Dig dirty junk, spray it clean, park the keepers in your museum, and let tourists pay you Gold. Better shovels, detectors, and sprays turn the next haul into a bigger pile than the last.
Dig & Clean is free on Mobile, Tablet, PC, and Console. You start with three tools: a Detector for glow spots, a Shovel for the dig minigame, and a Spray Bottle for cleaning. Nail the loop first. Then stop feeding Gold to upgrades that do not help.
Dig, clean it, then fill your museum before you sell
Equip the Detector and walk the dig area. Buried treasure shows as a glowing spot. Glow color tracks rarity (the usual Common through Mythic ladder), so brighter, flashier colors are the ones worth chasing once your gear can handle them.
Click or tap a glow with the Shovel equipped to start the dig. Rapidly click or tap to fill the dig meter. Fill speed scales with shovel Power plus the item's rarity and value. A weak shovel can hard-stop you (the game basically says you need a stronger shovel), so that rare glow sits there mocking you until you upgrade.
Carry the dirty item to the Cleaning Station (also called the Workstation) in front of your museum. Spray until every surface is clean. Type, condition, and value only show after a full wash. Never place or sell dirt. You cannot judge value until the item is clean.
Early on, put cleaned finds on museum podiums until every slot is filled. Tourists pay based on what you display, and empty pedestals earn nothing. Same item types can still pay different tourist Gold, so compare generation value before you lock a slot forever.
Once the museum is full, swap in better pieces and sell the leftovers. The sell station sits next to the Gear Shop. Sales are permanent. Duplicates and weak commons are fine to cash out. Hold unique high-value finds until you know they beat what is already on display.
A clean first-session loop looks like this:
- Detect a glow with the Detector.
- Dig it out by filling the shovel meter.
- Clean the item fully at the Workstation.
- Place it if a museum slot is empty or worse; sell only surplus you will not miss.
- Buy the next shovel or detector upgrade at the Gear Shop, then repeat.
Spend early Gold on shovels (and detectors), not random sprays
The Gear Shop sits mid-map with unlimited stock on display. Approach a piece, interact, and buy. Shop prices can patch, so treat numbers as reported targets and confirm the live Buy screen before you dump a pile of Gold.
Shovel Power digs faster and unlocks finds your starter plastic cannot pull. A stronger detector raises Luck and Range so better glows show up. Spray Power only speeds cleaning when dirty items are piling up.
Default early priority is shovel first, detector close behind, spray later unless cleaning is the real bottleneck. You start free with the Plastic Shovel, Rusty Detector, and Basic Spray Bottle.
Easy ways to burn Gold: buying sprays while digs still fail, climbing every micro spray or detector step with no plan, selling keepers before the museum is full, farming only weak white or green glows after displays are stocked, and hoarding sellable junk instead of funding the next shovel.
Climb the early shovel line toward Amethyst as a clear mid-Starter Island milestone. Keep the detector near that pace so you can actually see the finds your shovel can dig. Skip spray upgrades until clean-up is slower than dig-and-return.
| Shovel | Reported cost | Power |
|---|---|---|
| Plastic Shovel | Free | 1 |
| Wood Shovel | 500 Gold | 2 |
| Stone Shovel | 1,600 Gold | 3 |
| Metal Shovel | 9,000 Gold | 5 |
| Gold Shovel | 45,000 Gold | 7 |
| Amethyst Shovel | 190,000 Gold | 9 |
Early detectors that pair with that climb (reported): Rusty free (Luck x1) → Copper 500 Gold (x3) → Silver 5,000 Gold (x5) → Gold Detector 28,000 Gold (x8). You do not need every tiny step if one bigger jump fixes the bottleneck.
When digs and cleaning feel stable and Gold is stacking, talk to the pirate NPC at the far end of the dig area. That unlocks the second map (community name Shipwreck Cove). Confirm the travel cost in the live prompt, because fan sites disagree and the number can change. Stronger finds show up there, but the same rule still applies: shovel and detector first, spray when dirt backs up, museum income before random shop toys.
