Gardens of Time FAQ

Gardens of Time Frequently Asked Questions by AngieDawn

All About Blitz & Hidden Gifts

What is a blitz?
A blitz is the hidden objects game you play when you click on the explanation mark above a visitor’s head in another neighbor’s garden. For forum discussion, a blitz is the term used by many to refer to all discussion of visiting a neighbor’s garden to either play the official blitz game or just collect the XP/coins/energy rewards.

What does the message “Your Coin Bag/Money Bag is Full” mean?
It means you’ve reached your limit for collecting rewards from visiting neighbors and helping a neighbor’s garden that was in peril.

Once I’ve hit my limit when can I blitz again and/or collect my rewards?
It’s a rolling 24hr period based on what time you personally completed the blitz or accepted the reward. If you completed a blitz at noon then you can blitz again at noon the next day.

Why can’t I blitz all my neighbors?
You are only allowed 20 blitz in a rolling 24hr period at this time.

I can’t visit my neighbors because the horse graphic doesn’t stop, is there a way to fix it?
Sometimes there are lag issues that have to clear up on their own or with troubleshooting steps from the technical forum. Many times an easy way around this is to not stay on Full Screen when visiting. Once at the garden you can then go to Full Screen to do the blitz scene.

I can’t find an item in a blitz, can you tell me where it is?
Fellow poster BillieJoSunrise has put together a cheat sheet for all the blitz scenes with screenshots of each scene and all items numbered.
It can be found here: Blitz Scene Answers

What’s the deal with the lady standing in a neighbor’s garden with a gift icon over her head?
She’s who you click on to play the Hidden Gift Feature of this game. When you click on her it will ask you to hide a present for your neighbor to find. You can be nice and leave it on a pathway or sneaky and hide it very well, lol. They follow the same rules as Blitz in that you can only do 20 in a rolling 24hr period.

Someone left me a hidden gift and I’ve searched and searched but can’t find it.
9.9 times it is just a really sneaky neighbor who found a great hidey hole! There are tips and tricks you can use that will help you find them though. One is to use the zoom feature of your browser and zoom in really huge and look over every inch of your garden. The other is to make your garden as tiny as the game will allow and then slowly hover your mouse over the items to look at the reputation shields. If there is a gift under one of them, a little tiny speck of red will show up on the shield. Also keep in mind that gifts can be hidden outside of the garden too ;-) For more help and screenshots of some of these tips in use, see the Hidden Gift Discussion thread in the General Discussion forum.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Energy

Is there a limit for how many energy cans I can have in storage?
You can only keep 99 energy cans in storage. You can accept more than that, but once you use one it will drop to 98 energy cans.

How many energy cans can I use in a day?
You can use a maximum of 10 energy cans in a 24hr rolling period. The 24hrs is based on what time you personally used them. If you used all 10 cans at noon today then you can use 10 more at noon tomorrow.

What is the highest amount of energy I can get for leveling up?
60. There is a glitch that sometimes happens where you’ll see it show 100 in your energy bar, but it will correct itself in a short amount of time.

How do some people have more than 60 energy in the energy bar?
When you blitz or leave hidden gifts you get 1 energy bolt per neighbor. If you started doing those with a full energy bar of 60 then each one will still add to your 60. So if you blitz all 20 neighbors at once with full energy you would have 80 energy to use in your energy bar.

Help I Can’t Find It

Where can I find a listing for the location of an item?
Fellow poster BillieJoSunrise has put together a spreadsheet of all items found here: Items List

Ok, but I still can’t find the item I’m looking for?
Something to keep in mind when you are required to build something for a quest is that you’re not always going to be high enough level to build it right away.

This is the #1 reason people are getting “stuck” not being able to find something in the menu. Just because you start seeing that items are locked doesn’t mean that what you need isn’t going to be in that section.

I was saving up to buy a gold item now it’s gone, will it be back?
Some gold items are for a limited time and can vanish soon without warning. We have not had any official word that they will be available again in the future at this time.

How do I get the Dragon Tower?
The Dragon Tower is a special wonder that is not achieved by following a chapter’s storyline like the other wonders and can be triggered at any level of game play. Usually the trigger is completing a free scene in Chapter 3 to 4 stars. That scene changes for everyone so it is best to just start with one scene and work your way across until the quest triggers for you. You can find more discussion of that in the Dragon Tower Discussion thread in the General Discussion forum.

