Pumpkin


 * Not to be confused with Jack O' Lantern.
 * For the version in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Pumpkin Shell.

Pumpkin is the third and last defensive plant obtained in Plants vs. Zombies. He is obtained by completing Level 4-7. Unlike the Wall-nut or Tall-nut, he does not occupy a garden space for himself, allowing other plants to be protected. The only plants that cannot be protected with a Pumpkin are another Pumpkin, Sea-shroom, Tangle Kelp, Grave Buster, and Cob Cannon. Other plants can also be placed in an empty Pumpkin. Pumpkin has the same health as a Wall-nut. Like Wall-nut and Tall-nut, the player can plant a new Pumpkin over a damaged one without replanting him if they have purchased Wall-nut First Aid from Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies.

Origins
He is based on the real-life plant, pumpkin.

Suburban Almanac entry
Pumpkin

Pumpkins protect plants that are within their shells.

Toughness: high

Special: can be planted over another plant

Pumpkin hasn't heard from his cousin Renfield lately. Apparently Renfield's a big star, some kind of... what was it... sports hero? Peggle Master? Pumpkin doesn't really get it. He just does his job.

Cost: 125

Recharge: slow

Overview
Pumpkin absorbs 72 bites and his appearance changes at 24 bites and 48 bites before being swallowed at 72 bites. He is planted around other plants and takes damage first. However, he cannot protect other plants from basketballs, due to him protecting the side of the plant only.

Strategies
Pumpkins are excellent on later levels, where the player needs to conserve as much space as possible. Catapult Zombies and Bungee Zombies always target the plant inside the Pumpkin first, so they are useless as protection against them. They can be used to buy time so that your plants have more time to take out Digger Zombies. The best plant to put inside a Pumpkin (for defensive purposes) is the Tall-nut, so Pole Vaulting Zombies or Dolphin Rider Zombies cannot jump over them, and the zombies will have to eat the Pumpkin and Tall-nut. Note, however, that he is not as efficient, sun-wise, as a Tall-nut alone; a Tall-nut and Pumpkin combo costs as much as two Tall-nuts, yet has only as much health as one-and-a-half. They are also useful for plants that the Imitater duplicates, because he protects them as they transform.

Do not put plants that are supposed to be eaten into Pumpkin, such as Garlic or Hypno-shrooms. The zombies will have to eat the outside Pumpkin before eating the plant, so doing so will result in a waste of sun and seed slot recharge. Pumpkins are usually good along with Potato Mines, as they give Potato Mine time to arm, and once the zombies break through the Pumpkin, they will have come together onto one spot and will all be hit by the Potato Mine. The only problem with this is that because of their larger horizontal hit-box, Football Zombies will trigger the Potato Mine while he is inside the Pumpkin, only killing some of the zombies, as they will not all count as in range. As a result, it may make more sense to use a Wall-nut or Tall-nut to protect the Potato Mine instead, as they are cheaper or costs the same and will allow time for all of the zombies to get in range. This can also be a bad idea, however, as the Potato Mine may rise before the zombie even gets to the Pumpkin. To remedy this, if you want them to all get blown up, put him in the second or first column from the zombies.

Try to plant them on every plant except for Kernel-pults that you will upgrade into Cob Cannons, Spikeweed, Spikerock, Garlic, and Hypno-shroom.

When facing Gargantuars, put a Pumpkin around the plants in the third and second row so they are protected from the Imps they throw.

Survival Mode
Almost all setups on Survival Mode use these. Because Pumpkins can surround other plants, when player use Pumpkins in conjunction with Wall-nut or Tall-nut, it is more convenient to extend their defenses. For example, if you use Tall-nut on column five in all rows and the defense needs to be expanded to six columns, the sun that is used for planting these Tall-nuts will be wasted, as they should be dug up, or there will not be enough spaces for placing new plants. If you use Pumpkins, just simply replace the plants without digging up the Pumpkins. Pumpkins are usually used to protect plants at sensitive positions.

