UFO 50
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Party House Strategy Guide
By SpaceQueenLisha
Rules and strategy for Party House, game 25 in UFO 50, with discussion for each party guest.
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Rules
Your goal in Party House is to throw the ultimate party within 25 days! You win if you end a party with four guests that each have a star, and you lose if the party ends with the timer at 1, and you don't have four stars. Your party guests can each provide you with popularity or cash, which you'll use to improve future parties until you have enough popularity to invite star guests. But watch out for troublemakers! Some guests bring trouble, and if you have too much the police will break up the party and you'll get nothing.

Your house starts with 5 capacity, and your Rolodex starts with 4 Old Friends, 2 Rich Pals, and 4 Wild Buddies. Click the door to invite a random guest from the Rolodex. If the party fills up, or when you choose to end the party, the party ends and you get the popularity and money from all guests in the party.

After each party, you'll move to the Party Planner to spend your popularity and cash (if you have any). Popularity can be used to add better guests to your Rolodex so that so earn more in future parties. Each guest has a different cost, with expensive guests generally being better. Cash is used to expand the house, allowing more guests per party before the house fills.

The Wild Buddies are one of the guests that bring trouble. If your trouble level reaches 2, you'll get a few warnings indicating that one more trouble will end the party. These warnings are a message in the status bar, a sound, and the cat will be alarmed. If the trouble level reaches 3, the police will arrive to break up the party, and you will not get any popularity or cash at the end of the party when that happens. You can choose a guest to blame, and that guest will not be in your Rolodex the next night (meaning that you can make it less likely you'll run into trouble again).

There is one other case where the party will be broken up: if one of your guests brings a plus-one (Mr. Popular, Celebrity, or Mermaid will do this) and it overfills the house, the fire marshal will break up the party and you will not get popularity or cash.
The star guests that you need to win the game cost between 25 and 55 popularity, with the cheap ones having downsides and the expensive ones having bonuses. You'll need to get a lot of popularity to add four star guests to the Rolodex, and then you'll need to make sure they're all in the same party together.

Some guests have an action they can take. The various actions are all detailed later in this guide. The symbol used in the game looks like two white circles stacked on top of each other, so I'm using this symbol in this guide to represent that: ⊚. But, once per party, you can click on each guest with an action to make each them do something that can improve your situation.

Some of your guests will take a cash fee for their services. Guests like Comedian, Caterer, Photographer, and Stylist give -1 cash. Be very careful not to go negative on cash! You'll lose 7 popularity for each cash you're unable to pay.
Gift, Trophy, and Cherry Requirements
Gift - Beat any scenario.
Trophy - Beat scenarios 1 through 5. (Random Scenario not required)
Cherry - Beat "Random Scenario" five times in a row. (It shows your streak, so get it to 5.)
General Strategy
During the first couple of nights, your biggest concern is going to be making sure that troublemakers don't end your night early. You can hopefully get 5-6 popularity on these nights, so use that to get a few good guests that can mitigate that risk or trouble. Security or a Hippy can negate trouble, a Watch Dog can be used at 2 trouble to make sure you get safe guests, and a Grillmaster can give you a second chance if you hit 2 trouble too early. Over time, continue to improve your chances that you'll fill the house before hitting 2 trouble. Of course, if you're not going for a random scenario streak, you could press your luck and just reset if it goes wrong, but if you're not going to reset, I'd recommend ending the night at 2 trouble unless you have a good reason to test the odds.

Unlike some other roguelike deckbuilders, there is no way to remove guests from your Rolodex, so be careful what you add! Try not to add anyone that you're going to hate to see later.

Once you're a few nights in, you need to start setting yourself up for success. The simplest way to do that is to improve your average popularity/cash per party. Also, consider what your game plan is going to be later on, and try to take guests that move you toward that plan. The game plan will depend a lot on your scenario, so check scenario strategies and individual guest strategies for some ideas. You probably won't have enough to go for strong synergies quite yet, so grab the guests that are impactful by themselves.

Here are some of the things you should shoot for in the early-mid game:
  • Make sure you can make a reasonable amount of both popularity and cash. Depending on the scenario, you might have to pick an inferior guest if it's your only decent source of popularity/cash. Both will help you get more resources per night, in different ways.
  • Guests that can Boot are amazingly useful, not only for reducing trouble, but also for booting guests that just aren't contributing much.
  • Look for good synergies, and choose guests accordingly. As an example, if Cheerleaders are available, for example, prioritize taking anyone that uses actions. But Cheerleaders tend to not be that strong on their own, so take the more impactful guests with actions first and add Cheerleaders later.
  • If you're comfortable in mitigating the trouble you have, consider adding troublemakers that provide a lot of resources. They can give you a huge leg up if you can handle the risk.

In the mid-game, you need to focus on how you're going to earn large amounts of popularity every night, so you can get some Star Guests. Maybe that's using Wrestlers to make sure that only strong guests stay, or getting the cash to make the house huge, or using Comedians in a full house, or Writers with a bunch of trouble and trouble canceling, or get some Climbers and try to get them to enter at every opportunity. There are a lot of possibilities. Fetching starts being useful at this point, since you should have some high-impact guests to call.

In the late game, stop buying cheaper guests and save for star guests. If you're low on time, get the cheap star guests and just live with the downside. If you have some time left, go for the expensive star guests and let them help you buy the other star guests.

Once you have four star guests in the Rolodex, stop worrying about popularity/cash flow and go for the win! Fetching and Magicians in particular can be invaluable in finding all four star guests in the same party. Grillmasters/Athletes gives you multiple chances to get the luck you need, and guests that Boot can get rid of anyone that's not contributing to the plan.
Scenario Strategies (1-3)
Alien Invitation
  • Strength: Multiple cheap guests that allow you to mitigate trouble. Most guests give good popularity or cash.
  • Challenge: Guest abilities are weak. Not many possible actions.
This is a good scenario for learning the basics, since you'll be relying more on stats than abilities and actions to get the win.
  1. Driver - Only grab after you have Aliens.
  2. Monkey - In this scenario, I wouldn't take any. Too many other strong guests early on.
  3. Security - No other options for boot. Best unit to stop trouble. Grab some early.
  4. Ticket Taker - Good for a little bit of cash in the first few nights.
  5. Watch Dog - Decent all-around utility. Good at any point, never amazing.
  6. Hippy - I'd rely on Security first to deal with Wild Buddies.
  7. Rock Star - You have better options. The trouble is tough to deal with in this scenario.
  8. Comedian - Tied for best late-game popularity generator. Better later when you're stable.
  9. Caterer - Tied for best late-game popularity generator. Better earlier when you're less stable.
  10. Mr. Popular - No.
  11. Dancer - Not as good as Comedian/Caterer, since Auctioneer gives you cash to pay for them.
  12. Auctioneer - Best cash generator, needed to support Comedian/Caterer.
  13. Alien - The only option for stars.

