What Is This Event?
A hotpot cooking minigame set at Simmer Hot Pot restaurant in Lumina Square. You're selecting ingredients, managing food card effects, and scooping items from a bubbling pot to hit target scores. No combat. No agent selection. Your roster is completely irrelevant here.
Requirements: Inter-Knot Level 20 + Main Story Chapter 1 Intermission. Low bars — most active players cleared these ages ago. New accounts should hit both within a few hours of normal play.
Phase Unlock Schedule
| Phase | Unlock Date | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Search for Freshness Stage 1 | March 25, 2026 | Clear Soup & Beef theme |
| Search for Freshness Stage 2 | March 26, 2026 | New ingredient set |
| Search for Freshness Stage 3 | March 27, 2026 | Final stage |
| Exquisite Tastes (I) | March 25, 2026 | Milestone track begins |
| Exquisite Tastes (II) | March 26, 2026 | Second milestone tier |
| Exquisite Tastes (III) | March 27, 2026 | Final milestone tier |
Everything's accessible by March 27. Starting mid-April? You're not locked out — all content is already waiting.
How the Minigame Works
Select ingredients and food cards before each round, then scoop items from the pot using limited attempts to trigger effects and accumulate score. The depth is in how you sequence your cards — order matters more than most players expect.
Food Card Effects (Complete List)
| Food Card | Effect |
|---|---|
| Hot Dogboo | Discover 1 Legendary food card |
| Cheese Boowich | Discover 2 Rare food cards |
| Tasty Boo-Burger | Discover 1 owned Rare+ food card |
| Fried Dumplingboo | Random Legendary card in inventory gains +1 quantity |
| Baoboo | All Rare cards in inventory gain +1 quantity |
| Braised Beef Boodles | Max inventory cards +1 |
| Boosicle | All food in pot clusters together while scooping |
| Strawberry Sweetboo | Scoop Attempts +1 |
| Stuffed Boo | Ladle size increases |
| Milkboo | Scooping 2 identical foods adds 1 more of that food to pot |
| Sodaboo | Scooping ≥4 foods adds 1 owned inventory food to pot |
| Cornboo | Start of turn, transforms 2 non-Premium items to Premium |
Optimal Card Sequence (Community-Tested)
Phase 1 — Early rounds: Lead with Strawberry Sweetboo + Stuffed Boo. Extra scoop attempt plus larger ladle creates a multiplicative effect — you're grabbing significantly more food per round than either card alone. This is the foundation.
Phase 2 — Mid rounds: Add Sodaboo once your ladle is large. The ≥4 food threshold becomes consistently reachable with a big ladle. Running Sodaboo before Stuffed Boo is the most common mistake — without the larger ladle, you'll frequently scoop 2-3 items and the effect never fires.
Phase 3 — Late rounds: Stack Cornboo + Fried Dumplingboo. Cornboo converts non-Premium items to Premium, then Fried Dumplingboo boosts your Legendary card quantities. This maximizes your score ceiling in final rounds.
Bonus: Boosicle pairs exceptionally well with Stuffed Boo — clustering means your large ladle scoops a dense group instead of scattered items.
One practical note: if a stage completion fails to register in the UI, restart the client before replaying. Replaying without restarting can cause progress not to save correctly.
Complete Reward Breakdown
Two separate tracks run simultaneously. Most players find Search for Freshness naturally. Exquisite Tastes lives in a separate UI tab and is the single most commonly missed reward source in this event.
Search for Freshness Rewards
- 540 Polychrome
- 36 Senior Investigator Log
- 90,000 Denny
Exquisite Tastes Rewards (All Three Parts)
- 360 Polychrome
- 12 W-Engine Energy Module
- 60,000 Denny
Full Event Summary
| Reward | Total |
|---|---|
| Polychrome | 1,100 |
| Original Chip | 40 |
| Hamster Cage Pass | 1 |
| Senior Investigator Log | 36 |
| W-Engine Energy Module | 12 |
| Denny | 255,000 |
| A-Rank W-Engine (The Simmering Pot) | 1 (missions + shop) |
The Simmering Pot is a Stun-type W-Engine. Worth grabbing even if it's not immediately BiS — the upgrade fodder value alone justifies the shop purchase.
Hidden Milestones Most Players Miss
The Exquisite Tastes Blind Spot
360 Polychrome is sitting in a tab most players never open. Exquisite Tastes (I), (II), and (III) unlock on the same schedule as Search for Freshness stages but appear in a completely separate section of the event UI. Players who jump straight into the cooking minigame often complete the entire event without touching this tab once.
Fix: every time you log in for event content, open Exquisite Tastes first and claim whatever's available. The milestones track your overall event progress automatically — minimal active play required.