These are also very useful in Survival: Endless because they are excellent space savers, and can be used to protect your more valuable plants (Winter Melon, Gloom-shroom, Twin Sunflower) from zombies. If a zombie makes it through your defenses and you are vulnerable, Pumpkins might be the only thing saving you from the zombies successfully eating your brain.

Pumpkin can also be used effectively for the Ladder Zombie strategy, which is pretty straight forward, get Ladder Zombies to put ladders on your main offensive plants especially Gloom-shrooms on the second column. Since the ladders are on all Pumpkins, Imps thrown by Gargantuars cannot eat your plants which results in saving considerable amount of sun. Note that the ladders will disappear if they are hit by explosive plants, and Magnet-shrooms can remove them.

Trivia

 * He, Flower Pot, and Lily Pad are the only plants that can be planted on in Plants vs. Zombies.
 * He, Saucer, Jack O' Lantern, Pumpkin Witch, and Smashing Pumpkin are the only plants based on pumpkins.
 * He has a second degrade that can only be seen in the "reanim" folder, where the game stores his images.
 * His Suburban Almanac description references Renfield as Pumpkin's cousin. Renfield is a pumpkin in the 2007 game Peggle, another game made by PopCap Games.
 * For some reason, the player can place Pumpkins on top of a Spikeweed or a Spikerock. If they place a Pumpkin on top of a Spikeweed when there is a zombie on it, the zombie will eat the Pumpkin and at the same time be attacked by the Spikeweed.
 * He is one of the two plants without "real eyes," as his eyes are simply hollowed out of its shell. The other plant is Chomper, which has no eyes. He also does not have a real mouth, because like his eyes, it is simply hollowed out of his shell; this makes Pumpkin the only plant without both eyes and a mouth.
 * Puff-shroom is too small for a Pumpkin, but when he shoots a spore, the spore somehow passes through the Pumpkin's shell and still damages the zombies, which is unusual, though it could be going out through the Pumpkin's holes.
 * When a Pumpkin with a plant inside is squashed, he will have a flattened animation of the plant above a flattened Pumpkin instead of a flattened version of the plant in the Pumpkin.
 * Starfruit lies on his back, but if a Pumpkin is added, he will stand up (as he would otherwise be completely concealed within him).
 * Bungee Zombies cannot take Pumpkins if they are surrounding another plant, except Lily Pad and Flower Pot. However, if a Bungee Zombie attempts to take a Cattail from a Pumpkin, it will cause the Cattail to downgrade to a Lily Pad. The same thing happens if the player tries to dig a Cattail from inside a Pumpkin. This is to avoid the Pumpkin from falling into the water.
 * This also makes Cattail the only plant able to downgrade.
 * He cannot be planted on Sea-shroom and Tangle Kelp, as they are aquatic plants.
 * They can still be planted on Cattails however, because she is the upgrade for the Lily Pad.
 * He also cannot protect Cob Cannon and Grave Buster, because Cob Cannon is too big to fit and Grave Buster cannot be protected because he is on a grave, and graves cannot be planted on.
 * There is a way to dig him up without digging up the plant inside him. Try using a shovel on the bottom of the square he is on.
 * If Chomper is in Pumpkin, when the Chomper sways to the right, his lower lip seems to go through Pumpkin.
 * In DS version, he does not move; however, he moves in the Suburban Almanac.
 * In the iPad version, the holes on his top edge are missing. Also, he looks rounder.
 * He prevents plants such as Gloom-shroom and Squash that are behind him from hitting zombies in front of him, as the Pumpkin has a slightly larger hitbox.
 * Putting himself on plants is almost always advantageous, except when Zombonis, Catapult Zombies, Gargantuars, or Giga-gargantuars appear; putting a Pumpkin on the front plant actually increases the chance of them being squashed. This is because Pumpkin has a larger hitbox than normal plants.
 * So far, he is the only defensive plant in Plants vs. Zombies to not return in Plants vs. Zombies 2.
 * His flattened sprite can still be removed by a shovel (only applies if the sprite is there and before it disappears).