High or Low
  • Strength: Strong late-game units that earn a lot of popularity.
  • Challenge: Weak or troublemaking early-game units.
This scenario is the best of the normal five for trying out a Writer/trouble build. Make the choice early if you're going to go that direction or if you're going to avoid trouble; both are viable options. If you're wondering how well this scenario can handle a trouble build, I had one party with 4 Writers and 5 trouble, so yes it can.
  1. Private Eye - Good in this scenario once you get some other good guests.
  2. Introvert - Avoid.
  3. Grillmaster - Adds stability until you can get Cute Dogs or Wrestlers, and lets Climbers climb faster. My choice for night 1.
  4. Mascot - I tried it, but I didn't think it helped very much. I'd avoid them.
  5. Gangster - Your source of late-game cash if you're adding more trouble to the Rolodex.
  6. Cute Dog - Great option for stability. Amazing if you have Writers.
  7. Gambler - Good late-game cash if you want to flirt with trouble.
  8. Spy - Your source of late-game cash if you don't want to flirt with trouble, and prevents trouble from getting out of control.
  9. Writer - Consider a trouble build with Gangster/Cute Dog. If not, go for Climber instead.
  10. Wrestler - Also a great option for stability and making sure there's room for the Climbers.
  11. Climber - Best late-game source of popularity if not using Writers.
  12. Mermaid - Don't take Mermaid unless you're panicking to get four stars at the end.
  13. Superhero - The better choice for stars.

Best Wishes
  • Strength: Cheerleader is available, supported by many powerful guests with actions. (This scenario is a lot of fun.)
  • Challenge: There are so many guests with actions, but there are few guests that give good end-game stats.
This scenario has two big build-around guests: the Cheerleader and the Bartender, and both are viable. You might end up using both, since the Bartender is very photogenic, and is a great choice to boost using Stylists.
  1. Monkey - I like to grab one first to hopefully be able to afford Wrestlers.
  2. Hippy - Grab some early for stability, and eventually get all four to power up Bartender.
  3. Photographer - Take two once your Bartenders start taking off or once your Stylists have given a guest decent popularity.
  4. Cheerleader - There are six other different guests you can get with actions. For each 2-3 other guests with actions, grab a Cheerleader. This scenario will show you how strong she can be.
  5. Rock Star - I grabbed one late to have six troublemakers, which is the most the Bartender can profit from in this scenario.
  6. Athlete - One early to prevent ending a night early seems okay, but maybe just get Hippies instead.
  7. Stylist - Grab them in the mid-game to start boosting one of your guests (just choose one you won't boot). This can be your late-game popularity engine when combined with Cheerleaders.
  8. Counselor - With Bartender as the best option for cash, I'd avoid Counselor, which reduces the trouble the Bartender needs.
  9. Wrestler - Get four as soon as possible. They filter out your guests and with the Cheerleaders, you can eventually boot every single guest you don't like.
  10. Celebrity - Absolutely not.
  11. Bartender - One of your only options for cash. Get one as soon as you can.
  12. Dinosaur - Can be a quicker way to get to the end, but might be hard to manage. If you have time, I'd use Genies instead.
  13. Genie - The Genie with Cheerleaders is a really strong combo.
Scenario Strategies (4-6)
Money Management
  • Strength: Many ways to gain money, which provide support for guests that take money.
  • Challenge: End-game popularity guests are weaker than normal. They can be good, but they require some work.
This scenario lets you play around with the many guests that take a cash fee, and features the powerful Photographer/Stylist combination. Use this scenario to get an understanding of what you need to support guests that need to be paid.
  1. Private Eye - The cash cost hurts when you combine with Stylists/Photographers. Don't take until the end-game, to either get star guests or someone that Stylists have boosted.
  2. Ticket Taker - Take some early to expand the house and offset Stylists/Photographers.
  3. Security - No other options for boot. Best unit to stop trouble. Grab some early.
  4. Photographer - With Stylist and a few other decently photogenic guests, Photographer's useful late.
  5. Comedian/Caterer - Decent mid-game popularity generator, but requires cash like everyone else, so I would get a couple, then focus on the Stylist plan later.
  6. Gangster - Really helps with cash in a scenario where you need a lot, and great with Photographer. I'd grab one or two, offset by Security and Cute Dogs.
  7. Athlete - This probably isn't the scenario where I want much of this ability. Maybe one early.
  8. Stylist - Stylist is a more powerful late-game popularity plan than using Comedians/Caterers.
  9. Cute Dog - Take some to offset Wild Buddies and Gangsters.
  10. Spy - You definitely want some Spies as soon as you can to provide cash, and the Peek is nice.
  11. Dragon - Gets you to four stars faster, but try to boot them if you don't have four stars yet.
  12. Leprechaun - Great cash generation to support everyone else.

A Magical Night
  • Strength: Most of the best end-game guests are available.
  • Challenge: Weak popularity guests in the mid-game. Between Cupid and Ghost, booting options are limited.
Between Cupid, Auctioneer, and Climber, there's a lot of late-game power available, but your cash options are limited until you can get Auctioneers, and the popularity powerhouses require some work, so you might need to make some tough early choices until you get there.
  1. Introvert - Avoid.
  2. Watch Dog - Load up on Watch Dogs right away to prevent trouble.
  3. Werewolf - The only trouble canceling is Unicorn. Werewolf isn't worth the 1/2 trouble.
  4. Greeter - Probably wait until the Climbers are 4+ before grabbing Greeters.
  5. Magician - Great once you get star guests.
  6. Gambler - Better than Werewolf, but I'd still avoid any trouble in this scenario.
  7. Dancer - Peek/Boot/Fetch is weak, so maybe just skip Dancers in this one.
  8. Cupid - The only Boot you get other than Ghost. Grab Cupids in the mid-game.
  9. Auctioneer - The only cash-giver you actually want to play. Grab them in the mid-game.
  10. Celebrity - Absolutely not.
  11. Climber - Your choices for powerhouse popularity guests is limited. Climber's probably the best available. Try to get them early enough to give them time to grow.
  12. Ghost/Unicorn - Interchangeable. Get a mix of both?

Random Scenario
Good luck! You'll have to identify a plan of attack like you would in any other scenario. Use the lessons you've learned in the non-random scenarios to adapt to whatever weird combination you happen to have. Identify what gives you safety and resources in the early game, and which guests you'll need to get 40-ish popularity in the late game. Try to recognize when you have a great synergy available and take advantage of it.

If you're going for a streak of Random Scenario wins, you'll want to reduce your risk more than normal and try to play consistently. Avoid high-trouble strategies and really try to avoid pressing your luck if you have two trouble.
Abilities and Actions
I'll go into a basic description of how each of the abilities can be used, but I'll save the detailed analysis for the discussions on individual guests.

Trouble
Trouble!
  • Seen on seven different guests.
  • Raises the trouble level by 1. If the trouble level hits 3, the police break up the party.
  • Trouble is high-risk, high-reward. Trouble is the number one cause of your party ending earlier than it should, but most troublemakers come with strong bonuses. Trouble can be especially rewarding if you have ways to keep it in check.

