an even number, but I won't touch that minigame ever again.
Test of Wood: You can only break your own record so many times, and the mere 40 rupees you win if you don't break your record are not worth risking the only shield I'm allowed to have.
Sand-Seal Race: nets you 200 rupees if you break your own record, and zero if you don't (as you just get the entrance fee back). It was fun while it lasted, but you can only break your record so many times.
Shield Surfing: I'm too clumsy to actually earn something with this, and there is the risk of obtaining a shield for the more profitable courses. The "risk-free" beginner course only nets you up to 30 rupees.
Snowling: Highly profitable if you don't mind obtaining a Blizzard Rod, but I do mind, as it is an optional item. In order to avoid obtaining the rod, I would need a full melee weapon inventory (which is even more NOT allowed in this challenge) or only land spares instead of strikes, but then it nets you only 80 rupees per try instead of 280, takes twice as long to play (plus extra dialogue) and there is STILL the risk of accidentally landing a strike or waste both throws. It still seemed like the best option in the end.
Bird-Man Research and Paragliding on Eventide: Both take more than one ring of stamina to win something. Plus, the Eventide Course isn't possible prior to activating the shrine - even if you finished the "Stranded on Eventide" quest. The Rito offering to play the minigame simply isn't there unless you activate the shrine. I tried both, but didn't include them in the video because of the 15 minute cap.
Flight Range Archery: Teba won't move to the Flight Range unless you finish the Vah Medoh quest first
Boom Bam Golf: Screw that.
(Super) Gut Check Challenge: Unlocks item descriptions for the rupees you collect, which I wanted to specifically avoid. It wouldn't make sense to first revert to an older save file and sacrifice gameplay progress to un-do picking up "loose" rupees, just to still do it later during an optional minigame.
Restoring the Blue Flame: The entrance fee is 20 rupees and the first time you win 50 no matter how fast you are, so you make 30 rupees profit.
Horseback Archery and Hurdle Jumping: only possible with a registered(!) horse, and you also win optional items before you're able to win rupees.
Carry the Ice requires the completion of the "Perfect Drink" shrine quest first.
Gambling in Lurelin is purely luck-based and will leave an opened treasure chest behind, so it's not the most elegant solution. And savescumming the guy that gambles for you takes some time (because of the campfire, mostly) and seems to have a very low success rate.
In the end, I settled for Snowling, which seemed like the safest and fastest option given the circumstances. Of course there are also quests to make quick cash (A Gift for the Great Fairy, A Good-Sized Horse etc.) but solving optional quests is forbidden in this run.
Additional information:
All minigames: gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/189707-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/75639750
Technically, the counter would have gone up if I hadn't already visited the locations where the minigames take place, because things like the Tanagar Canyon Course and Pondo's Lodge are "discoverable locations"
A different kind of challenge run: Minimalist 100%
Part 16 - Minigames
I still needed a ton of cash for Tarrey Town and the Fairy Fountains. As a reminder:
The first Fairy Fountain costs 100 rupees, but I've already paid that in part 10 of the series because I needed the picture for Pikango.
The second one costs 500
The third one costs 1,000
The last one costs 10,000
Malanya costs 1k fix no matter when you unlock the Horse God Spring
Tarrey Town itself doesn't cost any rupees, but Hudson only moves there AFTER you bought the house, so you have to pay 3k rupees and 30 wood bundles. It also unlocks the Hylian Homeowner quest, and later "From the Ground Up". Luckily, the residents and "upgrades" to Tarrey Town are optional again, so I won't have to farm a hundred more wood bundles for that guy.
Total amount of cash needed: 15,500 rupees. And I started with 50 rupees.
As for how viable the various minigames are for this run:
Footrace: Relieable, easy to do, but hella boring after the 50th time and (minus the entrance fee) you only earn 30 rupees per win, which takes forever.
Deer Hunting: Forget it. The only reasons I played this at all was to include it in the video, and then again at the end to round up the rupee count to an even number, but I won't touch that minigame ever again.
Test of Wood: You can only break your own record so many times, and the mere 40 rupees you win if you don't break your record are not worth risking the only shield I'm allowed to have.
Sand-Seal Race: nets you 200 rupees if you break your own record, and zero if you don't (as you just get the entrance fee back). It was fun while it lasted, but you can only break your record so many times.
Shield Surfing: I'm too clumsy to actually earn something with this, and there is the risk of obtaining a shield for the more profitable courses. The "risk-free" beginner course only nets you up to 30 rupees.
Snowling: Highly profitable if you don't mind obtaining a Blizzard Rod, but I do mind, as it is an optional item. In order to avoid obtaining the rod, I would need a full melee weapon inventory (which is even more NOT allowed in this challenge) or only land spares instead of strikes, but then it nets you only 80 rupees per try instead of 280, takes twice as long to play (plus extra dialogue) and there is STILL the risk of accidentally landing a strike or waste both throws. It still seemed like the best option in the end.
Bird-Man Research and Paragliding on Eventide: Both take more than one ring of stamina to win something. Plus, the Eventide Course isn't possible prior to activating the shrine - even if you finished the "Stranded on Eventide" quest. The Rito offering to play the minigame simply isn't there unless you activate the shrine. I tried both, but didn't include them in the video because of the 15 minute cap.
Flight Range Archery: Teba won't move to the Flight Range unless you finish the Vah Medoh quest first
Boom Bam Golf: Screw that.
(Super) Gut Check Challenge: Unlocks item descriptions for the rupees you collect, which I wanted to specifically avoid. It wouldn't make sense to first revert to an older save file and sacrifice gameplay progress to un-do picking up "loose" rupees, just to still do it later during an optional minigame.
Restoring the Blue Flame: The entrance fee is 20 rupees and the first time you win 50 no matter how fast you are, so you make 30 rupees profit.
Horseback Archery and Hurdle Jumping: only possible with a registered(!) horse, and you also win optional items before you're able to win rupees.
Carry the Ice requires the completion of the "Perfect Drink" shrine quest first.
Gambling in Lurelin is purely luck-based and will leave an opened treasure chest behind, so it's not the most elegant solution. And savescumming the guy that gambles for you takes some time (because of the campfire, mostly) and seems to have a very low success rate.
In the end, I settled for Snowling, which seemed like the safest and fastest option given the circumstances. Of course there are also quests to make quick cash (A Gift for the Great Fairy, A Good-Sized Horse etc.) but solving optional quests is forbidden in this run.
Additional information:
All minigames: gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/189707-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/75639750
Technically, the counter would have gone up if I hadn't already visited the locations where the minigames take place, because things like the Tanagar Canyon Course and Pondo's Lodge are "discoverable locations"
