Bottled ectoplasm is an item gathered from an event that the spirit Stanley and his pet beetle, Jacob, will unlock after hopping aboard the ship.
Once gathered, bottled ectoplasm can then be used for various constructions and accommodation improvements at Stella’s ship.
Step 1: Finding Stanley
The first order of business is getting the spirit Stanley aboard the ship, since you’ll need his pet beetle to trigger the ectoplasm event.
To get him, you’ll need to first send away four spirits in the Everdoor. This means that you must complete all of their requests and finish their respective storylines.
Note: In the original version, you need to only escort three spirits. With the Beverly update, the game now requires four spirits for Stanley.
Depending on which order you play the game in, these four spirits can be any of these:
- Gwen, found at Alt Harbor
- Atul, found at Barkenshein Creek
- Alice, found at Mount Toroyama
- Astrid, found at Bottom Line Corp.
- Giovanni, found in Loneberg
- Gustav, found at Furogawa
Do note that while it can be any of these spirits, some of them are easier to send away than others in terms of requests and requirements.
In any case, after bidding goodbye to four spirits in the Everdoor, you can now get Stanley.
However, unlike other spirits, you can’t pick up Stanley from any of the places in the map. Instead, you have two options.
The first is to fish for a mysterious seed from the back of Stella’s ship. Do note that there isn’t a specific fishing location for this seed, and finding it in the first place is all up to chance.
Some players are lucky enough to get it immediately, while others have to try a few times to find it.
In case you find yourself in the latter situation, there’s also an easier path:
Buy the mysterious seed from Francis the Wandering Merchant.
Francis’ shop is found all over the map, marked by an icon of his head. In any case, simply look for the mysterious seed (colored red and orange with a question mark) in his store for 550 Glims.
Once you have the mysterious seed, plant it in the garden. It will take exactly 2 and a half in-game days for it to grow, after which Stanley the spirit will come out.
If you don’t have a garden yet, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s one of the production buildings that you don’t have to unlock. To build one, all you’ll need is:
- 10 Maple Logs
- 5 Lightnings in a Bottle
Note: You can make Stanley grow faster by pressing the Y/Triangle/X button to play the guitar and playing the notes. You can use this to speed up the growth of your other plants as well.
Step 2: Stanley’s Playroom
After he grows and you pull Stanley out of the ground, you’ll find him hiding in Stella’s guest house.
He’ll wonder where he can sleep, and will decide to change the Guest House into Stanley’s Playroom shortly.
Make sure you allow him to do so, as this is the only way you can advance his storyline. This is also the only way to make his accommodation, unlike the other guest rooms that you need to construct.
Stanley will proceed to ask for help in putting his playroom together, and you’ll need to give him Linen Fabric. He will also lock the door and won’t open it until you finish this questline.
Shortly, he will ask for something shiny called a “Tchotchke” to put in his room.
To do this task, go to the Tchotchke tab (the trinkets you can sell to Francis) in your inventory and look for something detailed with “should be sold.”
Give this to him, and you will complete the request.
From here, you’ll be able to unlock the event for gathering the bottled ectoplasm.
Bottled Ectoplasm (Minigame Guide)
After completing his playroom, Stanley will introduce you to his pet beetle, Jacob. This will trigger the bottled ectoplasm event and its minigame.
Once it starts, the whole place will turn into a purple/blue-ish color, and dust shades will quickly start jumping around the boat.
To get bottled ectoplasm, simply catch the dust shades by bumping into them. The more dust shades you get, the more bottled ectoplasm (and glims) you get.
Good Strategy: place a windmill at the top of your ship and stand on its bottom, since plenty of these dust shades would clamber up there before jumping down straight to where Stella is positioned.
Another good way to catch them is by using the dash ability, as simply running back and forth makes it tricky to catch them.
Last but not least, the light burst ability will also significantly help with this mini-game.
The event will complete shortly, and you can trigger it again by interacting with Jacob the Beetle after waiting for a few in-game nights.
Bottled Ectoplasm Uses
Once you get bottled ectoplasm, you can then use it for multiple blueprint upgrades.
Here’s a list of everything you can use it for:
- Beverly’s Farmhouse Improvement (5 Bottled Ectoplasms)
- Chicken Coop Improvement (5 Bottled Ectoplasms)
- Cellar (10 Bottled Ectoplasms)
- Cellar Improvement (7 Bottled Ectoplasms)
The Mist Cleaner 1000 upgrade also uses it, which is a boat improvement you’ll need to access the foggy parts of the map. For this upgrade you’ll need 8 Bottled Ectoplasms, along with the other required materials.
