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Paper Drift Halloween Event 2026: Dates, Map and Rewards
Paper Drift's Halloween event runs 19 October to 8 November: a haunted manor map, the Spectre boss, 11 window figures and a Jack-o'-Lantern plane to earn.
Paper Drift’s Halloween event runs every year from 19 October to 8 November, and the first one opens on 19 October 2026. For three weeks a haunted manor map joins the Endless tour, with ghosts that are solid while they glow, a new boss called the Spectre, eleven window figures to collect, and a Jack-o’-Lantern plane and a Pumpkin Drop trail to earn. It’s free, and everything you collect stays when the event ends.
When is the Paper Drift Halloween event?
| Opens | Closes | First edition | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 October, every year | 8 November | 2026 | Free |
The event follows the game’s UTC day, the same clock the Daily Drift turns over on, so it starts and ends at the same moment for everyone.
The haunted manor map
The Halloween map is the game’s first seasonal world: “Pumpkins at dusk, a crypt by midnight.” Its girders are wood, leaves drift through the air, and every 100 points the scenery changes between four scenes: a pumpkin patch under an orange sky, a moonlit manor, graveyard fog and a crypt at midnight.
How to get there
During the event the manor joins the Endless tour. Every 400 points a run moves on to another map, and the first time yours flies into the manor you get a “MAP UNLOCKED!” card: from then on, runs can start there. While the event is on, some days’ Daily Drift is flown on the Halloween map too, and once you have reached it you can pick it for a two-player Race. See it next to the other worlds on the worlds page.
Ghosts that are solid while they glow
The manor’s own obstacle is a ghost stretched out from the wall. The in-game tip says it all: “Solid while they glow: slip through as they fade.” Wait for the fade, then go. Some stretches of the map are whole processions of them, announced on screen with “GHOSTS!”.
The Spectre, the manor’s boss
Every map event that hunts the plane is a boss, and the manor’s is the Spectre. It lays a shadow on your plane that gathers for about a second, then a ghost appears exactly where the shadow was. The shadow falls with you, so the only way out is sideways. The tip: “Get out of its shadow before the ghost appears.” When two shadows appear, one on each side of you, stay where you are.
The other five bosses are in our guide to every boss in Paper Drift.
Halloween window figures
Figures appear in the windows of the shaft in Endless and Daily Drift. Tap one to take it: you get 10 coins and the figure goes on your Showcase shelf. The Halloween shelf holds eleven, filed under EVENTS in the Showcase:
| Figure | Rarity | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Pip | Common | The manor’s windows |
| Sheet | Common | The manor’s windows |
| Inkwell | Common | The manor’s windows |
| Flit & Flap | Rare | The manor’s windows |
| Wrappy | Rare | The manor’s windows |
| Madame Hex | Mythic | The manor’s windows |
| Count Fangsworth | Legendary | The manor’s windows |
| King Gourd | Ultra | The manor’s windows |
| Boo Nib | Rare | Any map’s windows, during the event |
| Trick or Twins | Mythic | Any map’s windows, during the event |
| Lantern Foreman | Legendary | Any map’s windows, during the event |
The last three are the Classic factory crew in costume. Nib hides under a sheet, the twins wear pumpkin overalls, and the Foreman has a carved pumpkin for a hat and a lantern for a bell. None of them is common: an event figure is a find.
Rarer figures only show up deeper into a run: a rare from 60 points, a mythic from 150, a legendary from 300 and an ultra from 500, and even then only now and then. King Gourd, “a crowned pumpkin that burns in every colour there is”, is the prize of the season. A new figure arrives wrapped in its case until you tap it open.
The Jack-o’-Lantern plane and the Pumpkin Drop trail
Two cosmetics belong to the event, and both wear the event’s badge in the Hangar:
- Jack-o’-Lantern, “a carved pumpkin, folded into a dart, candle and all.” Earn it by taking 4 different figures on the Halloween map. Three of the manor’s eight are common, so the fourth is at least a rare: you’ll need a run past 60 points on the map and a tap on the right window.
- Pumpkin Drop, a trail that drops pumpkins behind your plane. Earn it by scoring 200 on the Halloween map.
Both can only be earned during the event, and not before its first day: until 19 October 2026 the Hangar shows them with “Available from 19 October”. Once you own them, the Hangar sells colourways for coins: Ghost, Witch and Midnight for the plane, and Souls, Candy and Bats for the trail, which change what it drops. Like every unlock in Paper Drift they are purely cosmetic: the Jack-o’-Lantern flies exactly like the plane you started with.
Halloween quests
The manor has its own ladder of mastery quests, from “Dodge 100 obstacles in the Halloween map” up to 10,000:
| Quest | Obstacles dodged in the Halloween map |
|---|---|
| Trick or Treat | 100 |
| Pumpkin Patch | 500 |
| Grave Shift | 1,000 |
| Haunted Hand | 2,500 |
| Night Terror | 5,000 |
| Headless Pilot | 10,000 |
During the event, Been Everywhere, “Visit all 8 maps”, appears as well. These quests step aside when the event ends, keep their progress, and come back with it next year.
What stays after 8 November
When the event closes, the manor rests: no run starts there, the tour skips it and it leaves the Daily Drift. Everything you earned stays:
- Your figures stay on their shelf.
- The Jack-o’-Lantern and Pumpkin Drop stay in your Hangar, to fly all year.
- Your best score on the map stays in your records.
- Your quest progress waits for next year.
On 19 October the next year, the map, its figures and its quests all come back.
Tips for the event
- Unlock the manor early. Play Endless runs long enough to change maps, or fly the Daily Drift on a Halloween day.
- Tap every window, on every map. The costumed crew can turn up in any map’s windows while the event is on.
- Go deep for the rare ones. Nothing past common appears before 60 points, and King Gourd needs 500.
- For the plane, stay in the manor. Only the manor’s own eight figures count toward the Jack-o’-Lantern.
- Learn the Spectre. Slide sideways as the shadow appears, and hold still when two frame you.
New to Paper Drift? Start with the beginner’s guide before 19 October, and you’ll be ready for the manor.
Questions
When is the Paper Drift Halloween event?
Every year from 19 October to 8 November. The first one opens on 19 October 2026.
How do I get the Jack-o'-Lantern plane?
Take 4 different figures from the Halloween map's windows during the event. The Pumpkin Drop trail is for scoring 200 on the Halloween map. Neither can be earned before 19 October 2026.
How do I reach the Halloween map?
It joins the Endless tour during the event. Every 400 points a run moves on to another map, and the first time you fly into the manor it unlocks, so later runs can start there. On some days the Daily Drift is flown on it too.
What happens when the Halloween event ends?
The Halloween map stops flying until next year, but you keep everything you collected: the figures, the Jack-o'-Lantern plane, the Pumpkin Drop trail and your best score on the map.
Does the Halloween event cost anything?
No. The event is free for every player, and everything in it is earned by playing.
