This will include some very rare, rare, harmful, funny, weird, strange, or useful glitches that may occasionally occur in Plants vs. Zombies.
All versions[]
Pole Vaulting Zombie glitch[]
If a Pole Vaulting Zombie jumps over a plant with a Tall-nut behind it, it will crash into the Tall-nut and start eating it, despite the Tall-nut being behind the zombie. This occurs mostly when there is a ladder on the Tall-nut, the Pole Vaulting Zombie will climb over the ladder, try to jump over the next plant, but crash into the Tall-nut and have to go over the ladder again.
Wrong Value glitch[]
Sometimes, if someone plays a game with the sell plant feature (e.g. Last Stand), you may notice something different. The value of the sold plant will be different. For example: When you get a Melon-pult which costs 300, and you placed a Winter-melon that costs 200 on the Melon-pult, the value of the sold plant is wrong. So for example, you get 300 sun. Then you sell a Winter Melon. The value of the sold plant should be 500. But when you try, it will result to be 700. The value that should be added in a percentage would be 800. The fact is, the Melon-pult will be replaced with the value of Winter-melon, which should result in a waste of sun in Last Stand. When placed again, it would give 200 now.
Floating Plant glitch[]
Proof of the floating glitch
This rarely happens, but this is how it works: If the Jalapeno Zombie is in the pool, and he explodes, he will only remove any Lily Pads or other aquatic plants; however, he will not destroy any plants that were planted on top of the Lily Pads.
Suicide Squash Zombies glitch[]
First, wait when a Squash Zombie is about the middle of a square. Second, put a plant (any plant) right in front of him; His head will jump, but it will miss the plant, committing suicide. This can be useful so you don't lose any plants.
No hunger or not as often hunger glitch[]
Sometimes, in Zombiquarium, Snorkel Zombies will not get hungry as often, or not at all. This makes it possible to win the game without buying a brain.
Ladder Zombie's arm glitch[]
Ladder Zombie's arm should fall off, but does not. He still shows the bone, and the arm. A way to replicate this is do enough damage to the Ladder Zombie (but not the ladder) so his arm falls off. Then he needs to place the ladder on a Wall-nut, Tall-nut, or Pumpkin. Once he does that, his arm will "regrow". Another way is to make him lose his arm, then get rid of the ladder anyway you can.
Dolphin Rider Zombie glitch[]
When a plant is in the first space of the pool, and the Dolphin Rider Zombie appears, the Dolphin Rider Zombie will jump over this plant and will be eating the step in front of the Player's House.
Floating ladder glitch[]
Uh, mister, you left your ladder floating.
If a ladder is on a plant and a Bungee Zombie steals it, the ladder will temporarily be floating before disappearing.
Grave Buster Sound Effect Glitch[]
If one were to pause the game at any point with a Grave Buster on screen, the chomping sound effect will restart.
Defensive Plant vs. Spikeweed/Spikerock Glitch[]
For some reason, Pole Vaulting Zombies, Pogo Zombies, and Backup Dancer Zombies eat defensive plants such as Tall-nut in a way to where they can't take damage from Spikeweed or Spikerock, even when Pogo Zombies have already lost their pogo stick and Pole Vaulting Zombies have already lost their pole. This hasn't been tested with Ladder Zombies yet.
Why am I still even shooting at my friends!?[]
Note: This glitch also applies to ZomBotany and ZomBotany 2, and this glitch can only be done after getting the Coffee Bean. It is also patched in the FREE version on iOS and Android.
If you just hypnotize any type of Peashooter Zombie (via the Hypno-shroom), then they'll still shoot at your plants even though they are your (temporary) ally (They still attack the unhypnotized ZomBotany Zombies though.)
This bug also applies to Jalapeno Zombies, but they also kill unhypnotized ZomBotany zombies.
Zomboss sound glitch[]
During the fight with Zomboss, for unknown reasons, the sound effect that plays when the Squash hits the ground will play at seemingly random intervals.
The Level Unbeatable[]
If one plants Grave Busters before any zombies come out on the final wave in Whack a Zombie, no money bag appears and the player cannot complete the level. This glitch makes it impossible to win the mini-game without restarting.
Old PC version[]
I've lost all my data![]
If one shuts down the computer when the game is still open, the game will remove your data and the player must start all over again. If one's progress is at Adventure Mode in Day or Night, there will be dirt instead of grass on two lanes and plants will stay if the player planted it before they got it. The only way to get rid of this is to restart, but if the player has tried and it did not work, they must delete and then restore the data. Therefore, closing before shutting down is strongly recommended, but this does not save you if your computer hangs or crashes and forces you to reset.