Mailbox Rewards After Story Chapters
After completing each event story chapter, check your in-game mailbox. Extra Polychrome is delivered there and doesn't appear in the main event interface. Easy to miss if you're in the habit of ignoring the mailbox during events.
Side Quest Materials
Completing event side quests yields Overclock materials with a very favorable time-to-reward ratio. These aren't tracked in the main milestone UI, so players who skip optional content miss them entirely. The time investment is low — don't skip these.
Quick audit: Open your event menu right now. Unclaimed items in the Exquisite Tastes tab? That's Polychrome you nearly left behind.
Event Shop Priority Guide
Don't spend randomly. Here's the order:
- The Simmering Pot (A-Rank W-Engine) — Buy this first, no exceptions. Free A-Rank Stun W-Engine that would otherwise require pulls or crafting.
- W-Engine Energy Module (×12) — Consistent utility across multiple agents. Grab all 12 after securing the W-Engine.
- Senior Investigator Log (×36) — Agent EXP material. Lower urgency, but clear it if currency remains.
- Denny and common materials — Deprioritize. Spend leftover currency here rather than let it expire, but don't let the shop distract you from completing actual stages.
Polychrome is not purchasable in the event shop — it only comes from completing stages and milestones. No shortcut exists. There's also no daily earning cap; work through content as fast as the time gates allow.
If you're planning to use your 1,100 Polychrome on 2.7 banners and want to stretch your pulls further, Zenless Zone Zero top up discount April 2026 options are worth checking — getting Genesis Crystals at better rates means your event Polychrome goes further when combined with a top-up.
Time-Limited Rewards Checklist
Everything vanishes permanently on May 5, 2026. No conversion, no carry-over, no grace period.
What disappears on May 5:
- All unspent event currency
- The Simmering Pot W-Engine (if not claimed from shop)
- Unclaimed Exquisite Tastes milestones
- Mailbox rewards from story chapters
Daily login routine:
- Check Exquisite Tastes tab — claim available milestones
- Complete any available Search for Freshness stages
- Check mailbox for story chapter rewards
- Progress side quests if not yet done
Stages are one-time completions, not daily resets. Once you've cleared all three Search for Freshness stages and all three Exquisite Tastes parts, your remaining job is claiming rewards and spending shop currency before the deadline.
Joined Late? Fast-Track Catch-Up Guide
A mid-April start is fully completable before May 5. All stages unlock by March 27 — no content gating stops a late joiner from accessing everything immediately.
With 3–5 days left: Complete Search for Freshness stages first (540 Polychrome), then claim all Exquisite Tastes milestones (360 Polychrome), then buy The Simmering Pot. You can realistically capture all 1,100 Polychrome and the W-Engine in this window.
With 1–2 days left: Prioritize in this exact order — Exquisite Tastes claims first (fastest Polychrome, minimal effort), then Search for Freshness stages, then shop purchases. Skip side quests if time is critically short. Don't skip the mailbox check.
The 1,100 Polychrome total equals roughly 5–6 Masterwork Stash pulls. Worth the effort even starting late.
The title reward — VIP Shoppa the Explorer — unlocks by completing all event story chapters. Cosmetic only, but worth noting for completionists.
For players combining event Polychrome with a top-up to maximize 2.7 banner pulls, Zenless Zone Zero cheap genesis crystals recharge online at BitTopup offers competitive rates with fast delivery.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I unlock Chronicle of Simmering Flavors in ZZZ 2.7? Inter-Knot Level 20 + Main Story Chapter 1 Intermission. Once met, the event appears in your event menu from March 25, 2026.
How much Polychrome does this event give? 1,100 total — 540 from Search for Freshness, 360 from Exquisite Tastes, remainder from event missions and mailbox rewards. None of it is purchasable in the shop; all of it requires completing the content.
What should I buy first in the event shop? The Simmering Pot W-Engine, without question. Then W-Engine Energy Modules (×12), then Senior Investigator Logs (×36). Spend everything before May 5.
Are there missable rewards? Yes. Exquisite Tastes milestones are in a separate UI tab representing 360 Polychrome that's easy to skip entirely. Mailbox rewards after story chapters are also commonly overlooked. Neither requires extra gameplay — just navigation awareness.
Do I need specific agents for this event? No. The hotpot minigame is completely independent of your combat roster.
Can I still complete the event starting in late April? Yes. All stages unlock by March 27, so everything is already accessible. Full completion — all 1,100 Polychrome and The Simmering Pot — is achievable in a single extended session. Hard deadline is May 5, 2026.
Is Sodaboo worth using early? Only after Stuffed Boo's large ladle effect is active. Without it, you'll frequently scoop only 2–3 items and Sodaboo's effect never triggers. Sequence matters — large ladle first, then Sodaboo.
