For more information about this character, see Pumpkin.
Pumpkin is a plant introduced in Plants vs. Zombies. He is the 31st plant unlocked. He can be planted on other plants to provide an additional layer of protection.
He is a defensive plant with the same health as a Wall-nut. Unlike other defensive plants, however, Pumpkin does not occupy a garden space for himself, allowing other plants to be planted inside of him, or for him to be planted on top of other plants, effectively giving another layer of protection.
Pumpkin is unlocked upon beating Level 4-7 for the first time. He is planted around other plants, and any zombies attacking a space with a Pumpkin on it will attack the Pumpkin first. However, it is unable to protect other plants from basketballs, as Pumpkin only protects the sides of the plant that's planted in it, not the area above it.
Pumpkin absorbs 4000 damage and his appearance changes at 1334 damage and 2667 damage before being destroyed at 4000 damage.
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.
Pumpkins are excellent at 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, though, 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.
Be careful with Doom-shrooms, when they explode, they destroy the Pumpkin. Unlike Lily Pad and Flower Pot that are cheap and necessary to use in order to plant Doom-shrooms in the pool or on the roof, Pumpkin is expensive relatively for a plant that Doom-shrooms can destroy, and it's never necessary to plant a Pumpkin in order a Doom-shroom. If there is no sunlight, it's never recommended to plant Doom-shrooms in Pumpkins as they explode instantly. If there is sunlight, you can protect Doom-shrooms with Pumpkins if they are planted in a vulnerable place in order to prevent the zombies from eating them, especially if you are not planning to wake them up shortly after you plant them.
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 the player uses 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 a considerable amount of sun. Note that the ladders will disappear if they are hit by explosive plants, and Magnet-shrooms can remove them.
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language
Name
Description
English
Pumpkin
Simplified Chinese
南瓜头
lit. "Pumpkin Head"
Traditional Chinese
南瓜頭
Dutch
Pompoen
French
Citrouille
German
Kürbis
Italian
Zucca
Japanese
パンプキン
Brazilian Portuguese
Abóbora
Russian
Тыква
Serbian
Bundeva/Бундева
Spanish
Calabaza
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language
Name
Description
English
Renfield
Simplified Chinese
伦菲尔德
Transliteration of "Renfield"
Traditional Chinese
倫菲爾德
Dutch
Renfield
French
Renfield
German
Renfield
Russian
Рэнфилд
Serbian
Renfield/Ренфиелд
Trivia[]
He has a second degrade that can only be seen in the "reanim" folder, where the game stores his images.
Pumpkin's cousin Renfield, seen in Peggle
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.
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 or Tangle Kelp, as they have no way of supporting him.
This is not the case for Cattails, because she is the upgrade for the Lily Pad.
He also cannot protect Cob Cannon, as he's too big to fit, or Grave Buster, because he's on a grave, and only Grave Buster can be planted on graves.
It is possible dig up the pumpkin without digging up the plant inside it by using a shovel on the pumpkin (bottom part of the square).
If Chomper is in Pumpkin, when the Chomper sways to the right, his lower lip seems to go through Pumpkin.
In the DS version, he does not move, except 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 him 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, the plant inside it, and Flower Pot if planted on it being crushed, due to Pumpkin's larger hitbox.
Pumpkin is the only plant that when planted on Catapult Zombie if it stops on a rightmost tile, it will automatically be crushed. If a Flower Pot, a plant without a Pumpkin, and a plant on a Flower Pot is beside the Catapult Zombie while stopping at column 9 to throw basketballs and a Pumpkin is planted over it, the Pumpkin along with a plant inside it and the Flower Pot will also be crushed due to the Pumpkin's hitbox meeting with the Catapult Zombie's hitbox (with the front wheel being part of the catapult vehicle's and zombie's hitbox), with the latter reason is that a Pumpkin on a Flower Pot, a plant inside a Pumpkin, and a Flower Pot with a plant and Pumpkin is considered by the game as a single unit planted on a tile.
His flattened sprite when he is defeated by being crushed can still be removed by a shovel, be stolen by a Bungee Zombie, and blown up by Jack-in-the-Box Zombie before it despawns automatically after 5 seconds.
In the Zen Garden, Pumpkin can be given more than one chocolate in a row, even before the chocolate effect has worn off. It's unclear if this is a glitch or an intended feature, however. If it is an intended feature, it's possibly a reference to one of the most common designs for halloween candy pail being that of a carved pumpkin.
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Serbian
Spanish
