Potato Mine


 * For the primal version, see Primal Potato Mine.
 * For other versions in different games, see Potato Mine (disambiguation).

"Believe it or not, SPUDOW! did not happen overnight. Having been forced to try out new catchphrases and focus testing as many variations as possible (Tubular? Really?), Potato Mine weeded out the competition to stick with what he knows best."

- Potato Mine's Almanac entry in Plants vs. Zombies 2

Potato Mine is an explosive plant presenting in Plants vs. Zombies games. After being planted, Potato Mine will take 15 seconds (about the time it takes a regular Zombie or any other slow zombie to walk three spaces) to arm himself before surfacing, during which Potato Mine is vulnerable to attack. After that, he will explode in a 1x1 area when an enemy comes into contact with him, dealing 1800 damage to all affected zombies and leaving behind a comic-esque "SPUDOW!".

Origins
Potato Mine is based on the real life potato, the starchy, tuberous root portion of the plant Solanum tuberosum. His name is a combination of "potato" and "land mine," an explosive device concealed under or on the ground designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks. He was inspired by the film Swiss Family Robinson, as George Fan felt it was satisfying to watch a zombie step on the mine so as to be defeated and covered in mashed potatoes.

Potato Mine's word on the speech bubble when he explodes, "SPUDOW!!", is a portmanteau of "spud" and "pow." His costume is a reference to his sneaky nature.

Mines are also an underground cavern, referring to how Potato Mine is an underground plant.

Plants vs. Zombies
Potato Mine is the fourth plant unlocked after the player beats Level 1-5. It takes 15 seconds to arm himself, and cannot be planted on a Lily Pad. Killing a zombie with a Potato Mine will net the player the SPUDOW! achievement.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Potato Mine is the third plant unlocked after the player beats Player's House - Day 3. The time it takes to arm himself is the same as in the first game. He cannot be planted on planks in Pirate Seas, or on Lily Pads on water in Big Wave Beach. The SPUDOW! achievement also makes a return.

Plants vs. Zombies
Potato Mine

Potato Mines pack a powerful punch, but they need a while to arm themselves. You should plant them ahead of zombies. They will explode on contact.

Damage: massive Range: all zombies in a small area Usage: single use, delayed activation

Some folks say Potato Mine is lazy, that he leaves everything to the last minute. Potato Min e says nothing. He's too busy thinking about his investment strategy.

Cost: 25

Recharge: slow

Plant Food effect
When given Plant Food, Potato Mine will instantly arm himself if not done already, and launches two more armed Potato Mines onto available tiles.

Costumed
When costumed and fed with Plant Food, Potato Mine will launch three additional Potato Mines instead of two.

Level upgrades
Note: Potato Mine cannot be upgraded to level 4.

In Adventure Mode
Attacks target once every 3 turns.

Strategies
Because of his low cost and early availability, Potato Mine can be effective in the early part of the level for neutralizing the first few zombies, especially if the enemies in question are Conehead or Buckethead Zombies, who will pose serious difficulty against more conventional offensive plants. However, his arming period greatly hampers his usefulness in the long run, as the massive amount of threats will give Potato Mine little time to arm himself.

Potato Mine should be planted at least three squares or more in front of zombies with Basic speed in order to explode right when the threat approaches him. Defensive plants such as Wall-nut, Tall-nut, Infi-nut, or Primal Wall-nut can buy Potato Mine additional time for arming, as well as gather more zombies to increase Potato Mine's efficiency.

Plants vs. Zombies
Potato Mine can also be planted behind Wall-nuts or Pumpkins to catch any Pole Vaulting Zombies that try to vault through. Similarly, they can be planted to make a Pole Vaulting Zombie jump early (even when unarmed), in addition to catching later zombies. An armed Potato Mine can also catch a subsurface Digger Zombie and instantly kill him, preventing him from rising up and attacking other plants.

Potato Mines can also be used against Gargantuars, but it should be remembered that two Potato Mines will be required to kill one since they can absorb up to 150 damage. Potato Mine is highly effective against the Zombie Bobsled Teams, capable of destroying the bobsled along with all four zombies if armed and planted right next to the ice.

If Potato Mine is planted inside a Pumpkin, only a few zombies with unusually large hitboxes can trigger him without eating the Pumpkin first, such as Football Zombie. Therefore, it is generally a bad idea to put Potato Mine inside a Pumpkin. In ZomBotany and ZomBotany 2, Potato Mines cannot be hit by peas, even when armed. But if they are planted in Flower Pots, they can be hit by peas, even if they are armed or not.

Plants vs Zombies 2
Potato Mine functions the same way as in the original game but faces a slightly greater competition. His primal counterpart, Primal Potato Mine is introduced in this game with improved arm rate and much better explosive radius, which makes Primal Potato Mine much easier to use. However, Primal Potato Mines are the last plant unlocked in Jurassic Marsh, so some players will not have them.

Using plant food on a Potato Mine will instantly arm it, decreasing its arm time drastically. In addition, the clones will also be instantly armed, therefore defeating many zombies. This can be useful against Gargantuars and other high toughness zombies.

Potato Mines are highly useful for catching flying zombies that are about to land such as Swashbuckler Zombie, Dodo Rider Zombie, and Super Fan Imps. Like in the original game, two Potato Mines can kill a normal Gargantuar.

In Lost City, Potato Mines can be planted to stop swarms of Lost Pilot Zombies from approaching your defenses. They are also useful as a distraction against Imp Porters who are about to sent up their tent. It is best to plant Potato Mine near a gold tile.

