“A closed cardboard box, and who’s to say nobody opened it before? Look at the seal. If it’s broken, you know.”
Surprise boxes are sealed cardboard boxes found on the floor or on shelves. You open them to see what is inside, and what is inside isn’t decided by whoever opens them. Many wanderers say that the first time they crouch down with trembling hands, and the second time, eyes already on the corridor.
How a box is opened
- You get close enough to touch it.
- You open the cardboard and, at the moment you do, the world decides what is inside.
- The result is one of three things: an item, an empty box, or it won’t open.
| What happens | What it means |
|---|---|
| It opens and an item comes out | It’s yours. It goes into your inventory |
| It opens and is empty | Someone used it, or Level 0 decided otherwise |
| It won’t open: already open | Another survivor got there first |
| It won’t open: you’re too far | Get closer |
What you receive
- The box’s cardboard is collected like any other, two units per box, and the contents are not added to that.
- The item goes into your inventory one at a time. What doesn’t fit falls to the floor, at your feet. See Backpacks and Weight before opening it.
Why you can’t cheat
What a box contains doesn’t depend on who is looking. Two wanderers can’t pull the same item from the same box, and that is why you will find boxes already opened, and the broken seal is the only warning. Level 0 is shared, and whatever someone takes from a box is no longer available to anyone else. It is a way of rationing the little there is, like the cans and bottles and the scrap piles.
What is said
- More than one person saw a shipping label with the text cut off, like a clue to what is inside. See found texts. No one has come back with a photo.
- There is talk of boxes with the seal already broken before you arrive, a sign that another wanderer passed through.
- As for what turns up, some speak of consumables, others of tools.
See also
Consumables, Door as an Object, The Metal Shelving Unit.