99 Nights in the Forest: The Dino Kid Update Complete Guide

To complete the main objective of 99 Nights in the Forest, players are sent out into the dark forest to track down the four missing kids, save them and survive until the 99th night. In the recent Dino Kid update, players can now uncover the story behind the Dino Kid’s disappearance.

Dino Dad has now come forward to ask players to save his son. This is our first time meeting with one of the parents of the four missing children. To help players in the process, he is giving away tapes of the Dino Kid’s past.

Similar to past events, players can choose to opt in to this entire experience. This includes befriending the Dino Kid, taking care of him to level up his abilities, stealing from cultists and unlocking some brand new Badges.

Upon entering a game, players will find what looks to be a detective’s table with five clues leading to the Dino Kid and his items that are scattered throughout the forest. These clues will help you to level up the Dino Kid stats quickly and survive for longer to unlock his lore.

Here are some clues and aspects to this update that we will be covering in this article:

1. Befriend the Dino Kid (Clue #1)
2. How to Level Up Dino Kid?
3. Find All Dino Kid Items (Clue #2 - #5)
4. Mega Cultist Wave
5. Dino Kid Tapes and Badges

Befriend the Dino Kid (Clue #1)

The first clue that is given to start this entire experience is to find the Dino Kid as usual and talk to him. Clicking the ‘Get Clue’ button will highlight a location on the map where players will find the Dino Kid’s locked cave. Once he has set up his tent near the Campfire, players can now interact with the Dino Kid by holding ‘E’ to befriend him.

After confirming, players will need to take care of all the Dino Kid’s needs which includes feeding him and keeping him happy. In return, the Dino Kid will work during the day by chopping nearby trees- helping to increase players’ resources.

Players can then level up the Dino Kid to upgrade his axe, which allows him to chop more wood. This level status can be seen by interacting with his tent. The Dino Kid’s contribution is especially useful to grind for a higher record of surviving in the game or to unlock the Dino Kid’s Tapes- which also stores some useful info on how to level up faster.

The Dino Kid will stop chopping wood during the night, whenever he’s Sad or when there are no trees near the Campfire. So, players need to always make sure to have a tree nearby or plant a sapling in the vicinity of the Dino Kid.

How to Level Up Dino Kid?

There are four ways to level up the Dino Kid which are; to feed the Dino Kid, keep the Dino Kid happy and give him items to interact with, including the secret items that are hinted at in the tapes.

To progress to the next level, the Dino Kid will need to gain an amount of EXP that increases with each level. On each level, the Dino Kid’s axe and tent is upgraded. The table below lists the amount of EXP needed to reach each level and all the upgrades that will take effect.

Each of the items and actions below gives differing amounts of EXP, ranging from Cooked Morsel that gives 30 EXP to Dino Kid’s Dino Plush with 750 EXP.

Note: If an item’s EXP exceeds the required amount to level up, the remaining EXP will not be carried forward to the next level and will essentially be burned. To avoid this, use the high-EXP items calculatedly.

Feed the Dino Kid

Giving the Dino Kid food will help to keep his hunger bar full and simultaneously increase EXP. This will also prevent the kid from starving, which will make him Sad. 

However, the EXP that each food gives changes depending on the amount of hunger that they replenish. This means that when the Dino Kid eats a high-EXP food when he isn’t that hungry, he will only gain a fraction of the EXP. When his hunger bar is 100% full, he will reject every food that is given to him.

Below are all the food items and the maximum amount of EXP that they can give:

Keep the Dino Kid Happy

Other than feeling Sad from being hungry, the Dino Kid will also turn Sad on a few other occasions. He will be faced with a few minor problems and wants players to fix it for him. When the Dino Kid is Sad, he will not chop any wood during the day.

With each problem solved, the Dino Kid will gain +100 EXP. Here are all of the Dino Kid’s problems and its solutions:

• Dino Kid wants a sweet treat = Give Dino Kid a Cake
• Dino Kid was attacked by a Wolf = Use a Bandage to heal Dino Kid
• Dino Kid is sleepy = Make Dino Kid’s bed in his tent
• Dino Kid is freezing = Upgrade Campfire to the next level

Give Dino Kid Items to Interact With

There are a total of 16 unique item interactions that the Dino Kid will do when they are given certain items. Every time the Dino Kid is given a new item that he hasn’t interacted with, he will gain +10 EXP. Repeating the interaction will not make him gain any more points. This differs greatly from food items, which gives EXP for the amount of hunger it replenishes.

Some of the items that players can give to the Dino Kid are: Bunny Foot, Chilli, Dynamite, Defense Blueprint, Revolver and Revolver Ammo. For a list of all the possible Dino Kid interactions, click here.

Other than the normal items in the game, players can also give the Dino Kid his very own items like the Yoyo and Crayon to gain a huge amount of EXP. These items can be found by looking at the clues on the detective’s table.

Find All Dino Kid Items (Clue #2 - #5)

From this clue onward, players are going to track down all of the Dino Kid’s items to make him feel at home in the middle of the dark forest. With each item found and given to the Dino Kid, you will see it placed inside his tent.

To help players find these items, clues are given- hinting at their location. Head to the detective table and click the ‘Get Clue’ button. A general area will then be circled on the map, which shrinks every day to help players narrow down the item’s location.