Cancel 1 trouble
  • Seen on: Hippy, Cure Dog, Unicorn
  • Lowers the trouble level by 1.
  • Canceling trouble is a great way to make sure your parties run as long as possible. Especially good if you have a big house.

For each trouble: +2 Pop or +2 Cash
  • Seen on: Writer (popularity), Bartender (cash)
  • Gives the specified resource for each troublemaker in the party. This number is not reduced by guests that cancel trouble, but is reduced by the Counselor's action.
  • This gives you a much stronger incentive to play risky with more troublemakers, or just to get bonuses from the few troublemakers you already have, and it's a very strong incentive to get trouble-cancelers.

Boot
⊚: Boot out 1 guest
  • Seen on: Security, Cupid, Wrestler, Ghost
  • Choose a guest in the party. That guest leaves the party and can't re-enter until the next party. Guests can boot themselves.
  • Booting is a great way to reduce the trouble level if you've hit 2 trouble, but if you haven't, it's also great to kick out the guests that aren't contributing to your popularity and cash wallets as much as other guests in your Rolodex might. And see the Security write-up below for why self-booting can be amazing.

Fetch
⊚: Fetch specific guest
  • Seen on: Driver, Private I, Genie
  • Choose a guest in your Rolodex to enter the party. Can't be used if the party is full. Can't fetch a guest that was booted out.
  • Fetching can be very powerful. You can always find the person that will either help with your current problem, whichever guest gives you the most resources, or, the best use, grab star guests when you have four available. Fetching another guest that fetches can be powerful if you have Cheerleader, or if you just want them all at the party.

Bring
Brings 1 guest/Brings 2 guests
  • Seen on: Mr. Popular (brings 1), Celebrity (brings 2), Mermaid (brings 1)
  • When this guest enters the house, another random guest from the Rolodex will enter immediately after. If they bring another guest who brings guests, those guests will also enter immediately. If the house is full and a guest brings another guest, the fire marshal will end the party without scoring.
  • Let me be crystal clear with this: this ability is a downside, similar to trouble. It will be unsafe to invite a guest into the last spot in your house of one of these is in the Rolodex, and more spots will be unsafe the more guests you have that will bring a plus-one, due to how bringing a guest can chain.
  • Having guests that can Fetch or Peek can make Bring less of a downside, because you can make sure that the last few guests are safe.

Peek
⊚: Peek at next guest
  • Seen on: Watch Dog, Spy
  • Get a preview of the next guest to enter the party. You may either let them in or boot them before they enter by pressing the "cancel" button on the preview.
  • Peek is a weaker Boot, only allowing you to screen the guest at the door, and without the self-booting possibility. It can be very useful to have some certainty for what's coming next, though, especially at 2 trouble.

Outside
⊚: Move all guests outside
  • Seen on: Grillmaster, Athlete
  • Every guest that's currently in the party is returned to the Rolodex and can be re-invited. Guests that have already used their action (including the guest that moved everyone outside) will not get their action back when they return.
  • Guests that have been Booted or rejected with Peek will still not be able to re-enter for the duration of the party, regardless of other guests being moved outside.
  • This gives you another chance to make a good party, letting you reset if you don't like how the party's turned out so far. It also pairs well with guests that change whenever they enter. You probably won't use this action every night, but it's powerful when you need it.

Star
Get 4 stars in a single party to win!
Starter Guests
Old Friend
  • Cost: 2
  • 1 Pop
D Tier. Getting one popularity is unexciting in the early game and pretty much useless in the late game. If your Rolodex is filled with Old Friends, you're going to have safe parties that don't allow you to afford better guests.

Mascot provides an interesting synergy with Old Friends. I'll discuss this more in the Mascot discussion below, but even with a Mascot, I would have to be in a dire situation to consider buying an Old Friend. I don't think I would ever buy an Old Friend without a Mascot in any situation.

Rich Pal
  • Cost: 3
  • 1 Cash
D Tier. 1 cash has more spending power than 1 popularity, so a Rich Pal is a little bit better than an Old Friend (game, why do you make me write things like this?). I'm not sure I would buy a Rich Pal unless I absolutely needed them to support Stylists or something.

Wild Buddy
  • Can't be purchased
  • 2 Pop
  • Trouble!
D Tier. Not sure that tier matters that much for a guest you can't get more of, but it's worth a discussion of Wild Buddy's role. Wild Buddy can help you get some big-ticket guests early, but it's also the reason you're always at risk of getting the police called on three guests. If you're not at risk of maxing out trouble, then Wild Buddy is better than Old Friend, and probably slightly better than Rich Pal. But under most circumstances after the first few parties, I prefer the Old Friend, because the trouble is way more of an inconvenience than the extra 1 popularity offsets.

Of course, Wild Buddies can help with Writer/Bartender strategies, but you'd ideally get Gangsters or something good it you're going that route.
Cheap Guests - Cost 3
Driver
  • Cost: 3
  • ⊚: Fetch specific guest
C Tier. Fetching can be powerful, especially when you need to react to hitting 2 trouble or when you have very strong guests to bring in that are much better than average. Once you have 4 star guests in your Rolodex, you want as many fetch guests as you can get to make sure you get those four stars together, so definitely load up on Drivers then.

Fetching is doubly amazing with Cheerleaders, especially because you can fetch your other fetchers, fetch the Cheerleader, refresh everything, then fetch some more. Drivers are also interesting with Cupid, because they give you control over positioning, and you can always fetch a Cupid to boot both Cupid and Driver.

However, fetching is not amazing in the early-game or mid-game, and the Driver gives zero popularity and cash. How it works out is that the guest you're fetching essentially takes up two spots, because the Driver is a blank. How much better is the guest you're fetching than one you'd find randomly? Probably only one or two points early on, and you've lost that difference by having the Driver take up a spot.

So, I generally avoid Drivers until Cheerleaders are available or until there are specific guests I really need to find. Either guests that are least twice as good as the average guest, star guests, or something that's in short supply in the scenario that I really need to find at any cost.

Monkey
  • Cost: 3
  • 4 Pop
  • Trouble!
C Tier. The Monkey gives a ton of popularity for something you can always afford after the first night. There's no doubt it's a powerful guest. You might have more nights end early, but even nights where you end early on 2 trouble would be more profitable. So basically, it's high-risk, high-reward, which is actually a powerful option for a guest that only costs 3.

I avoid Monkeys in most builds because I dislike the risk that more trouble adds in the late game, but if someone told me that Monkeys worked amazingly well for them, I'd believe that too. Of course, if you're getting Writers or Bartenders, the Monkey seems like a great way to afford those two.

However, in the late game, any trouble guest can make things harder, and even the best trouble units can be a bit of a burden unless you're using Writer/Bartender. So don't go nuts with it.
Cheap Guests - Cost 4
Security
  • Cost: 4
  • ⊚: Boot out 1 guest
A Tier. Security is very useful in the early game as a way to prevent trouble, and unlike every other early-game guest, there is no downside to seeing Security turn up in the later nights when you're really hunting for popularity. Why is that, when Security offers no popularity or cash? Because, if there's no guest with a downside that you need to eject, Security can boot themselves. This makes it so that, even if Security isn't the guest you want to see, all you need to do is tell them to leave unlike, say, the Hippy, who will take up a spot in the house whether there's trouble to cancel or not. And later in the game, there might be other non-troublemaking guests you'd rather boot before Security, especially Stylists and Photographers after you've used their actions.

