The Chocobo Hot and Cold Game

Requirements
You must have obtained the maps for the Bastok, San d'Oria and Windurst regions and have a chocobo registered on your chocobo whistle.

Starting the game
Talk to one of these NPCs:

The NPC will talk to you at length about the game. Eventually, you should receive a Tandjana Wildgrass item and some Key Items.
 * Key Items: A Prairie Chocograph and a Bush Chocograph.
 * Coastal Chocograph is given from the NPC after successfully digging in any Bush Chocograph areas 4 or 5 times.
 * Dune Chocograph is given from the NPC after successfully digging in any Prairie Chocograph areas 5 or 8 times.
 * Jungle Chocograph is given from the NPC after successfully digging in the Coastal Chocograph area about 10 times.

After receiving these items, take a look at your Key Items to determine what area you would like to search for treasure in. Go to that area and use your Tandjana Wildgrass. After using it, you will be placed on your chocobo and you will be shown a map with a ??? marker. You can review the location of the ??? marker on your area map (/map) by switching to the green marker tab. Proceed to that general vicinity and proceed to dig. You do not need any Gysahl Greens to dig.


 * Note: You cannot change area with your chocobo while doing the Hot and Cold game.
 * Note: Be careful not to dismount while digging for treasure.
 * You can not continue digging by using your Chocobo Whistle to remount.
 * Note: You can only receive the Tandjana Wildgrass once per day.
 * "After your chocobo rests long enough" -- which is past JP midnight (10 AM EST)(11 AM EDT) (3 PM GMT).
 * You can dig twice in one day if you do not use your Tandjana grass on the day you receive it.

Digging Messages
You will receive one of five messages when digging:

Note: Kweh? message only appears if chocobo has Treasure Finder trait. Previously this was thought to be a "getting cold" type message. This is incorrect.

Imagine a set of three concentric rings around the treasure chest. (A nice pretty graphic would explain this much better! Hopefully someone with more resources than I, as I am not this pages original author and am noob at this, can edit one in for us in the near future. ^^) If you dig in the outer ring you get a "Kweh." message. If you dig in the center ring you get the "Kwehhh!? the treasure is close" message. Of course if you dig in the inner ring you will get the "K-KWEHHH!!! right on top of it" message and should keep digging. (And yes it is a 'ring' as you do not have to be directly on top of the pixel where the treasure is.)

When your chocobo has the Treasure Finder ability you break the outer ring into two thus gaining an extra ring for four total. What this does for you is essentially help you figure out which direction to head. The outer ring ("Kweh." ring) is the largest of the three and can make it difficult to narrow down the direction the chest is in. As you could easily dig in four or five spots and get a "Kweh." in each. This is especially true in the Dune and Coastal areas.

In short: If you receive a "Kweh." followed by "Kweh?!" you are heading in the correct direction. In this scenario it would be a "getting warmer" type message. However if you got a "Kweh?!" followed by a "Kweh." then you are "getting colder." For now it's been editted as a "getting warmer" message as that is how it should be considered in most instances. I hope this clears up some of the confusion about how this ability was previously explained.

With the addition of the new Dunes and Coastal areas also comes the new Jackpot special ability. Not really sure how to classify this. It will only occur after you receive the message "Your chocobo appears a little fatigued." Basically what it does is guarantee that on your next dig you will get the chest. I personally have only had it happen once so far. I was in the Coastal chocograph area when it occurred. I do not know yet if it can happen in the original chocograph areas. I also do not know if it's possible to get a Jackpot on your last possible dig, thus either gaining an additional dig or nothing at all. Needs verification still.

Within 1 to 6 dig attempts of the fifth message you will receive the following message: A "VCS Crate" will spawn where you dug. You need to dismount from your chocobo to open the chest. The items obtained will fall into the Treasure Pool if you are in a party and/or alliance. Following the Final Fantasy XI update that occurred on January 14, 2007, it became possible to obtain more than one item from a VCS Crate after completing the Chocobo Hot & Cold game. Two items are commonly found in Prairie, Bush, Coastal, and Dune Chocograph areas; three or four items may be found in Jungle Chocograph areas. One of the items is usually an inexpensive plant item such as Blue Peas or Gysahl Greens. Notes: After 13-14 dig attempts, you may receive the following message: After 19 dig attempts, you may receive the following message: While doing Chocobo Hot and Cold in advanced areas (Coastal, Dune, or Jungle Chocographs), you will receive the "Your Chocobo seems a little fatigued." message after fewer digs. This may be affected by chocobo stats or abilities; some reports give 6-7 digs and "Your chocobo refuses to dig any more." after 11-13 digs, but a game-optimized chocobo with First-class Discernment, Treasure Hunter, and either Burrow or Bore will give the fatigue message after 9 digs and only refuse to dig after 14 digs.
 * Kweh! Kweh! Kwehhh! (You've found a treasure chest!)
 * Your chocobo seems a little fatigued. (Was able to dig at least 5 more times after receiving said message)
 * Your chocobo refuses to dig any more. Perhaps you should try another day.

Tactics
There is a system to this sub game which works well.

The point on your map which is marked ??? is pretty much where the treasure is. Zoom your map in as far as it goes to get a better idea where the ??? really is. The best idea is to dig on that spot first, then if you still get the very cold message, try about four steps in each direction around that point.

E.g:

If you try digging on the ??? spot and get either the very cold message or the cold message try four steps north of the ???, then if you have no luck there try four steps east of the ???, then try the same with four steps south and west around the ???. By digging in these five locations you should have a good idea which direction the treasure is, as it does not seem to be more than about nine or ten steps away from the ??? point on your map. Frequently, the crate will be on or near a distinguishing feature on the landscape, such as in a puddle, in an out-of-place patch of grass, at the base of a tree, or in an indentation in a wall of rock.

Sidenote:

In the Dune, Coastal, and Jungle chocograph areas the actual treasure chest will never be where the dot shows on your map. In most instances it will be up to 1/2 of a map square away from the location of the dot shown. (Worst case senario, it can be closer.) Since you get fewer digs you will have to spread your pattern out more in order to be successful. The strategy is the same, but instead of only moving four steps, try moving up to six or eight. If you haven't received a "Kweh" by the time you reach your fifth dig (one on dot and one for each cardinal direction eight steps away)you need to examine map and re-evaluate things. Also, the chests are often in open areas here instead of near/on landmarks like trees, rocks, dirt patches, etc... This is where the ability Treasure Finder finally becomes somewhat more useful. The outer ring has been made larger, making it more difficult, and the central ring's size is also a bit smaller. So you have to be quite a bit closer to exactly where the treasure is in order to get "K-KWEHHH!!! You're right on top of it." The Jungle chocograph areas may have even smaller target areas. (Confirmed! The jungle chocograph has the smallest bullseye of any area so far. It also has larger outter rings making it very difficult.)