Hospital Helpers tips: hints, badges and common mistakes
The best tip for Hospital Helpers is simple: read what the patient and the experts say, because the answers are hidden in their words. There is no timer and no way to lose, so take your time. This page lists the tips that help most, the mistakes new helpers often make and how the Hint button works.
Tips for your first patients
- Listen to the patient. Sam played football in the long grass. That is the answer to "What made Sam itch?" Noor works through lunch. That explains the blood test.
- Ask yourself: what are we trying to find out? Pick the test that answers the question. A bone question needs an X-ray. Being tired for weeks needs a blood test. Soft parts need the MRI scanner.
- Not every patient needs a test. A healthy patient, or one who is healing as planned, gets No test needed. That is a good answer, not a lazy one.
- Read the expert's words. "Just under the skin" means Close to the top. "A small break" means the picture with the gap.
- Always read the name band. The team check asks who the patient is. The other name is often very close: Ida and Ines, Adam and Ada.
- Plan cards tell a little story. First what we found, then what we do, then what happens next.
- Be kind. When a patient tells a secret or a fib, the kind answer is the right one: "Thank you for telling me", or "You are not in trouble. What happened?"
- Breathing comes first. When two patients need you, help the one who struggles to breathe. A sore ankle can wait a little.
Hint and Help me finish
Press Hint (H, Y or the Hint button) and the game shows you where things go. Press it a second time and the button says Help me finish: a colleague finishes the job with you, and the story goes on. You can press Hint at any time during a job.
The game also offers help by itself. "Want a hint?" appears after you have been still for a while, or after a few misses. A miss is a wrong answer, a piece put down in the wrong place, or a card dropped in the wrong spot. The game does not show these numbers, but this is when the offer comes:
| Shift | Still for | Or after |
|---|---|---|
| Shift 1 | 10 seconds | 1 miss |
| Shift 2 | 15 seconds | 2 misses |
| Shifts 3 to 5 | 20 seconds | 2 misses |
Help me finish never costs you Craft or Clues. It only costs Care if you use it on a comfort choice, because then the colleague picked instead of you. Read more on badges, stickers and curiosity cards.
Common mistakes and quick fixes
| Problem | Why it happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A piece will not click in | It is turned the wrong way | Press Turn left or Turn right (Q/R, LB/RB) until it matches the outline |
| A piece will not click in, and it is turned right | It is not close enough yet | Move it right onto the outline. It clicks in by itself |
| The hand gel is not done | Not enough of the hands is covered | Sweep over the dotted squares. They show the parts that are still bare |
| You cannot find the hidden spot | The ring is too far away | Move slowly. The ring gets bolder as you get closer |
| The game says "What are we trying to find out?" | You picked a test that does not answer the question | Think about what is wrong, then pick again |
| A story will not start | Another patient comes first | Finish the story that says "Continue with...", or the one the lock names |
| The game says "Turn your phone sideways" | The phone is upright | Hold the phone or tablet sideways to play |
| You dropped a piece by accident | It counts as a try | No problem. Pick it up again. With the keyboard or controller, Escape or B puts it down without a try |
How to earn every badge
- Care: on every comfort choice or question, pick an answer yourself. Every comfort answer is a good one.
- Clues and Craft: play the story to the end. Hints and help do not take them away.
- Missed one? Press Play again on the result screen or Visit Ella again on the home screen. Badges are only ever added.
Playing a story again
- Try other choices. Ella, Sam and Mika answer each comfort choice with their own line, and Mika's goodbye changes with the pattern you pick.
- The picture cards start in a new order each time you start a story fresh.
- Playing again is safe. Replaying a finished story never removes a badge and never touches a story you are in the middle of.
Stopping and carrying on
The game saves after every finished step, when you pause and when you switch away. If you close the game in the middle of a job, it opens again at that same step, and the job starts fresh. Everything before it is kept. There is more about saving in the FAQ.
More calm games to try
Enjoy careful, calm play? Try the Space Tiles guide for a relaxing puzzle in space, or the Lofoten Catch guide for a calm fishing game. All our guides are on the guides page.
See also
- Jobs and tools: how each kind of job works.
- Shifts 2 to 5, step by step: every right answer in the member stories.
- Controls: every button.
- Play Hospital Helpers.
