Cookie Clicker Wiki
Register
Advertisement

News : what do golden cookies taste like? Study reveals a flavor "somewhere between spearmint and liquorice".

GoldCookie

A Golden Cookie.

Golden Cookies are recurring objects that show up on the screen in a random position during normal gameplay. When spawned, a Golden Cookie will gradually grow and pulsate on the screen before slowly fading into nothing over the course of 13 seconds.

If it is clicked before it disappears entirely, it will grant the player one of several semi-random outcomes, all of which will bolster the player's cookie production in some form or another. The frequency and duration of on-screen Golden Cookies can be increased via certain Upgrades.

The player can see how many Golden Cookies you have clicked in the Stats menu. The menu also used to include the number of Golden Cookies you didn't click, but Orteil removed the feature because many players were complaining that it was "messing with their OCD". However, the number of missed clicks can still be found by typing Game.missedGoldenClicks into the console.

Depending on which stage of the Grandmapocalypse the player is on, a red Wrath Cookie may be spawned instead of a normal Golden Cookie, which has a chance to give a negative result instead of a positive one. During the "angered" stage of the Grandmapocalypse, or if Skruuia is selected in the Pantheon, all naturally spawning Golden Cookies will be replaced with Wrath Cookies; if Skruuia is selected, all Wrath Cookies will also have an increased chance of a negative result.

Possible Outcomes[]

Note: These numbers are long term probabilities for clicking Golden Cookies only. See Golden Cookie Probabilities for more details. As of v.2.002, all Golden & Wrath cookie effects can be active at once. Activating an effect that is already active will add to its current timer.

All durations listed are their base values (not affected by Upgrades, Garden plants, etc).

  • 37.1~42.2% to get "Lucky!":
    • Instantly gain cookies, whichever gives less:
      1. 15% of cookies banked + 13
      2. 15 minutes worth of cookies (CpS * 900) + 13
    • Will give the most cookies if cookies banked is 100 minutes (1 hour 40 mins) of CpS
    • Will scale accordingly with CpS-altering effects (except Wrinklers)
    • You can get more cookies if you have other effects like Frenzy and Building Special
Frenzy cookie
  • 37.1~42.2% to get "Frenzy":
    • x7 CpS
    • Lasts 77 seconds
    • Stacks with Building Special
  • 8.79~10.01% to get a "Building special":
    • Random building will be picked, each boosting CpS by 10% (N * 10%, where N is building count)
    • Lasts 30 seconds
    • Must have 10 or more of a building for it to be eligible
    • Each building's effect is unique, so multiple of different buildings can be active at once
  • 5.09~7.14% to get "Dragon Harvest" (requires active Reaper of Fields aura):
    • x15 CpS
    • Lasts 137 seconds
  • 5.09~7.14% to get "Dragonflight" (requires active Dragonflight aura):
    • x1111 cookies per click
    • Lasts 23 seconds
    • Does not affect Cursor CpS
    • 80% chance to remove Click Frenzy if it's active
  • 3.48~3.97% to get "Click Frenzy":
    • x777 cookies per click
    • Lasts 13 seconds
    • Does not affect Cursor CpS
  • 1.74~1.94% to get "Everything Must Go" (only on Business Day season):
    • All buildings are 5% cheaper
    • Lasts 8 seconds
  • 0.76~0.84% to get "Cookie Storm":
    • Spawns lots of Golden/Wrath cookies randomly on-screen, each giving 1-7 minutes of CpS
    • Lasts 7 seconds
    • Golden/Wrath cookies from storm will not increment 'Golden cookies clicks' stat (and subsequently achievements)
      • Random drops can still be unlocked
  • 0.76~0.84% to start a "Cookie chain" (requires 100,000 cookies baked all time):
    • Each golden cookie clicked after, will give x10 + 7 more cookies than the last, until chain ends
    • If in the Grandmapocalypse, or if Skruuia is slotted, Wrath Cookies may (or will outright) spawn in place of Golden Cookies, giving x10 + 6 more cookies than the last Golden/Wrath cookie
    • During chain, subsequent Golden/Wrath cookies spawn every 3 seconds
    • Starting from 10 billion cookies, Golden/Wrath Cookies that trigger Cookie Chain will start at higher orders of magnitude (x100, x1000, etc)
      • Every x10 more cookies will increment the order of magnitude
    • Chain will end under these circumstances:
      • A Golden/Wrath Cookie disappears before being clicked
      • Next Golden/Wrath cookie would give more than 6 hours worth of CpS
      • Next Golden/Wrath cookie would give more than 50% of cookies banked
      • 1% chance after clicking a Golden/Wrath Cookie
      • Using Force the Hand of Fate in Grimoire
    • Chain Abuse: Wait for a golden cookie chain with Distilled Essence of Redoubled Luck (click the natural golden cookie). a new DEoRL chain will spawn 3 seconds later. Click the spawn lead, then let the other natural golden cookie de-spawn to end the chain. A normal DEoRL will spawn 3 seconds later. Rinse and repeat.
Rewards for Cookie chain
Max Reward
(<=6 hrs CPS)
Cookies in bank required
(2x Max Reward)
CpS required Raw CpS required if activated during Frenzy

