Recycl-o-Mat

Could someone please give a very simple/detailed explanation of how this works? I have not done it before and have no clue how to donate items. From this morning's harvests I have 113 nebulon batteries but when I go to donate (green + in the left-side tower), it's asking for 3,000,000 value of items. I thought I only need to donate 300,000 for the XL pack. If I donate 3M, what do I get?

 

I haven't done it for so long but basically you are gambling on the best return of Farm Coins from farm goods and Nublonite Batteries. Depending on how many Nublonite Batteries you have and the amount of the goodies you put in on the left side, you get a return of Farm Coins.

But, warning, make sure YOU input the amount of goods you want to donate on the left side. If you leave it at 3,000,000, the Recyclomat will take that - and you may not use up all that amount during the event. Does that make sense?

Here's the amounts for each number of Nublonite Batteries if it helps:

Each round played for each prize pool requires:

Small - 20,000 Barn value of required goods + 10 Nublonite batteries
Medium - 50,000 Barn value of required goods + 25 Nublonite batteries
Large - 100,000 Barn value of required goods + 35 Nublonite batteries
X Large - 300,000 Barn value of required goods + 90 Nublonite batteries

Okay, I just tried it with the first level - it defaults at 3 million farm value! If you are not careful, you will plonk all that in at once and depending on how many batteries you get, you may lose it. There's no undo! (Spoken by someone who has done this ... more than once!)

So, on the left side, put the amount of whatever you want to use (there's a drop down menu for the choices) and the amount of Nublonite batteries required will be highlighted. Press the right hand arrow and your prize will be revealed. I got one Farm Coin!

Good luck.

Edit: I forgot, you can grow Star Flowers to donate if you like. Personally, I never really saw the attraction of this event unless you are in real need of Farm Coins.

 

I can see some longer-term players participating because they have plenty of stock on the barns to trade for farm coins. I'm not a newbie, but I tend to make one big deposit for 24 farm coins and call it even. I can get rid of *some* excess that way without getting wiped out.

 

Thanks so much Illy, rivak, and Päärynä11! I appreciate your feedback. After reading your comments, I donated exactly 300,000 worth of items and went for 90 nublons - won 60 Farm Coins! I might use up the remainder of the batteries with some extra stock. I'll usually try this type of 'chance' game, but won't go beyond what I'm comfortable parting with

 

I usually donate 161 parrot feathers and use 90 batteries. I usually repeat that till I run out of batteries or I win jackpot, 150 coins. After that I do smaller donations with less batteries.
It is too easy to donate too much and waste them, so I try to use just required amount of donations on every try.

 

I was interested in how my luck would go so I tried with 161 Parrot Feathers twice, first one gave 90 Farm Coins, second gave 30 Farm Coins! I have my Parrot Feather Trees out all the time so always have plenty.

I'm not quite a convert but I can see it as a way to make Farm Coins if I need them - I spend mine on all the usual fertilisers (PF, SG and SSG) each month and occasionally one of the better givers (Mighty Mower) so may not dismiss it so quickly in the future.
So it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks!

Edit: Another go, 60 Farm Coins!