Hypno-shroom

The Hypno-shroom is a single use mushroom that causes the next zombie biting it to turn around and attack other zombies. It is the ultimate passive-aggressive plant, for those who dislike all that messy killing. The Hypno-shroom has swirly eyes, suggesting that it hypnotizes. It seems to be based on various psychedelic mushrooms, which affects the thinking of the brain. It makes the zombies turn into a pink or purple color. The zombie will then begin to walk to the other side of the lawn, eating other zombies on its way. It is the 13th plant received and obtained after level 2-5.

Suburban Almanac Entry
Hypno-shroom

When eaten, Hypno-shrooms will make a zombie turn around and fight for you.

Usage: single use, on contact

Special: makes a zombie fight for you

Sleeps during the day

"Zombies are our friends," asserts Hypno-shroom. "They're badly misunderstood creatures who play a valuable role in our ecology. We can and should do more to bring them round to our way of thinking."

Cost: 75

Recharge: slow

Usage
Place the Hypno-shroom directly in the path of a zombie, and when that zombie reaches and tries to eat the Hypno-shroom, the Zombie will face right and attack any other Zombies that are behind it, using any special ability that zombie may have.

The Hypno-shroom cannot affect Catapult Zombies, Zombonis, or Gargantuars, as they simply smash it flat, while Dolphin Rider Zombies, Pole Vaulting Zombies, and Pogo Zombies that still have their dolphins, poles, or pogo sticks respectively will jump over it. Also, Balloon Zombies with their Balloon will float over it while Bungee Zombies will simply take it.

Standard Levels
The Hypno-shroom is mostly useful for dealing with powerful enemies like Football Zombies and Dancing Zombies. Note that if the Dancing Zombie eats a Hypno-shroom, it earns the achievement Disco is Undead and all the Backup Dancers it summons thereafter will be hypnotized for some reason (probably because the Backup Dancers don't have a brain and just follow their leader). Be careful when placing the Hypno-shroom in front of a Dancing Zombie, or you may only end up hypnotizing a Backup Dancer, however, that is not necessary. Beware that when hypnotizing a zombie that has special abilities, the zombie won't always use their special ability. For example, Pogo Zombies, Dolphin Rider Zombies, and Pole Vaulting Zombies cannot use their pogo stick, Dolphin, or pole, respectively, to attack other zombies since they would have already lost them at the point where they could eat the Hypno-shroom. Screen Door Zombies and Newspaper Zombies cannot use their shield to protect them from other zombies, but Ladder Zombies will use their shield/ladder to protect themselves. Snorkel Zombie has no use to submerge to eat other zombies. Balloon Zombies have to land before they can eat the Hypno-shroom and thus, cannot use their balloons to fly above other zombies. Digger Zombies can't dig again and eat other zombies from behind. However, Dancing Zombies will continue to summon hypnotized Backup Dancers. In later levels, it is nearly useless, due to the increasing numbers of Zombies that do not eat, such as Gargantuars and Zombonis, as well as the large number of zombies later on.

Vasebreaker: Third Vase
Try to get the Dancing Zombie to eat the Hypno-shroom, or you will end up with too many Backup Dancers to deal with. The Dancing Zombie also summons hypnotized Backup Dancers as an added bonus.



Vasebreaker: Chain Reaction
The Football Zombie is probably the most important to get with the Hypno-shroom, as there are no Magnet-shrooms or Wall-nuts to defend with. Once it's taken care of, drop any remaining Hypno-shrooms on the far left, just in case any zombies make it past your Puff-shrooms and Left-facing Repeaters.

