Trash Bin Notes

The trash bin is the most overlooked part of the game. It’s where discarded thoughts end up, where the secret message is hidden and where one achievement waits for players willing to open every single note. This guide explains how to get Rummager and how to read the notes as part of the story rather than as a checklist.

Why a Trash Bin?

The whole game is framed as something found on a used laptop. The publisher says they almost let it end up in the trash before deciding to release it. The trash bin inside the game echoes that idea: it’s the place for things that were written and then thrown away. In a story about someone who built an entire game to express his feelings, the things he chose to discard can say more than the things he kept.

Rummager: What It Requires

The condition is literal. Every note has to be opened and read. Skimming most of them isn’t enough, and the achievement won’t show progress, so you won’t know which one you missed.

How to Get Rummager

1. Open the trash bin. Treat it like a folder: it holds several notes.
2. Work in order. Start with the first note and go through them one by one so you don’t lose track.
3. Open each note fully. Let each one display completely before closing it.
4. Check again after each ending. Coming back to the bin after your runs is the safest way to be sure nothing new is waiting.
5. Revisit after the secret code. The secret message also appears in the bin once you unlock it.

If the achievement hasn’t unlocked after you think you’ve read everything, go through the whole bin again from the top. The most common cause is one skipped note.

The Third Note

One note matters more than the others. The third note holds the first clue to the Oxytocin puzzle, the hardest achievement in the game. It’s worth reading slowly and more than once. It points you toward the moment at the end of the first ending where the game keeps going if you don’t leave. The full solution is in the Oxytocin guide.

How to Read the Notes

The notes are short, and it’s tempting to click through them for the achievement. Don’t. They’re one of the places where the game’s deliberate gaps in storytelling get filled in, a little at a time. A few ways to approach them:

Read them twice

Read the notes after your first ending and again after the true ending. The same words can feel harmless the first time and uncomfortable the second. That shift is the same trick the game plays with its diary notes and love tests.

Ask who wrote them

The game has several voices: the publisher, the creator of the in-game project, and the girl it was made for, whose diary entries appear before each test. For each note, ask whose voice it is and who it was meant for. The answer is not always obvious, and that ambiguity is part of the mystery.

Look for what’s missing

Discarded writing is often unfinished. Pay attention to what a note avoids saying as much as what it says. The secret message takes this idea further with text that is literally crossed out.

Connect them to the endings

Once you’ve seen both endings, the notes act like footnotes. They don’t explain everything outright, but they show the reasoning and the feelings that led to what you saw.

What Players Found Beyond the Notes

Curious players have looked past the in-game bin and into the game’s files. One player worked out where the secret message lives by reading the language file in the installation folder. That isn’t necessary for any achievement, and it spoils the discovery, but it shows how deliberately the bin was set up as the final hiding place. If you want to explore files yourself, see Controls and Fixes for how to open the folder safely.

Recommended Order

Why It’s Worth the Time

Rummager is the kind of achievement that rewards a specific type of player: someone who pokes at the edges of a game instead of heading straight for the credits. That’s exactly the player this story is written for. For what the notes add to the bigger picture, see Story Explained. The love tests tell you what the creator wanted Alice to see. The trash bin shows you some of what he didn’t.

Mistakes That Cost Players Rummager

• Reading only the notes that look important. Every note counts toward the achievement, including the short ones.
• Closing a note too quickly. Let it open fully before moving on.
• Forgetting to come back. The bin is worth checking after each major step, including after you unlock the secret message.
• Relying on the achievement tracker. Rummager doesn’t show partial progress, so keep your own count as you go.

1. Can I miss Rummager permanently? No. The bin stays accessible, so you can always go back.
2. Do I need Rummager for Oxytocin? You need the third note’s clue, but not the achievement itself.
3. Does reading the notes change the ending? No. They add context but don’t affect which ending you get.