The next installment in the Mario Party franchise is finally here, and it’s packed with more boards, characters, and minigames than ever before. Mario Party Jamboree is the most robust entry and caps off the series’ successful run on the Switch.
While there’s plenty to discover and explore on your own by playing the game, longtime Mario Party fans will be looking to unlock as much content as possible quickly. We all want to play every board right away to find our favorites and spend some time in the shoes of new playable characters. Luckily, the unlockable characters and boards in Jamboree are pretty easy to unlock!
How to unlock characters in Super Mario Party Jamboree
When you first start playing Jamboree, you’ll immediately see two mystery figures on the character selection screen. In past Mario Party entries, unlocking new characters took a lot of grinding — from winning a certain amount of games to long minigame marathons — but in Jamboree, you can unlock new characters immediately. You just have to know where to look.
Both secret characters will join the party if you spot them from the hot air balloon. You won’t be able to see them without zooming in though, so here’s where to look.
How to unlock Pauline
Pauline, Mario’s first damsel in distress in the arcade game Donkey Kong and the mayor of New Donk City from Super Mario Odyssey, is waiting on a small sandbar between the Mario Party island and Minigame Bay. Zoom in to find her, interact with her, and she’ll become a playable character.
How to unlock Ninji
Nijies are typically enemies in the Mario universe, appearing first in Super Mario Bros. 2 and popping up in newer installments like Super Mario Run and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but are joining in on the fun this time around. You can find Ninji atop a pair of islands behind the Rhythm Kitchen building. Just zoom in and interact with Ninji to have them join the party as a playable character.
How to unlock every board in Super Mario Party Jamboree
There are four playable boards when you first boot-up Jamboree: Mega Wiggler’s Tree Party, Rainbow Galleria, Goomba Lagoon, and Roll ’em Raceway.
Three more boards are hidden at first, although you can still spot where they’ll live on the map: Western Land, Mario’s Rainbow Castle, and King Bowser’s Keep.
To unlock these extra boards, you just need to play games by leveling up and moving along Jamboree’s Rewards track, a free battle-pass-esque system. You level up by playing the game and completing achievements. The new boards unlock at the following ranks:
- Silver Rank (level 10): Western Land board and Classic Bonus Stars option
- Gold Rank (level 20): Mario’s Rainbow Castle board
- Platinum Rank (level 30): King Bowser’s Keep board and Boss Rush mode (Found in Minigame Bay)