60 Million Downloads! Celebrating Mushroom Day with Funghi Gardening Kit

Thirteen years since its huge hit! It still has many fans both domestically and internationally.

October 15 is “Mushroom Day.” When it comes to mushrooms, many people remember the app game series “Funghi Gardening Kit,” which debuted in 2011 and became a massive hit. Many have fallen in love with the relaxing, laid-back charm of the funghi characters. Even after 13 years, it still boasts a large fanbase both domestically and internationally, supported by a warm yet solid fan community. Here’s a look at the current status of “Funghi.”

The app is experiencing a revival hit! There were long lines at the pop-up event in South Korea.

“This year, the ‘Funghi Gardening Kit Series’ celebrates its 13th anniversary, having released a total of 15 apps.

Some of these incorporate elements like escape and puzzle-solving as well as RPG mechanics, and the latest title, ‘Everyone’s Funghi Gardening Kit,’ is the first in the series to feature multiplayer. Through these upgrades, the series has surpassed a total of 60 million downloads, with about 30% of that coming from overseas.”

This was shared by Yuto Ban from BeeWorks, who has been watching over Funghi since its inception and has been involved in almost everything outside of game development.

Originally, Funghi started as an assistant character in the Nintendo DS game “Touch Detective Ozawa Rina.” When releasing the iPhone version of that game, a promotional app starring Funghi was launched first and became an explosive hit.

“That was the first title in the Funghi Gardening Kit series, ‘Touch Detective: Funghi Gardening Kit.’ Right after its release, we received a response beyond our expectations, exceeding promotional limits.

That year, it consistently ranked on the App Store charts and we received several inquiries about product commercialization,” said Yuto Ban.

From the following year, new apps were steadily announced. Additionally, they expanded into other areas, including the release of a Nintendo 3DS version, manga and anime adaptations, media mix campaigns, and the opening of the character goods store ‘Funghi Market Tokyo Main Store’ (which closed in 2019), gradually increasing their fanbase.

Recently held in South Korea, a pop-up store reportedly had long lines, which is rare in a country where people typically dislike waiting.

“In Japan, we released the Korean version of ‘Original Funghi Gardening Kit’ as part of the 10th anniversary in 2021, and it achieved 500,000 downloads within about three months after launching last fall.

The pop-up store, held in response to the renewed popularity of Funghi, had long lines waiting to enter on the first day. Even the local agents were surprised, as it was quite unusual.”