Secret Note #15 / Mermaid Boat Puzzle

[Jes'oko]

I just want to start off by saying that I had not played Stardew in at least a year and recently started a new playthrough because I heard the game had some new content. I'm looking forward to finally getting there. I have over 300+ hours in the game and have finished multiple playthroughs before my current one.

What I am about to say is true in both the playthroughs I have attempted since I came back to the game (one I am currently working on and one I lost in year 2 but that story is not relevant).

I was really surprised when I dug up Secret Note #15 because the sequence was not the one I remembered. I didn't exactly remember the actual sequence for sure but I did remember that the the order started on the farthest left and that the code was supposed to end in the very middle shell. I just assumed that I misremembered.

I got to the Night Market and tried the code on the note. No dice. I tried it multiple times. I searched online for the code and everywhere insisted that the code on the note was the correct code. I tried it on all the nights of the Night Market and it never worked. There were some people who claimed it was bugged and that the code never seemed to work and that there was really nothing you could do about it.

After another in game month, I lost my game and started another playthrough. Now I am in my first winter again and decided to try the Mermaid puzzle again. The code on the Secret Note (1 5 4 2 3) still would not work.

So then I decided to try the code as I remembered it (1 4 5 3 2) and it worked immediately. I also searched online and found only one post talking about this typo and it's dated over a year ago in 2020. It looks like a mod/specialist confirmed it's a typo, but that's it.

So I wanted to know-- is this a typo that people just know and never talk about? I don't understand how it's been left in the game for so long without being fixed. Does the sequence on the note actually work for some people? Aside from that one Steam post, I can't find any notes on the wiki, any message board, ect about this. No one is talking about this and nothing has been done to fix it. Are so many people just accepting that their note is simply glitched?

Maybe this is a PC vs Switch/other platform type of glitch? Maybe the PC version still has the old code while the other consoles have the new one?

I'm not criticizing, I'm genuinely curious as to how many people have noticed this (or not noticed) and why it still happens for some people and not others, ect. I know in the larger scheme of the game, solving the Mermaid puzzle is really low on the lists of things to do but it really bugged me today when I ignored the note and solved it with the "wrong" code.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by Jes'oko:

I also searched online and found only one post talking about this typo and it's dated over a year ago in 2020. It looks like a mod/specialist confirmed it's a typo, but that's it.

So I wanted to know-- is this a typo that people just know and never talk about? I don't understand how it's been left in the game for so long without being fixed.

I have no idea what you're referring to, but the 1-5-4-2-3 code in the secret note is not a typo. It's the correct sequence for both the mermaid show secret and the mermaid puzzle on Ginger Island.

You know of a fact that it's the correct code because it's literally in the song. The accompaniment is the code and it's always been 1-5-4-2-3.

[Tristin]

I had issue with this quest as well. The phrasing have space for it to be misinterpreted. But keep trying, and you'll understand what it really meant.

[HeartClock]

Never had the issue personally. The only time I did it, it worked for me.

[Jes'oko]

Originally posted by Tripoteur Ventripotent:

Originally posted by Jes'oko:

I also searched online and found only one post talking about this typo and it's dated over a year ago in 2020. It looks like a mod/specialist confirmed it's a typo, but that's it.

So I wanted to know-- is this a typo that people just know and never talk about? I don't understand how it's been left in the game for so long without being fixed.

I have no idea what you're referring to, but the 1-5-4-2-3 code in the secret note is not a typo. It's the correct sequence for both the mermaid show secret and the mermaid puzzle on Ginger Island.

You know of a fact that it's the correct code because it's literally in the song. The accompaniment is the code and it's always been 1-5-4-2-3.

Are you playing on PC or on Switch/another console? Because I always remembered the code, ever since it first came out, because it started in the very left shell and ended in the middle. I always thought it was really convenient because it made it easy to remember.

As I said, I tested the code in the note in two playthroughs and it never worked. The only code that has ever worked for me is the one I remember when the Night Market was first introduced : 1 4 5 3 2. That's the code I used in multiple playthroughs over a year ago and that's the only one that's worked for me in my current one after the most recent update.

[HeartClock]

Originally posted by Jes'oko:

Are you playing on PC or on Switch/another console? Because I always remembered the code, ever since it first came out, because it started in the very left shell and ended in the middle. I always thought it was really convenient because it made it easy to remember.

As I said, I tested the code in the note in two playthroughs and it never worked. The only code that has ever worked for me is the one I remember when the Night Market was first introduced : 1 4 5 3 2. That's the code I used in multiple playthroughs over a year ago and that's the only one that's worked for me in my current one after the most recent update.

