Dinkum: Complete Beginner's Guide

A practical guide to your first weeks on the island in Dinkum: what to do on day one, how Licences and Permit Points drive progression, making Dinks, dealing with dangerous wildlife, and the late-game content added in the 2026 anniversary update.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the April 23, 2026 "Great Bite" anniversary update and the May 15, 2026 hotfix (full release version; 1.0 launched on Steam in April 2025). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

1. Talk to Fletch first. Fletch runs the expedition that brings you to the island and gives you your early goals. Follow Fletch's requests; they unlock the next stage of town growth.
2. Your first "house" is a tent. You start small, with a campfire and sleeping bag, and grow into a town with shops and residents.
3. Dinks are money; Permit Points unlock Licences. Sell stuff for Dinks. Earn Permit Points by making progress (logged in your journal milestones) and spend them on Licences.
4. Licences gate your tools. You'll want Licences for the activities you do most, such as mining, logging, fishing, hunting and farming. Early on, pick the ones that match how you like to make money.
5. Watch your energy. Most actions drain stamina. Eat food and sleep to recover. Pushing past empty makes you pass out, which wastes the rest of your day.
6. Sell through John. John's General Store buys items on his scales. Early cash comes from selling what you gather, catch and dig.
7. Wildlife can kill you. The store page warns that the creatures "might look cute" but aren't; wild predators and alpha animals are dangerous early. Carry a weapon and some food and don't wander at night unprepared.
8. Seasons matter. Crops grow differently per season, and which fish and bugs appear depends on season and time.
9. Bring villagers to town. As your town grows, new shops open and visitors may decide to stay. More residents means more services.
10. Keep Creative Mode separate. Creative Mode (with developer commands) is for free building; use a separate save for it so your main progression and its 25 Steam achievements stay clean.

Your First Day and First Week

Day one

• Collect everything you see. Sticks, stones, fruit, shells and anything shiny sell to John and feed early crafting.
• Craft basic tools. Get an axe and pickaxe going as soon as you can. Tools break with use, so keep spare materials.
• Complete Fletch's requests. They're effectively the tutorial and push you toward the Base Tent and early town layout.
• Sleep on time. Going to bed recovers energy and saves the day. Sleeping indoors late can still give you the "well rested" buff (fixed in the April 27, 2026 hotfix).

Week one priorities

Money: Earning Dinks

Dinkum doesn't force one path. The best money-maker is whatever you enjoy, but these are the reliable ones:

Tips:

• Keep a few of each item for crafting recipes and villager requests before selling the rest.
• Rare catches are worth donating to the museum for your collection, then catching another to sell.
• Processed goods are generally worth more than raw ones.

Licences and Progression

Licences are the backbone of progression. Each one has levels, and higher levels unlock better tools, recipes and abilities in that activity. You buy them with Permit Points, which you earn by making progress (your journal tracks milestones).

How to prioritize:

• Start with the Licence for your main money-maker.
• Add Logging and Mining early; wood and ore feed nearly every crafting recipe.
• Landscaping and similar building-related Licences matter once you start shaping the town.
• Animal Handling becomes important once you want farm animals and breeding.

Level up activities you already do; Permit Points come naturally from playing.

Building Your Town

• Deeds unlock buildings. Fletch's town projects and deeds are how new shops and facilities get placed; plan where each goes before you commit.
• Shops and residents. As the town grows, shopkeepers like John (General Store) and Franklyn (who offers crafting recipes, including the Train) become central to your routine, and new visitors can move in.
• Guest houses and rentals. Housing for visitors is how you turn passers-by into permanent residents. Well-decorated interiors make the town more attractive, so furnish them rather than leaving empty shells.
• Reshape the island. Terraform, lay paths, and design layouts. Plan main roads between your house, shops and the mine or farm to save walking time.
• Decorate. Flower beds, fountains and windmills all fit the town. Some recipes were adjusted in 2026 hotfixes (for example, the White Brick Flower Bed now includes marble).

Exploring and Travel

• Four environments on the randomly generated main island, from red desert to lush forest, each with their own resources, creatures and hazards.
• Vehicles: the motorbike early on, the Train (crafted from a Franklyn recipe, with railway tracks and railway bridges), the Airship, and the Scooter (a portable vehicle crafted at the Hunter's Camp), plus other vehicles unlocked through progression.
• The Airport alternates destinations each hour between Island Reef and The Great Bite.

The Great Bite (2026 anniversary update)

The April 23, 2026 update added The Great Bite, an island of sheer cliffs, rare creatures and hidden treasure:

• Climbable cliffs and more frequent spawns of rare seasonal creatures and alpha animals.

