Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition: Complete Guide

A full guide to the original Plants vs. Zombies (GOTY Edition on Steam): Adventure mode, every world's key plants, how to handle each tricky zombie, Crazy Dave's shop, Survival Endless setups, and making the 2009 classic run well on a modern PC.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the GOTY Edition (no gameplay patches since the early 2010s). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Note: this is the 2009 PopCap original. It is a finished single-player game with no online service, and the last Steam news posts are from 2010. A separate remaster, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, launched on 23 October 2025 (PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch/Switch 2) with widescreen up to 4K, local co-op/versus, game-speed options and new modes. Core plants and levels carry over, but this guide's shop, achievement and PC-setup details are for the GOTY Edition.

Quick Start

• Sun first, always. Put down Sunflowers (or Sun-shrooms at night) before anything else. Two full columns of sun producers is the usual target on a normal lawn.
• The left two columns are for economy, the middle for damage, the right for stalling. Sunflowers go at the back, shooters in the middle, and Wall-nuts or Tall-nuts toward the front.
• Lawn mowers are a one-time save per row. Losing one on an early level is fine. Losing one late in a hard level means that row has no backup left.
• Collect coins. Money buys seed slots, upgrade plants, and the Rake. Coins disappear after a few seconds, so click them.
• Buy seed slots early. You start with 6. Slots 7 to 10 in Crazy Dave's shop cost $750, $5,000, $20,000 and $80,000. The first one is almost free and changes how the game plays.
• Mushrooms are cheap at night and fall asleep in daylight. On day levels you need a Coffee Bean to wake them up.
• Save instant kills for emergencies. Cherry Bomb, Jalapeno, Squash, Ice-shroom and Doom-shroom are your panic buttons for Football Zombies, Gargantuars and big waves.
• Read the pre-level zombie preview. Before each level you see which zombies are coming. Pick counters for those zombies, not your favourite plants.

Game Modes

Mode | What it is | Unlock

Adventure | 50 levels across 5 worlds, ending with Dr. Zomboss | Start

Mini-games | 20 themed challenges (Wall-nut Bowling, Zombotany, Whack a Zombie, Last Stand, etc.) | Unlocked as you progress through Adventure

Puzzle | Vasebreaker and I, Zombie (you play the zombies) | Unlocked as you progress

Survival | Multi-flag waves on each stage type, plus Survival: Endless | Unlocked as you progress

Zen Garden | Grow plants for coins and chocolate | Unlocked mid-Adventure

After your first Adventure clear you can replay it, and Crazy Dave suggests different plants on the second run.

Adventure Mode: World-by-World

World | Levels | New problem | Key plants

Day (front lawn) | 1-1 to 1-10 | Learning the basics | Sunflower, Peashooter, Wall-nut, Cherry Bomb, Potato Mine, Snow Pea, Chomper, Repeater

Night | 2-1 to 2-10 | Gravestones, little sun | Puff-shroom, Sun-shroom, Fume-shroom, Grave Buster, Hypno-shroom, Scaredy-shroom, Ice-shroom, Doom-shroom

Pool | 3-1 to 3-10 | Two water lanes in the middle | Lily Pad, Squash, Threepeater, Tangle Kelp, Jalapeno, Spikeweed, Torchwood, Tall-nut

Fog | 4-1 to 4-10 | You can't see the right side | Sea-shroom, Plantern, Cactus, Blover, Split Pea, Starfruit, Pumpkin, Magnet-shroom

Roof | 5-1 to 5-10 | Sloped roof, straight shots don't work well, pots needed | Cabbage-pult, Flower Pot, Kernel-pult, Coffee Bean, Garlic, Umbrella Leaf, Marigold, Melon-pult