(CpS required ÷ 7)

777,777,777 1,555,555,554 36,008 5,144
7,777,777,777 15,555,555,554 360,082 51,440
77,777,777,777 155,555,555,554 3,600,823 514,403
777,777,777,777 1,555,555,555,554 36,008,230 5,144,033
7.777×1012(T) 15.556×1012(T) 360.082×106(M) 51.44×106(M)
77.777×1012(T) 155.556×1012(T) 3.601×109(B) 514.403×106(M)
777.777×1012(T) 1.556×1015(Qa) 36.008×109(B) 5.144×109(B)
7.777×10n 1.5556×10n+1 3.60082×10n-4 5.14403×10n-5
  • 0.0035~0.0039% to get "Blab":
    • Does absolutely nothing except for displaying one of the following messages:
      • Cookie crumbliness x3 for 60 seconds!
      • Chocolatiness x7 for 77 seconds!
      • Dough elasticity halved for 66 seconds!
      • Golden Cookie shininess doubled for 3 seconds!
      • World economy halved for 30 seconds!
      • Grandma kisses 23% stingier for 45 seconds!
      • Thanks for clicking!
      • Fooled you! This one was just a test.
      • Golden Cookies clicked +1!
      • Your click has been registered. Thank you for your cooperation.
      • Thanks! That hit the spot!
      • Thank you. A team has been dispatched.
      • They know.
      • Oops. This was just a chocolate cookie with shiny aluminium foil.
      • Eschaton immanentized!
      • Oh, that tickled!
      • Again.
      • You've made a grave mistake.
      • Chocolate chips reshuffled!
      • Randomized chance card outcome!
      • Mouse acceleration +0.03%!
      • Ascension bonuses x5,000 for 0.1 seconds!
      • Gained 1 extra!
      • Sorry, better luck next time!
      • I felt that.
      • Nice try, but no.
      • Wait, sorry, I wasn't ready yet.
      • Yippee!
      • Bones removed.
      • Organs added.
      • Did you just click that?
      • Huh? Oh, there was nothing there.
      • You saw nothing.
      • It seems you hallucinated that cookie.
      • This golden cookie was a complete fabrication.
      • In theory there is no wrong way of clicking a golden cookie, but you did that, somehow.
      • All cookies multiplied by 999! All cookies divided by 999!
      • Why?
      • Why did you click that?

Combo Tables[]

This section concerns the possibility of two completely overlapping buffs.

Frenzy + Click Frenzy Example[]

A common combo, Frenzy + Click Frenzy, is achieved by getting a Click Frenzy in the middle of a Frenzy. Due to Frenzy's longer time, the Click Frenzy will last for its entirety within, giving a (x7 * x777 =) x5439 cookies per click multiplier.

To get a full overlap of Frenzy + Click Frenzy, the Click Frenzy must be active no later than 64 seconds of Frenzy's lifespan. With base golden cookie minimum spawn time (Tmin=300), this is impossible.

With all 3 golden cookies upgrades, Click Frenzy now needs to activate no later than 128 seconds into Frenzy's lifespan. Due to quartered golden cookie spawn time (Tmin=75), this is doable (but not guaranteed).

Besides natural-spawning golden cookies, Force the Hand of Fate from the Grimoire can also be used to activate a Click Frenzy as soon as a Frenzy is in effect.

