Crystal Skull sold as an idol

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

The Crystal Skull is a kind of Golden Idol in the code: a child of the idol's object, with its own sprite and value ^[1]. Two places count an idol for the loot shown between levels, the level's exit and a sale to a Shopkeeper, and only the exit tells the Skull apart.

On a cemetery level, the player sets the Crystal Skull down in Lazlo's Kissing Parlor, and the Shopkeeper buys it. Between levels, the loot shows it as a golden idol ^[2].

An idol set down on a shop's floor near a Shopkeeper who's standing calmly is sold: it pays its value and counts one more idol, whatever its sprite ^[3]:

        global.collect += value*(global.levelType+1);
        global.collectCounter += 20;
        if (global.collectCounter > 100) global.collectCounter = 100;
        global.idols += 1;

Carried out of the level instead, it's counted by the player's step, which tells the two apart by the sprite ^[4]:

            if (holdItem.sprite_index == sCrystalSkull) global.skulls += 1;
            else global.idols += 1;

Between levels, the transition room draws a loot icon for each count, a golden idol for each of idols and a Crystal Skull for each of skulls, so the sold Skull is drawn as an idol ^{[5] [6]}. The money is the Skull's own.

Carry the Crystal Skull from the Jungle's graveyard level to a shop on the same level, and set it down on the shop's floor near the Shopkeeper while he's calm. The replay pins it: seed 213's Skull sold in Lazlo's Kissing Parlor counts as an idol, the transition room draws the golden idol's icon for it, and the count of Skulls stays 0 ^[7].

The spelunky.ai port reproduces it exactly: it's in docs/quirks.md's list of the 1.1 source's bugs ^[6], and the oracle's fingerprint of the replay pins the counts. No option turns it off.