Rice Cake New Year Festival in Island of Happiness

As this page is new, I thought I would start by posting one of my own favourite Events in Island of Happiness. I have written about this on my main Harvest Moon site but will describe it briefly here as well.

One of the most delightful surprises in Island of Happiness is a random result when you attend the New Year's Day Rice Cake Festival. The first element of this Festival that made me smile was the ability to pound the Rice Cakes. It is quite realistic! This never occurred in any other Harvest Moon game as far as I know. In most of the other games, you simply arrive to share Rice Cakes with your community and then take the leftovers home with you.

The real surprise, however, was a random result that occurred when I replayed the Festival a few times to see if the number of Rice Cakes that you take home with you is random. (It is, by the way: you find anything from 1 to 13 Rice Cakes in your Rucksack afterwards, in my own experience.)

When I was offered my Rice Cake at the Festival, my character actually began to choke on it! This is a situation that is described by other characters quite frequently in many different Harvest Moon games. Warnings are given by the local Doctor and other conscientous residents. Some characters may speak of Festivals from their own past where they almost died from choking on a Rice Cake. The twins in HM DS/Cute DS come to mind...

You are warned repeatedly not to eat the Rice Cakes too quickly or you may choke, as they are quite dry. Well, I suspect my character ignored that advice, because she doubled over, choking! She recovered, I am happy to say... but I am very glad I experienced the Event. It was hilarious.

I suspect it can occur in any year in Island of Happiness, but I myself did not experience it until the Second Year and then discovered it only when I replayed the Festival for the third or fourth time. I think the odds of experiencing it may be rather remote, therefore. If you are determined to experience it, be patient...