Split Pea glitch[]
When there are zombies in front and at the back of a Split Pea, it will shoot two peas at both directions making it a Split Repeater.
The Wind of Aether （上界之风）[]
When using Cob Cannon on Roof, the Cob Cannon will miss its shots and the cob will land at a position which is far from the original target, creating blind spots which it cannot attack.
Can't escape![]
When you play Whack a Zombie, the 'menu' button on top-right corner can't be triggered by Esc button, instead you have to click it
Game of the Year Edition[]
"Infinite trophies" glitch[]
If one completes a mini-game, saves process, exits, then re-enters the level, the trophy will show up again and again, without changing its value of $1000. It is useful for fast money farming.
Also, exiting a mini-game without completing it and starting a new game will let you continue from where you left off, even though that save is from a different file. (only tested with Slot Machine)
Delayed laugh glitch[]
If one clicks "Adventure Mode" on the menu screen and holds down the mouse button, the music will play but the laugh will not and the game will not start until one lets go.
My box didn't explode[]
Sometimes, a Jack-in-the-Box Zombie will explode, but the animation will not be shown.
Don't you think that's a bit overkill?[]
There is a very rare glitch on Level 5-9 where many Gargantuars can spawn at once before the final wave instead of a single one.
Double plant glitch[]
If one collects a gift box and then immediately ends the level by collecting a seed packet, letter, trophy or money bag, the level end routine will also collect the box, giving the player two identical Zen Garden plants. This means the plant given to the player is decided before it is picked up. This has not been tested on other versions so far.
I left my dirt floating[]
This glitch happens when an Ambush Zombie in the pool dies, and afterwards a clump of dirt floats before disappearing.
Missing animation[]
When a Tangle Kelp pulls a frozen zombie underwater, the zombie doesn't move down with it; instead, it stays in place, then simply disappears.
Failed to load Steam.dll[]
This glitch only happens on the steam version. Sometimes when the player tries to open the game on steam it will say "failed to load Steam.dll". In order to fix this copy and move steam.dll to the files of the game.
Floating Plant Glitch[]
Example
When a Zomboni or Catapult Zombie crushes the front Flower Pot of a Cob Cannon, the Cob Cannon will appear as if it is floating.
Umbrella Leaf Layering Glitch[]
If an Umbrella Leaf uses its ability while inside a Pumpkin, it will appear as if being outside the Pumpkin before entering back in.
Magnet-shroom Infinite Range Glitch[]
Sometimes, due to unknown reason, Magnet-shrooms have unlimited range and can remove metallic objects from anywhere on the lawn.
iOS versions[]
A glitch where plants do not appear in Whack a Zombie
Invisible Sun-shroom glitch[]
First, plant a Sun-shroom. Then click home (maybe wait a while) and go back in. It should have that Newspaper Zombie pause screen and rarely, it may not have the Sun-shroom on the screen, but the player still sees its shadow and it still produces sun. The shadow also grows bigger when it produces normal sun.
Whack a Zombie in Level 2-4[]
Occasionally, if you finish Level 2-4 in the iPad version, when you get the item then go back to the Main Menu, then go back, it will be Whack a Zombie with the plants the player had, thus making it extremely easy.
Free Puzzle game packs[]
Purchasing a Puzzle game pack in the Puzzle menu and switching to a different tab before the new levels appear will cause the game pack of the selected tab to temporarily unlock. For example, purchasing the I, Zombie game pack and switching to the Last Stand tab will cause the Last Stand game pack to unlock temporarily. The pack will re-lock when the player leaves the tab, or when one of the levels is played.
Invisible Zombie Glitch[]
Occasionally, on Level 2-4, if one exits out, waits a bit, and then goes back in, a zombie will be invisible (similar to a zombie in Invisi-ghoul).
Blinking Animation Glitch[]
I'm split eye pea!
If one pauses the game (or the game pauses itself to show zombies for the next wave on a Survival or Last Stand mode) there is a chance they will see both open and blinking eyes on a Peashooter, Repeater or Sunflower.
Text Glitch[]
There are two variants of the glitch:
- When the game is loading, instead of saying "LOADING...." it says "MISSING..." and it will not load.