The above example applies for any effects with timers, such as Dragon Harvest, Dragonflight, Building Specials, etc.

The following table gives the probabilities of full overlap buffs for given pair effects with Lucky day, Serendipity, and Get lucky. Each column represents further spawning factor and each row represents possible extra effect duration factor.

Stack Probability
98 95 95+98 95x2 95x2+98 95x3 95x3+98 95x4
Frenzy+Click 76.9% 85.3% 94.2% 97.4% 99.5% 99.9% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Frenzy+Flight 93.9% 97.2% 99.5% 99.9% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Harvest+Click 0.3% 0.5% 1.2% 1.9% 3.6% 5.3% 9.3% 13.0% 20.8%
Harvest+Flight 1.6% 2.5% 4.7% 6.9% 11.8% 16.2% 25.4% 33.1% 47.2%
With Epoch Manipulator Frenzy+Click 93.9% 97.2% 99.5% 99.9% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Frenzy+Flight 99.6% 99.9% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Harvest+Click 1.0% 1.6% 3.1% 4.6% 8.2% 11.5% 18.8% 25.0% 37.2%
Harvest+Flight 4.7% 6.9% 11.8% 16.3% 25.7% 33.4% 47.5% 57.8% 73.3%
With Lasting Fortune Frenzy+Click 99.6% 99.9% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Frenzy+Flight 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Harvest+Click 3.1% 4.7% 8.3% 11.8% 19.2% 25.5% 37.9% 47.4% 63.1%
Harvest+Flight 11.4% 15.9% 25.0% 32.7% 46.9% 56.9% 72.6% 81.6% 92.0%
With both Frenzy+Click 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Frenzy+Flight 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Harvest+Click 8.2% 11.6% 18.9% 25.3% 37.7% 47.0% 62.8% 72.9% 86.0%
Harvest+Flight 23.7% 31.1% 45.0% 55.1% 71.0% 80.1% 91.1% 95.6% 98.9%

The average lengths of time a stacked frenzy will last are, in seconds:

Stack Duration
98 95 95+98 95x2 95x2+98 95x3 95x3+98 95x4
Frenzy+Click 25.008 25.473 25.844 25.943 25.992 25.998 26.000 26.000 26.000
Frenzy+Flight 19.825 19.935 19.990 19.998 20.000 20.000 20.000 20.000 20.000
Harvest+Click 3.048 4.050 5.983 7.493 10.105 11.892 14.693 16.459 18.971
Harvest+Flight 3.000 3.971 5.827 7.258 9.683 11.295 13.712 15.140 16.990
With Epoch Manipulator Frenzy+Click 27.825 27.935 27.990 27.998 28.000 28.000 28.000 28.000 28.000
Frenzy+Flight 20.993 20.999 21.000 21.000 21.000 21.000 21.000 21.000 21.000
Harvest+Click 6.346 7.947 10.702 12.621 15.592 17.439 20.124 21.712 23.830
Harvest+Flight 6.175 7.688 10.235 11.954 14.491 15.962 17.893 18.883 19.973
With Lasting Fortune Frenzy+Click 28.993 28.999 29.000 29.000 29.000 29.000 29.000 29.000 29.000
Frenzy+Flight 22.000 22.000 22.000 22.000 22.000 22.000 22.000 22.000 22.000
Harvest+Click 11.055 13.058 16.150 18.108 20.913 22.541 24.744 25.932 27.337
Harvest+Flight 10.595 12.399 15.060 16.635 18.682 19.719 20.887 21.376 21.794
With both Frenzy+Click 31.000 31.000 31.000 31.000 31.000 31.000 31.000 31.000 31.000
Frenzy+Flight 24.000 24.000 24.000 24.000 24.000 24.000 24.000 24.000 24.000
Harvest+Click 17.472 19.532 22.469 24.205 26.524 27.757 29.240 29.922 30.576
Harvest+Flight 16.428 18.115 20.311 21.453 22.736 23.275 23.754 23.898 23.982

Related Achievements/Upgrades[]

Upgrades[]