The items can be spotted by the Dino Kid icon hovering above it and can be picked up by clicking ‘E’. They will usually spawn near or inside a structure and will only spawn once the previous clue has been ‘completed’. This means that the item can spawn inside a structure that players have already looted.

To ‘complete’ one clue, like the Dino Kid’s Lunchbox, players will have to find the item and give it back to the Dino Kid. After he has interacted with the item, where he recognises it and remembers that it was his, he will gain a huge amount of EXP. The next clue will then be revealed shortly after.

Dino Kid's Lunchbox (Clue #2)

• Spawn Area: Level 4 Campfire
• EXP Gain: +70 EXP

Dino Kid's Yoyo (Clue #3)

• Spawn Area: Level 4-5 Campfire
• EXP Gain: +150 EXP

Dino Kid's Crayon (Clue #4)

• Spawn Area: Level 5-6 Campfire
• EXP Gain: +350 EXP

Dino Kid's Dino Plush (Clue #5)

• Spawn Area: Level 5-6 Campfire
• EXP Gain: +750 EXP

The Dino Kid’s Dino Plush is the only item that will spawn in a new structure- a pit that is filled with loot, surrounded by trees and guarded by cultists. The cultists guarding this item are x1 Axe Cultist, x2 Spear Cultist, x2 Crossbow Cultists and x2 Juggernaut Cultists.

The Dino Plush is locked inside a small cage, which players can unlock by holding ‘E’. By doing this, players will trigger the Mega Cultist Wave and players will be attacked at their base the very next night. After unlocking the cage, players are then free to take the item and bring it back to the Dino Kid.

Mega Cultist Wave

When unlocking the Dino Plush’s cage, players will have the option to choose between three levels of the Cultist Wave’s difficulty. The more difficult it is, the more rewards that players can get. The amount of spawned cultists will also increase depending on the amount of players in the game.

Whichever level that the player chooses, they will have to kill all of the cultists in under 1 minute and 15 seconds. Below are the details of each level:

As the time does not refresh with every wave, players will have to quickly defeat each wave before the time runs out. If players fail to do so, they will not get any reward. On top of that, the waves will still continue to spawn after time has run out.

This is especially difficult for the Challenge level, which will spawn a total of 26-28 Cultists including the Juggernaut Cultists. Here are some tips and tricks to defeat them in time, which players can do before triggering the Mega Cultist Wave:

• Equip Classes with high-damage weapons such as Cyborg, Alien Scientist, Assassin or Vampire.
• Upgrade your ranged and melee weapons to: Kunai, Tactical Shotgun, Spear or Morningstar.
• Upgrade your armor to Iron Body or Thorn Body.
• Place down all of your Defense Blueprints and Bear Traps around your base to lure and instantly kill Cultists. However, Bear Traps are not that ideal as it can also hurt you and your teammates.
• Have some Bandages and Medkits prepared in your inventory in case your health gets too low mid-battle.

Dino Kid Tapes and Badges

In this update, players will be rewarded for the time they took to take care of the Dino Kid. Depending on the amount of nights that players have protected the kid, they will be given some tapes from Dino Dad. The three tapes also award players with event badges and x5, x10 and 15 Diamonds respectively. 

The amount of nights does not include multipliers, so building beds and saving kids will not help to increase the number. However, this amount is a total of all of the nights across several rounds instead of a single round. So, players can rest easy as they do not have to grind for 60 nights straight.

The three tapes tell the events leading up to the Dino Kid’s kidnapping, shedding some light into the mystery that haunts the game. Additionally, each tape reveals to the players some secret items that players can give to the Dino Kid.

Tape #1

Tape #1 can be unlocked after protecting the Dino Kid for 5 nights. It reveals how the Dino Kid was lured by the Deer using a Cake two weeks ago. This tells us that the Dino Kid likes to eat Cake.

Tape #2

Tape #2 can be unlocked after 25 nights. It reveals how the Dino Kid has hidden a picture of him and Dino Dad in his locked cave. To get this item, players can head to his room, move the Dino Plush under the bed and pull the red book on the bookshelf.

Players will find the Dino Kid Polaroid inside the hidden compartment under the bed. When it is given to the Dino Kid, he will say that he misses his Dad and gain a whopping +9 999 EXP.

Tape #3

The third tape can be unlocked after 60 nights, showing us a glimpse of Dino Kid’s life from three weeks before while giving us a hint on a secret item. It reveals the recipe of Carrot Cake, which can be cooked in the Crockpot by adding in x1 Cake and x2 Carrots. Previously, it could only be cooked in a Chef’s Station.

Every time the Carrot Cake is given to the Dino Kid, he will say that it is his favourite and eat it to replenish 100% hunger and gain +200 EXP. This food item gives the highest amount of EXP out of all the other food.

Other than the tapes, players can also get three new badges in this update:

• Playtime [10 Diamonds] = Give Dino Kid 10 different objects that he has a unique interaction with
• Babysitting [10 Diamonds] = Level up Dino Kid to Level 5
• Warding [10 Diamonds] = Defend Dino Kid from the harder Cultist Attack after finding all his trinkets