World tips

• Day: Build two columns of Sunflowers, then Repeaters or Snow Pea plus Peashooter lines. Put a Wall-nut in front of each row by the mid-levels.
• Night: Puff-shrooms cost nothing and are good early stalling, so plant them freely. Fume-shroom goes through Screen Door and Newspaper shields. Keep one Grave Buster seed ready, because zombies can come out of graves behind your front line on the final wave.
• Pool: Lily Pads first in the water lanes. Tangle Kelp is a 25-sun answer to anything in the water. A Torchwood behind a line of Peashooters (or Repeaters) makes fire peas that do double damage. This is the strongest cheap setup in the game.
• Fog: Planterns clear fog in a radius and Blover blows it all away for a short time. Blover is also the best answer to Balloon Zombies. Starfruit and Split Pea cover Digger Zombies, which come up behind your lines.
• Roof: Only lobbed plants hit well here (Cabbage-pult, Kernel-pult, Melon-pult). Kernel-pult butter stuns zombies. Umbrella Leaf blocks Bungee Zombies and Catapult Zombie basketballs. The first column needs Flower Pots under everything unless you buy the Roof Cleaners.
• 5-10 Dr. Zomboss: This is a conveyor-belt level, so you don't pick plants and your shop upgrades don't appear. The belt mostly deals Flower Pots, plus Cabbage-pults, Kernel-pults, Melon-pults, Jalapenos and Ice-shrooms. Pot up and fill the lawn with pults, and always hold one Ice-shroom (for his fireball) and one Jalapeno (for his iceball). Only use Ice-shrooms on Zomboss himself or his fireball; a Jalapeno while he's frozen unfreezes him early. He also sends Bungee Zombies to steal plants and stomps your right-hand columns, so keep spare pots and pults coming.

Plant Costs Reference

Plant | Sun | Plant | Sun

Sunflower | 50 | Sun-shroom | 25

Peashooter | 100 | Puff-shroom | 0

Repeater | 200 | Fume-shroom | 75

Snow Pea | 175 | Doom-shroom | 125

Threepeater | 325 | Ice-shroom | 75

Wall-nut | 50 | Lily Pad | 25

Tall-nut | 125 | Tangle Kelp | 25

Potato Mine | 25 | Squash | 50

Cherry Bomb | 150 | Jalapeno | 125

Chomper | 150 | Torchwood | 175

Spikeweed | 100 | Pumpkin | 125

Magnet-shroom | 100 | Melon-pult | 300

Kernel-pult | 100 | Cabbage-pult | 100

Starfruit | 125 | Cactus | 125

Zombie Counters

There are 26 zombie types. The ones that ruin runs:

Zombie | Threat | Counter

Buckethead / Conehead | Lots of health | Snow Pea to slow, fire peas through Torchwood

Football Zombie | Fast and very tanky | Squash, Cherry Bomb, Chomper, Magnet-shroom removes the helmet

Pole Vaulting Zombie | Jumps your first plant | Tall-nut stops it, or let it vault a cheap Wall-nut

Screen Door / Newspaper | Shield blocks peas | Fume-shroom, lobbed plants, Magnet-shroom takes the door

Dancing Zombie | Summons Backup Dancers | Kill fast; Cherry Bomb or Doom-shroom hits the whole group

Snorkel Zombie | Hides under water | Tangle Kelp, or wait for it to surface

Zomboni | Crushes plants, leaves ice | Spikeweed pops it instantly; Jalapeno clears the ice trail

Bobsled Team | Comes in on the ice trail | Clear the ice with Jalapeno, then spikes

Dolphin Rider | Jumps first plant in pool | Tall-nut in the water lane

Jack-in-the-Box | Explodes in 3x3 | Magnet-shroom takes the box; kill it at range

Balloon Zombie | Flies over everything | Cactus, Blover, Cattail

Digger Zombie | Tunnels to your leftmost column | Split Pea (shoots backward), Starfruit, Magnet-shroom takes the pickaxe

Pogo Zombie | Hops over plants | Tall-nut or Magnet-shroom

Bungee Zombie | Steals a plant | Umbrella Leaf

Ladder Zombie | Puts ladder on your wall | Magnet-shroom, kill before it reaches the wall

Catapult Zombie | Lobs basketballs at back plants | Umbrella Leaf, or kill quickly

Gargantuar | Smashes plants, throws Imp | Instant kills (two needed), Doom-shroom, Cob Cannon, Winter Melon slow

Zombie Yeti | Rare, runs away | Kill fast for diamonds

Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies

Dave's shop opens partway through Adventure. Rough buying order for the best value:

Item | Price | Why

Seed slot 7 | $750 | Instant quality of life

Rake | $200 | Kills the first zombie in a lane (one-time, rebuy)