1-4-5-3-2 doesn't end with the middle shell though, it ends with the second shell on the left. But 1-5-4-2-3 does.

[Pixel Peeper]

I'm on PC.

Can't speak as to what the code was when the Night Market update came out; I only played the game when it came out and after 1.5 myself.

But I've done the Night Market mermaid show puzzle twice and the Ginger Island mermaid puzzle twice as well, and the sequence in the secret note (1-5-4-2-3, which also starts on the left and ends in the middle) has always worked. Seems to be the sequence that works for everyone or we'd hear a lot more complaints about the code not working.

Like I said, the code is in the song so there's no way it can be wrong. It's objectively 1-5-4-2-3.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by HeartClock:

1-4-5-3-2 doesn't end with the middle shell though, it ends with the second shell on the left. But 1-5-4-2-3 does.

Wait... do you think maybe OP thinks 1-5-4-2-3 is the order in which shells have to be touched? Like, touching the left one first, then the fourth 2nd, then the fifth 3rd, then the middle one fourth and the second one last?

That's not at all what that means. 1-5-4-2-3 means you have to touch the first shell (on the left) first, the fifth shell (on the far right) second, etc ending with the middle shell (the third shell) last.

[HeartClock]

Wait... do you think maybe OP thinks 1-5-4-2-3 is the order in which shells have to be touched? Like, touching the left one first, then the fourth 2nd, then the fifth 3rd, then the middle one fourth and the second one last?

Yes! That's what I thought!


The reason why it didn't work for you is because you did the sequence wrong. For example, you thought it was "4" as in "4 shells to the right", when in reality it refers to the first shell on the right (5).

[Jes'oko]

Originally posted by HeartClock:

Originally posted by Jes'oko:

Are you playing on PC or on Switch/another console? Because I always remembered the code, ever since it first came out, because it started in the very left shell and ended in the middle. I always thought it was really convenient because it made it easy to remember.

As I said, I tested the code in the note in two playthroughs and it never worked. The only code that has ever worked for me is the one I remember when the Night Market was first introduced : 1 4 5 3 2. That's the code I used in multiple playthroughs over a year ago and that's the only one that's worked for me in my current one after the most recent update.

1-4-5-3-2 doesn't end with the middle shell though, it ends with the second shell on the left. But 1-5-4-2-3 does.

What? There are 5 shells in the sequence. You tap the furthest left (1), furthest right (2), second right (3), second left (4) and then the middle one (5). 1 4 5 3 2.

... wait... oh I see. The game and I are assigning numbers to the shells in different ways.

That makes me feel better. I thought I was going crazy.

You can ignore me now. I get it.

[Jes'oko]

Originally posted by HeartClock:

Ah, I think I understand the issue!

The reason wht it didn't work for you is because you did the sequence wrong. For example, you thought it was "4" as in "4 shells to the right", when in reality it refers to the first shell on the right (5).

Yes I just realized this when I was replying to the other comment lol

[Miri]

Oh my gosh. I just found this and was so happy that I finally found a code that actually worked, because I thought 1 5 4 2 3 meant 1st 5th 4th 2nd 3rd too! I was about to get angry about this secret until I read the comments

[Sarge]

Originally posted by Jes'oko:

Originally posted by Tripoteur Ventripotent:

I have no idea what you're referring to, but the 1-5-4-2-3 code in the secret note is not a typo. It's the correct sequence for both the mermaid show secret and the mermaid puzzle on Ginger Island.

You know of a fact that it's the correct code because it's literally in the song. The accompaniment is the code and it's always been 1-5-4-2-3.

Are you playing on PC or on Switch/another console? Because I always remembered the code, ever since it first came out, because it started in the very left shell and ended in the middle. I always thought it was really convenient because it made it easy to remember.

As I said, I tested the code in the note in two playthroughs and it never worked. The only code that has ever worked for me is the one I remember when the Night Market was first introduced : 1 4 5 3 2. That's the code I used in multiple playthroughs over a year ago and that's the only one that's worked for me in my current one after the most recent update.

I can confirm that on the switch version this is the code that work.
It'S also wild because I saw someone do a video with the solution on PC, show the secret note with the correct code, then do the 14532 instead for it to work.

But I know that the mermaid song is 1-5-4-2-3, which fit the music

[M2]

Years late to this conversation but I couldn't get the codes: 1-5-4-2-3 or 1-4-5-2-3 to work, the solution for my game was 1-4-5-3-2. I have no idea what the reasoning is for it to be so scuffed, but the note is clearly wrong for some peoples saves.