Better shovels dig faster and reach spots your starter shovel can't. Here's what's actually confirmed about the progression.
| Shovel | Price | Unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Starter Shovel | Free | Default — every player starts with a basic shovel (exact name varies by source). |
| Amethyst Shovel | Unconfirmed — community reports range $10,000–$50,000 depending on source | Recurs across every independent source as a notable mid-to-late-game milestone upgrade; exact price and stat bonus not verified. |
The one rule that shows up consistently across every source, including competing guide sites: upgrade whichever tool is currently your bottleneck — Metal Detector, Shovel, or Spray Bottle — rather than following a fixed shopping list. Several guides specifically suggest prioritizing your detector first, on the logic that finding dig spots faster matters more early on than digging or cleaning them faster, then moving to the shovel, then the spray bottle. That exact order is only moderately corroborated (a handful of guides, not a majority), so treat it as a reasonable community heuristic rather than a confirmed optimal path.
Amethyst Shovel is worth flagging even without a confirmed price: it's the one shovel name every independent source agrees is a genuine mid-to-late-game milestone. Once you're within reach of it, it's a safe target to save for.
We'll add a verified full price ladder here once it's confirmed against a live Shop screenshot rather than conflicting wiki tables.