Icon Name Unlock condition Base price Description ID
Lucky golden clover Lucky day 7 Golden Cookies clicked [note 1] Money 777.778 million Golden cookies appear twice as often and last twice as long on screen.
"Oh hey, a four-leaf penny!"
52
Lucky golden clover Serendipity 27 Golden Cookies clicked [note 1] Money 77.778 billion Golden cookies appear twice as often and last twice as long on screen.
"What joy! Seven horseshoes!"
53
Lucky golden clover Get lucky 77 Golden Cookies clicked [note 1] Money 77.778 trillion Golden cookie effects last twice as long.
"You've been up all night, haven't you?"
86
Golden goose egg Golden goose egg "Rare" egg
(see Probabilities)
Money 999 x 3E Golden cookies appear 5% more often.
Cost scales with how many eggs you own.
"The sole vestige of a tragic tale involving misguided investments."
222
Green yeast digestives Green yeast digestives 0.5% chance of dropping after harvesting a mature green rot [note 2] Money 10,800 x CpS +1% golden cookie gains and effect duration.
+1% golden cookie frequency.
+3% random drops.
Dropped by green rot plants.
Cost scales with CpS.
"These are tastier than you'd expect, but not by much."
473
Dragon fang Dragon fang Random drop from petting Krumblor Money 1,800 x CpS
(x0.1 if max level dragon)
+3% golden cookie gains.
Dragon harvest and Dragonflight are 10% stronger.
Cost scales with CpS, but 10 times cheaper with a fully-trained dragon.
"Just a fallen baby tooth your dragon wanted you to have, as a gift.
It might be smaller than an adult tooth, but it's still frighteningly sharp - and displays some awe-inspiring cavities, which you might expect from a creature made out of sweets."
650
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 At least one golden cookie click in the current game is needed before the all-time number will be counted for the criteria of upgrades.
  2. Once this upgrade is unlocked, all future ascensions will have it immediately available for purchase from the store.

Achievements[]

Icon Name Description ID
Buttergold cookie Golden cookie Click a golden cookie. 67
Small buttergold cookies Lucky cookie Click 7 golden cookies. 68
Medium buttergold cookies A stroke of luck Click 27 golden cookies. 69
Fortune Fortune Click 77 golden cookies.
"You should really go to bed."
77
Leprechaun Leprechaun Click 777 golden cookies. 84
Black cat's paw Black cat's paw Click 7777 golden cookies. 85
Buttergold cookie Early bird Click a Golden Cookie less than 1 second after it spawns. 263
Buttergold cookie Fading luck Click a Golden Cookie less than 1 second before it dies. 264
Lucky golden clover Four-leaf cookie
(shadow achievement)
Have 4 golden cookies simultaneously.
"Fairly rare, considering cookies don't even have leaves."
324
Seven horseshoes Seven horseshoes
(shadow achievement)
Click 27,777 golden cookies.
"Enough for one of those funky horses that graze near your factories."
491

Golden Cookie Timing[]

There are three crucial timings for Golden Cookies:

  • Spawn time: how long it takes for Golden Cookies to be generated.
  • Duration: how long Golden Cookies will stay on the screen.
  • Effect duration: how long the cookie's effects will last.

Spawn Time[]

Golden Cookie spawning is treated like any other object, and is thus subject to the game's built-in spawning mechanism. The time between one cookie spawn and the next is always between the 2 numbers Tmin and Tmax (which are initially set at 300 and 900 seconds, respectively). During this interval, there is a

chance for a golden cookie to spawn each frame. (The default frame rate is 30 FPS, or 30 frames per second.)

The probability of a golden cookie spawning can be approximated by the following functions:

where p, P and P-1 are probability density function, cumulative density function and inverse cumulative density function, respectively. T=Tmax-Tmin, measured in seconds.

The mean average spawn time can be approximated as

It is the solution to the equation [1], which is the expected value of time required for the cookie to spawn.

The median spawn time can be approximated as

It is the solution to the equation [2], which is the value that is half the time larger/smaller than the actual time required to spawn the cookie.

