Lost But Found: Tips and Tricks for Mayhem Mode

Time management is the key to this game, obviously.

To that end how you organize your table is suuuuper important.

I do a sort of alphabetical left to right type system.

So, things like the Baby Diaper and Ball are on the left side, the Map and Necklace in the middle, and the Umbrella and Violin on the right.

But do whatever works for you.

If you want to develop your own system like smallest to largest or color code things you can totally do that. The important thing I’d focus on is being as consistent as you can about where you place things on your table.

This way you’ll spend less time hunting for the requested item and more time… profiting…?

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Other things I do to maximize my table’s efficiency is to put the Gaming Laptop and Valve Deck at the top/middle. I do this because Mayhem sneakily adds a new challenge.

It’s the Give Me Something Fun, Yellow Text Box dude.

If you give him something that they deem Unfun they’ll scramble all the items on your table.

The biggest danger here is when this causes items on your table to spill over onto the conveyor belt. If you’re not fast enough you could be hit by a huuuge fine the next time it cycles.

He’ll be satisfied by other items like the Cat in a Cage but my go to is the Gaming Laptop because it’s large and I can’t miss it.

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In this mode I’m not playing minigames. Eventually you’ll reach a point where you actually do have time for it but this really isn’t the mode to complete your sticker collection or get your failed to defuse a bomb achievement.

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Finally, don’t click the Don’t Have buttons underneath customer’s requests. The only thing it will do is generate a note with the customer’s phone number on it. There’s no reason to interact with this mechanic in the game.

The temperature penalty is the same whether they time out or you click the Don’t Have button so save yourself the time of throwing away the sitcky note why don’t you?

So, in case you didn’t know, the trash can at the top left accepts everything the conveyor belt throws at you.

The penalty for throwing away an item is you have to pay a very small fine ranging from $1 – $9 for the less valuable items.

Meanwhile, if you forget an item on the conveyor belt it can cost you hundreds (so always clear the belt of the three random items ASAP).

So, what do I throw away and why?

I throw away Boarding Passes. All of them. Immediately. It’ll cost you $1 per pass to simply trash them. This saves you the headache of organizing the 15 or whatever passes at almost no cost to you.

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I throw away the luggage and the backpacks. They take up waaaay too much space and, again, the trash fee is effectively nothing.

It’s worth noting at this point that you need to be careful with *how* you throw items away.

If you have a claimant right next to the trash can you can miss drop it and you’ll receive a larger fine and a rise in temperature (which could mean the difference between surviving the day or losing).

So, I move the screen as far right as it’ll go so that I can drag the luggage to the top left of the screen and not worry. To do this you can press A on your keyboard until the screen stops. You should be dragging the luggage as far left and away from the customer as you can.

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I throw away the Combination Cases.

They, too are huge and as I said before, this isn’t the mode for you to get your Failed to Defuse a Bomb achievement. There’s no upside to keeping the case (or really any item you don’t like if I’m honest).

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Lastly I throw away really small items. The Wedding Ring, Souvenir (the duck on a keychain), Gem Stone, and Lipstick.

Remember, the name of the game is efficiency. I’ve found that I can’t accurately click on these tiny items which means I often lose time repositioning and reclicking. It sounds like a minor thing but in the early stages of Mayhem when the game is at its hardest a misclick can make a surprising difference.

The first thing I buy is the $3,000 Cash Register from the Police Station.

When I first start a Mayhem game whenever I have “down time” (Time I’m not organizing or satisfying requests or throwing things away) I’m literally left click holding on the pepper spray at the top edge of the table, ready to go.

As you likely know, the amount the thief takes is based on your cash on hand. So when you’re finally close to the $3,000 you’ll need for the Register he can bleed you of hundreds of dollars if you’re too slow.

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My next purchases are the Desk Fan in the Store and the Art Piece at the Black Market.

What used to end my games early was me making too many mistakes and maxing out the temperature gauge.

Both of those items help mitigate (but not eliminate) those problems.

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Next I buy the Court Order in the Shop because that’s just more money left in your pocket at the end of the day.

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Then I buy one table upgrade because more space is more space. But if you’re diligently throwing things away space shouldn’t be a huge issue.

Even when I’m late-run I’m still really only using the same surface area as when I started.

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After that I buy the income boost items like the $3,000 Security Certificate and the Whistle. because more money is more money.

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One of the later things I buy is the rest of table space upgrades. Obviously this is more a quality of life upgrade than a necessity and can be forgotten without much issue.

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The rest of the items, in my mind, simply take up space. There’s no need to scan QR codes if you aren’t clicking the Don’t Have buttons.

There’s no need to know the prices of items because… you just don’t.

You don’t need easier minigames. You should only be doing those when you’ve literally got nothing else to do (and have the cash register).

The radio is for Quality of Life, of course.

My way is obviously not the only way to play. Want to throw away fewer items? Do it! Feel guilty about the Wedding Rings? Return them to their rightful owners! I literally can’t stop you.

It’s also worth noting that there isn’t any real reason to do Mayhem Mode besides to challenge yourself. There are no achievements associated with it, for example.

I will tell you, though, that I completed the Return 1,000 items Achievement in this mode.

In Normal Mode I averaged 30 items returned to customers per day *with* the extra 20 seconds per day upgrade.

After around Day 20 when I’m really rolling in Mayhem I averaged closer to 40 (as many as 42). That’s without the extra 20 seconds per day in Mayhem as well.

If I had to do it all over again I’d just stick to Mayhem for the 1,000 items Achievement without question.

Anyway.

This has been an amazing 20 hours of gameplay for me. I definitely feel like I got my money’s worth out of this and I hope you’ll feel that way too.

I’ll answer any questions you have as soon as I can. Thank you so much for reading and have a great day!

Sincerely,

TrashCanCass