- When playing on any version of iOS on or after iOS 9, almost all text in the game says "MISSING". This also causes lag in the game. This does not happen in Plants vs. Zombies FREE, and was the reason why the paid iOS and Android version was removed from their respective stores on August 18th, 2017 due to issues on iOS 11.
Backup Dancer Glitch[]
This is common on Survival: Endless. If the game gets laggy, and a Dancer Zombie comes out, he will summon Backup Dancers, but sometimes the dirt from summoning will not show.
Minor glitches[]
iPhone only[]
- Sometimes on Wall-nut Bowling on iPod, Football Zombies will appear. They take four hits and move faster.
- Spikerocks sometimes are shown with no large spikes after being damaged.
- Giga-gargantuars in Last Stand Endless will appear the same as regular Gargantuars, with no red eyes.
- Rarely, the iPhone can freeze if you press the pause button, requiring a hard reboot.
iPad Only[]
- The Zen Garden never supports multi-touch.
- The Dancing Zombie and Backup Dancer's graphics are very buggy.
- When the Dancing Zombie loses his arm, the entire arm disappears, including the top part. He also leaves no rip or tear in the shirt, as if he did not even have an arm hole.
- When the Backup Dancer loses its arm, there is no bone showing.
- The graphics in the Zen Garden were very buggy.
- The Watering Can switches colors after being given to a plant (e.g. green becomes golden, golden becomes green). The color change does not affect its range, so the Golden Watering Can still waters up to four plants.
- The fertilizer bag immediately disappears after the bag is opened, so the powder appears out of nowhere.
- The Bug Spray has the fertilizer animation playing behind it.
- Stinky the Snail's animations are completely messed up. His body is arranged strangely, and he has an accurately arranged duplicate next to him.
- The phonograph also has messed up graphics.
- The chocolate sometimes says x-1.
- However, all of these bugs were fixed the in 1.9.10 update.
- The game loads slower in the latest update.
- The petals on a Marigold Sprout are replaced with Stinky's eyes and regular Sprouts are shorter.
- In the latest update, when leaving a level the game says it will be "saved"; however, it will not when one returns to the level. It will instead just restart from the beginning. This will "prevent" the player from playing any Endless levels; unless they want to keep playing it for an extended amount of time until they get tired, bored, or lose. This same thing happens in the DS version.
- The game will crash while playing Portal Combat once the first portal is relocating.
Both[]
Game, why is my plants' sun cost is different?
- Playing Beghouled and checking the Suburban Almanac will change the sun costs shown on the seed packets to the Beghouled sun costs.
DS version[]
Digger Zombie glitch[]
In Three Hit Wonder, make the Digger Zombie lose his pickaxe on a row with a Potato Mine. When he gets to the Potato Mine, he will start eating it, despite it being armed. It will never be eaten, and other Digger Zombies that lose their pickaxe will start eating it, though other zombies will set it off (as well as a Digger Zombie with his pickaxe).
Lost arm glitch[]
When a zombie gets killed by the Garden Rake, his left arm will disappear without falling off.
Progress bar flag glitch[]
On Last Stand and any Survival level, when a new level is started, the flag(s) raised during the first wave will not go back down.
Bungee Zombies glitch[]
A very rare glitch during Zombie Trap may occur where every row will have 3-4 Bungee Zombies. This can allow the player to catch 24 zombies at a time.
Squished Seeds glitch[]
Sometimes, if the player finishes a level while a plant is squished, it may cause most of the seed packets on the seed selection for the next level to appear glitched, with the only portraits being extremely compressed plants hanging out of the packet. Although it can be hard to see what the player is picking, this glitch can also be helpful, as if it happens before a Fog level, the Fog will be reduced to small lines, making it extremely easy to see what's coming. The glitch fixes itself when the player exits the level or views the almanac.
[]
A reversal of Android's Almanac Menu Overwrite Glitch, if the player taps fast enough from the main menu to the Zen Garden, the music will not update to that of the Zen Garden theme.
Android version[]
Imitater can imitate every plant in the game glitch[]
In the seed selection screen, if one taps on the Imitater, scrolls down, holds, and taps fast on the bottom of the Imitater seed selection tray, they can imitate upgrade plants such as the Cattail without hacking and even the Explode-o-nut and Giant Wall-nut. Other strange-and-weird plants have also been reported, such as a backward Repeater, a simple plant sprout, a plant shadow, and even an invisible plant that causes the game to crash. This is a strange and very useful glitch. Also, imitated upgrade plants' cost will not increase in Survival: Endless. This glitch can be repeated in some older versions of Plants vs. Zombies on the iOS.
