Needle in a Haystack
The hay is the distance.
About This Game
Needle in a Haystack is a dig-for-it game for TikTok LIVE with two modes. In TUNNEL, a cartoon farmer with a miner's lamp on his hat tunnels into a towering haystack mountain toward the needle glowing at its heart, the camera riding just behind him, and an x-ray strip shows the tunnel he has dug and the needle warming from a faint silver glint to burning gold. In THE PILE, he walks round an open haystack in the farmyard and digs wherever the needle might be: every swing takes hay off, the pile really shrinks, and the closer he digs to the hidden needle, the faster it goes. Either way the big number on stream is HAY LEFT, the bales between the farmer and the needle. Autoplay is on by default, so he digs by himself while you talk to chat; take over any time with WASD to move him, the mouse to aim and a click or Space to swing.
Every gift is priced in bales, in both directions, so the number you set in Studio is exactly how far the hay moves. A Finger Heart sends a shovel crew, the foreman wearing the gifter's face, to dig 40 bales of tunnel; a hay bale, a pickup, a combine, a silo burst and a helicopter airlift dump 1, 5, 10, 20 and 40 bales back into the hole and push him back toward the entrance. Likes scoop hay away and every follow sends a crow to drop a bale at the tunnel face, for free.
A Galaxy sends the HAYPOCALYPSE: a colossal runaway bale comes rolling at the farmer, and a ten-second countdown asks chat for one Bulldoze gift. Send it in time and a bulldozer rams the bale away with nothing lost; otherwise it buries the tunnel and flushes him back out of the mountain. Break through to the needle's chamber and the farmer reaches in, but about one find in three it is a rubber duck, an old boot or a garden gnome, and the real needle is deeper. Hold the real one for five seconds while chat tries to knock it off and you win, and the next mountain is bigger. The hay, the stacks, the pace and every gift amount come from the ScrollPlay game server.
Features
Two Ways to Dig
Tunnel into a haystack mountain or search an open pile, and Autoplay digs either way while you talk to chat
The Hay Is the Score
Every gift is priced in bales, so it digs off or piles on exactly as much as it moves the number
Decoys and the HAYPOCALYPSE
A rubber duck can fool the farmer, and a giant bale buries his tunnel unless one gift in time bulldozes it
Server-Verified Scoring
The strata, the hay, the pace and every gift amount come from the ScrollPlay game server
How to Play
- 1
Download the Launcher
Install the free ScrollPlay launcher for Windows
- 2
Sign In
Create an account or sign in with your existing credentials
- 3
Connect TikTok
Link your TikTok Live stream so gifts reach the game in real time
- 4
Start Digging
Launch Needle in a Haystack, pick Tunnel or The Pile, leave Autoplay on if you like, and let chat dig the hay down or dump it back on
Audience Gift Mapping
Dig it down
- Finger Heart
- Shovel Crew — a crew led by a foreman with the sender's face runs down the tunnel and digs: −40 bales
- Hand Heart
- Bulldoze — a bulldozer rams the giant bale away with nothing lost; any other time it shoves the tunnel face on: −40 bales
- Leon the Kitten
- Gold Mega-Digger — a gold tunnel-boring machine under a banner with the sender's face bores through the hay: −150 bales
- Likes
- Hay Scoop — every 20 likes, a tiny farmhand flicks a bale away: −1 bale
Pile it back on
- Rose
- Bale Drop — a hay bale bounces down the tunnel and wedges into the face: +1 bale
- Follow
- Crow Drop — a crow with the new follower's face drops a bale at the tunnel face: +1 bale
- Gold Boxing Gloves
- Pickup Dump — a pickup rides an avalanche of hay down the tunnel and tips it into the face: +5 bales
- Doughnut
- Combine Blast — a combine blasts a chaff blizzard and a wave of hay down the tunnel: +10 bales
- Confetti
- Silo Burst — the farm silo bursts and a flood of hay rushes down the tunnel: +20 bales
- Money Gun
- Helicopter Airlift — a cargo helicopter drops a netted stack on the mountain and the tunnel caves in: +40 bales
- Galaxy
- HAYPOCALYPSE — a giant bale comes rolling at the farmer; unless chat sends Bulldoze within ten seconds it buries the tunnel, always adding at least 80 bales
These are the default bindings; a gift with no action bound to it does nothing. Every amount is in bales and is owned by the ScrollPlay server: a help and a hurt of the same size cancel exactly, except at the needle, where the number stops at zero. In The Pile the same gifts dig hay out of the pile or pour it back on. Streamers can rebind any gift or create custom actions in Studio Mode.
Gameplay: a search your chat can help or sabotage
Needle in a Haystack turns the old saying into a game. In Tunnel mode a farmer tunnels into a haystack mountain toward the needle glowing at its heart; in The Pile he walks round an open haystack and digs where he thinks it is, and the pile shrinks as he goes. Either way the hay still to dig is exactly the number on screen, and every gift is a visible farm vehicle or crew: a shovel crew with a gifter's face on the foreman, hay bales, a pickup, a combine, a silo bursting open, a helicopter dropping a second stack on top. The fun is the tug of war, because the viewers digging and the viewers piling on are playing against each other with the same number.
The search can also fail on its own. When he breaks into the chamber the farmer may pull out a rubber duck, an old boot or a garden gnome instead, the hay slumps in and the real needle is deeper. Hold the real needle for five seconds while chat tries to knock it off, and you win a bigger mountain with a better tool and a sky that moves toward night.
Built for TikTok Live streamers
Autoplay is on by default, so Needle in a Haystack is a game you can leave running while you read chat. The pace is set by the game server, and in the tunnel it slows to a careful hand-dig with a metal detector near the end, so the last stretch always has suspense. Studio Mode shows every action with its default gift, lets you rebind them, set your own amounts and test-fire them before you go live, and the same overlay widgets and scenes work as in every other ScrollPlay game.
Needle in a Haystack — frequently asked questions
Is Needle in a Haystack free, or do I need a Play Pass?
Needle in a Haystack is a Play Pass game, so it needs an active subscription on your ScrollPlay account. The launcher itself is a free Windows download, and your viewers are never charged anything beyond the gifts they choose to send.
Do I have to dig the whole time?
No. Autoplay is on by default and the farmer digs by himself in both modes. Take over any time: WASD moves him, the mouse aims and a click or Space swings. In the tunnel a swing aimed at the glow digs more than Autoplay does, and in The Pile a swing near the hidden needle takes more hay. Leave the controls for a few seconds and he goes back to digging by himself, or turn Autoplay off in the game's settings to dig only when you do.
What is the HAYPOCALYPSE?
A Galaxy sends a colossal runaway bale rolling at the farmer. A ten-second countdown asks chat for the Bulldoze gift; send it in time and a bulldozer rams the bale away with nothing lost. Otherwise it buries the tunnel: the stack goes back to its starting size or 80 bales deeper, whichever is more hay.
What if the farmer finds a rubber duck?
About one find in three is a decoy such as a rubber duck, an old boot or a garden gnome. Hay slumps into the chamber, the real needle is deeper and digging starts again. Reach the real needle and hold it for five seconds to win; a hurt that puts hay back on it knocks it off.
Can I play Needle in a Haystack in the browser?
Yes. Needle in a Haystack plays in your browser on the ScrollPlay web launcher with the same account, and in the free ScrollPlay launcher for Windows.
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