Factors[]

The following factors affect Tmin and Tmax:

Type Name Factors
Upgrade Lucky Day 0.5
Upgrade Serendipity 0.5
Upgrade Golden goose egg 0.95
Heavenly upgrade Heavenly luck 0.95
Dragon aura Arcane aura 0.95
Dragon aura Reality Bending 0.995
Golden Sugar Lump Buff Sugar blessing 0.9
Heavenly upgrade Starspawn (during Easter season) 0.98
Heavenly upgrade Starterror (during Halloween season) 0.98
Heavenly upgrade Starlove (during Valentine's Day season) 0.98
Heavenly upgrade Startrade (during Business Day season) 0.95
Pantheon god Jeremy, Spirit of Industry 1.1/1.06/1.03
Pantheon god Mokalsium, Mother Spirit 1.15/1.1/1.05
Pantheon god Selebrak, Spirit of Festivities (Business Day season) 0.955/0.97/0.985
Pantheon god Selebrak, Spirit of Festivities (any other season) 0.97/0.98/0.99
Garden plants[note 1] Ordinary Clover +0.01
Garden plants[note 1] Golden Clover +0.03
Garden plants[note 1] Shimmerlily +0.01
Garden plants[note 1] Fool's Bolete +0.02
Garden plants[note 1] Green Rot +0.01
Garden plants[note 1] Drowsyfern *0.9

These factors stack multiplicatively with each other. For example, if you have Lucky Day, Serendipity and the Sugar Blessing buff, then Tmax=900*0.5*0.5*0.9=202.5 seconds, Tmin=300*0.5*0.5*0.9=67.5 seconds and T=Tmax-Tmin=135 seconds.

Note that Cookie Chains are not affected by these factors and will always have Tmax=900*0.05=45 seconds, Tmin=300*0.05=15 seconds and T=Tmax-Tmin=30 seconds.

Useful tables[]

The tables below shows some common probabilities. You can reproduce the number by finding P-1:

Time between Golden Cookie Spawns (in seconds)
Chance With no upgrades With only "Lucky day" With "Lucky day" and "Serendipity"
0% (Tmin) 300 150 75
0.1% 349.9 178.0 90.7
1% 373.4 191.2 98.1
10% 408.6 210.9 109.2
25% 428.3 222.0 115.4
33.3% 435.9 226.3 117.8
Average (<t>) 446.562 232.251 121.158
50% 448.6 233.4 121.8
66.6% 460.5 240.0 125.5
75% 466.8 243.6 127.5
90% 481.5 251.9 132.1
99% 503.7 264.3 139.1
99.9% 518.0 272.3 143.6
100% (Tmax) 900 450 225

Golden Goose Egg, Heavenly Luck and Arcane Aura, as well as Startrade during the Business Day season, all multiply the min and max time by 95%. Starspawn during Easter, Starterror during Halloween, as well as Starlove during Valentine's Day, all multiply the min and max time by 98%. The following tables assume that you have Lucky day and Serendipity. With a single 98% upgrade active, the probabilities are:

Chance No 95% upgrades One 95% upgrade Two 95% upgrades Three 95% upgrades
0% (Tmin) 73.5 69.833 66.367 63.033
0.1% 89.0 84.7 80.6 76.6
1% 96.2 91.6 87.2 83.0
10% 107.1 102.0 97.2 92.6
25% 113.3 107.9 102.8 98.0
33.3% 115.6 110.2 105.0 100.0
Average (<t>) 118.887 113.317 108.001 102.940
50% 119.5 113.9 108.6 103.5
66.6% 123.2 117.4 112.0 106.7
75% 125.1 119.3 113.8 108.5
90% 129.7 123.7 118.0 112.5
99% 136.6 130.3 124.3 118.5
99.9% 140.9 134.5 128.3 122.4
100% (Tmax) 220.5 209.5 199.033 189.067

With no 98% upgrades active, the probabilities are:

Chance One 95% upgrade Two 95% upgrades Three 95% upgrades Four 95% upgrades
0% (Tmin) 71.267 67.7 64.333 61.1
0.1% 86.3 82.1 78.2 74.3
1% 93.4 88.9 84.7 80.6
10% 104.0 99.1 94.4 89.9
25% 110.0 104.8 99.9 95.2
33.3% 112.3 107.0 102.0 97.2
Average (<t>) 115.476 110.060 104.903 99.988
50% 116.1 110.7 105.5 100.5
66.6% 119.7 114.1 108.8 103.7
75% 121.6 115.9 110.5 105.4
90% 126.0 120.2 114.6 109.3
99% 132.7 126.6 120.7 115.1
99.9% 137.0 130.7 124.7 118.9
100% (Tmax) 213.767 203.067 192.933 183.267

Duration[]

The duration of a golden cookie is the amount of time it will last for before disappearing. Since you need to actually click on the golden cookie before it vanishes for it to actually have any effect, increasing the longevity of golden cookies makes it easier to find and activate them.

