- For the Chinese version of the game mode, see Penny's Pursuit (Chinese version).
Penny's Pursuit
Penny's Pursuit is a game mode in Plants vs. Zombies 2, which was released alongside the 7.9.1 update. It is a game mode that appears between the Adventure Mode and Arena icons. It was also released in Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version), which was released alongside in 2.5.0 update.
This mode requires the player to have Fuel to be able to play. Fuel can be bought with gems, or recharged overtime. Fuel usually is maxed at 15 but if you buy more then you can go over 15. The player can also choose to watch ads to gain more of it, it gives 5 fuel. It requires an internet connection to play and at least 15 plants to unlock.
Gameplay
In Penny's Pursuit, there are 3 difficulties to choose from for a level: Mild (easy), Spicy (medium), and Extra Hot (hard). To start a level, the player needs at least 5 Fuel. Once loaded into a level at any difficulty, the player can select Perks to use in the level. The player can choose one Perk for free, but additional Perks will cost gems to use in the level (with 5 gems cost for each perk). Playing a level requires 5 fuel at any difficulty.
Depending on the difficulty, the zombies available and the objectives the player can complete may change. Also, harder difficulties can take away certain benefits and zombies have stronger health and faster eating rate than usual, the level of difficulty can also decrease the number of lawn mowers, the number of seed slots, how often sun drops from the sky, how much sun you start within a level, the amount of Plant Food you start within a level, the maximum amount of sun you can bank up, and preparation time before the first wave starts. Once the player selects their level, difficulty, and Perks for the level, they're able to play levels that are in different styles: normal zombie attacks, Arena style levels, Last Stand levels, timed levels and mini-games. There are also bonus objectives which the player can complete to upgrade their Perks. Once a level is completed, the player can receive rewards and ZPS Points, which is used to fuel a meter to fight Dr. Zomboss and a specific Zombot, which will be hinted within the back of the map via a podium from the world.
Mild (easy) difficulty levels fill up your ZPS by 20%, spicy (medium) difficulty levels fill it up by 25%, and extra hot (hard) difficulty levels fill it up by 30%. Once your fuel meter reaches 100%, you can fight Dr. Zomboss (unless you have already fought him today, in which case you must wait until the next day) up to 3 times for a chance to claim rewards. Any excess ZPS carries on to the next day after you have fought Dr. Zomboss 3 times. ZPS will not increase if you try to gain more after reaching 100% (or higher).
There are different types of Penny's Pursuit events: regular events that have 5 levels, each varying from a random world and lasts for 1 week, special events that last for 2 weeks and have 10 levels each varying from a random world as well as sometimes adding event zombies, and worldly events which last about three weeks to a month and usually consist of all the levels from a world, excluding the Zomboss battle. The amount of rewards you get also varies:
In regular events, you get 3 types of rewards upon the completion of a level:
- Coins (only achieved by completing mild levels)
- Seed packet for the plant of this weeks event (can be 10, 15 or 20, and is achieved by completing spicy or extra hot levels)
- Gems (4 and can be achieved by winning spicy or extra hot levels)
In special events, the rewards are the same but starting from level 6 all rewards go back to what it was for level 1. In worldly events, the seed packet reward changes from one plant to another depending on how many plants and how many levels are featured.
List of Events
| Event Name |
Schedule |
Zomboss Grand Prize | Featured Zombot | New Zombie(s) | Type of event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rome Invades! (Soft release only) | February 7, 2020 - February 12, 2020 | N/A | 
|
     
|
Regular event |
| Roamin' Romans (Soft release only) | February 12, 2020 - February 19, 2020 | N/A |
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Rome, Rome on the Range | February 19, 2020 - February 26, 2020 | 
|
|
|
Regular event |
| Iron Age Antics | February 26, 2020 - March 4, 2020 | 
|
|
|
Regular event |
| Imperial Entanglements | March 4, 2020 - March 18, 2020 | 
|
|
|
Special event |
| Vidi, Vici, BRAINZ! | March 18, 2020 - March 25, 2020 | 
|
|
|
Regular event |
| Plants vs. Romans | March 25, 2020 - April 1, 2020 | 
|
|
|
Regular event |
| Legions of the Undead | April 1, 2020 - April 15, 2020 | 
|
|
N/A | Special event |
| Here Come Some Roman Zombies! | April 15, 2020 - April 22, 2020 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Rome Sweet Rome | April 22, 2020 - April 29, 2020 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Divide by Nero | April 29, 2020 - May 6, 2020 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Are You Not Entertained?! | May 6, 2020 - May 13, 2020 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Romeward Bound | May 13, 2020 - May 20, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Back to Far Future | May 20, 2020 - June 17, 2020 |   
|
|
N/A | Worldly event |
| Bad Hair Day | June 17, 2020 - June 24, 2020 | 
|
|
|
Regular event |
| Caesar vs Salad | June 24, 2020 - July 1, 2020 | 
|
|
|
Regular event |
| Darker Ages | July 1, 2020 - July 22, 2020 |   
|
|
N/A | Worldly event |
| Column Like You See 'Em | July 22, 2020 - July 29, 2020 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Later, Gladiator | July 29, 2020 - August 5, 2020 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Ciao Time | August 5, 2020 - August 12, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Plunder the Pirate Seas | August 12, 2020 - September 2, 2020 |   
|
|
N/A | Worldly event |
| ZCorp Incorporated, Inc. | September 2, 2020 - September 9, 2020 | 
|
|
       
