UPDATE: I don’t really play or use Papaya Farm any more, so I’m not allowing comments on this page, since I probably can’t help you. But, I’m keeping the page here for what it’s worth.

This page was started as a result of having so many comments on this post. Below are the things I know or have learned about Papaya Farm that I thought might be helpful to others. I’m not currently adding more friends on PFarm, but feel free to follow me on Twitter (myTsuKata). I will update this page whenever I have something new to add, and you can comment on this page if you have questions that you want to pose to the Papaya community and/or to me.

I’ve created a giant spreadsheet where I try to track seed costs and potential profit, as well as estimate how many seeds to buy for various tools. I was using GDoc to store it previously, but the formulas I was using exceeded GDoc’s capabilities. So, now, it’s available in Microsoft Excel 2010 format:

Papaya Farm 2011

I’m in the process of calculating the best ROI (return on investment) tools and seeds. So far, Apples+CEO is the best for ROI, and it’s by such a huge margin that I doubt another will beat it. By using the ROI column though, you can figure out when it is better to make a pie versus a juice as well as assess the relative value of tools. This also gives you a good way of tracking your goals and what you can trade. If you want to use this spreadsheet on your own site, all I ask is that you respect the Creative Commons license for this site by referencing me and this site as well as making sure to reference Papaya’s site.

How to Private Message on Android Papaya Farm

Well, I finally figured out how to PM on the Android version of Papaya Farm, so I figured I should share.

1. Go to chat. (back button to exit papaya game, then at the rankings screen, press your menu button to pop up the options, then select Friend/IM)
2. Pick a chat room, like Papaya Farm or Die Hard Fans of Papaya.
3. In the upper right corner, there’s a little lock icon, just below the Close button. Click that lock icon to enable private messaging.
4. In the upper left corner, below your avatar picture, is a Users button. Click that button.
5. Long press on the name of the user that you want to PM. You’ll get a pop-up menu that has the option to Private chat. Tap that option, and it will open a private chat session between you and that user.

Keep in mind that if people don’t have private chat enabled, they won’t see your chat request.

Magic Seeds

I don’t know everything about magic seeds yet. It seems like you get them for consecutive logins right now. Eventually, it may be a random award for plowing or possibly a Papaya purchase.

Magic seeds have no sale value. You can send them to other friends, but you cannot plant them in friend plots. Magic seeds, once in production, can’t be stolen. It takes a day or so for the seeds to grow (if you know the exact time, please comment!). Then, when you harvest them, you get random awards of things like:

• butterfly cards
• dog food
• dogs
• cloaks
• rainbow card
• cash
• lucky card
• fertilizer
• papayas

Papaya Tip: Friends & What They Do For You

One of the best parts about Papaya Farm and Papaya Ranch is adding friends. Not only do you get to know people, your friends can help your ranch and farm! Here are a few things friends can do for you:

• Share crops with you: Everyone’s farm has up to five special plots for friends. Only your friends can plant there (you cannot). Those plots cannot be stolen, but they can be plowed by others once harvested. When the crop comes in, it is shared (half and half) between you and the friend.
  Grow crops on their land: You can also plant crops on your friends’ land. The benefit is protection from theft as well as having extra spaces for growing (particularly helpful if you’re trying to get those crucial assortments of Secret Tulips, Secret Daturas, and Secret Roses!). I also find this helpful to do if I’m going to be away from the game for awhile, because your friend can bring in the harvest for you…no worrying about rotting or theft.
• Water your crops: When your friends are online at the same time you are, you can click to hire them. They will be invited to come water your crops. Each plot of land they water will give them money (from the mystical Papaya bank, not from your bank), and your crops will produce 25% more. If you’re still online when they finish, Papaya will prompt you to send them a thank you note. I like to send a fruit or other minor item over, too. Which brings us to the next item…
  Send and receive fruits, ranch products, seeds, and tools: This is how you do trading, but it’s also a way that you can get respect points and show thanks or appreciation to your friends. Each fruit, seed, or tool that you send or receive from a friend gives you and the friend a respect point. You can generally only send one item of each type to each friend per day. This is most critical to remember when you’re doing multiple item trades. It will take several days to execute a multiple item trade with your friends.
• Stealing fruits and/or ranch products: Friends can steal from you, and you can steal from them. The theft will generally get both of you some respect points. Some friends may be more sensitive about theft than others. Generally, I try to be respectful. If they’re growing a full field of a product and no one has stolen yet, I will steal from one plot. If I didn’t really need the item, I’ll send them at least one of what I stole (more respect points!). I rarely steal from every plot. I also don’t tend to steal if the crop has been stolen from already. But, everyone has their own courtesy rules on this. Eggs (ranch product) tend to be fine to steal…in fact, most Papayans will leave a pile of eggs in their ranch specifically for theft.
• Plow your land: Friends can plow your land and get whatever tool or reward comes from that, if you leave your land unplowed after a harvest. This is almost universally considered to be impolite, and you can almost guarantee getting yourself de-friended if you do it.
• Messaging/blogging: In the “Home” area of Papaya, you can see your friends’ blogs and messages, including new friend requests. This is a good way to post to ask for certain tools or fruits. This is also a way to tell a friend that something they did bugged you (i.e., they plowed your land) and ask them to not do it again.