Factors[]

Type Name Factors
Upgrade Lucky Day 2
Upgrade Serendipity 2
Heavenly upgrade Decisive Fate 1.05
Heavenly upgrade Lucky Digit 1.01
Heavenly upgrade Lucky Number 1.01
Heavenly upgrade Lucky Payout 1.01
Garden Plants[note 2] Fool's Bolete *0.98
Garden Plants[note 2] Green Rot +0.005

Additionally, having at least 1 Golden Cookie currently on-screen will reduce the duration of any newly spawned Golden Cookies by 5% per pre-existing golden cookie. This reduction is multiplicative and stacks with all the factors listed above.

Effect Duration[]

Golden cookies have a chance to give you one of several different buffs, each of which has its own unique effect and duration. The table below gives a summary of the different buffs one can get and what they do, as well as the amount of time they last for.

Name of buff Effect Initial duration (seconds)
Frenzy 7x cookie production 77
Click Frenzy 777x cookies per click 13
Building Special Randomly picks 1 of the buildings you own

Grants (N/10+1)x cookie production (N = quantity of selected building)

30
Dragon Harvest 15x cookie production 60
Dragonflight 1,111x cookies per click 10

Note that the bottom 2 buffs are Krumblor-exclusive and can only be activated if their respective auras (Reaper of Fields & Dragonflight) are equipped.

Factors[]

The duration of the buffs shown above can be modified by a host of factors, which are listed in the table below:

Type Name Factors
Upgrade Get Lucky 2
Upgrade Green Yeast Digestives 1.01
Heavenly upgrade Lasting Fortune 1.1
Heavenly upgrade Lucky Digit 1.01
Heavenly upgrade Lucky Number 1.01
Heavenly upgrade Lucky Payout 1.01
Dragon aura Epoch Manipulator 1.05
Pantheon god Vomitrax, Spirit of Decadence 1.07/1.05/1.02
Garden plants[note 2] Gildmillet +0.001
Garden plants[note 2] Fool's Bolete +0.001
Garden plants[note 2] Queenbeet +0.003

Strategy[]

The Golden Cookie may fail to spawn the first time you start a new game on a browser with no saved Cookie Clicker data. This happens if minTime and maxTime do not get set properly. If you are going for a "true neverclick" run, reload Cookie Clicker after "Game saved" first appears (alternatively, save manually by pressing Ctrl+S).

Golden Cookies are more visible against the black background of the secondary windows in Cookie Clicker (Stats, Options, Info). If you've been waiting for a long time for a Golden Cookie, click into Stats. This will also make it impossible to accidentally proform actions such as selling stocks or harvesting crops while chasing down a fading cookie or during a Cookie Storm.

Before obtaining the Golden Cookie upgrades you can time roughly when the next one will appear based on when you clicked on the last one. The minimum time between each is 5 minutes without upgrades. This makes getting the 7 and 27 clicks needed to buy Lucky Day and Serendipity easier. After you get the upgrades there's less of a need to time them as they appear frequently. With both upgrades, if you get a Frenzy outcome; the earliest time a new Golden Cookie can spawn is thirty seconds before the frenzy ends.

By keeping a large sum of cookies in your bank, at any given point you can maximize the returns of the Lucky outcome. The maximum available from a Lucky outcome is 900 times your current CpS (15 minutes of production), or 15% of your current banked cookies. The game chooses the lower number, so for maximum gain from lucky cookies you need to have 6,000 times your CpS in the bank. If you have that amount in your bank, both upgrades and get all the Golden Cookies on average every 4 minutes and 50 seconds, you'll receive 15 minutes worth of production from Lucky and 7.7 minutes from Frenzy, which is equivalent to a 470% CpS bonus, not counting the other outcomes. This makes Lucky Day and Serendipity two of the most powerful upgrades in the game if you're willing to invest the time into watching for Golden Cookies.

