Gardenscapes: How to Complete Prisoners of Bear Mountain

To complete the Prisoners of Bear Mountain expedition event in Gardenscapes, focus exclusively on the main rescue path by removing only the obstacles highlighted by your active quest objective. Conserve your event energy for mandatory barriers such as stone walls and mine debris. Once you reach and rescue the trapped children to conclude the storyline, backtrack through the mine shafts to open resource chests and retrieve remaining collectibles.

Navigating the Rescue Path

The expedition map is covered in fog that disperses only when you remove adjacent obstacles. Tap the current objective icon in the event task list to place an active locator beacon on the next target. This highlights the exact obstacle blocking your team.

Prioritize story waypoints over opening wide corridors:

• Carve single-tile paths directly toward the tracked objective to minimize energy expenditure.
• Advance the main path to expand map visibility, which reveals hidden energy caches, tool crates, and explosive barrels.
• Complete primary quest actions—such as clearing fallen boulders, repairing minecart tracks, and opening locked gates—to unlock new sections of the mine.

Managing Expedition Energy

Clearing mine debris requires expedition energy, a resource separate from standard puzzle lives. Energy regenerates over time until it reaches its maximum capacity.

To maximize your energy budget:

• Spend down your energy pool before closing the game or playing consecutive match-3 levels to avoid sitting at the regeneration cap.
• Tap obstacles to inspect their energy costs before clearing them, checking nearby tiles for cheaper alternate routes through cracked walls or wood barriers.
• Target energy-restoring resource nodes and generators when they sit directly alongside your active path.
• Save bonus energy bottles obtained from puzzle-level streaks for high-cost story barriers.

Handling Obstacles and Explosives

Tunnels are filled with stone walls, timber beams, rubble, and decorative plants. Heavy stone structures carry the highest energy costs, but they are often unavoidable along the main trail.

Whenever you encounter high-cost clusters, scan the area for interactive TNT casks or detonator switches. Spending energy to trigger a single explosive clears multiple adjacent obstacles at a fraction of the cost of clearing each rock tile individually. Never clear individual stone tiles manually if a usable detonator or explosive barrel sits nearby.

Expedition Priorities and Collectibles

Side chambers contain golden chests, toolboxes, and event relics that yield booster timers, coins, and event badges. To prevent running out of energy before finishing the story, leave dead-end alcoves covered until the primary rescue is complete.

Earning Energy Through Match-3 Levels

Expedition progress is funded by solving standard Gardenscapes puzzle levels. Beating levels on your first try provides the highest energy payouts and maintains active win-streak bonuses.

If you hit a difficult puzzle level, equip starting boosters like Double Bombs or Rainbow Blasts to protect your streak. Pair your expedition runs with active board events to maximize the bonus energy returned per level, keeping your exploration funded until all prisoners are rescued and all mine rewards are secured.