Frequently asked questions

Lanternwild is a free, family-friendly collecting game you play in your web browser. You open packs of original pixel-art Lanternlings, fill your binder, solve a daily puzzle, send teams on Lantern Walks, play mini-games like the Drum Circle and Lantern Flight, and swap fairly with friends. There are 72 Lanternlings across six habitats, plus limited editions for special events.

Yes. Everything in the game is free to play. You get a free starter pack and welcome packs when you join, and you earn more packs with lantern light from playing. Grown-ups can also buy gift codes for extra packs if they want to, but nothing can ever be bought inside a player's account.

Every pack holds 5 different Lanternlings. Most are common or uncommon, a few are rare, epic or legendary, and any card has a 2% chance of being shiny. The exact odds for every slot are published on the Packs page in the game, and they never change after a pack is issued. Within a rarity, every Lanternling is equally likely.

Lantern light is the game's reward for playing. You earn it from the daily puzzle, Lantern Walks, daily quests, the Drum Circle, Lantern Flight and drumming along with your Lantern Buddy. Every 250 light can be swapped for a free pack. Daily rewards are capped, so nobody needs to play for hours, and there are no streaks to lose.

You can send a team of up to 3 Lanternlings to explore a habitat for 15 minutes, an hour or 4 hours. They come home with lantern light, sometimes a page of field notes, and now and then a wild Lanternling follows them home and joins your collection. Every walk also builds your mastery of that habitat, from Visitor to Explorer to Keeper. Nothing is ever lost on a walk.

A shiny is any Lanternling in its rare alternate colours, with a sparkle on its card. Every card in a pack has a 2% chance of being shiny, whatever its rarity. Shinies can only be swapped for other shinies.

Six limited-edition Lanternlings, one from each habitat, that are only around for Halloween 2026 (until 2 November). While the event runs, every pack has a published chance of a bonus 6th card from the Halloween set, on top of its normal 5 cards, so the normal odds don't change.

Every one of the 72 Lanternlings can grow up into its Bright form: the same friend, all grown up. When you have spare copies of a Lanternling, go to Play, then Growing up. Common Lanternlings need 3 spares and 100 lantern light; rarer ones need fewer spares but more light. You always keep one of the original, and using a shiny spare grows a shiny Bright form. Bright forms stay on your account and can't be swapped.

As you find more different Lanternlings, you reach album milestones: at 5, 10, 15, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60 and all 72. Each one gives a little lantern light and something to decorate with: a card frame, a binder cover or a new hat for your Lantern Buddy. You'll find the track at the top of your collection, and you can change your binder style there.

Every week there are three Expeditions, the same for everyone: Easy, Medium and Tricky. Each one needs a particular mix of Lanternlings, such as a rare from Tidepool and two from Emberhearth, so the more kinds you've found, the more you can go on. The team is away for a few hours, then comes home with lantern light and a Lanternling from the place they explored, often one you haven't found yet. Lanternlings on an Expedition can't go on walks or be swapped until they're back.

The first time you find each Lanternling, from a pack, a walk, an Expedition or a swap, it becomes a new page in your field guide. Open Discoveries from your collection or the Today screen to read about them and collect 2 lantern light for each new one.

Yes. Your Lantern Buddy flies by default, but you can tap Choose who flies under the game and pick any Lanternling you've found. In Lantern Match, any of the day's Lanternlings that are among your favourites score a little extra.

There are two ways to swap. With friends you've added using a friend code, you can offer one of your cards for one of theirs, and it only happens if they accept. On the Swap Board, you can offer a spare card for any of up to 5 Lanternlings you'd like. Names are never shown on the board, swaps are always the same rarity, and you always keep at least one of every Lanternling you've found.

Cards from your starter and welcome packs, and wild Lanternlings that followed you home from a walk, stay on your account. That stops people making lots of accounts to farm cards. Cards from packs you earn with lantern light, or from gift codes, can be swapped. On the Swap Board, only spares can go up, so you never swap away your only one.

A Lantern Circle is a small group of up to 8 friends who light a lantern together each week. You can be in up to 3 circles, perhaps one with friends and one with family. Everyone's play fills the lantern, and when it's lit each member collects 40 lantern light. You can only invite your own friends, invites have to be accepted, names are chosen from word lists, and there's no chat: just a few friendly preset cheers. Anyone can leave whenever they like, and nobody is ranked.