On the other hand, banking cookies ties up resources that you could use to buy cookie-producing buildings instead. With Serendipity, and assuming you hit all Golden Cookies, each banked cookie earns 0.15 cookies on average every 290 seconds, so each additional average cookie-per-second from Lucky costs 1933⅓ cookies. As long as the price of buildings hasn't increased too much, buying them immediately without banking is a cheaper way to improve your CpS—especially because "Frenzy" applies only to building income (roughly doubling every building's effective CpS) but doesn't affect the interest rate from banking. If the building you're considering buying costs less than 1,933⅓ times twice its net CpS contribution, you should buy it as soon as you can afford it. In practical terms, if your antimatter condensers are upgraded to String theory but not Large macaron collider, you should start banking only when the next condenser will cost about 1,400,000 times your CpS multiplier. This threshold will be proportionally higher if you don't anticipate hitting all of the Golden Cookies.

  • A trick to make Golden Cookies easier to see is to resize the browser window to an area so the Golden Cookie is easily clicked. The Golden Cookie always appears somewhere within the area of the browser window. When the area is restricted in such a way it only takes a quick glance to check if a Golden Cookie has appeared.
  • This strategy is also very helpful during cookie chains and cookie storms. During cookie chains, golden and wrath cookies appear larger so you're less likely to break the chain by missing a cookie. Similarly during cookie storms, the cookies will appear over one another in a tight space, making it easier to click more cookies.

'Get Lucky' Upgrade[]

With the introduction of the Get Lucky upgrade, banking more than 42,000 seconds of cookies becomes a viable strategy. The doubled duration of the "Frenzy" outcome means Lucky Golden Cookies can potentially give you up to 900 times your CpS including the boost from the frenzy, or 6,300 times your base CpS (105 minutes of cookies!), assuming that the amount is less than 15% of your banked cookies. Due to the reduced probability of getting the same type of Golden Cookie twice in a row, the Golden Cookie following a Frenzy has almost a 90% chance of being a "Lucky". 

Once you have Get Lucky, the Click Frenzy can appear while already in a Frenzy. This combo can lead to massive cookie creation. If you also have all the "mouse" upgrades, giving you 14% {~21% with all other upgrades) of your CpS per click, with an average of 6 clicks per second for 25 seconds (you usually lose about a second moving the cursor onto the cookie), you can receive up to approximately almost a day of production, not including the clicking bonuses from the Cursor upgrades (excluded from the calculation because of how variable the bonuses are) which can boost the final result to well over half a day's worth of production. With keyboard clicking (like the MouseKeys feature) enabled, the total figure can easily be in the neighborhood of CpS*150,000.

Another Golden Cookie "combo" that is made possible by the increased effect durations granted by Get Lucky is a Frenzied Cookie Chain. The rewards at each level are not changed, but the income cap does take the Frenzy into account, therefore you may be able to get a higher "top reward" than you would otherwise get without the frenzy. (Specifically, this benefit occurs if the first seven significant figures of your base income lie between 1.028807 and 7.201646). Achieving this combo can grant a bonus of anywhere between 10800 and 75600 times the CpS, above what the chain would otherwise have given you.

Note that this also makes it entirely possible for a second "regular" Frenzy to occur whilst one is already in play. In this case, the effects stack in duration; note that even though the tooltip may still show as 154 seconds, saving and refreshing the page will show its true time. This statement is true for all golden cookie effects, except for building specials from a different building. [note 3]

The brinkmanship of knowing just how long to leave a cookie on-screen before clicking it in order to maximize your cookie production thus depends on having a good eye for the Frenzy's timer bar, in order to click it when just over 26 seconds are left in case of a Frenzy + Click Frenzy overlap combo. Keep in mind, however, that the amount of cookies lost by cutting a Frenzy short by a few seconds is relatively minimal, and that in most cases, clicking the Golden Cookies as soon as they appear is sufficient.

With Dragon's Fortune aura, your CpS is further increased by 123% for every Golden Cookie unclicked and on screen. This effect stacks the Frenzy + Lucky combo with a factor of 2.23. Combining this effect with 'Force the Hand of Fate' again stacks this effect for a total CpS factor of 4.97.

Following the example above, the first effect would give you 234 minutes of CpS for each Lucky obtained during a Frenzy. Combined with another on-screen Golden Cookie such as one from 'Force the Hand of Fate', this rises to 522 minutes of CpS!

