Tunnel Man shortcuts

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

This page describes a secret.

There are three shortcuts, and the Tunnel Man digs them in turn: to the Jungle's level 5, the Ice Caves' level 9 and the Temple's level 13. He asks for each one's price in the screen between levels at the end of the area before it, a donation at a time, and remembers what he's owed from game to game. A paid shortcut is a door in the Shortcut House, a gallery above the title screen, that starts a new game on its level.

The game keeps two sums the Tunnel Man is still owed, in two entries of the high score table, TUNNEL1 and TUNNEL2: it reads them when it starts, and writes them back with the scores when a game ends in a death or a win ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}. They decide which shortcut he's digging and where he waits ^[5]:

1. The level 5 shortcut. A new table owes $1 more than its price, and $1 more than the level 9 one's too ^[6]. While it's owed, he waits in the screen after level 4, the last of the Mines.
2. The level 9 shortcut, once the first is paid: he waits in the screen after level 8.
3. The level 13 shortcut. Paying off the level 9 one sets what's owed on this one to $1 more than its price ^[7]. He waits in the screen after level 12.

Once all three are paid, he waits nowhere. In each screen, he only appears once the sum is down to the price: the first time it's reached, the game takes the extra $1 off and shows no Tunnel Man, so he's there from the next visit on ^{[5] [8]}.

He stops the player who walks up to him, introduces himself and asks for what he's still owed, and the screen can't be skipped until he's had an answer ^[9]. Each press of up adds $100 to the donation and each press of down takes it off ^[10]. Held for 20 steps, either key changes it by $100 a step, and after 100 steps by $1,000 a step. It never goes above the player's money or what's owed, nor below $0 ^[11]. The action key gives it: the money is taken off the player's at once, and off what's owed ^[12]. His answers are on his page.

The Shortcut House is a gallery above the title screen's doors, which greets the player with "WELCOME TO THE SHORTCUT HOUSE!" ^[13]. Until the level 5 shortcut is paid, two bricks wall it off and no ladder leads up ^{[14] [15]}. Then a ladder leads up to it, and its doors are:

The Tunnel Man himself stands at the house's left end, until the player earns the door that switches to him (Tunnel Man) ^[20].

The same sums decide what the level editor offers: it starts with the Mines' tiles, and each paid shortcut adds its area's blocks, monsters and traps, the Jungle's with the level 5 shortcut, the Ice Caves' with level 9's and the Temple's with level 13's ^{[21] [22] [23] [24]} (Level editor).

Going through a door starts a new game on its level ^[25]. It starts with what any game does, 4 hearts, 4 bombs, 4 ropes and no money (fewer as the Tunnel Man) ^[26], and differs from one started at the START door in a few ways:

• No best time. It's marked as a shortcut game, and a win so marked doesn't set the best time; its money, kills and saves count as any game's (Scoring, Speedrunning basics) ^[27]. The START door clears the mark ^[28].
• Its first level is never dark or flooded. As the first level after the title screen, it's never a dark level ^[8], and level 5 is never a flooded level, which only the screen between levels rolls for ^[29].
• The levels it skips make nothing. Some things are made once a game on a few early levels (Level generation). From level 5, the game has no Udjat Eye, whose chest is on level 2, 3 or 4; from level 9, no Black Market either, whose door is on level 5, 6 or 7 ^[30]. From level 13, it has no Moai, the only place the Hedjet is ^[31], and without the Hedjet the gold door doesn't open to the Sceptre: no City of Gold ^{[32] [33]}. Reaching the City of Gold has the rest.

• A donation. Between the Mines and the Jungle, the Tunnel Man asks for the level 5 shortcut's $100,000; the player holds up, the donation climbs to $4,100, and he gives it, leaving $95,900 owed ^[39].
• A shortcut paid off. Between the Jungle and the Ice Caves, the player gives the last $500 of the level 9 shortcut, and the level 13 one starts at its price and $1 ^[40]. The last $500 of the level 13 one, given after level 12, pays them all off ^[41].

• The first visit. With a new table, the screen after level 4 takes the level 5 shortcut from $100,001 owed to $100,000 and shows no Tunnel Man ^[42].
• The doors. With all three paid, the player climbs to the Shortcut House and takes the level 5 door ^[43], the level 9 door ^[44] or the level 13 door ^[45], and a game starts on that level.

• He skips his first visit. Each shortcut is first owed $1 more than its price, which the screen where he'd wait takes off instead of showing him ^{[8] [46]}.
• Up raises the donation before he asks. A press of up adds to it while the player walks up to him and while he introduces himself, so his request can start above $0 ^[8].
• No dark level to start. A shortcut game's first level is never dark, as no game's first level is ^[8].