In Neon Mixtape Tour, Potato Mines can be used to combat Punk Zombies and MC Zom-Bs as they cannot move or instantly destroy him, and have relatively low health.

In Jurassic Marsh, Potato Mines are useful for stopping zombies armed by T.Rexes and ankylosauruses. They can also be planted in the back to stop zombies carried by pterodactyls.

Avoid using Potato Mine against Shield Zombie, Troglobite, Excavator Zombie, and Arcade Zombie. Shield Zombies with its force field can trigger the mine without being affected. Troglobites and Arcade Zombies can crush Potato Mine (hiding or not). Excavator Zombies can shovel him up from a distance untouched.

If an Explorer Zombie/Torchlight Zombie approaches an unarmed Potato Mine while its torch is lit, it will just ignore the Potato Mine and walk past him.

Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version)
It is advised to upgrade the Potato Mine to at least Level 3, because an instantly armed Potato Mine is more useful and the damage he does would be more, making him an even better choice than a Level 1 Squash.

General

 * In Plants vs Zombies, he has two teeth, but in Plants vs. Zombies 2, he only has a single tooth.
 * His appearance resembles a mole, as they both are found underground, and both have visible front teeth sticking out.
 * In Plants vs. Zombies: Timepocalypse, one can see Potato Mine's entire body, which resembles the potatoes catapulted when Potato Mine is given Plant Food.
 * In Plants vs. Zombies, Potato Mine's detonator is gray when unarmed then blinks gray and red when armed. While in Plants vs. Zombies 2 his detonator is red when unarmed and then blinks red and orange-yellow when armed.
 * In both Plants vs. Zombies and Plants vs. Zombies 2, a Gargantuar killed by Potato Mine will simply disappear.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * In the Nintendo DS version, Imitater Potato Mine's light will blink.
 * He can only be taken by Bungee Zombie while unarmed, as a Bungee Zombie will die in the explosion if he encounters an armed Potato Mine. A glitch in I, Zombie levels in the Nintendo DS version of the game shows that one can steal an armed Potato Mine and he only shows half of his body.
 * In the online version of the game, instead of getting the Potato Mine on Level 1-5, the player gets Squash.
 * His red light will flash faster as the zombie gets nearer, like a sensor.
 * The Zen Garden Potato Mine will not have a flashing red light normally, but if held by a Gardening Glove or inside a Wheel Barrow, the red light will be permanently on. The red light will also be on when the player is about to plant a Potato Mine but has not planted him yet. This only applies to the PC version of the game.
 * He is the only plant that can be eaten from underground by a Digger Zombie, but only when unarmed. When armed, he will blow up, killing the Digger.
 * In the Nintendo DS version of the game, right when a zombie reaches the Potato Mine, the zombie's eating animation's frame is shown right before the Potato Mine explodes.
 * If an unarmed Potato Mine is squashed (via Gargantuar, Zomboni or Squash Zombie), an image of a squashed armed Potato Mine instead of a flattened version of an antenna will be shown.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * In Last Stand and Save Our Seeds levels, Potato Mine will not arm until the player triggers the onslaught. The arm timer still counts however, so any Potato Mine that was planted more than 15 seconds before starting the level will be immediately armed afterwards.
 * His mask costume looks like the one similar to Leonardo's from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
 * In Potato Mine's Almanac entry, one catchphrase was "tubular," also referencing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
 * He is the only plant obtained in the Player's House that does not have costumes depending on the season.
 * There are four ways a Potato Mine can activate other than a zombie directly making contact with him:
 * Using Plant Food on a Spikerock or Spikeweed will push all zombies to him and will make any armed Potato Mine they pass detonate.
 * Using Plant Food on an Infi-nut will make a shield, but armed Potato Mines behind it will still explode when a zombie starts eating the shield, even though they're not near enough to activate him.
 * Using Blover to blow away thrown Imps and Prospector Zombies will activate any Potato Mines they pass while being blown from the lawn. This occurs with other instants as well, like Iceberg Lettuce and Squash.
 * Using Plant Food on a Chomper will activate Potato Mines as zombies fly past them.
 * Unarmed Potato Mines can dodge projectiles fired back from Jester Zombies, but armed Potato Mines will take damage.
 * The duplicates from his Plant Food effect take a moment to arm, during which they can be eaten.
 * On earlier versions, if the player feeds Plant Food to him and the spawned ones landed on Dave's mold colonies, they will not lose the level after version 1.7 or still get a star before the 1.7 update, similar with Chili Bean. This is to prevent unfair defeats due to the random number generator placing a plant onto forbidden tiles.
 * From the 3.3 update to the 3.5 update, he had the ability to blast tombstones, surfboards and frozen blocks in a 3x3 radius around him when exploding. Although, this does not apply to zombies.
 * However, in the Chinese version, it still exists.
 * In the 4.2 update, Potato Mine regained this ability to blast tombstones, surfboards and frozen blocks in a 3x3 radius. This was removed again in the 4.3.1 update.
 * In the Chinese Almanac, it implies that Potato Mines can be planted above the ground. However, Potato Mines will have their "hidden" underground body.
 * Regardless of what stage he was in when defeated, Intensive Carrot will always revive the Potato Mine to his on-planting stage.
 * If an Excavator Zombie shovels up an inactivated Potato, he will be armed after landing. This also applies to Primal Potato Mine.