How do I get the Beijing & Shanghai dragons?
These are special reward dragons from Chapter 9. You achieve them by following Quincy’s Dragon Curator Quest that is triggered by building a Ming Vase.
– Shanghai Dragon – Get 4 stars in the Shanghai Docks scene.
– Beijing Dragon – Visit Beijing Market and play the scene once. Quincy will say oops, wrong place and then direct you to play the London Clock Tower Desk scene to 4 stars.
As each dragon is earned a pop-up notification will tell you that it has been delivered to your inventory. (If that doesn’t happen try clearing your flash cache and refreshing the game). More help can be found in the Dragon Curator thread in the General Discussion forum.

The Poetic Garden 3 Quest says I need to buy a Pavilion from decorations but I can’t find it?
The Pavilion is in the Buildings tab. The location description in the game is incorrect.

Expansion Explanations

Why does it tell me I need silver then change the requirement to neighbors when I try to buy an expansion?
The requirements for buying with silver instead of gold don’t all show on the same square. By default the silver option shows. Once you have enough silver, that option is hidden and the next one to show is the amount of neighbors needed if you don’t have enough already. There can also be a minimum level amount that can show as a third requirement but usually that one is already achieved and left unseen.

It says I need 27 more neighbors to expand. I already have 26, do I really need 27 more?
That is a glitch in wording. What it should say is you need to have the number listed in total, not on top of what you already have. In the example above you would only need 1 more neighbor to meet the requirement.

I expanded but I still can’t put items outside of the fence?
The expansion happens inside the garden fence, not outside. When you expand, you should notice a green row of squares on the bottom and left sides of your garden inside the fence. You’ll also notice that your garden entry gate doesn’t move so there will be more squares below the gate than above each time you grow.

What is the maximum expansion and will there be more added?
Max size is 28×28. There is no official word on if more expansions will be available at this time.

Neighborly Advice

How do I get more neighbors?
Visit our Find Neighbors Forum.

How do I remove neighbors?
Click on your My Neighbors tab at the top of the game. There are 3 sections here from top to bottom. Scroll down to the 3rd section and then scroll through any pending neighbors you have until you come to your current neighbors. You’ll have a remove option next to their name.

Why don’t I have visitors in my garden?
Sometimes the game lags and visitors don’t come in. You also need to make sure you have pathways in your garden. You need at least 2 in front of the garden entry gate for neighbors to enter.

What is the point of the picture above a visitor in my garden?
Those are the profile pictures of your neighbors who have visited your garden since you last checked in. You get 2 XP for each one you click on and a nice complement on your gardening skills.

Why are there mummies, bunnies, kangaroos, ladies in waiting, druids, etc in my neighbor’s garden?
Those are easter eggs put in by the developers as a joke when you buy certain items. For example you get the mummies in the garden when you have the sarcophagus on display. They behave just like the other visitors.

How do I request my neighbors to help me build wonders instead of spending gold?
Click on the wonder after placing it in your garden to request help then look to the bottom left of the pop-up menu. There you’ll see a blue button that says “hire friends”. Select that and you’ll get a list of all your neighbors to choose from instead of spending your gold for LuLu’s help. Once you send the request it is up to your neighbors to help. Each neighbor that helps will bring the wonder closer to completion. You can click on the wonder during that time to see who is helping and how much you have left to build.

General Game Play

Why do some people have 2 of the same wonder?
This is from a lucky glitch ;-) Some people have received a wonder as a mystery gift. Others have been able to build the item in the Wonder bar once unlocked AND in their Inventory Storage.

Is there a way to start the game over again?
Not at this time. You can choose to play on the official website platform version to start a new game though. It can be found here: Playdom.com

Why does my reputation decrease when I put items in storage?
Only items displayed in your garden count towards your reputation. If you move an item back to the garden from your storage the reputation will be figured back into your total. If you sell the item you will permanently lose the reputation amount.

Is there a limit to the amount of items I can have in storage?
At this time we don’t know. If there is a limit no official word has been said and no players have reached it so far.