Pool Cleaners | $1,000 | Backup mowers in the pool lanes

Gold Magnet | $3,000 | Upgrade on Magnet-shroom, auto-collects coins

Roof Cleaners | $3,000 | Mowers for the roof

Twin Sunflower | $5,000 | Upgrade on Sunflower: double sun

Gatling Pea | $5,000 | Upgrade on Repeater: four peas per shot

Seed slot 8 | $5,000 |

Gloom-shroom | $7,500 | Upgrade on Fume-shroom, hits all around it

Spikerock | $7,500 | Upgrade on Spikeweed, survives Gargantuars and Zombonis longer

Cattail | $10,000 | Homing spikes on a Lily Pad, kills balloons

Winter Melon | $10,000 | Upgrade on Melon-pult: slows everything it splashes

Seed slot 9 | $20,000 |

Cob Cannon | $20,000 | Needs two Kernel-pults side by side; you aim and fire

Imitater | $30,000 | Copies any plant, great for two instant kills

Seed slot 10 | $80,000 | Endgame

Upgrade plants have to be planted on top of the base plant, and they have longer cooldowns. Plan space for them.

Zen Garden and Money Making

• Plants sometimes drop from zombies as sprouts. Water them, fertilise them, and keep them happy (they ask for water, fertiliser, bug spray or music), and mature plants drop coins.
• Marigolds you grow in the Zen Garden drop coins every time they're happy.
• The Wisdom Tree and Stinky the Snail (who collects coins) are both in Dave's shop.
• The classic farm: replay a mini-game or Adventure level with Gold Magnet plus many Marigolds, or grind Survival: Endless for diamonds and coins.
• Chocolate from zombies or the shop makes a plant temporarily "happy" regardless of what it needs.

Survival: Endless

Survival: Endless runs on the pool stage and never ends. This is where the late upgrades matter:

• Economy: Twin Sunflowers across the back two columns.
• Core damage: Gloom-shrooms on Lily Pads and ground, Winter Melons for slow and splash, Cattails for balloons.
• Gargantuars: Two Cob Cannons fired together, or Doom-shroom plus Ice-shroom. Later flags bring Giga-Gargantuars that need more than one hit.
• Pumpkins on every key plant and Umbrella Leaves against Bungees.
• The Steam achievement Immortal asks for 20 flags in Survival: Endless. Most players use a symmetrical Cob Cannon setup with Gloom-shrooms and Winter Melons to get there.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Planting shooters before sun producers. One early Peashooter is fine, but your economy decides every level.
• Buying expensive upgrades before seed slots. A seventh and eighth slot helps more than one fancy plant.
• Wasting instant kills on single normal zombies. Keep them for Footballs, Gargantuars, and packed final waves.
• Forgetting mushrooms sleep during the day. Bring Coffee Beans or skip mushrooms.
• Using Peashooters on the roof. The slope makes straight shots miss the first columns. Use catapult plants.
• Leaving no answer to fliers in fog levels. A single Balloon Zombie you can't hit will cost a mower.

Advanced Tips

• Torchwood placement: Put Torchwood in front of your peashooters. Fire peas do double damage and splash. Snow Peas and Torchwood cancel each other out, so keep them in different rows.
• Imitater doubles instant kills. Imitater plus Cherry Bomb gives two Cherry Bombs on the same cooldown window.
• Gargantuar trick: Gargantuars throw their Imp once they drop to half health. Put a plant or Tall-nut near your back columns so the Imp lands in front of something that can kill it.
• Coffee Bean plus Doom-shroom on day levels gives you an emergency screen clear. It leaves a crater you can't plant in for a while.
• Sun production math: One Sunflower pays for itself after two sun drops. Stop building Sunflowers around the mid-point of a level, when there are enough to keep your shooter line growing.
• Cheat codes (type during a level, unlocked after beating Adventure once): mustache, future, trickedout, daisies, dance, pinata, sukhbir. Typing mustache unlocks the Ask Me About Mustache Mode achievement.