The other reason for the A-Tier rating is that, at only four cost, it's easy to grab a set of four early on to kick out a second Wild Buddy that might otherwise end your night early. Actually, they're so effective at that job that you could consider grabbing a small number of Monkeys, Gangsters, Rock Stars, or Gamblers to accelerate your resource gathering in the mid-game. Security has synergy with Cheerleaders, if you didn't already have enough reason to hire either of them. Also, there's some synergy with Cupid. Since Security is a highly-bootable guest, you can use Security to boot someone else, and have Cupid boot Security and someone undesirable they happen to be near.

Security isn't perfect, though, and there's one key situation where filling your Rolodex with Security is a bad thing: if you're using a bunch of Greeters. Security may be able to take a hint and leave the party when unwanted, but if you're hoping to find a nice Greeter bonus, Security will be one of the worst guests they can see at the door. Also, if you don't particularly want Security at some point in the game, it can make Peeking a little less powerful if you filled the Rolodex with four Security. However, I wouldn't say that all this is a reason to avoid Security. Instead, if you have Security, I think it's a reason to avoid Greeters.

Private Eye
  • Cost: 4
  • +2 Pop, -1 Cash
  • ⊚: Fetch specific guest
C Tier. Private Eye is an interesting alternative to the Driver. Having some base stats makes it usually better than Driver, which makes a difference, but only a minor one.

Let's start with the base stats. It gives 2 popularity but takes 1 cash, giving a net increase of +1, which is quite bad. Better than the Driver's +0 at least. Let's look at a concrete example, If a Driver fetches an Auctioneer, then that's two guests providing 3 cash total, averaging 1.5 cash each. Not great. If a Private Eye fetches an Auctioneer, then the +2 popularity +2 cash averages to +1 popularity +1 cash. Also not great, but it's a different balance, and it gives more stats total, but whether or not that's actually better depends on situation. I think that fetching for stats only becomes worth it if your Driver is getting someone with +6 stats, or if your Private Eye is getting someone with +5.

Other than that, this is very similar to the Driver, and I'd recommend reading that section for a discussion on how strong Private Eye's fetch is. The short version is: avoid taking this unless you have guests worth +5, you're going for 4 star guests, or you want a get a guest with a specific action/ability (like Cheerleader).

Ticket Taker
  • Cost: 4
  • -1 Pop, +2 Cash
B Tier. The Ticket Taker only has a net +1 to stats and has no abilities. It seems like the Ticket Taker should be a terrible guest, but they've always been pretty useful for me. I think that the Ticket Taker is what proves to me that 1 cash is worth around 1.5 popularity, because the impact of a Ticket Taker is closer to a Grillmaster at +2 than an Old Friend at +1. Getting a Ticket Taker on your first night will actually do a lot to increase the house size early, which can offset the popularity loss.

The other thing working in the Ticket Taker's favor is that there are no good alternatives for early-game cash that don't also bring trouble. Some others give +1 cash, Rock Star/Gangster/Gambler are good but bring trouble, but the next that gives cash is the Spy at twice the price.

I probably wouldn't take more than two, though. The popularity penalty could come back to bite you if you have it in multiples, and you need to get popularity eventually.

Introvert
  • Cost: 4
  • +1 Pop
  • For each empty space: +1 Pop
D Tier. It's cute to play a single Introvert and end the party, but one popularity per slot is a bad rate. If you're going for this strategy it'd be much better to have three or four Introverts, but you'd need a lot of space for that to really pay off, which means you need cash, and if you start adding a bunch of guests for cash, it makes it less likely you'll get multiple Introverts with leftover space. But, with the luck and cash you need for this strategy, you can probably do better than introverts for popularity. At two Introverts, it's no longer a disappointment to have empty spaces, but still, I think I'd rather try to fill the house in most cases rather than putting in the effort to engineer this scenario.

The more realistic case, I think, would be to make it not so devastating if trouble forces you to close up early, but how many open spots are you realistically expecting to have? Would it just be better to press your luck and hope for canceling/booting or just a few more popularity to make up the difference? If you do well, the Introvert isn't giving you enough to be worth it. I think it's better to put your resources towards having fewer fail cases than trying to hedge your bets with the Introvert.

I don't bother with this ability in most cases. I found it to be okay in Mr. Popular/Celebrity builds, which I only do if I'm desperate, or high-trouble-low-mitigation scenarios, where it's a desperation pick if I don't have Boot/Peek/Canceling. Either way, the scenario has to be pretty rough before I think it's a good pick.

And to be clear, it's not that Introvert's not worth the 4 popularity, it's more that I don't the Introvert taking up space in the house, similar to how you don't want Old Friends a lot of the time.

Watch Dog
  • Cost: 4
  • +2 Pop
  • ⊚: Peek at next guest
B Tier. The Watch Dog is always good but rarely great. It has 4 cost and gives +2 popularity, which is fine on its own. The Peek ability is also usually good but rarely great. It gives you just a little bit of screening, which can make a difference, especially early or when you need star guests. So that's when I'd recommend looking for Watch Dogs, but really any time's fine. It's also a good combo with Greeter.

Hippy
  • Cost: 4
  • 1 Pop
  • Cancel 1 trouble
B Tier. The +1 popularity bonus is weak, and you won't always want him around, but when the Hippy is good, you'll be glad to have him. It's really valuable to keep your trouble level down to keep growing your party. If you can, try to get enough Hippies to cancel all but 2 trouble, but getting more will make it even less likely that trouble will ever be a problem for you.

If you have access to Cute Dogs, I prefer them to Hippies, except for maybe one early because the Hippy is cheap. If you're getting a Writer or Bartender, get all four Hippies and all Cute Dogs if you have them, and use that trouble canceling to make it safe to add more trouble to your Rolodex.
Mid-Price Guests - Cost 5
Photographer
  • Cost: 5
  • +1 Pop, -1 Cash
  • ⊚: Score 1 guest
    Explanation: Choose one guest at your party and immediately gain the popularity and cash that they give. If abilities would give extra (like Comedian), those abilities are counted in the score if they apply when you use the ability. Dancers give the full amount of popularity that the music level gives them when photographed.
B Tier. The photographer is a copy of your best guest. So, if you have amazing guests, then the photographer will also be amazing, but if you're in the early game, or you're having trouble meeting the conditions to make your guests amazing (too few Dancers or no trouble for Writers, for example), the Photographer will reflect that.

The Photographer's cash fee can hurt... don't let cash go negative! At worst, you can probably Photograph a Rich Pal to offset the cost, though, so it's avoidable.