Is there a way to see the scene story lines again?
Fellow poster BillieJoSunrise has put together screenshots of all the missing story lines. They can be found here: Story Line For Those Who Missed Parts

Why do I have to buy an item again to finish a quest?
Part of the design of this game is purchasing items. If a quest says to “PLACE” an item that means you must purchase it again no matter how many you may already have. If the quest says “HAVE” then any item already in the garden or pulled from storage counts.

How do i turn on flashlight mode?
Flashlight mode is not something that needs turned on. When you are sent to do a scene in flashlight mode you will notice that the scene is dark except for a small lighted circle.

What are premium scenes?
These are extra scenes at the end of each chapter that you can purchase with gold for further game play. You will earn XP, coins, stars, and a special premium item. You also get a little bit more of the story line. They are not needed to advance in the game.

What is the Featured tab for?
It’s to separate special content away from the main storyline chapters. Usually premium scenes that can be purchased for gold and have their own contained storyline.

What is the collections tab?
At this point it is unknown.

What do the purple exclamation marks mean?
They show that an item is new.

Got Any More Advice Left?

On Facebook I had a lot of gift notifications but when I went into the game message center I only had 25, now the others are gone from FB. Where did they go?
It’s unknown at this time if that is happening on FB or with GoT but 25 is the limit that can be opened into the message center at this time. If you don’t want to lose any requests for help or gifts from your neighbors, it’s best to accept them one at a time through FB instead of letting them load into your message center.

Why does it say I’ve already collected my bonus or that I was too slow to collect my bonus from the Facebook newsfeed?
Facebook limits the amount of bonuses each player can receive. Each type of bonus can only be collected 5 times. When that limit is reached you will see one of those messages.

I bought gold using the Get Gold tab in the game but it hasn’t shown up yet.
Sometimes it can take 24hrs for gold to be credited to your account. If it’s been more than 24hrs and your gold is not credited you’ll need to try the troubleshooting steps and if that doesn’t correct the problem you’ll need to file a ticket with the support desk.

I tried to buy an item and it didn’t show up but the game took my silver/coins.
Try the troubleshooting steps and if that doesn’t correct the problem you’ll need to file a ticket with the support desk.

How do I post a picture of my garden?
Look at the first post of this thread: Show Us Your Gardens

How can I get enough reputation to unlock scenes without any room left in the garden?
We’ve got a helpful thread with everyone pitching in their ideas and tricks here: Great Ideas For Increasing Reputation

When I get enough reputation to unlock a new scene I get a pop-up telling me I’ve unlocked that scene plus 2 additional scenes. Where are the additional scenes?
That is an error that the developers are currently working to fix. There is only the one scene actually unlocked.

How do I know what region an item should be placed in?
We’ve got a list for that too found here: Items By Location / Theme

How do I clear my flash cache?
Visit the Adobe Flash Player cache tool and choose Delete All Sites.

Is there somewhere I can go to find out if new chapters or upgrades are coming soon?
The best place to look is the official Gardens of Times Facebook page.

New Wonders Feature FAQ

So what is it?
It’s a way to earn more reputation for wonders that you already have by building them up through higher levels. Each new level that you place on an existing wonder increases your reputation.

Why was this feature added?
It’s a way to increase reputation drastically without having to load our gardens with high reputation items to unlock new chapters.

So how does it work?

  • Go to your garden and hover your mouse over any wonder placed there. You’ll notice that it says “Level 1 / +rep point number / Click to Upgrade”
  • Once you click that a menu will pop-up with a wonder build menu where you will see the requirements for upgrading your level
  • There are 5 levels for each upgrade and each one increases reputation and requires more materials to build. The rewards of reputation and XP are listed towards the top and the picture of the finished wonder at level 5 will be at the bottom of the menu also.
  • Next look to see how many materials you’ll need to complete the level. You will need at least 1 of every material listed on the menu. Level 1 needs 1 of everything, Level 2 needs 2 of everything and so on. If you need just one of each item it will say “0 of 1”. If you need 2 it will say “0 of 2”, etc.
  • The blueprints are purchased using silver or 1 gold bar and require no assistance from friends
  • The building materials of glass, wood, sandstone, gears, and marble require you to Ask Friends to send them or you can receive them as gifts. Click on Ask Friends for each item needed and a request box will come up just like the one you use for gifts. Send your requests and wait for your friends to answer. When they answer the material will go into your inventory until you return to the wonder upgrade build menu to use them.
  • Depending on how quick your neighbors are, click on the wonder again to see if it’s ready to upgrade. Each material must say “Complete” for you to upgrade (or you can use gold to fast track this). There is nothing for you to actually do to complete it other than buying the blueprint. The materials will fill in as neighbors send them automatically.
  • When you’re ready, click upgrade and the wonder will move up to the next level and the options for leveling up will reset for the next one. Then you start all these steps again :-)

