Tumblar

Tumblar resembles a clear drinking glass placed upside down, with the Jiggy visible beneath it. He has no limbs, and the eyes shown in his speech portrait are absent from the glass moving around the room. The board underneath him gives his encounter the appearance of a séance, with the glass taking the place of the pointer used to select letters. His grand introduction contrasts with his complaint about the unwanted Jiggy and his impatience to leave the gloomy shed. Tumblar lives in the small detached shed in the mansion grounds. Follow the paths around the outside of the main house to the raised area with a wooden doorway and skeleton enemies nearby. Break through the doorway with Beak Barge and enter as the normal Banjo and Kazooie. The Pumpkin transformation used for several other mansion secrets is unnecessary here. Inside, the glass stands on a floor decorated with the heroes’ faces, surrounded by letter tiles and witch-face squares. There are four Musical Notes in the room’s corners. Collecting these before starting leaves the pair free to concentrate on the puzzle; the Notes and Mumbo Token on the shed’s roof are separate from Tumblar’s reward.

Jump onto the top of Tumblar to begin the challenge. A seventy-five-second countdown starts, and moving the Control Stick slides the glass across the floor with Banjo balanced above it. Ride over the letters in the order B, A, N, J, O, K, A, Z, O, O, I, E. The displayed title contains twelve letters, including two As and three Os, and every successful letter tile can be used only once. Each accepted tile turns green, showing which letters have already been spent. There is no need to jump and Beak Buster a letter as in Treasure Trove Cove’s sandcastle. Here the glass itself must reach the correct square, and crossing an ordinary letter out of order does not advance the spelling. Look around the board before climbing onto Tumblar so that the repeated letters do not become confusing during the countdown. Either unused A can supply the next A in the name, and each O must come from a different O tile. Use the open middle of the room to travel between targets instead of tracing the dangerous outer edge. Tumblar accelerates as the stick is held, so release it early when approaching a letter and make a small correction rather than sweeping across the next square. Pause to check the remaining sequence if necessary. A successful run depends on selecting the next unused matching letter, keeping control of the slide and leaving enough time to cross the board for the final I and E.

A purple Tee-Hee circles the board during the challenge. Contact with it damages Banjo and knocks him off Tumblar, while sliding across a Gruntilda-face tile also costs health and throws him from the glass. Watch the ghost’s approach before moving towards a letter on the perimeter, then return through the centre when possible. If knocked off, climb back onto Tumblar and continue while the clock is still running. Repeated collisions can exhaust the pair’s energy even before the time limit becomes the main concern. Running out of time ends the attempt and sends the heroes back to the world’s entrance, requiring a return to the shed to try again. Careful steering therefore saves both health and the time needed to recover from a fall. Completing the full name stops the challenge and prompts Tumblar’s relieved farewell. He tells Banjo and Kazooie to take the object and declares that he is leaving the shed. The glass then fades away, exposing the Jiggy for collection. Pick up the Jiggy and any remaining corner Notes before leaving. Once that Jiggy has been collected, Tumblar remains absent when the room is entered again. Both the Nintendo 64 and Xbox versions include the encounter.