Of course, if you have Dancers, then adding Photographers is a no-brainer. And really, if you have guests that give a net +4 or better, definitely add Photographers. Photographers also benefit from the permanent bonuses that Stylists give, and each Cheerleader doubles what your Photographers do.

So overall, Photographers are generally good, and can be absolutely amazing, but can also underperform if things aren't going well.

Cheerleader
  • Cost: 5
  • +1 Pop
  • ⊚: Reset other actions
    Explanation: All non-Cheerleader guests that have already used their action get the ability to use their actions again.
B Tier. If you have other guests that have actions, Cheerleaders will frequently be the best guests you can possibly have. If the best available actions are weak (Peek) or ones you don't want to use frequently (Athlete/Grillmaster, or Counselor), then the Cheerleader might underperform. If you have guests that Boot or if you're using Stylist/Photographer, Cheerleaders are great.

If you want to see first-hand just how powerful Cheerleaders are, try them in Best Wishes. The number of actions you can do in one party will surprise you.

Rock Star
  • Cost: 5
  • +3 Pop, +2 Cash
  • Trouble!
C Tier. Similar to the other troublemakers, Rock Star has a nice blend of stats, giving less cash than Gambler or Gangster, but giving +3 popularity and being cheaper. The trouble is a large enough penalty that the Rock Star won't be worth taking in many scenarios, but getting some Rock Stars early on can be very powerful if you can prevent the party from ending early as a result.

Between Rock Star, Gambler, or Gangster, which do you want? It depends on the scenario and what other guests are available, but really, these three are mostly interchangeable. I tend to prefer the other two to Rock Star if they're available, though. I'll generally take a Rock Star over a Monkey or Werewolf. The Monkey's a bit less powerful, but also costs next to nothing, and the Werewolf is only trouble half the time, but doesn't provide cash, and the half trouble is still usually more than I want to deal with.

I'll take two troublemakers in the early game in some scenarios, depending on how safe it is or what other alternatives are available. Maybe more for Writer/Bartender parties, but I'll go with troublemakers if I can't safely deal with them.

Comedian
  • Cost: 5
  • -1 Cash
  • If full house: +5 Pop
    (check Unique Abilities section)
B Tier. The Comedian is one of the best popularity-giving guests available. +5 popularity on a guest you can usually acquire after the first night is very strong, and very few guests can ever give more than +5.

There are two downsides that come with it, though. The first is the -1 cash fee, so make sure you have enough cash to pay for the Comedians. If you don't have any guests that give you cash, Comedians might be hard to work with.

The other downside is that you need to fill the house to get that +5. Thankfully, filling the house is something you generally want to do anyway. You just need to make sure that you're filling the house every night, and if you have a bunch of Comedians, you might need to press your luck even at 2 trouble to make sure you get that bonus. If you don't have any ways to mitigate trouble, it might be tough to fill up. The two non-random scenarios that have Comedians also have Caterers available, so go with Caterers instead if you think you might have any difficulty with filling the party.

So, the Comedian does require a little bit of adjusting your strategy to guarantee that bonus, but since you're already incentivized to fill the party, it's worth the effort.

Caterer
  • Cost: 5
  • +4 Pop, -1 Cash
B Tier. Almost exactly the same as Comedian (above). Doesn't require filling the party, though, so if you're not sure you can fill the party, Caterer will be more reliable. Caterer gives +4 instead of +5, but +4 still makes Caterer among the best popularity-givers in the game. The Caterer is just a very good guest as long as you have cash to give him.

Mr. Popular
  • Cost: 5
  • +3 Pop
  • Brings 1 guest
D Tier. Mr. Popular is a dangerous guest to have around. Sure, a 3-popularity guest that costs 5 would be good if it didn't have a downside, but Mr. Popular has one of the most powerful downsides of any guest. As mentioned earlier, if Mr. Popular fills the last spot in your party, he'll force one more guest in, which makes the Fire Marshal break up the party.

Basically, if Mr. Popular's in the Rolodex, never fill the last spot in the house. Even worse, this downside gets worse in multiples. If you have 4 Mr. Populars left in the Rolodex, it's not safe to fill the last 4 slots of your party, because a chain of Mr. Populars could end the night.

I think the best way to quantify it is to assume that, in half of the nights where you have a Mr. Popular, you need to leave one slot empty per Mr. Popular. So then it averages to 1.5 popularity per night. It's just really not worth it. And to be honest, the average is probably lower than that.

While it's possible to work around the "bring" ability, I don't think Mr. Popular is worth it. 3 popularity for 5 cost just isn't worth it except in the weirdest of random scenarios.

There's synergy with Greeter, but that's combining two bad guests to make a mediocre combo. Mr. Popular is interesting with Introvert, making it better to leave spots open. It's an interesting build, but since you need a good source of cash for it, Celebrity/Introvert does it better. And honestly, while Mr. Popular is better with Introvert, Introvert is not better with Mr. Popular.

I put this in the D Tier because if you never add Mr. Popular to your Rolodex, that'll probably be the right choice 99% of the time.
Mid-Price Guests - Cost 5, cont.
Grillmaster
  • Cost: 5
  • +2 Pop
  • ⊚: Move all guests outside
B Tier. The Grillmaster's ability to send everyone outside is an interesting one. You won't always want to use it, but it's very nice when you need it. It gives +2 popularity, which is fine for being relatively cheap, so you'll rarely be disappointed to see one show up.

The most frequent use for sending everyone outside is if you see two troublemakers and have no other way to deal with it. Then you can send everyone outside and try again to see if you can get a better random selection. You can hope to get your trouble canceling or a guest that can boot before you get two troublemakers the next time. And if you get another Grillmaster, you can reroll again.

Or, of course, you can just send everyone outside if your party is worse than average. Got a few too many Old Friends and Rich Pals? Send them outside and try again. Once you have 4 star guests in the Rolodex and you're looking to win, your Grillmasters can each give you another shot to get the right arrangement.

Grillmaster is an amazing combo with Climber, since sending the Climbers outside can allow them to enter again and get another permanent boost in the same party. Grillmasters can get Climbers up to +9 in no time. Grillmasters also work well with Werewolves. If you have a few too many in wolf form, send them outside and make them re-enter as human. Sending guests outside is also very good with guests that boot, since booted guests can't re-enter even after sending everyone outisde.

At worst, the Grillmaster is a guest that gives +2 popularity with a useless action, which is just barely below average for a 5-cost guest. But when the Grillmaster is good, he can do a lot of good things for you, and the Grillmaster is good more often than you might think. I like taking two Grillmasters very early to deal with trouble early, but then to continue being useful all the way through.

