Pelican Town's resident cool guy, Sam, has a haircut like a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z yet somehow wound up in Stardew Valley. He plays guitar and wants to be a musician. He also enjoys video games and skateboarding. He even plays pool at the Stardrop Saloon with his bandmates in the evenings. How can a humble new farmer like yourself charm Sam with gifts? Keep reading to find out.
What Does Sam Like? A Gift Guide for Stardew Valley
We've rounded up a list of every gift that Sam loves, likes, tolerates, dislikes, and hates. Give this man a Pizza and a soda, and he'll be happy. Just don't give him Pickles. He hates Pickles!
Gifts Sam Loves
- Cactus Fruit
- Maple Bar
- Pizza
- Tigerseye
- All Universal Loves
Gifts Sam Likes
- Joja Cola
- All Universal Likes (except Duck Mayonnaise, Mayonnaise, Pickles, Vegetables)
- All Eggs (except Void Egg)
Gifts Sam Tolerates (Neutral)
- All Milk
- All Fruit (except Cactus Fruit, Fruit Tree Fruit, Salmonberry)
- All Universal Neutrals
Gifts Sam Dislikes
- Chantarelle
- Common Mushroom
- Daffodil
- Dandelion
- Ginger
- Hazelnut
- Holly
- Leek
- Magma Cap
- Morel
- Purple Mushroom
- Quartz
- Salmonberry
- Seaweed
- Snow Yam
- Wild Horseradish
- Winter Root
- All Vegetables (except Hops, Tea Leaves, Wheat)
- All Universal Dislikes except...
- Coal, Copper Bars, Gold Bars, Gold Ore, Iridium Bars, Iridium Ore, Iron Bars, Refined Quartz, Tigerseye
Gifts Sam Hates
- Coal
- Copper Bar
- Duck Mayonnaise
- Gold Bar
- Gold Ore
- Iridium Bar
- Iridium Ore
- Iron Bar
- Mayonnaise
- Pickles
- Refined Quartz
- All Universal Hates (except Joja Cola, Seaweed)
Sam seems to like junk food and sweets. The sweet Cactus Fruit and a Maple Bar doughnut are among his all-time favorites. He's also one of the few characters who likes Joja Cola (typically a Universal Hate). For more Stardew Valley tips, check out our dedicated page.
How Friendship Works in Stardew Valley
In Stardew Valley, each character’s affection for you is measured in up to 10 Hearts (14 for a spouse), which can be tracked on the Social tab of your inventory screen. Do enough things the character likes — like give them preferred gifts — and the hearts go up. At regular intervals, you can experience special events with that character resulting in more opportunities to gain friendship, receive gifts yourself, or get new recipes.
Each visible heart level is worth 250 invisible “friendship points,” for want of a better term. To earn them, do anything you might do in real life to make a friend. Talk to them: you get 20 friendship points when you talk to someone in Stardew Valley once daily. Do things for them: complete random item delivery quests for characters to get 150 friendship points. Hang out with them: go see a movie with a character (200/100 pts. if they enjoy the flick). Every day you don't interact with a villager, their friendship points decrease by 2.
The fastest way to make friends, at least in Pelican Town, is to shower a villager with gifts, assuming you have a reliable source of the gifts they like.
Stardew Valley Gift-Giving Table
- Loves: +80
- Likes: +45
- Neutral: +20
- Dislikes: -20
- Hate: -40
These gains are multiplied by 5 during the Feast of the Winter Star event and multiplied by 8 on a villager’s birthday. Sam's birthday falls on Summer 17. You also gain an additive 10%/25%/50% bonus for giving higher-quality versions of an item when available.
Like his best friend Sebastian, Sam spends a lot of time in his room, especially when it's raining. So if you don't already have two hearts with him, you can't even access him to give gifts sometimes. His Likes and Loves are fairly inexpensive, however, so it should be fairly easy to boost your relationship early and quickly. He's one of the only characters who likes Joja Cola, which can be bought from the Joja Mart, where Sam works part-time, or from the Saloon's vending machine. They're also found occasionally in random places like the end of your fishing line.
The best and most efficient way to befriend him via gifts is with Pizza bought from the Stardrop Saloon and Joja Colas.
