Kapala

Verified against the spelunky.ai port v0.1.10 on 27 October 2026.

Wearing it, the player heals by fighting: the drops of blood that fly when something is hurt or killed fill it as he touches them, and every ninth gives him a heart. Kali gives it as her second gift, at one of her altars, and nothing else in the game makes one. It's worn from the moment it's picked up until the game ends.

Picking it up puts it on: the message "YOU GOT THE KAPALA! IT THIRSTS FOR BLOOD..." shows, the Kapala disappears, and an icon of it joins the row under the hearts ^[6]. The icon shows how full it is, in five stages from empty to nearly full ^[7]. It stays on until a new game starts, which clears it and empties it ^{[8] [9] [10]}.

Each drop of blood the player touches while wearing it goes into it: the drop vanishes in a spark, the Kapala fills by one, and the player flashes red. On the ninth drop it empties and gives him 1 heart, with a heart over his head and a kiss's sound ^{[1] [11]}. There's no limit but the game's own: hearts stop at 99 ^[12].

A drop can only be collected once it's 5 steps old ^{[13] [14]}. Blood flies when a monster or the player is hurt or killed, unless the monster is bloodless, and only while there are fewer than 16 drops and other bits of debris about ^[15]. Any drop counts, the player's own too ^[16]. The clip shows Kali's gift appearing on her altar and the player picking it up; spiders come out of her statue when a laser breaks the altar, and as he whips them, the drops he touches fill the Kapala until the ninth turns into a heart, taking him from 3 hearts to 4 ^[17].

Kali's altars can come in every area but Olmec's Lair. The player gains her favour by putting a body on the altar: a Damsel's gives 8, a monster's what it's worth to her, a stunned one more than a dead one ^[16]. At 8 she gives her first gift, a piece of equipment, and at 16 the Kapala, which appears on the altar's right half, free to take ^[19]. A favour that jumps straight past 8 to 16 gets the Kapala and never the first gift. She gives it once a game. No shop sells it, no Crate or block holds one, and the level editor has no tile for it.

• Blood from the player's own wounds counts like anyone's, so the Kapala gives back some of what a fall onto Spikes or a monster's bite costs, if he touches the drops ^[16].
• A drop that falls faster than 6 pixels a step vanishes, so blood that falls far is lost ^[20].

• Drops fly up and out from where the blood came from, then fall, so a kill close to the player is the easiest blood to catch ^[21].
• Blood that falls far vanishes, so blood spilt above the player is worth catching before it drops past him.

• Its type is "Kapala", and its shop message "I SHOULDN'T BE SELLING THIS!", with a price of $999,999; no shop stocks it ^[22].