Mascot
  • Cost: 5
  • +1 Pop
  • For each Old Friend: +1 Pop
    Explanation: Old Friend is the specific type of guest that costs 2 and gives 1 popularity. You have four Old Friends in your Rolodex at the start of any scenario. This ability makes the Mascot score 1 extra popularity for each Old Friend in the party.
D Tier. The Mascot's an interesting beast, making your Old Friends not quite so embarrassing. However, you're relying on synergy to turn Mascot and Old Friend, two bad guests, into two okay guests. You don't generally want to keep around Old Friends, and the Mascot's bad without them. And even if you have both, one Mascot essentially makes Old Friends give 2 popularity instead of 1, which is okay but not a good enough payoff for the effort. Two Mascots can start to make it look better. Two Mascots with two Old Friends averages 2 popularity for each, which is the minimum I'd want together to be okay with this plan, but then you need a ton of guests to come together to pull it off, which requires house space and cash, and the Mascot and Old Friends aren't helping with that plan. The Mascot just isn't an endgame plan. It's not good enough.

I think there could be potential to just pick up one Mascot early before you have the ability to screen Old Friends, but I've tried it and it just hasn't ever been worth it. Even then, I wouldn't want more than one, and I don't really want to see the Mascot in the late game. While I think there's a possibility where maybe the Mascot isn't a complete embarrassment in some theoretical build, I think you'll be just fine if you never pick up a Mascot.

Werewolf
  • Cost: 5
  • +4 Pop
  • Trouble every other entrance
    Explanation: The Werewolf changes form each time it enters the party. Causes trouble in wolf form but not in human form. He starts in human form, meaning that he'll switch to wolf form the first time he enters.
C Tier. Best to assume it's a troublemaker and be pleasantly surprised if it isn't. I think I might rather get an early monkey, honestly? But this could be fine in the mid-game if you have a way to manage the trouble. Could be fun with Athlete/Grillmaster to force it out of wolf form, but it feels like too much work, not enough payoff. (This entry is incomplete. I'll finish this soon.)

Greeter
  • Cost: 5
  • +1 Pop
  • ⊚: Open door & score guest(s)
    Explanation: Invite the next guest in line, and immediately gain the popularity and cash that they give, similar to the Photographer. If the next guest brings more guests, the Greeter scores those guests as well.
C Tier. Can be powerful, especially if you can peek. Combos with "brings a guest" but please don't, it's bad. Anti-synergy with Security, and I'd rather have Security. Can be good with Cheerleader, but the fact that it brings a guest in means it's not free to use. (This entry is incomplete. I'll finish this soon.)

Magician
  • Cost: 5
  • +1 Pop
  • ⊚: Swap star guest & non-star guest
    Explanation: You'll first choose a guest. If you choose a non-star guest, that guest will leave and a random star guest will enter. If you choose a star guest, a random non-star guest will enter. If you don't have a guest of the right type in the Rolodex, nothing will happen and the action will not be used.
B Tier. Don't even consider the Magician before you get a star guest. Until that point, the Magician is just an Old Friend. Once you have a star guest, the Magician does two very useful things.

The first is swapping a non-star guest for a star guest. Obviously this is very useful for getting the four stars together once you have them, but before then, it acts as a sort of boot that brings in your star guest instead. As long as your star guests have effects that aren't too harmful, getting a few extra boots is a pretty nice bonus on a guest that you're going to want for the endgame anyway.

The second is swapping a star guest for a non-star guest. Most star guests don't give you much of a bonus, or aren't good after their action, so this is a way to get rid of them while you're still building up to 4. This also makes it a lot less risky to take cheap star guests with big downsides, like Dinosaur or Dragon, since you can hopefully use Magicians to keep booting them. However, the guest you invite is random, so you might just get an Old Friend instead.

Don't take more Magicians than you have star guests. Swapping will boot the guest you swap out, so there's a limit on the number of times you can use this ability in a party. (For that reason, there's also not really any synergy with Cheerleaders.) But, if you have star guests, getting Magicians to match them can be pretty powerful. And of course, once you're at four stars, get every Magician to try to finish the scenario.

The only real downside to Magicians is that they only give 1 popularity on their own. Of course, Magicians can always swap themselves out, so it's not too bad. But that's the main reason to not get Magicians until the perfect time.
Mid-Price Guests - Cost 6
Gangster
  • Cost: 6
  • +4 Cash
  • Trouble!
B Tier. This is the kind of payout I want for adding trouble to my deck. Decent even without Writer/Bartender, very good with them. (This entry is incomplete. I'll finish this soon.)

Athlete
  • Cost: 6
  • +1 Pop, +1 Cash
  • ⊚: Move all guests outside
B Tier. The Athlete is pretty much interchangeable with the Grillmaster, so check that entry (cost 5, part 2). The Athlete costs one more than the Grillmaster, but gives +1 popularity +1 cash instead of +2 popularity, which is very slightly better in a lot of cases. So it's fitting that it costs 1 more.

Basically, the base stats would be slightly disappointing if you never used the Athlete's action, but there are so many uses for it that it more than makes up for the times when the ability isn't used.
Expensive Guests - Cost 7
Cute Dog
  • Cost: 7
  • +2 Pop
  • Cancel 1 trouble
B Tier. Hard not to love this game's bestest boy. Like Hippy, this adds a lot of protection against trouble. Unlike Hippy, Cute Dog has decent stats on its own. Pricey but worth it. (This entry is incomplete. I'll finish this soon.)

Gambler
  • Cost: 7
  • +2 Pop, +3 Cash
B Tier. Similar to Gangster. Cash is often better, but this gives more total stats, and the mix is nice. Decent payoff for putting trouble in the Dex. (This entry is incomplete. I'll finish this soon.)

Dancer
  • Cost: 7
  • ♪: +1
    ♪♪: +4
    ♪♪♪: +9
    ♪♪♪♪: +16
    Explanation: Each dancer raises the music level by 1. At the end of the party or whenever a single dancer is scored with Photographer/Greeter, add an amount of popularity equal to the music level squared (as listed above).
C Tier. Basically, each Dancer is worth the number of Dancers you have in the party. If you have 1, Dancer is terrible. If you have 2, it's overpriced. If you have 3, it's a bargain. If you have 4, it's powerful. So, the Dancer's power is pretty situational.

If you have a lot of ways to select guests (not Driver) and/or a decent amount of space, then Dancers are a good payoff for that. If you have a small house or not very many ways to make sure you get them, then Dancers may not be worth it.

With Photographer, Dancers are amazing since each Photographer will score the full music bonus, and +16 per photo is ridiculously strong. They're good with Boot and Peek. The reason I said to not use Driver is because then you're dividing that +16 among 5 guests instead of 4 if you used a Driver to get a Dancer. Dancers are also fun with Stylists, because with no base Popularity, they can get an extra +9 boost (which is hilarious with Photographer).

So, make your decision whether or not you'll go for Dancers based on your scenario. If you decide to get them, get all four in quick succession.

Stylist
  • Cost: 7
  • -1 Cash
  • ⊚: Add 1 Pop to any guest
    Explanation: The guest you choose will permanently score 1 extra popularity until the end of the scenario. This ability stacks, meaning that you will continue to increase the popularity each time you use it on the same guest.
B Tier. Can be very powerful, but -1 cash can be tricky sometimes. Stylist could basically be a Climber if you want her to be. I like to use Stylist to boost guests that I don't want to boot anyway. Very good with Cheerleader and Photographer. (This entry is incomplete. I'll finish this soon.)