|
Regular event |
| ZCorp is Hiring! | September 9, 2020 - September 16, 2020 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Promoting Zynergy |
September 16, 2020 - September 23, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Stalk Options |
September 23, 2020 - September 30, 2020 |
|
|
N/A |
Regular event |
| Lost City of Doom |
September 30, 2020 - October 21, 2020 |
  
|
|
N/A | Worldly event |
| Big Little Liars |
October 21, 2020 - October 28, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Exec VP of ABCDEFG |
October 28, 2020 - November 4, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Mergers, Acquisitions and BRAINZ |
November 4, 2020 - November 11, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Think Outside the Lawn |
November 11, 2020 - November 18, 2020 |
|
|
 
|
Regular event |
| Agile Methodologist |
November 18, 2020 - November 25, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Plant Layoffs |
November 25, 2020 - December 1, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Field Promotion |
December 2, 2020 - December 9, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Cultivating Talent |
December 9, 2020 - December 16, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Shattering Grass Ceilings |
December 16, 2020 - December 23, 2020 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Wild Wild West |
December 23, 2020 - January 13, 2021 |
  
|
|
N/A | Worldly event |
| Planted Earth | January 13, 2021 - January 20, 2021 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Dew or Dew Not | January 20, 2021 - January 27, 2021 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Fruit, Forward! | January 27, 2021 - February 3, 2021 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Stamen Alive | February 3, 2021 - February 10, 2021 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Cherry Potter | February 10, 2021 - February 17, 2021 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| A Cry for Helpdesk | February 17, 2021 - February 24, 2021 |
|
|
|
Regular event |
| Technical Difficulties | February 24, 2021 - March 3, 2021 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Just Dropping In | March 3, 2021 - March 10, 2021 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Helpdesk Heroics | March 10, 2021 - March 17, 2021 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Spring Into Action | March 17, 2021 - March 24, 2021 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Sprouting Nonsense | March 24, 2021 - March 31, 2021 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Budding Notions | March 31, 2021 - April 7, 2021 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Blooming Dales | April 7, 2021 - April 14, 2021 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Plow Through it | April 14, 2021 - April 21, 2021 |
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Till Next Time | April 21, 2021 - April 28, 2021 | 
|
|
N/A | Regular event |
| Seed Fund | April 28, 2021 - May 5, 2021 |
|
|
N/A | Regular Event |
| Hoppy Birthdayz | May 5, 2021 - Ongoing |
|
|
N/A | Regular Event |
Strategies
When playing spicy and extra hot levels, there are chances that you will lose due to the zombie's health being increased and benefits being taken away. Don't try to do spicy and extra hot levels if you have low-level plants or feeling that you can lose, doing it can result you in losing the level and as such also losing fuel. If you try to do these levels then try to use explosive plants such as Primal Potato Mine or Explode-O-Nut to easily deplete their health as well as clear crowds. Using these in mild levels can easily kill them, while using them in extra hot levels requires 1, 2 or more explosions to kill the zombies. You can use Blover (if available) with the Blast Bass Perk to take out large groups of zombies, or some other effective instant-kill plants such as Grimrose, Olive Pit, Imp Pear and Enchant-mint.
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Penny's Pursuit.
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Trivia
- The lawn's melting clocks are a reference to the painting The Persistence of Memory by Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.
- The icon of Penny's Pursuit was reused from an unused world Time Twister, which was hinted to have been the final world that contains gimmicks from all others, before it was replaced by Modern Day.
- The logo of Penny's Pursuit picture is similar to the logo of Back to the Future.
- If the player fails a bonus objective they won't fail the level, they just won't get the award for the objective.
- If the player exits a level, the "THE ZOMBIES ATE YOUR BRAINS" screen will show up, despite the zombies not eating the player's brains yet.
- Levels that take place in the exclusive Penny's Pursuit lawn reuse Modern Day's music.
- The background for this game mode's exclusive zombies' almanac entries is the same as the background for the premium plant entries.
- This is the only mode in the game to have gem drops, but it can only be achieved by playing boss fights and reaching the Bonus Prize Phase.
- In the Plunder the Pirate Seas event, even though the location was Pirate Seas the music was Modern Day.
- In Worldly events, the health of zombies in each difficulty mode is much different: Mild has level 5 health zombies instead level 3, Spicy has level 8 health zombies instead of level 6, and Extra Hot has level 11 health zombies instead of level 9.
- During the launch of the Stalk Options event, on devices still using the 8.3.1 update, the name of the event was <Missing RIFT_TITLE_TEXT_25>, which is due to a missing string. It was fixed shortly after the launch.
- The Zomboss podium for Lost City of Doom appears to be Pirate Seas, even though the boss fight is Zombot Aerostatic Gondola and it is supposed to be a Lost City podium.
- In Darker Ages' advertisment, there is a Castlehead Zombie in the ad, which was a removed Brickhead variant in Dark Ages.
- When Hoppy Birthdayz was launched, it gave grapeshot seed packets instead of bombegranate seed packets. This was changed a day after launch.
See also
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