Achievements Worth Planning For

Achievement | Requirement | Tip

Home Lawn Security | Complete Adventure | Automatic

Morticulturalist | Collect all 49 plants | Buy every upgrade and the Imitater

Immortal | Get to 20 flags in Survival: Endless | Cob Cannon + Gloom-shroom setup

Don't Pea in the Pool | Complete a daytime pool level without Pea shooters | Use Tangle Kelp, Cabbage-pults and instant kills

No Fungus Among Us | Complete a nighttime level without mushrooms or Coffee Beans | Early Night levels with Sunflowers and Peashooters

Good Morning | Complete a daytime level using only mushrooms and Coffee Beans |

Grounded | Defeat a normal roof level without catapult plants | Use Pots plus straight shooters on the right side

Roll Some Heads | Bowl over 5 zombies with a single Wall-nut | Wall-nut Bowling mini-game

SPUDOW! | Blow up a zombie with a Potato Mine |

Penny Pincher | Pick up 30 coins in a row without letting any disappear |

Sunny Days | Get 8,000 sun during a single level | Survival or a long level with Twin Sunflowers

Popcorn Party | Defeat 2 Gargantuars with Corn Cob missiles in a single level |

Cryptozombologist | Discover the top secret zombie (the Zombie Yeti) | Replay Adventure; it shows up in the second run

Ask Me About Mustache Mode | Enable Mustache Mode | Type mustache during a level

Explodonator | Blow up 10 zombies with a single Cherry Bomb | Wait for a packed wave

Disco is Undead | Hypnotize the lead Dancer Zombie | Hypno-shroom in the Dancer's lane

Beyond the Grave | Beat all 20 mini-games |

Nobel Peas Prize | Get the golden sunflower trophy | Finish Adventure, mini-games, puzzles and survival

Towering Wisdom | Grow the Tree of Wisdom to 100 feet | Buy tree food from Dave

China Shop | Streak of 15 in Vasebreaker Endless |

Better Off Dead | Streak of 10 in I, Zombie Endless |

Running It on a Modern PC

• The GOTY Edition runs on Windows 10 and 11 without patches. It renders at 800x600 and scales in fullscreen with black bars, which is expected.
• If the game looks wrong or crashes in fullscreen, uncheck 3D Acceleration in the in-game options, or play windowed.
• Saves live in C:\ProgramData\PopCap Games\PlantsVsZombies\userdata. Back this folder up; it isn't guaranteed to sync.
• It works on Steam Deck through Proton for most players, using mouse emulation on the touchpad.

FAQ

How many levels does Adventure mode have? 50 levels: 10 each in Day, Night, Pool, Fog and Roof. The last one, 5-10, is the Dr. Zomboss fight.

How many plants are there, and how do I get all 49? 40 come from Adventure. The other 9 (Gatling Pea, Twin Sunflower, Gloom-shroom, Cattail, Winter Melon, Gold Magnet, Spikerock, Cob Cannon, Imitater) are bought from Crazy Dave.

What is the best plant in the game? For general use, Winter Melon and Gatling Pea (with Torchwood). For Survival: Endless, Cob Cannon and Gloom-shroom. Early on, Repeater plus Torchwood carries most levels.

How do I beat Dr. Zomboss? 5-10 is a conveyor-belt level: plant every Flower Pot you get and fill the roof with the Cabbage-, Kernel- and Melon-pults the belt deals. Always hold a Jalapeno for his iceball and an Ice-shroom for his fireball, and keep replacing plants the Bungee Zombies steal.

How do I make money fast? Get the Gold Magnet, grow Marigolds in the Zen Garden, and replay short levels or Survival: Endless. Diamonds from Survival are worth a lot.

Is this the same as PvZ on mobile? Not exactly. Mobile versions of the original have been changed and re-released over the years, and the sequels (Plants vs. Zombies 2 and later) are free-to-play. The Steam GOTY Edition is the original paid PC game with no microtransactions.

Can I play in widescreen? Not in the GOTY Edition. It scales a 4:3 800x600 image; community widescreen hacks exist but are unofficial. If widescreen matters, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted (2025) supports widescreen and resolutions up to 4K.

Sources

• Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition on Steam
• Steam News for Plants vs. Zombies
• Steam achievements list (GOTY Edition)
• Level 5-10 (Plants vs. Zombies Wiki on wiki.gg)
• Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted (Wikipedia)