Counselor
  • Cost: 7
  • ⊚: Clear all trouble
    Explanation: All guests currently in the party who cause trouble will no longer cause trouble until the end of the party, even if they leave and re-enter. Causes those guests to no longer provide popularity to the Writer or cash to the Bartender.
B Tier. Very interesting ability. Anti-synergy with Writer/Bartender, but is very effective at mitigating trouble, especially with Cheerleader. Powerful if you get one early. Lack of stats hurts. (This entry is incomplete. I'll finish this soon.)
Expensive Guests - Cost 8
Cupid
  • Cost: 8
  • +1 Pop
  • ⊚: Boot out 2 adjacent guests
    Explanation: Choose a guest, then either the guest that entered immediately before or after. Both guests are booted.
B Tier. Boot is a powerful ability, and Cupid's version of it can be very strong, but this power's utility is situational. You might be lucky enough to have two troublemakers side-by-side, and using one guest to boot both fells very good. Also, since post-action Cupid is basically an Old Friend, Cupid is often at their best when they're booting themselves, increasing the chance that you'll have two adjacent guests you want to boot.

However, sometimes the Wild Buddy you need to kick out is between two great guests, or is first/last and only next to someone you don't want to boot. Then you're going to have a tougher decision on your hands, and the Cupid ability won't look quite so good. On top of that, since they only give +1 popularity, even if you boot two trouble, you're still left with Cupid, who would be equal to an Old Friend. Cupid's in an unfortunate spot, being much more expensive than Security, but not as good to keep in the party as Wrestler, who only costs 1 more.

If you have Security or Wrestlers, you can use them to boot the guests that are tricky for Cupid. With Athletes/Grillmasters, you can reshuffle and get a second chance at a favorable arrangement. Cupid's also great when you have Photographers/Stylists, who are nice to find but also very good to boot, because Cupids can boot a lot of guests like that.

The downsides are a bit less than the upsides. Cupid still ends up being pretty strong most of the time, since it's pretty likely that your target will be next to one guest you don't mind booting. But, I'd still go for Security or Wrestlers before Cupid.

Spy
  • Cost: 8
  • +2 Cash
  • ⊚: Peek at next guest
B Tier. The +2 cash alone is worth it. Peek is useful: it prevents trouble and has synergy with Greeter, but it's a small bonus. (This entry is incomplete. I'll finish this soon.)

Writer
  • Cost: 8
  • +1 Pop
  • For each trouble: +2 Pop
  • Explanation: Extra popularity for each guest that brings trouble. This bonus is not reduced by trouble canceling like Hippy/Cute Dog, but the Counselor's ability does reduce it.
B Tier. The Writer and the Bartender (who gives cash instead, discussed below) both enable a very interesting strategy: a huge payoff for inviting troublemakers beyond them having better-than-normal stats. If the Writer is available, it changes the calculation on how many troublemakers are worth adding to the Rolodex, and it changes how you play, because you'll want to wait before booting them to see just how much trouble you can get away with.

The Writer is decent if you don't go all-in on trying to maximize trouble. I end up with 1 trouble most parties on average. If the Writer gives 3 popularity, they're okay but probably not worth the 8 cost, and if they give 5, they're great. The downside is that you're not guaranteed to get any trouble, and 1 popularity would be awful for an 8-cost guest. The Writer might not be your best option if they're giving 3-5 popularity, but the Writer is really only a bad choice if you're good at booting trouble and have alternatives for late-game popularity.

But what if you try to maximize the bonus? It's probably only worth going for this strategy if you have Hippies or Cute Dogs available so that you can push the Writer's bonus above +5. But then, you have guests like the Gangster who have amazing base stats on their own to balance out their trouble, and the Writer doubling up on that bonus. Even considering that Hippies will drop the average payout per guest, you can still get such a huge bonus that you'll sail through the late game. Also, consider Photographers if you can get a huge Writer payoff to double it. Just keep in mind that you'll need some way to get cash too so that your house is big enough to accommodate your Writers, your seedy pals, and trouble cancelers. (And that's where the Bartender can come in...)

Here's the big takeaway: when you start your scenario, if you have a Writer available, choose early on whether you're going to go for a trouble-centric build. The Writer is A Tier in that build. If not, the Writer is C Tier. Not bad, but more expensive than they should be. But I'm not giving an A-Tier ranking to a guest that's conditionally good, so I gave them B Tier overall.
Premium Guests - Cost 9-12
Auctioneer
  • Cost: 9
  • +3 Cash
A Tier. The Auctioneer gives +3 cash, there's no catch, and he's ready to be your best friend. The cost is high, but it's absolutely worth it. One Auctioneer will probably buy you a few house upgrades by himself, and if you have four, the house will be massive in no time. The house upgrades the Auctioneer gives you easily returns the popularity you invested in him.

A single Auctioneer can pay for all of your Photographers, it's one of the best units to fetch. But really, the Auctioneer just doesn't need synergy to be powerful. Regardless of scenario, it can be a pillar of your late-game plan.

Wrestler
  • Cost: 9
  • +2 Pop
  • ⊚: Boot out 1 guest
A Tier. My favorite non-star guest. Boot is a powerful ability, and the Wrestler does a lot to keep trouble out of your party. I like the boot actions on Security, Cupid and Ghost, but a huge part of the power of booting is that those three units can each boot themselves if there's no trouble.

The Wrestler, on the other hand, will almost get never boot himself because the +2 popularity means that there will usually be a less useful guest to boot. Aside from Troublemakers, Wrestlers can boot guests with good actions but bad stats like Stylist/Photographer/Driver, your Old Friends and Rich Pals that aren't cutting it anymore, or really anyone that gives 2 net stats or fewer.

On top of all that, you can add Cheerleaders to basically get full control of who from your Rolodex is getting in. And then boot the Cheerleaders because they're good-ability-low-stat guests.

Wrestlers know how to put on a good show. They'll be great at your party, regardless of scenario.

Celebrity
  • Cost: 11
  • +2 Pop, +3 Cash
  • Brings 2 guests
D Tier. Grabbing a Celebrity for the Rolodex is a huge risk. Celebrities are the best way to invite the Fire Marshal to crash your party, and he's a huge buzzkill. The Celebrity is like the Gambler, but brings two guests instead of bringing trouble, and costs 4 more. I'd rather deal with the trouble.

Taking a Celebrity means that you should be leaving two spots open if you haven't seen her yet. Using similar logic to Mr. Popular above, that would make the Celebrity about on par with a guest that gives +1 popularity +1 cash (Athlete minus his action), which isn't worth it most of the time. Especially on such an expensive guest. And it doesn't get better in multiples, because you're more likely to get a devastating chain of uninvited guests.

I would never take Celebrity in a normal scenario, but there might be some random scenarios where Celebrity is your best choice, such as when you have no other options for cash and really need to expand the house. I would have to be desperate, though. I tested it out and eked out a win despite Fire Marshal visits, but I don't recommend relying on it.

