Even though Hyrule is in danger, Tears of the Kingdom has a lot of minigames to make things more fun.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has a lot of things to do. On your quest to help Princess Zelda and save the country, you will come across interesting places, interesting shrines, colorful characters, and even one or two horse gods.
You’ll also take part in many different minigames that are spread out all over Hyrule. Whether it’s a skill-based challenge or a game of luck and chance, Tears of the Kingdom’s minigames will keep you busy when you’re not in a fight or exploring a temple. Here are the minigames we think are the best.
Bell-Ringing Game
Just south of Hyrule Field, behind the Colosseum Ruins, you’ll find a Goron standing on a cliff next to a strange device. He has built a tower with a bell on top, and his job is simple: hit the bell as hard as you can with anything you can make.
What seems like a simple task turns into a crazy game with rockets, springs, and catapults as you try to hit the bell as hard as you can. Strade the Goron isn’t hard to impress, but if you want to get the best score possible, this minigame could take a lot longer than you might think.
Shield Surfing
Deep in the cold Hebra mountains, near a campfire, you might find a shield surfing student. He is looking for Selmie, his lost shield-surfing teacher, whose path seems to lead to this area. You can play Selmie’s shield riding minigame if you can find her.
Those who have played Breath of the Wild will know the path Selmie takes when she surfs on her shield. It’s a little hard to get around because the snow and other debris make it hard to see where you’re going. When you try to beat her best time, her two students will help show you the way. If you are able to beat the task, Selmie will invite you to try out his Expert Course for more shield surfing fun.
Ultra Ball Haul
As you play through Tears of the Kingdom, you’ll get better at making cars and improve on what works to get the most out of what you’ve made. Find the Goron standing on a small plateau just below Tabantha Great Bridge if you want to see how well the things you’ve made really work.
This Goron, Modar, will ask you to build a car and move a big orb that looks like a golf ball as far as you can. You can use any kind of transportation you want as long as you can attach the orb and move in the right way. This minigame is a lot of fun because there are so many ways to get a good score.
Flight Range
The Flight Range is near Rito Village and should be known to anyone who has played Breath of the Wild, the game that came before Tears of the Kingdom. In that game, the Flight Range is a place to practice shooting arrows while they are in the air. However, the next game changes things up a bit.
In Tears of the Kingdom, the Flight Range is all about learning how to glide. You’ll use the constant updraft to try to find the best route and go through as many rings as possible, trying to hit a certain number before the time runs out. It’s a lot of fun to figure out the best ways to slide, drop, and climb in this windy playground.
Sky Island Diving Challenges
Gliding is a lot of fun at Rito’s Flight Range, but it’s not the only thing you can do in the air there. There are a lot of sky islands in Snake Game, so you’ll spend a lot of time diving, sometimes at high speeds. This is where the different hurdles for diving come in.
If you see a big, vertical group of rotating sky islands in Tears of the Kingdom, it’s likely that you’re seeing one of the game’s diving challenges. Just go to the bottom of the area and talk to the building there to take the challenge and maybe get some very helpful rewards.
Mine Cart Land
Since the time of the Calamity, mine carts have been seen around Hyrule. They are a quick way to get across the game’s lines. Tears of the Kingdom gives these wheeled wonders a lot of new uses, like fusing shields to make a homemade skateboard and using fans to speed around Death Mountain.
This second way will be especially helpful when taking part in the cart tasks, which are put on by three Goron brothers near Goron Village in a fun place called “Mine Cart Land.” You’ll move quickly around a set of tracks, shooting arrows at targets as you go. As the tasks get bigger and harder, you’ll have to hit bigger and bigger targets.
The Treasure Chest Shop
In Breath of the Wild, if you went to Lurelin Village, you might have found the Treasure Chest Shop there. You could spend a small amount of rupees at this special store to get a chance to open one of three chests. If you choose the right one, you could win a lot of rupees, sometimes much more than what you paid to play.
In Tears of the Kingdom, the Treasure Chest Shop is back, but it looks a little different. You’ll open one of the chests, and depending on what kind of rupee you find, you’ll get one of the shopkeeper’s gifts. It’s a fun spin on an idea that was already fun.
Racing Minigames
Tears of the Kingdom is all about making crazy cars, so it would have been a crime if it didn’t have some kind of racing minigame. If you want to see how your creations work, you can choose from a number of choices.
In Tarrey Town, there is a place where Zonai parts are studied, and one of the researchers is interested in how your Zonai construction does in her classes. In the same way, once things calm down in Lurelin Village, you’ll be able to join a boat race there. Both are a lot of fun, and you have to try out different ways to do them to get the best time.
Hide And Seek
Children of all ages can be found in Tears of the Kingdom, from babies to teenagers. As you might expect, they spend most of their time running and playing, and sometimes you can join in.
In Gerudo Village, you will see a young girl standing next to a strange-looking ball. If you ask her if you can have it, she’ll say yes, but you’ll have to play hide-and-seek with her first. She will hide a small stuffed form of the sand-seals from the game, and you’ll have to look for it before time runs out. Even though the world is about to end, it’s nice to see kids being kids.
Sky Island Basketball (And More)
Tears of the Kingdom has a lot of fun minigames that you make yourself, but some of the best parts of the game come from how you use its items and features. Link can play with toys all over the place and find fun things to do with them.
For example, you may have found a big button inside a flying orb in the sky near the Sky Mine. You’ll need to use the launcher on an island close to send a big block into the orb’s hole. It’s fun enough to find the right angle to get the block into the hole, but it’s just as fun to use rockets and floating cubes to solve the problem your own way. That’s just one example of how Tears of the Kingdom’s gameplay is so unique because you can do things your own way.
