Eat THE Ice Cream Find the Key & Open the Door
Dig routes for the lost house keys, Home Sweet Home, and sub-15 Speedrunner clears.
The emotional payoff of Eat THE Ice Cream is simple: somewhere inside the giant ice cream mountain are your lost house keys. Dig them up, walk to the front door, and clear Home Sweet Home. This guide focuses on search patterns, what to ignore, and how to convert a key find into a finished run — including the Speedrunner badge for door opens under 15 minutes.
If you still need the Scooper, read Getting Started and Spoon Upgrades first. Searching on the starter spoon works; it just wastes clock.
Win condition
- Reveal the house key from inside the mountain
- Path to the front door without dying to unmanaged freeze
- Open the door → Home Sweet Home badge + run complete fantasy
Do not keep digging for fun after the key drops unless you are intentionally farming sweets/candy badges in the same session.
Search patterns that work
Wide sweeps beat deep spirals
Beginners bore a single vertical shaft and miss lateral pockets. Instead:
- Open a wide face on the mountain
- Sweep left-right bands while descending
- Revisit upper bands after upgrades increase carve size
- Mark empty zones mentally so you do not re-chew void
Sweets and candy nodes are sprinkled through the volume — the same habit finds Sweet Finder (10 sweets) and Candy Hunter (100 candy) while you hunt the key.
Listen for player callouts
With up to 16 players, someone else may uncover the key neighborhood. Friendly lobbies share; sweaty Speedrunner lobbies may not. Watch movement spikes toward the door as a tell that a key spawned.
Manage Brain Freeze mid-search
A freeze with the key already in inventory is still a fail if the timer matters. Pre-warm near booths before committing to a deep pocket. Hard Mode storms make this mandatory.
Speedrunner route (under 15 minutes)
Speedrunner demands key + door in fifteen minutes. Suggested discipline:
- Instant mountain entry — no cosmetic browsing
- Buy Scooper ASAP if not owned (or reset on a geared alt)
- Skip Santa gifts, snowball fights, and penguin shopping
- Wide-sweep dig only; no vanity tunnels
- The moment the key appears, sprint door — no “one more sweet”
- If frozen hard at minute 10 with no key, reset rather than limp
Practice once without the timer to learn door geography, then go for the badge. Details also sit in the badges list.
What the key is not
- Not replaced by Chapter 2 hatch progress (different objective layer)
- Not granted by codes (and no codes work right now anyway)
- Not guaranteed in the deepest voxel — mid layers are fair game
- Not a group loot lock; treat inventory rules as live-game authoritative if contested
Dual farming: key + exploration badges
If you are not speedrunning, let the search finish other badges:
| While searching | Progress |
|---|---|
| Sweets | Sweet Finder |
| Candy | Candy Hunter (even better in Hard Mode x1.5) |
| Bites | First Bites → Big Appetite chain |
| Cash | Money Bags toward tool ladder |
Then finish at the door so Home Sweet Home lands in the same session.
After Home Sweet Home
Celebrate once, then branch:
- Push mega vacuum on spoon upgrades
- Enter Chapter 2 NEW mountain / bunker
- Try Hard Mode for FROST RACER
- Complete remaining badges
- Roll classes toward NEAPOLITAN on the classes list
Common key-hunt mistakes
- Tunnel vision shafts
- Shopping skins mid-search
- Ignoring freeze until the timer dies
- Forgetting where the front door is (scout it at spawn)
- Staying to flex snow cannon after the key drops during a Speedrunner attempt
Related pages
The mountain is large, but the objective is small: key, door, home. Dig wide, thaw smart, and run when the key shines.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
Where is the house key?
Hidden inside the ice cream mountain volume. Sweep wide bands instead of one deep hole; location varies by dig state.
What do I do after I find the key?
Go straight to the front door and open it for Home Sweet Home. Do not keep sightseeing if you care about time.
How do I get the Speedrunner badge?
Find the key and open the door in under 15 minutes. Buy the Scooper first and skip side content.
Can friends help me find the key?
Yes. Callouts in a 16-player server speed searches, though Speedrunner timing still depends on your door open.
Does Chapter 2 change the key hunt?
Chapter 2 adds a NEW mountain hatch and bunker fantasy. The classic Home Sweet Home key/door loop remains the base clear — learn it before bunker challenges.