Reaching the City of Gold

Verified against the spelunky.ai port v0.1.10 on 28 October 2026.

This page describes a secret.

The City of Gold takes the place of level 15, and its only way in is a gold door on level 14 that opens for a player who wears the Hedjet and carries the Sceptre into it. The keys come in a fixed order, across three areas: the Ankh from the Black Market (levels 6–8), spent on the Moai's level (9–12) to reach the Hedjet, then the Sceptre on level 13, so the Ankh has to be carried unused from the market to the Moai. Most of the clips are cut from one run that takes the route all the way with seed 9, from the level 5 shortcut ^[1].

• A game started at level 1 or from the level 5 shortcut. The Black Market's door is on level 5, 6 or 7 ^[2], and a new game starts without an Ankh ^[3], so a game started past the market, from the Tunnel Man's level 9 or 13 shortcut, never has one.
• The Ankh, which only the Black Market's Ankh shop has, for $50,000: it's the way into the Moai, which only a Teleporter jump can also reach ^{[4] [5]}.
• Bombs. The Black Market's door is hidden inside a block, and the gold door can be sealed in rock ^{[6] [5]}. The run also kills the Tomb Lord with one.
• Optional: the Udjat Eye, which blinks and beeps faster as the player nears the Black Market's door (the Udjat Eye and the market).

1. Find the Black Market's door. Once a game, level 5, 6 or 7 hides it inside a block; dig or bomb it out and walk into it, as into an exit, and the next level is the Black Market (the hidden door) ^[7]. In the clip, a bomb opens the rock on level 5 and the player takes the door ^[8].

2. Get the Ankh. In the market's Ankh shop, pick it up and pay with the pay key, or carry it out of the shop's room unpaid: either way it goes on ^[9]. Carried out unpaid, it's stolen, and the Shopkeeper turns on the player (taking the Ankh, stealing). In the clip, the player jumps up out of the shop with the Ankh; it goes on, and the Shopkeeper shouts "COME BACK HERE, THIEF!" and fires ^[10].

3. Reach the Moai's level without dying. The first death on a level while wearing the Ankh uses it up and, away from the Moai, puts the player back at the level's entrance ^[11]. The Moai is on one of the Ice Caves' levels 9 to 12 (which one) ^[12]. The run leaves the market past its angry Shopkeepers and crosses levels 7 to 11 without losing a heart ^[1].

4. Die beside the Moai. On its level, with the Moai near the view, a death with the Ankh revives the player inside the Moai's sealed chamber instead, and he falls onto the Hedjet (the Hedjet's chamber) ^[4]. In the clip, the player drops a bomb at his feet; the blast takes his last hearts, and the Ankh revives him in the chamber, where he picks up the Hedjet and leaves by the Moai's exit ^[13].

5. Pick up the Hedjet and take the Moai's exit. It stays on until the game ends ^[14]. The chamber has its own exit, to the next level ^[15].

6. Kill level 13's Tomb Lord. Only a Tomb Lord killed on level 13 leaves the Sceptre ^[16], and level generation tries to place one there (where it appears); its page has what hurts it. In the clip, a bomb the player has dropped kills it, and he goes down after the Sceptre ^[17].

7. Carry the Sceptre out of level 13's exit. Held as the player goes through an exit, it's in his hands on the next level ^{[18] [19]}. In the clip, level 14 loads with the Sceptre still held ^[20].

8. Find the gold door. Level 14 always has one, on top of a block that can't be destroyed, wherever the roll that places it lands: in the open, or sealed in rock that a bomb has to open (the gold door) ^{[21] [5]}.

9. Carry the Sceptre into the door. With the Hedjet on, the door takes the Sceptre and opens ^[22].

10. Go through it, as through an exit: up, standing on the ground in front of it ^[23]. The next level is the City of Gold ^[24]. In the clip, the player brings the Sceptre to the door, which opens, and goes through it ^[25].

The City of Gold loads with the message "IT'S THE LEGENDARY CITY OF GOLD!" ^[26]. In the last clip, the player runs down from the entrance to the Lady Xoc statue ^[27]. Its exit leads on to Olmec's Lair, as the Temple's level 15 does; Beating Olmec is the guide for that.

• From the Hedjet on, there's no hurry: it keeps the Ghost away however long the player stays on a level ^[28].
• The Sceptre fires psychic waves that find the nearest monster through rock, and firing it doesn't let go of it (the Sceptre's usage), so it's a weapon on levels 13 and 14 as well as the key.
• Thrown up out of the Ankh shop through the hole in its ceiling, the Ankh lands outside at its price with the Shopkeeper still calm, until the player picks it up there (Throwing the Ankh out).

• Losing the Ankh before the Moai. A death on the way there, even one in the Black Market to the Shopkeeper's shotgun, spends the Ankh at the level's entrance ^[11]. The Moai's chamber is filled by a block that can't be destroyed, so it can't be dug or bombed into instead ^[29]. The Ankh's own clip shows a theft ending in a death to the Shopkeeper.
• Dying far from the Moai. Things far outside the view are switched off, the Moai with them, and a revival with no active Moai goes to the entrance ^{[30] [31]}.
• Killing the wrong Tomb Lord. Those of levels 14 and 15 leave no Sceptre ^[16].
• Letting go of the Sceptre. The player drops it when he's stunned, or when he teeters at a ledge's edge for 30 steps, and crouching and attacking puts it down ^{[32] [33] [34] [35]}. Only a held item goes through an exit, so pick it up again before leaving ^[18].
• Bringing the Sceptre without the Hedjet. The door says "THE SCEPTRE FITS... BUT NOTHING IS HAPPENING!" and stays shut ^[36].