Spelunky is © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC, and is used under the [Spelunky User License v1.1b](https://spelunky.ai/LICENSE.txt). spelunky.ai is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Mossmouth. The game and its assets may not be sold. Music by George Buzinkai and Jonathan Perry; sound effects made in SFXR. From Spelunky Classic 1.1, © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC. # Accidental murder From the spelunky.ai wiki: . Verified against the spelunky.ai port [v0.1.10](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/releases/tag/v0.1.10) on 28 October 2026. Accidental murder is a quirk of Spelunky Classic in which any Shopkeeper's death, even one by Spikes, counts as the player's kill and marks him a murderer. | Quirk | | | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Status | GML + Oracle (the player's bomb, Spikes); GML (a Spear Trap) | | Where | `objects/oShopkeeper/step.gml:479-503` | | Pinned by | `fidelity/replays/shop-seed-35-spikes-murderer.txt` | | Row | [docs/quirks.md §1, Bugs and leftovers in the 1.1 source](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/main/docs/quirks.md#1-bugs-and-leftovers-in-the-11-source): “Any Shopkeeper's death marks the player a murderer, whatever killed him.” | Monsters killed by traps don't count as the player's kills: [Spikes](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/spikes) and the [Spear Trap](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/spear-trap) mark them so. The [Shopkeeper](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/shopkeeper)'s death never reads that mark. However he dies, it adds to the player's kills and makes him a murderer, which lasts the rest of the game. ## What happens A thief who stole a cape waits on a floor past a hole with Spikes in it. The angry Shopkeeper chasing him jumps onto a block and walks off it into the hole. The Spikes kill him, yet the game counts him as the player's kill and marks the player a murderer[^1]. **Clip: A Shopkeeper the Spikes kill counts as the player's kill.** A thief who stole a cape waits on a floor past a hole with spikes in it. The angry shopkeeper chasing him jumps onto a block and walks off it into the hole. The spikes kill him, yet the game counts him as the player's kill and marks the player a murderer. ([video](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/015c74cb8645abba/clips/quirks/shopkeeper-spikes-murderer/clip.mp4)) ## Why The Shopkeeper runs the code most monsters share first, where landing on Spikes takes all his hit points and sets `countsAsKill` false, as for any monster[^2]. A monster's own death reads it before it counts a kill, as the Caveman's does[^3]. The Shopkeeper's doesn't[^4]: ```gml objects/oShopkeeper/step.gml:487-492 else { if (isRealLevel()) global.enemyKills[19] += 1; global.shopkeepers += 1; global.kills += 1; global.murderer = true; ``` `objects/oShopkeeper/step.gml:487-492`, from `spelunky.gmk`, Spelunky Classic 1.1's source, © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC ([Spelunky User License v1.1b](https://spelunky.ai/LICENSE.txt)). The player is made a murderer when a Shopkeeper is crushed or found inside a solid too, and those don't ask what did it either[^5]. Only the Stars bonus room's Shopkeepers are spared, where a death counts toward the room's score instead. A murderer stays one until a new game: every Shopkeeper patrols and shouts "YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!", every ware is free, and each level's exit has a Shopkeeper waiting by it[^6][^7]. ## Reproducing it Anger a Shopkeeper and lead him over Spikes, or die with a lit bomb beside him. The replays pin both: a thief luring an angry Shopkeeper into a hole with Spikes in it, where his hit points go and the kill, the Shopkeeper tally and the murderer mark all come on that step[^8], and a bomb the dead player left killing the Shopkeeper[^9]. A Tomb Lord the lava kills, by contrast, isn't counted[^10]. ## In the port The spelunky.ai port reproduces it exactly: it's in docs/quirks.md's list of the 1.1 source's bugs[^7], and the oracle's fingerprints of the replays pin the tallies. The Spear Trap's version is read in the code and not yet in a replay. No option turns it off. ## FAQ ### Does a Shopkeeper killed by a trap count as the player's kill in Spelunky Classic? Yes. Every [Shopkeeper](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/shopkeeper)'s death counts as the player's kill and marks him a murderer, whatever killed the Shopkeeper: [Spikes](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/spikes), a [Spear Trap](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/spear-trap), or the player's own bomb after he's dead. ### What happens when you're a murderer in Spelunky Classic? For the rest of the game, every Shopkeeper patrols and shouts "YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!", every ware is free, and a Shopkeeper waits by each level's exit. ### Do other monsters killed by Spikes count as kills? No. A monster the Spikes or a Spear Trap kill isn't counted as the player's kill. Only the Shopkeeper's death skips that check. ## See also - **Related:** [Shopkeeper](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/shopkeeper), [Spikes](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/spikes), [Spear Trap](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/spear-trap), [Bomb](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/bomb), [General Store](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/general-store) ## References [^1]: Clip quirks/shopkeeper-spikes-murderer [^2]: `objects/oEnemy/step.gml:108-124` [^3]: `objects/oCaveman/step.gml:176` [^4]: `objects/oShopkeeper/step.gml:479-503` [^5]: `objects/oShopkeeper/step.gml:24-68` [^6]: `scripts/scrInitLevel.gml:245-257` [^7]: Quirk 1 (docs/quirks.md) [^8]: Replay `fidelity/replays/shop-seed-35-spikes-murderer.txt` [^9]: Replay `fidelity/replays/shop-seed-11-bomb.txt` [^10]: Replay `fidelity/replays/temple-seed-113.txt` ### Source code - `objects/oShopkeeper/step.gml` - `objects/oEnemy/step.gml`