Trivia

 * If a frozen zombie eats a Hypno-shroom, it will still move slowly at first after being hypnotized.
 * Any hypnotized zombie near an exploding Jack-in-the-Box Zombie will die, with the same animation as when they are killed by explosives.
 * Hypno-shrooms cannot hypnotize zombies that do not eat plants; namely, the Zomboni, Catapult Zombie, Bungee Zombie, Gargantuar, Giga-gargantuar, Squash Zombie, Target Zombie, and Dr. Zomboss.
 * Although the Hypno-shroom does not kill the zombie, it's still regarded as an instant kill because it makes the zombie no longer a threat to your house.
 * When a zombie bites the Hypno-shroom, no chewing sound can be heard unless it is asleep.
 * Also, the Hypno-shroom gets eaten after one bite unless it's asleep.
 * Or it's possible that after the zombie takes one bite, the Hypno-shroom just simply disappears because it knows its work here is done, just like the Squash.
 * Zombies that are hypnotized by a Hypno-shroom will become purple.
 * There will also be a red aura for a few seconds.
 * The Balloon Zombie can only be hypnotized if its balloon is popped.
 * Hypno-shroom is one of four plants that does not blink its eyes. The others are Pumpkin, Chomper, and Flower Pot.
 * Even though the Chomper has no eyes, the Flower Pot always has its eyes closed and the Pumpkin has its eyes carved in. So technically the Hypno-shroom is the only plant that can't blink because of a swirly eye.
 * When a zombie eats a Hypno-shroom, you will hear a siren. The same sound also occurs when you give chocolate to Stinky the Snail or your plants in the Zen Garden.
 * The sound file for the Hypno-shroom's effect is named "mindcontrolled.wav".
 * Hypno-shroom believes that zombies are not actually evil. This may be because it has learned the way to control zombies.
 * If the last zombie eats a Hypno-shroom, the zombie will just disappear, but the red aura is still present.
 * When a zombie is hypnotized, any damage to the zombie before it was hypnotized will still be there.
 * If you hypnotize the lead Dancing Zombie, you will unlock the Disco is Undead or Thrilling the Zombies achievement.
 * The Hypno-shroom is the only plant with animated eyes (other than occasional blinking).
 * Hypnotized Peashooter Zombies will somehow still shoot peas at your plants from the back of their head.
 * When asleep, it can be eaten normally without hypnotizing the zombie.
 * Hypno-shroom has spiral eyes that represent the sign of hypnosis.
 * In the DS version, it is very hard to tell the difference between the Hypno-shroom and the Imitater version.
 * If a hypnotized zombie encounters the same type of zombie, and neither zombie has taken damage, the hypnotized zombie usually will lose and die.
 * This may be possible due to little damage taken from the Hypno-shroom.
 * This can be rather useful, as the normal zombie will be low on health, making it easier to kill.
 * For some reason, coins will drop from destroyed hypnotized zombies, despite the fact that they are considered your allies.
 * According to the Suburban Almanac Entry, zombies are Hypno-shroom's friends.
 * The zombies haven't actually approved this friendship.
 * Garlic, Hypno-shroom, and Chili Bean are the only plants that have an effect on the zombies if one eats it.
 * Since the zombies are completely unintelligent and do not seem to have much (if any) brain activity, it is unknown how the Hypno-shroom is able to hypnotize them (as hypnosis implies that the brain activity of the subject is altered in some fashion).
 * The Hypno-shroom is the only plant with a multicolored pattern.
 * It is unknown why the Hypno-shroom cannot hypnotize Zombies while it's asleep.
 * It is possible that the Hypno-shroom takes full control of the Zombie that ate it, and needs to be conscious in order to do so.
 * Every hypnotized zombie can kill every zombie who doesn't eat (Zomboni, Gargantuar) without taking damage.
 * However, it is impossible that a hypnotized zombie will kill a full-health Gargantuar or Giga-gargantuar before he goes away.
 * The zombies who don't eat will not hurt the hypnotized zombie and still walk to your house until they are beaten.
 * A hypnotized Digger Zombie that is already going right will just continue on its path.
 * The Hypno-shroom is one of two plants with the color pink on it; the other is the Cattail.
 * However, in the Zen Garden, theMarigold may be pink; however, this is not true during actual gameplay.