The only notable synergy is with the Greeter, but I'd prefer not to play Greeters or Celebrities at all. If you take Celebrities, you might as well go for Greeters to make that Bring ability not purely a penalty, but having Greeters doesn't make me want to get a Celebrity. If you go for this synergy, it's better with Peek to make that mediocre combo happen more often.

Bartender
  • Cost: 11
  • +1 Pop
  • For each trouble: +2 Cash
  • Explanation: Extra cash for each guest that brings trouble. This bonus is not reduced by trouble canceling like Hippy/Cute Dog, but the Counselor's ability does reduce it.
B Tier. I did a very long write-up for the Writer above, and the Bartender is useful in all the same scenarios, so please check Writer (cost 8) for that discussion. The Bartender is stronger but more expensive, but really, if you want one than you want the other. The short version: Bartender is A Tier in a trouble-centric build and C Tier otherwise due to the high cost, which, as far as I'm concerned, means B Tier overall.

The cash the Bartender gives is more powerful because more guests means more troublemakers and more trouble canceling. You want popularity more than cash in the late game, but this amount of cash will usually mean that the extra space will also give you the extra popularity you're looking for.

Climber
  • Cost: 12
  • Every entrance adds 1 pop. (Max: 9)
    Explanation: Every time a specific Climber enters the party, that Climber permanently scores 1 extra popularity, up to 9, until the end of the scenario. If the Climber goes outside and re-enters, they gain popularity again.
B Tier. Each of your Climbers could end up as 9-pop powerhouses, but they need time. Unfortunately, Climbers are the most expensive non-star guest, making it tough to get them early, and therefore tough to get them with enough time to really get the payoff for maxing them out. But, the Climbers are so strong that it's often worth saving up to get them early for an amazing late-game payoff. Having four Climbers in the Rolodex is pretty much an entire late-game plan.

The biggest synergy that Climbers have is with Grillmasters/Athletes. That allows them to potentially gain popularity several times each night and get them up to +9 popularity without the wait. Of course, Climbers are amazing to photograph, and if you have a full setup of Climbers and Photographers, you might actually start maxing out your popularity early. Climbers are even good enough that they're worth Fetching with Drivers and Private Eyes.

There's no doubt that Climbers are very powerful. The only reason they're not rated higher is because they're the most expensive guest, and you still have to work to build them up. You need to plan around them. But there's a huge payoff if you do.
Star Guests
Dinosaur
  • Cost: 25
  • Star Guest
  • Trouble!
Dinosaurs can be tricky to work with. They're very cheap for a star, which could lead to a quick win, but you need to be able to handle the trouble that comes with it. If you don't have four stars in your deck, the Dinosaur is a very good guest to boot whenever possible.

The upside is that there's already a lot of trouble mitigation in the game, so if you're already doing that, the trouble may not be much of a downside. If you're not going that route, I would generally avoid the Dinosaur except maybe as the fourth star. And keep in mind that, if you don't have trouble canceling, it's actually impossible to win if Dinosaurs are your only star guests.

Dragon
  • Cost: 30
  • Star Guest
  • -3 Cash
The Dragon sure is cheap, but -3 cash can be a huge hit. It's not terrible in Money Management, which generally gives you the cash you need to pay for it. If you have ways to reliably boot or swap out the Dragon until you have all four stars, this penalty might not matter as much. If you're going to rely on Dragons, just make sure you have a plan to not go negative on cash.

Mermaid
  • Cost: 35
  • Star Guest
  • Brings 1 guest
I avoid guests that bring other guests as much as possible, but maybe more than I need to. The downside to having a Mermaid in the Rolodex is that it's never safe to fill the house unless you know for sure a Mermaid isn't the next guest to enter. If you're fine with that restriction, then you can have a star guest at a slightly discounted rate. But since the Mermaid herself has no benefit, try to find a way to boot/swap her until you're ready to win.

Alien
  • Cost: 40
  • Star Guest
It doesn't do anything until the night you win. If you have ways to boot guests or a Magician, the Alien is a good guest to get rid of. It'd be nice to have a star guest you actually want in the party before you have four, but you need to take the star guests the scenario gives you, and in Alien Encounter, you'll be taking Aliens.

Unicorn
  • Cost: 50
  • Star Guest
  • Cancel 1 trouble
Canceling trouble can do a lot to protect you against parties ending early, and this makes an amazing fetch target, not only to win the game when you have four, but as a response to trouble if you're on the edge. I generally prefer the Ghost to the Unicorn, but if you're at 2 trouble and have a fetch, the Unicorn is slightly better to get because booting a troublemaker would also lose you the usually-better-than-average popularity/cash it gives you.

Ghost
  • Cost: 50
  • Star Guest
  • ⊚: Boot out 1 guest
I like the Ghost slightly better than the Unicorn because in addition to potentially help with trouble, you can boot a guest with a downside, or even the Ghost itself to find a guest that gives you popularity or cash. Also, the Ghost is great to have if you're already using Cheerleaders.

Superhero
  • Cost: 50
  • Star Guest
  • +3 Pop
While not as exciting as the Unicorn or Ghost, the popularity boost on the Superhero makes it a star guest you'll be happy to have. 3 popularity will usually be better than your average, so it'll help you a little bit in buying your other star guests.

Leprechaun
  • Cost: 50
  • Star Guest
  • +3 Cash
I think the Leprechaun is generally the worst of the star-guests that have an upside, because cash often matters more in the early game than the late game, when you need popularity. It's good if you still have a need for late-game money, especially if you're using Stylists, Photographers, Comedians, or Dragons. For that reason, the Leprechaun is very useful in Money Management.

Genie
  • Cost: 55
  • Star Guest
  • ⊚: Fetch specific guest
The Genie is an amazing star guest, and is the best by a long shot. The true strength in the Genie is the ability to pull out every Genie in the Rolodex if you draw one of them, making it easy to secure the win. But, you can also pull anything else out for a situation that comes up. Using a Genie to fetch a Cheerleader (and every Cheerleader in the Rolodex shortly after thanks to the synergy) is a potent combination. If you don't have four Genies yet, try fetching a Cupid or Wrestler to boot out the Genies once they've used their actions.
Terminal Codes
There are two terminal codes that add extra ways to play Party House, which I'll include here. These modes do not reveal any secrets outside of Party House, and they don't provide any meaningful advantage that you can use to get trophies/cherries easier. You can find these codes in the credits, which you can see by waiting on the menu where you choose a scenario. You can enter codes in the terminal from the pause menu.

I'd say these spoilers are pretty light, and you won't learn anything that will ruin the game, but I put these in spoiler tags for those who don't want to know any codes without finding them.

  • VIPS-ONLY - Allows you to choose specific randomly-generated scenarios using a six-digit seed. You can view the seed of any random scenario from the Party Planner screen. Works for 1- or 2-player games.
  • MAKE-GLEE - Allows you to create a custom scenario by choosing every guest that appears in the Party Planner. Works for 1- or 2-player games.