• Hunter's Camp run by Ted Selly (listen for his whistle while exploring), with two crafting stations offering late-game items:

  • Getting around: Scooter (a portable vehicle), Invisible Glider
  • Survival and hunting: Med Kit, Hunter's Helmet, Tome of Wounding, Auto Animal Trap
  • Utility and collection: Encyclopedia (combines your creature books), Black Pocket Watch, Orb of Stars (a buff item that no longer stacks with the Diligent buff since the May 15 hotfix)
  • Alpha gear: Alpha Plant Hammer, Alpha Battle Fish

  Read each recipe's in-game description for exact effects before spending rare materials.

• New animals: Rooster, Penguin, Vombull, Plunk and Boaricoot.

• Animal breeding and raising and a Swag Pack customization station.

Wildlife and Combat

Combat tips:

• Always carry healing food.
• Traps let you deal with animals "the smart way" without a straight fight.
• Upgrade your weapon before going after dangerous animals or alphas.
• The Med Kit from the Hunter's Camp is a good late-game safety item.

Farming and Animals

• Check the season before planting; crops that aren't in season won't do well.
• Watering is the time sink; irrigation and better tools help as your farm grows.
• Animals need feeding and care. Farm animal sickness always lasts two days (a fix from the April 30, 2025 hotfix), so a sick animal isn't an emergency, just a short dip in produce.
• Breeding and raising arrived with the April 2026 anniversary update, so you can grow your herd instead of only buying animals.
• Terrariums and Fish Ponds let you keep creatures. Bug Terrariums fed honey produce at least one cocoon a day, a steady source of crafting material.

Multiplayer

• Dinkum supports co-op: friends visit your island and help out.
• Hosts control permissions. Hosts decide what visiting players may do (for example, handling farm animals). If a friend can't interact with something, check their permissions first.
• 2026 hotfixes fixed several multiplayer issues, including invisible fish, visitors getting stuck after diving, and fish not registering correctly when hooked at very close range by a visitor.

Update History at a Glance

Useful when an older guide or video doesn't match your game:

There have been no content updates since the May 2026 hotfix as of late September 2026; recent Steam posts are sale announcements.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Running out of energy far from home. Carry food and turn back early.
• Selling everything. Keep materials for requests and crafting.
• Buying Licences you won't use. Spend Permit Points on your main activities first.
• Ignoring seasons. Out-of-season crops and hunting for the wrong fish waste days.
• Fighting alphas with starter weapons. Upgrade first.
• Experimenting in your main save. Use a separate save for Creative Mode building so your real progression stays intact.
• Leaving tools unrepaired or unreplaced. A broken axe mid-expedition wastes a trip.

Advanced Tips

• Plan the town grid early. Leave space for paths, shops and future buildings so you don't have to tear things down later.
• Farm The Great Bite for rares. Seasonal rare fish and insects appear much more frequently there, making it the best money-and-collection spot in the late game.
• Use the Encyclopedia. It combines all your books so you're not juggling separate ones for fish, bugs and animals.
• Auto Sorters help manage storage; the May 15, 2026 hotfix fixed a bug that made them skip items after an incompatible one.
• Use the Auto Animal Trap from the Hunter's Camp to catch animals without babysitting a trap line.
• Hunt achievements in a normal save. The 25 Steam achievements (added with the Night Market update in June 2025) reward a wide spread of activities, so they double as a checklist of systems you haven't tried yet.
• Consumable buffs don't stack with everything. As of May 2026, the Diligent buff no longer works with Bottle of Clouds, Cup of Sunshine, Blistering Bottle or Orb of Stars.

FAQ

Is Dinkum out of early access? Yes. It left early access with its full release on Steam in April 2025 and came to Nintendo Switch in November 2025.

How do I get Permit Points? By making progress in the game; milestones you complete earn them. Spend them on Licences.

How do I get to The Great Bite? Through the airport, which alternates between Island Reef and The Great Bite every hour.

Does Dinkum have achievements? Yes. Steam achievements (25 of them) arrived with the Night Market update in June 2025. Keep Creative Mode experiments in a separate save so they don't interfere with your main run.

Is Dinkum on Switch 2? Dinkum launched on Nintendo Switch in November 2025, and official 2026 eShop sales listed it for both Switch and Switch 2.

Can I play Dinkum with friends? Yes, online co-op is supported, with host-controlled permissions for guests.

What's the best way to make money early? Fishing and bug catching need little investment and pay steadily. Add farming once you can.

Sources

• Dinkum on Steam
• Dinkum Steam news via Steam Web API
• Dinkum on Wikipedia
• Dinkum news on Steam (April 27 and May 15, 2026 hotfixes)