Lantern Relay is a Lantern Match board that your whole Lantern Circle shares for a week (each of your circles has its own). Each member can make up to 5 moves a day, whenever suits them, and the board stays exactly as they left it for the next friend. Everyone's points fill one lantern, sized for the number of people in the Circle, and when it's lit, every member collects 30 lantern light. There are no rankings and no chat: you just see who made each move.

Pairs for two is Lantern Pairs played with a friend. You share one board and take turns whenever suits you both: find a pair and you go again, miss and it's your friend's turn, and they see the two cards you turned over so you can remember together. The cards come from both your collections. You can only play with friends, they choose whether to say yes, either of you can stop a game at any time, and there's no chat. Nobody wins or loses: when you've found every pair together, you both earn 15 lantern light (once a day).

Firefly Gathering is a live game for 2 to 4 friends. Your buddy Lanternlings meet in a meadow for 90 seconds and catch drifting fireflies, and every catch goes into one shared jar. There are no scores of your own: the fuller the jar, the more lantern light everyone earns (once a day), and gold fireflies count for three. Only the player who starts a gathering can invite, and only their own friends. If two players aren't friends with each other, they only see each other as "a friend of" the host, never by name. There's no chat, just a few friendly preset cheers.

Drum Together is played live in the same meadow as Firefly Gathering. Everyone drums the same rhythm at the same moment, and each lantern glows brighter the more of you hit its beat together. A missed beat just doesn't glow: there's no buzzer and nobody is told they got it wrong. When the song ends, everyone earns the same lantern light for how brightly it glowed (5 to 20, once a day, separate from Firefly Gathering). Once you're in the meadow, the friend who started it chooses which game to play next.

Lantern Trail is a card game a bit like Crazy Eights. You play a card onto the trail if it matches the trail's habitat or the last card's number, and if nothing matches you take a card. Lantern cards change the habitat, Sleepy cards make the next player miss a go, and Gift cards give everyone else a card. Whoever empties their hand first lights the lantern. You can play against one to three friendly computer Lanternlings, or with a friend by taking turns whenever suits you both. Every deck plays the same: your collection just decides which Lanternlings you see on the cards. Finishing a game earns lantern light once a day (10 against the computer, 15 with a friend), whoever wins.

It's designed to be. There's no chat or messaging, no adverts, no location and no tracking. Friends can only be added with a friend code you share yourself, and strangers never see anything about you: the Swap Board and the world map are anonymous. Friends can see your handle, buddy and which Lanternlings you've found. Handles are checked to keep them friendly. We follow the UK Age Appropriate Design Code.

Anyone can play. If a player is under 13 (or under the age of digital consent where they live), a parent or guardian needs to create the account, agree to the terms and look after it. We never ask players for their real name, email address, phone number or photo.

No. Nothing can be bought inside a player's account. Extra packs come as gift codes, which only grown-ups (18 or over) can buy on our gift page. A code works once and adds its packs to the account that uses it. Payments are handled by Stripe, which acts as the seller (merchant of record), and we never see card details.

Choose 1, 3 or 5 packs on the gift page and pay with Stripe. The code is shown straight away and emailed to you. Your child signs in, goes to Packs and types the code into "Got a gift code?". If a code hasn't been used, you can get a full refund within 14 days by contacting us. Gift codes aren't sold in Belgium or the Netherlands, where paid card packs are restricted.

No. Your buddy only hears taps, clicks and key presses inside the Lanternwild page. Websites can never see what you type in other apps or tabs. You can switch the buddy off in your Profile at any time.

Yes, in a safe way. On any card, or on the collection page, players can make a picture of a Lanternling or of their binder. The picture is made on the device and never includes a friend code or anything private, and the handle is only added if they choose to. It goes through the device's own share options or saves as a picture, so a grown-up can decide where it goes. There are no public profile pages.

Use the recovery code you were given when you created your account: choose "Recover your account" on the sign-in page, enter your handle, the recovery code and a new password. You'll get a new recovery code afterwards. If you've lost both, contact us and we'll help.

Both are on your Profile page and work instantly: you can download everything we hold about your account, or delete your account for good. Parents and guardians can also contact us about a child's account.