FarmVille Apple Barrel: Everything you need to know

At the beginning of October, we brought you a sneak peek of a an Apple Bobbing feature in FarmVille that we thought would be coming to the game to celebrate the launch of Fall. As it turns out, we didn't have to wait long for this feature to arrive, as the Apple Barrel collection feature has officially begun rolling out to farmers this evening. This collection even gives you plenty of ways to earn Apples, but you'll only have three weeks to do so.

Once you place your Apple Barrel on your farm, you'll be able to either collect Apples traditionally by asking your friends to send them to you via individual gift requests, or you can purchase them for Farm Cash. You'll also apparently be able to earn Apples by harvesting Orchards, though we haven't been able to personally confirm that. While that works in the way we'd expect, if you want large bunches of apples at once, you can earn those by asking your friends to join your Apple Barrel Crew.

You'll be able to send out individual requests to friends to join your Crew, with each friend adding five Apples to your overall total. As of this writing, all of that work will help you unlock one of five prizes at five different Apple totals:

Fall Flowerbed - 15 Apples
Autumn Fireplace - 25 Apples
Harvest Gnome - 50 Apples
Ghost Pig - 125 Apples
Candy Corn Horse - 200 Apples

Again, you'll have three weeks to collect Apples, but let's say that you come up short by the time the event is over, or simply don't wish to bother collecting Apples to begin with. You'll also have the option of purchasing each item outright by "unlocking" them for the matching amount of Farm Cash. That is, the Fall Flowerbed is unlocked for 15 Farm Cash, while the Ghost Pig is unlocked for 125 Farm Cash. That's an expensive method, to be sure, but it's also a time-saver for those that aren't afraid of throwing down some serious Farm Cash for otherwise free items.

If additional prizes are added to the Apple Barrel in the future, we'll make sure to let you know. For now, make sure to gather as many Apples as you can in this Apple Barrel event before the (expected) Halloween Jack O' Lantern feature launches as well.