Leene Square - Vendors
Ahhhh, the Millennial Fair. It only happens once every thousand years, and it's a bustling hub of business, entertainment, and excitement rolled into one happy package. There are, as you can imagine, many things to do here, and you'll be revisiting the fair a number of times over the course of your journey. You'll find the Millennial Fair, labeled on the map as 'Leene's Square', to the north of Crono's House.
Before we move on, you should note the two vendors working at the fair. The first, in a tent to the west, is just a normal guy with a few basic pieces of equipment. The second, on a rug to the east, is a fellow named Melchior. In addition to selling Silver Swords, which you probably can't afford (though you'll become wildly overpowered if you save up enough money), Melchior plays a major role in the events of the story. Expect to see him again, many times.
The primary draw of the Millennial Fair is its Silver Points system. There are several attractions at the fair which will test your abilities, ranging from combat to reflexes to observation. Before we move on with the story - which requires trekking north of the main square - we'll have a look at the various games you can play.
Racing
On the east side of the fair is a man in a pavilion, and next to him is a sort of race track that creates a rough oval around the fairgrounds. Every now and then four runners will race over and line up near the pavilion. Once they do this you can speak to the man at the pavilion and try to guess who will win the next race. You can then watch the four run cockwise around the track, and if you guessed the winner correctly you'll receive 20 Silver Points.
There are two ways to grease this race in your favor:
- First, speak to the old man on the right side of the track, near the starting line. He provides a guess as to who is likely to win next, and he's usually right.
- Second, run the course with the racers, and run up against the racers you don't want to win. Tap the Confirm button while doing this and you'll slow the racers down a bit. Some racers move too quickly to be stopped, but this strategy can help your choice come out on top in a pinch.
Strongman Bell Ringing
On the west side of the fairgrounds is a Strongman Bell Ringing contest. Inspect the bell and Crono will slide back. Press the confirm button and he'll fling himself at the tower, attempting to knock a puck up into the bell and make it ring. Succeed and you'll receive 1 Silver Point.
You need to time the button tap just perfectly to get the bell, though once you figure out the timing this is a godo (albeit slow) way to earn Silver Points. If you look on the right side of the screen you'll see a fence in front of one of the vendors, and if you wait until Crono is lined up with that fence before hitting the button you should ring the bell.
Gato Battle
This is moving ahead a bit, but if you go north one screen and then head west you'll find a side area with a sizable robot. This is Gato, the singing wonder, and he'll challenge your team to a battle. If you win Gato will give you 15 Silver Points. Gato has 76 HP and can be defeated rather swiftly by anyone, short of Crono at the first level. Wait for Gato to wander away and his counterattacks won't even go off.
Gato is by far the quickest way to earn Silver Points at the Millennial Fair, so whenever you want some, feel free to pummel this poor robot. (And enjoy the song!)
Soda Guzzling
Again moving head a bit, you can find another Silver Point contest on the northern screen, this time to the east. There's a man standing at a table, and he'll challenge you to a soda-drinking contest. Rapidly tap the confirm button to knock down sodas before an invisible timer runs out (it's about ten seconds). If you can make eight cans appear on the table, the man will give you 5 Silver Points. A decent way to earn Silver Points, though your hand might start to hurt after a while.
Tent of Horrors
If you speak to the man in the pavilion on the northern screen of the fair - he's on your left, near the bell - he'll offer to take your Silver Points off of you. Bring him ten Silver Points and he'll give you 50 G. A decent way to earn some early money - but, in the long run, a waste of Silver Points. There's a better place to spend them, and that's at the Tent of Horrors.
Owned by Norstein Bekkler, the Tent of Horrors is a repository of challenging minigames that allow you to spend Silver Points for a chance to win some fun - but ultimately non-essential - prizes. You'll have to visit the Tent of Horrors at some point, much later in the game, though for now you can play along with Bekkler and see how you do. You'll need 40 Silver Points later on, so you may want to just hold on to your winnings for now. We'll discuss the Tent of Horrors in another section of the guide.
Head to the northern section of the fair once you're done playing around. If you came up here earlier you'll have spotted a girl in white, wandering around the central bell. If you get too close to her Crono will bump into her, and she'll drop her Pendant. To progress the game you need to grab the Pendant, speak to the girl, and give it back.
This girl, it turns out, is a party member, and her default name is Marle. Marle wants an escort, and Crono will ultimately have to let her tag along. At this point Marle will join the party as your second character. Marle is a healer with a ranged crossbow, and a good support unit for Crono. If you want you can lead her away from the Millennial Fair and guide her around the kingdom a bit. (Introducing Marle to Crono's mother leads to some extra dialogue. The same goes for all of his comrades, as the game progresses.)
As soon as you get Marle in your party, a veiled - but ultimately somewhat important - minigame comes into play. From now until the point that you leave the Millenial Fair, Crono's actions will be gauged for their, ah, 'appropriateness'. Without spoiling anything, the following actions have both positive and negative consequences:
- Picking up the Pendant before talking to Marle
- Not giving the Pendant back on the first go
- Refusing to accompany Marle around the Millennial Fair on the first go
- Finding a little girl's cat (the cat is sitting on the west side of the fair's northern half, and the little girl is waiting on the east side of the fair's northern half)
- Eating an old man's sandwich (it's a pink bundle sitting on a table on the west side of the fair's northern half)
- Speaking to Melchior and agreeing to ask Marle if she'll sell her Pendant
- Trying to drag Marle away when she's buying candy (you'll see this last one automatically in a moment)
Act the gentleman and you'll swing an iportant event in Crono's favor, a bit later in the game. It doesn't really matter if you treat Marle well or not, but... Crono's a hero, right? Be nice.
Once you're done looking around - the only thing we didn't discuss was a jungle dance party near the soda-guzzling contest, though that's just for show - head back to the main part of the square and speak to one of the two girls lingering by the fountain. They'll tell you that one of the fair's main attractions is ready to go. Head to the far north to see it. Once Marle is done looking at candy you'll be allowed to pass into the final section of the Millennial Fair.
Numerous things happen once you trigger the next cut scene, thanks in large part to Lucca. Hop onto her Telepod invention when invited, then speak to Marle to trigger a rather important event. That done, pick up her dropped Pendant to jump to the next section of the game. This where things start to get a little crazy.