'Cookie Storm' Strategy[]

Cookie Storm

During a 'Cookie Storm', a player can minimize their window or zoom all the way in so that all the Golden Cookies gather in one spot on the screen. This will let a player click as many Golden Cookies as possible and can be very helpful if a player is trying to collect all of the Easter eggs.

This can also be used for cookie chains.

Note: as of version 2.044, the layout after resizing your browser now makes it so golden cookies will spawn more spread apart, and are also slightly smaller.

Trivia[]

  • Golden Cookie effects, achievements, and upgrades all incorporate the number seven in some form; for example, "Frenzy" gives the player 7x production for 77 seconds, while the "Leprechaun" achievement requires clicking 777 Golden Cookies. This phenomenon is a reference to how Western cultures view seven as a lucky number.
  • The "Frenzy" effect previously provided the player x2 cookie production for 60 seconds.
  • The "Lucky" effect previously gave the player 20% (currently 15%) of their current cookies plus 13.
  • The upgrade "Get Lucky" and its flavor text are a reference to the Daft Punk song by the same name.
  • The flavor text of the "Fortune" achievement could also be a reference to the song.
  • In rare instances, it is possible for a Cookie Chain to end on the first cookie. If this happens, the number of cookies earned depends on the stage the chain started on.
  • All Golden Cookie-related achievements are based on all time clicks, not clicks from the current game.
  • The only two Golden Cookie achievements which involve a number that isn't a multiple of 7 are "A stroke of luck" and "Seven Horseshoes", which need 27 and 27777 golden cookie clicks respectively. This may be a reference to the number of bones in the human hand, the part of the body which would normally do the clicking.
  • Because Golden Cookie-related upgrades are based on all-time clicks, if you unlock the 'Get Lucky' upgrade and reset, once you click one golden cookie, all three upgrades become available.
  • According to a news statement, Golden Cookies taste "somewhere between spearmint and liquorice".
  • The "Fortune" achievement's achievement ID is, probably intentionally, 77. The "Fortune" achievement requires you to click on 77 cookies.
  • Golden Cookies take on a different appearance depending on which Season is active:
  • The player can see how many Golden Cookies you have clicked in the Stats menu. The menu also used to include the number of Golden Cookies you didn't click, but Orteil disabled the feature because many players were complaining that it was "messing with their OCD". However, the number of missed clicks can still be found by typing Game.missedGoldenClicks into the console.

Notes[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The factors of all garden plants will stack first, then the inverse is combined with other factors multiplicatively in the table. The way that garden factors stack (multiplicatively or additively) depends on the type of the plants and the order of stacking depends on the position of the plants.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The factors of all garden plants will stack first, then combine with other factors multiplicatively in the table. The way that garden factors stack (multiplicatively or additively) depends on the type of the plants, and the order of stacking depends on the position of the plants.
  3. In versions prior to 2.022, golden cookie effects do not stack; instead, it merely resets the duration of the 7x multiplier back to 154 seconds immediately following the second Golden Cookie click, not after the expiry of the first Frenzy. In even earlier versions, triggering an Elder Frenzy (666x multiplier for 12 seconds) does not stack the multipliers, but instead replaces the Frenzy with the Elder Frenzy entirely.
Interactive Objects
PerfectCookie
Big Cookie
GoldCookie
Golden Cookie
SpoopierCookie
Wrath Cookie
Wrinkler - 1
Wrinkler
Raindeer
Reindeer
Santaclaus
Santa
DragonAdultStage01
Krumblor
ShinyWrinkler
Shiny wrinkler
Category:Interactive Objects
Cookie Clicker game mechanics
Cookies Cookie ClickerClickingBuildings
General AchievementsGolden CookiesMilkSugar LumpsNews TickerOptionsCheating
Cookies per Second (CpS)Cookies per Click (CpC)
Upgrades Upgrades overview
Multipliers: Flavored CookiesKittens
Research: GrandmapocalypseWrath CookiesWrinklersShiny wrinklers
Ascension AscensionHeavenly ChipsChallenge Mode
Seasons Seasons overview
Valentine's DayBusiness DayEasterHalloweenChristmas
Minigames Minigames overview
GardenStock MarketPantheonGrimoire
Further reading Gameplay
Advertisement