Shotgun

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

Each pellet takes 4 hit points from any monster it hits, whatever that monster's own code, so a shot that lands whole takes 24. It waits 40 steps between shots and knocks the player back. Angry Shopkeepers carry one and fire it at the player. Weapon Shops and the Dice House sell it; a Shopkeeper drops his, and Crates, buried blocks and Ash graves give it away.

The Shotgun is picked up like any item, crouching over it and pressing the attack key. While it's held, the attack key fires it, on the ground, in the air, hanging or climbing; crouching, the key puts it down in front of the player instead ^[1]. It isn't thrown. A shot:

• fires 6 pellets from the barrel, each at 6–8 pixels per step, plus the player's, never slower than 6 forward, with an up or down drift of less than 1 pixel a step, so they spread;
• shows a blast at the barrel and plays the shot's sound;
• knocks the player 3 pixels a step back and 1 up, unless he's hanging or climbing;
• starts the wait of 40 steps before the next ^[4].

A pellet flies in a straight line, without falling, until it hits a block (a puff of smoke), a monster, a damsel or a player ^{[5] [6]}. In the clip, the player fires one shot into a wall and one into a Shopkeeper beside him: all six pellets hit, and he goes from 20 hit points to -4 in a step, drops his own shotgun and dies ^[7].

The Shotgun goes with the player through a level's exit if he's holding it, and is in his hands on the next level ^{[8] [9]}. He drops it when he's stunned, or when he teeters too long at a ledge's edge ^{[10] [11]}.

The pellets' code is the pellet's own, not the monster's, so every monster takes the same: 4 hit points for each pellet, with no wait and whatever it's doing, stunned or not ^[12]. Each pellet that hits is used up.

The Ghost isn't a monster to the game's code, and pellets go through it. Spreading, the pellets of one shot can hit two monsters: in the second clip, one shot kills two of Kali's Spiders at once ^[18].

A Weapon Shop stocks one only if the level hasn't got one already ^[26], and it adds 10% of the base price for each level past the second ^[27]. Shops are made from level 2 on ^[28], and level 16, Olmec's Lair, has none:

The Dice House puts its prize up from the same set of rare items, and a roll of seven gives it away ^{[29] [30]}. Every block of rock away from the level's edges that isn't gold and holds no gem has a 1 in 1200 chance of hiding an item, one of nineteen at random ^{[31] [22]}. The Restless Dead's graves can make several Ash graves in one level, each with a Shotgun, some of them out of reach above the level's top ^{[32] [33]}. A Mantrap that eats an armed Shopkeeper spits out his gun ^[34]. The Stars bonus room's challenge is played with one ^[35]. In custom levels, it's the level editor's tile = ^[36].

Paying for one, or carrying one out of a shop without paying, which angers the Shopkeeper, shows "YOU GOT A SHOTGUN!", and it stays in the player's hands ^{[37] [32]}.

• Shopkeepers. An angry Shopkeeper with no gun picks up any Shotgun he touches, even one in the player's hands ^[38]. Shot, he's stunned for 20 steps and drops his gun if he's carrying one ^[25].
• Jars and Skulls. A pellet breaks either, as a throw does ^{[39] [40]}.

• From beside a Shopkeeper, as in the clip, all six pellets hit and take his 20 hit points in one shot.
• Each shot pushes the player back 3 pixels a step, which can carry him off the edge he fires from.

• The Shotgun, the Pistol and the Shopkeepers' guns all fire the same pellet, whose code never asks who fired it ^[41].
• The pellet's 5-step grace from hurting, alarm[0] = 5, is commented out, so it can hurt from its first step ^{[42] [32]}.