Common questions about the How To:

I have a lot of materials in my inventory but why do my wonders say I have 0?
First, read the How-To above to make sure you are correctly understanding how the materials work. If it is still a problem, then you may be falling into the known issue glitch with materials not being able to be used. There is more discussion of that in the All Problems with Wonders sticky thread in the Bugs & Technical forum.

I bought all the blueprints needed for a wonder so why is it showing as 0 blueprints now?
A couple things could be happening here. One, there are 2 different sized blueprints (small, large) so make sure you are buying the blueprints for the same wonder that you are looking to upgrade now. The 2nd problem is a blueprint glitch. Until it gets worked out, the best advice is to not buy your blueprints until you have all the required materials and are ready to upgrade.

How many requests can I send a day for materials?
The materials are treated just like gifts so you can send one request to each person per 24hr rolling period. If you have 50 friends then you can send 50 requests.

If I send a material request through the Wonder Upgrade Build Menu can I still send them gifts too?
Yes, in this option they don’t count as gifts so you can send both in the same 24hr rolling period.

I’ve received materials as gifts but why do I keep getting the error that I have too many already?
You are allowed to keep a total of 10 of each material in your inventory. If you at or over that limit you will get the error message.

I need wood for my wonder upgrade and I have 50 neighbors, should I send that request to all of them?
You can, but if you also need glass, gears, sandstone, etc then you’ll have to wait 24hrs to request those materials. A better option might be to send the request for wood to 10 neighbors, and then send another 10 neighbors the request for glass, and so on. That way if all 50 neighbors respond you’ll have 10 of every material waiting to be used.

How do I know if my neighbors have sent the materials?
There isn’t any notification for that so the best way is to click on the wonder you are wanting to upgrade each time you come back to your game. You’ll be able to see in the wonder build menu how many of each material you have (2 of 3, 1 of 4, etc depending on the level you are building)

I see the materials in my inventory but why do I get an error when I try to use them?
The materials are stored in your inventory but that is nothing more than a holding area. When you click on a wonder it will fill in with the items from your inventory to allow you to “use” them. You don’t physically have to do anything to get the material to your wonder from inventory.

My inventory shows I have 1 of each material, but why do all of my level 1 wonders say they can be completed?
The materials and blueprints are usable for all of your wonders. It’s your choice on which one you want to upgrade. Until you make that choice and hit the upgrade button, the materials will auto populate into all of them each time you view the build menu. Once you choose to upgrade, the materials used will be removed from your inventory and will not show for the other wonders.

Do I have to upgrade all of my wonders to Level 1 before I can move on to Level 2?
No, you could build 1 wonder all the way to the final Level 5 if you wanted before moving to the next one.

Are there any rewards for sending materials to neighbors when they have been requested?
Other than the satisfaction of being a good neighbor, at this time no ;-)

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5 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    I have over 400 neighbors and send all of them a materials request every 24 hours. Why do I not get a single response for days at a time? My wife has Gardens on her iphone and I checked, she has not been receiving my request much of the time. what's going on? Is this to frustrate me into buying gold?

  2. Anonymous says:

    My neighbors are not sending any materials, I have been using my gold bars. Either my neighbors are jealous and won't send items or there is a bug. I'll go with the bug because I send materials out when I see the request.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I am not able to receive requested materials, although I am sending out multiple requests to the same friends within a 24 hr period. Also, my energy limit is 30.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I have not been able to get into Gardens of Time for two days now. All I get is a blank screen.

  5. Anonymous says:

    my energy bar used to go up to 60 but now only goes up to 30 … why??

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