Big Sea Games has posted How to Play Farm 52. This was a much-needed guide, as people were constantly searching for more information on how to play beyond the basics and beyond the almanac.

It’s a pretty long guide and it definitely covers the basics, but as is probably to be expected it doesn’t contain many hints or tips for beginners or for seasoned veterans who may be looking for another way to earn cash. Our old guide for Farm 51 still applies if you’re looking for somewhere to start, at least.

Do you have any additional hints or tips for Farm 52 you’d like to share?

Check out the awards you’ll be able to earn in Farm 52! There are twelve of them (just like all of the other games with awards) and they are as follows:

Got Milk
Earn 4 Got Milk ribbons

Beekeeper
Earn 4 Beekeeper ribbons

Woolly Mammoth
Earn 4 Woolly Mammoth ribbons

Scrambler
Earn 4 Scrambler ribbons

Xenofarmer
Earn 4 Xenofarmer ribbons

Harvester
Earn 4 Harvester ribbons

Decorator
Earn 4 Decorator ribbons

Rocketeer
Earn 4 Rocketeer ribbons

Believer
Earn 4 Believer ribbons

Locksmith
Earn 4 Locksmith ribbons

Dorothy
Earn 4 Dorothy ribbons

Fuddsicle
Earn 4 Fuddsicle ribbons

For those of you not entirely familiar with Farm 52′s “ribbons”, here’s a screenshot of the Ribbons panel. This particular panel is from a game after a few weeks of progress. (Click for full size.)

A whole bunch of games are getting ‘awards’, which are in-game achievements you can earn and show off in your awards album. To see all of the awards you’ll be able to earn when the community redesign is launched, check out our Game Awards page.

Hooray! Big Fish has given us a timeframe for the upcoming changes to the game community: between July and August!

Exciting changes are coming to the game community! We continue to fine-tune these updates and currently are on schedule to make them available to the public between July and August. While we understand that this is still several months away, the Game Community development team wants to deliver on the best game play experience possible. Keep checking this news page for more information! We do appreciate your patience and excitement during this time.

The changes that will be taking place include a revamp of the whole game community web site (changes seen here and here) including (but not limited to) the following games:

Deuces Wilder
Suits Me TriPeaks and Suits Me Yukon
Thunderbolt 21
Shape Shifter
Riddle O’Day and some new creatures
Plunder
Suits Me Canfield and Suits Me Solitaire
Farm 52
Suits Me Pyramid
Suits Me Free Cell (added 6/5)
Badda Bingo (added 6/5)

This is particularly good news to the fans who’ve been visiting this site since (gasp) mid-December to hear about the upcoming changes! Finally, we have a timeframe!

Attention Farm 51 fans: Big Fish is working on a new version called Farm 52! I’ve only taken a cursory look at it, but I can tell you it’s going to be awesome. Here are some screenshots:

One of the big changes I noticed immediately was the Ribbons section. It contains a list of mini-goals to complete and they’re checked off with a blue ribbon upon completion. The goals are fairly easy: “Meet strange visitors”, “Place a decoration”, “Launch a rocket”, “Harvest a field”, and so on.

In addition, the first time the alien ship visited, it turned one of my chickens into a chihuahua named Princess. How cute! Another upgrade is the addition of a seamstress. You can learn tailoring in the game now. There are also new crops (like peppers) and animals (sheep, probably for wool and tailoring — I just haven’t gotten that far).

You will have to start over with a new farm — this is, after all, a brand new game. Just think of it as a chance to re-do what you messed up with at your original Farm 51 farm. This time, there are ranks to achieve and there will be awards (outside of the ribbons, I believe). It’ll be worth the hassle of starting over with a new farm.

As with any information posted on this site that refers to any FUTURE happenings at Big Fish Games: this is correct at the time of posting, but subject to change in the future. We have been given no official timeline on when these changes will occur. We will, of course, keep you posted as we learn of new developments.

Farm 51 is an addictive strategy game. It may seem daunting at first, but here are a few tips to get you started. If you have tips of your own, leave them as a comment on this post or send us an email.

We’ll put beginner tips here, and as time goes on we’ll create more advanced tips for the game.

Farm 51 For Beginners

First and foremost, read the How to Play page. There is a detailed Farm 51 walkthrough available from Big Fish that guides you step-by-step through setting up your farm.

Grow wheat and sugarcane. They are good to have on stock, but they take a long time to grow. During your down time, you can create sugar and flour.

If you need a little extra cash, you can turn 3 milk ($21) into butter which sells for $22. It’s a small profit margin, but you’ve got to start somewhere. There are other recipes that yield a profit just from cooking the cheaper items.

Save up for greenhouses. You will be able to grow any crop at any time of the year without the temperatures affecting your produce. However, apples and strawberries will grow fine through the winter.

Don’t buy a horse; save your cash for more tractors.

Do the newspaper ads, but make more than they ask for and store them in your silos. It’s good to have some extra supplies on hand.

Your first goals should be to turn a profit, farm common items, and work towards building a crop circle. Then, you’ll be able to communicate with the Strange Visitor, who will reward you with rocket parts, alien knowledge, and other goodies.

If you need a short break, hitting the spacebar will pause the game for you.

Hey Farm 51 fans, here’s some good news! Big Fish has created a new version of the game with a huge load of new features and updates, including:

* a new animal and a new skill

* new equipment

* new recipes (and the recipe screen is revamped)

and our new favorite…

* you now have the ability to create a rocket ship and launch into space. In order to get supplies for your ship, talk to strange visitors!

If you have any favorite tips or hints on how to play Farm 51, let us know or post a comment here.