The hidden key is the run's win condition. The official text says to peel potatoes to find it, then unlock the vault. It does not give a coordinate, a potato number, or a drop rate.
What reviewed runs actually saw
- The key showed up late, after a long stretch of ordinary peeling.
- Two reviewed runs did not find it at the same point, so a fixed peel count is not reliable.
- One recorded route described it as a key-shaped object in the peels, picked up on the spot.
- Claims that it is always a random potato, or that it appears at exactly 2,500 peels, are guesses. 2,500 is the Hand Peeler checkpoint in those runs, not a key rule.
An empty first half of the pile is normal. Digging deeper holes instead of peeling did not surface the key in the recorded route that tested that idea.
Search without wasting the stations
There is no confirmed grid pattern or mid-depth spawn rule. What does move the search forward is throughput:
- Collect in batches your bag can hold.
- Peel them instead of letting a queue sit.
- Sell, then buy the slowest step.
- Scan what you just processed. The key is easy to walk past if you only watch the untouched mountain.
Gold, diamond, and rainbow potatoes are income. Official media shows a rainbow potato with an E Grab prompt. A painted rarity mark on that promotional image is not a confirmed drop rate, so it is not listed here as one.
The moment it appears
Stop the grind. Pick up the key and use it at the vault. The escape records the finish. Standing around to clear every remaining potato is not required by the official objective.
If the vault does not open, confirm you are holding the key and that you are at the vault door, not at another station. No special dialogue or second key has been documented.
Co-op
Other players remove potatoes too. That can reveal the key sooner, and it can also mean someone else is processing the section you wanted. Wallets are described as separate in co-op route notes, so agree who buys a shared machine before one player spends the Cash.