Shops and unlocks
Shops unlock through special conditions, not purchases. Lugal comes first (39.2% of players), then Apsu (34%), then Lamu (9.2%). Mack sells ingredients, Cheddar rods, Lugal music.
The shops in SCREENSIDE FISHER are not menus — they are little windows with characters in them. Each one is staffed by a shopkeeper with something to say, and each opens the same way the store page describes it: meet shopkeepers and fulfil special conditions to unlock shops and bonus features.
Mack runs the ingredient shop and greets every customer with the same line. The windows are the shops — everything is a window.
The shopkeepers we have met so far
| Shopkeeper | What they sell | How players know them | Unlock achievement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mack | Cooking ingredients | Cat in a straw hat and apron; "Welcome! How can I help you?" | — (available from the start) |
| Cheddar | Fishing rods | Community threads name Cheddar as the seller of the most expensive rod | — |
| Lugal | Music and ambient soundscapes | Runs the "Play Music/Ambient Sounds" window (LOFI tracks and more) | "i can fix him" — 39.2% |
| Apsu | Shop wares (bonus features) | Unlock achievement; Chinese-language clients have a name-rendering bug for Apsu | "UNSURFACABLE…" — 34.0% |
| Lamu | Shop wares (bonus features) | The rarest of the shop unlocks | Binary-titled achievement — 9.2% |
Plus one more name you will see everywhere: Malli, who is not a shop at all but the lottery — that is covered on the lottery and money page.
How unlocking works
The official description is deliberately vague: "special conditions". Combine that with the achievement data and a picture emerges:
- Lugal comes first — 39.2% of players have unlocked his shop, the highest of the three unlock achievements.
- Apsu is close behind — 34.0%. The gap between Lugal and Apsu is small, so treat them as the same progress band.
- Lamu is the far one — only 9.2%. Nothing else in the game has that kind of cliff except the catalog completions, so expect Lamu to be tied to deep progress.
Practically: keep playing the loop, keep talking. The "Chatterboxes" achievement (hear everything every shop NPC has to say — 6.9%) is your nudge that dialogue is part of the unlock economy, not decoration. Since 1.0.5, the game also shows a transition notice the first time a shop opens, so a new shop no longer slips past you unnoticed.
What is actually worth buying
- Ingredients (Mack) — every ingredient has a dish attached to it somewhere, and dishes multiply the value of your catches. This shop pays for itself.
- Rods (Cheddar) — the biggest power spike in the game, see the rods and Luck page for the buying order.
- Music and ambient soundscapes (Lugal) — pure atmosphere. Lovely to own once the rods are sorted; irrelevant to the grind.
- Bonus features (Apsu, Lamu) — treat these as discovery, not shopping. Whatever they open, you will know it when it opens.
Lugal's shop line-up — every track has a Play and a Buy button. The ambient sounds are the sleeper pick for a workday.
The short version: Mack feeds you, Cheddar powers you, Lugal entertains you, Apsu and Lamu surprise you. The achievements page lists all three unlock achievements with current completion rates.