Imposter![]
In Vasebreaker Endless, if one places a left-facing Repeater right in front of a Gargantuar, and he smashes it, it will turn into a squashed Pole Vaulting Zombie.
Last Stand Glitch[]
When playing Last Stand: Day, do the first flag. When it almost shows the zombies, tap the Repeater seed packet but don't place it. When the screen stops the animations of the plants, place the Repeater anywhere. Now the Repeater was placed with a random animation!
Almanac Menu Overwrite Glitch (patched)[]
If one were to open the Almanac and use the phone's back button instead of the game's back button, the menu music will be overwritten with the Almanac music.
Floating Cone/Bucket/Helmet Glitch[]
As of the update that patched Almanac Menu Overwrite Glitch, if one were to leave a stage when a Conehead Zombie's cone, Buckethead Zombie's bucket, or Football Zombie's helmet has already fallen off (or stolen by Magnet-shroom in the bucket's and helmet's case), the cone/bucket/helmet will not disappear, but when the zombie dies, the cone/bucket/helmet will be on top of where the zombie's head would be. The method to trigger this glitch also causes three more glitches (described below):
Incorrect Eating Animation[]
When playing, place a plant, and now wait for a zombie to eat it, then pause and leave the game, go back to the same level or minigame after the level is saved, the zombies will start Eating while Walking
Stuck Snorkel Zombie, where a Snorkel Zombie is frozen in place. If this happens and you don't have Tangle Kelp, Jalapeno, Cherry Bomb, Squash, or a catapult plant in your plant selection, including Cob Cannon, consider yourself softlocked.
Vanishing Zombie, where a zombie that has already been killed appears to still be living for a few seconds. As the zombie has already been killed, plant attacks will go right through it. Strangely, this glitched zombie walks faster.
If performed on a Screen Door Zombie after it loses its screen door to a Magnet-shroom, its arms will still be positioned like it's holding the screen door, and its right arm will be floating.
If performed on a Pogo Zombie after it loses its pogo stick to a Magnet-shroom, it will actually be able to get to your lawn mowers even if you've brought a Tall-nut. So if you don't want to lose your lawn mowers, don't forget to bring a Jalapeno.
If performed on a Ladder Zombie after it loses its ladder to a Magnet-shroom, it will still be able to place its ladder on a Wall-nut, Tall-nut, or Pumpkin. Also, the Magnet-shroom will have another ladder to attract, and if the Ladder Zombie is killed immediately after placing the glitched ladder, there will be 3 ladders: the original on the Magnet-shroom, glitched ladder #1 on the Wall-nut/Tall-nut/Pumpkin, and glitched ladder #2 in the zombie's hands.
4-10 Music Glitch[]
Everyone knows the only music that is supposed to play in 4-10 is the thunder effect when the screen lights up so you can see where you want to plant. However, if you tap fast enough to enter the level after leaving the Zen Garden, the title screen music will play throughout the whole level.
Console versions[]
Music Glitch[]
If the game gets laggy, the music will revert to Grasswalk, or no music at all. For example, if Watery Graves is playing, and it gets laggy, it will play Grasswalk. The only way to fix this is saving and exiting the level, then re-entering it. This glitch has only been tested in the PS3 version.
All Peashooter Seeds Glitch[]
In the Xbox 360 edition of Plants Vs Zombies, under certain circumstances that the person will not be able to recreate, playing survival endless and picking Gatling Pea, Twin Sunflower, Sunflower, Repeater, Coffee Bean, Cattail, Fume-Shroom, Gloom-shroom, and Imitator Sunflower, in that order, all plants will become peashooter.
An image of a full peashooter selection.
Survival Fog Music Glitch[]
Discovered in the Xbox 360 Edition, when you go to survival fog, pick plants, then play, once you leave survival mode, all music throughout the game will now sound emptier, with little to no percussion. This can only be fixed by reopening the game. (This has only been tested on Xbox 360 for now) This bug might be because the fog theme uses little to no percussion, so it leaks over to all other music tracks in the game when you leave due to some other weird bug. Weird, but cool.
FREE Version (New Android/iOS)[]
Frozen Snorkel Zombie Glitch[]
On a Pool Level with a Snorkel Zombie, when it jumps into a pool, exit the level and re-enter the level. The Snorkel Zombie will stay frozen in place until you use an Insta-Kill Plant or a catapult plant.