Papaya will suggest people to be your friends on the Home page. You can also find friends on the internet. In the Android market, you can look at the app comments to find people who are seeking friends. Or, go to the chat rooms and ask for friends. If you need more help on how to add or remove friends, just let me know!

Papaya Ranch Tips and Info

• Wolves eat meat or chickens. Wolves can be sent to friends’ farms to steal/eat their chickens, but you can always send a friend’s wolf back to their farm.
• Some information about dragons from XxiLov3DriZZyDrAk3, a level 102 player: There are three types of Dragons Neutral ($150,000-lvl50 or up), Evil ($200,000-lvl55 or up), Upright (1000 papayas-lvl60 or up). Dragons can attack each other or other farm animals. If the person doesn’t obtain a Dragon or Dragon egg you are most likely to beat them. For example if they have cows or some other type of animal. If you have all Neutral Dragons you will get beat by both Evil and Upright Dragon and Evil gets beaten by Upright Dragons. Upright Dragons beat both dragons but it can’t beat another Upright Dragons same goes with the other two dragons.

Misc. Papaya Tips

• In-game money is earned by selling products in the game. Papayas are earned by completing offers, buying them directly (using real money), or referring friends to the game. You also get a regular papaya bonus just for logging in. Papayas have significant in-game value, especially as you progress further in the game, so don’t waste them on early purchases of avatar clothing and such.
• When you exit Papaya Farm (pressing quit from the farm), you can click your Android menu button to access “Home” (your profile, f-list, and inbox), “Chat/IM” (where the chat rooms are), and other helpful sub-areas of Papaya.
• If you’re a new Papaya user, a friend (like me) can get bonus papayas by referring you. There’s a field for referrer when you first sign up with Papaya Mobile. If you read the Android comments on Papaya Farm’s app, most of them are people begging you to make them a referrer. Please put someone’s ID in your referrer field…it’s a waste to leave it empty!
• Chickens and cows can be converted into meat to feed cats and other carnivores. Before you start on a carnivore, raise enough chickens and cows to feed it. Chickens have a better grass-to-meat exchange rate, but it’s faster to get more meat by raising cows.
• It’s tempting to buy a ranch or farm dog to watch over your crops, but I don’t advise it. Dogs require regular upkeep of dog food, which costs papayas. I can’t tell you how many Papyans are begging for dog food in the chat room because the dog’s animation when he’s hungry is so pitiful. No one can steal from you bad enough to justify the ongoing cost of the dog.
• Speaking of stealing, it’s a normal part of Papaya. You earn respect points (which gets you periodic bonus items) by stealing from your friends *and* by being stolen from. In fact, it’s a common strategy to leave a pile of eggs laying around in the ranch for people to steal, because you get respect points for every item stolen. Your last fruit on the vine and last product on the ranch generally can’t be stolen, with the exception of “fast” fruits like pumpkins and grass. If your last item seems to have been stolen, someone used a special item/card to do it, which is becoming more common with the addition of Magic Seeds.
• Plowing other people’s fields is a faux pas. Because plowing is how you get tools, and tools have the most value, plowing your friends’ fields is a sure way to lose friends. But, it’s your call in the end…and friends may defriend you if your stealing or plowing bothers them. Personally, I never leave my fields unplowed. I plow as soon as I harvest. But, some folks like to leave them unharvested because there’s a theory out there that you’re more likely to get tools if you’re plowing more fields successively. Also, my personal rule is that the “friend plots” (the areas where only your friends can plant) are fair game for either the friend or me to plow once we harvest.