Masquerade 2026!

Who is ready to dance?

Things are a little different this year. Before we get to the details, just know that the Masquerade will last until July 15.

Dance Floor

On the ballroom floor, you will notice some changes!

💃 The dance rooms are back on the Masquerade Forums! Join a dance room where you can step onto the floor and the Auto Dancing Machine will pair you with another dancer every few minutes. Each pairing will earn you 2-5 trinkets (lounge or steelworks) with up to 80 per day across ALL dancing booths. You will always have a partner, whether it is another user or one of the gossips!

💃 You can only be in 3 dance rooms at a time.

💃 At the bottom of the page, you'll see active Masquerade achievements to help you keep track of things! There are a few new achievements for you to work towards.

💃 Don't forget, you can also use the Mystery Dance feature!

Foods and Drinks!

🍸 You'll see a 'Sidelines' section below the floor where you can bring a Libertine Lounge food or drink to various NPCs. They will cycle out throughout the holiday. There are a few NPCs that will not accept drinks and at least one that will not accept food.

🍸 Why should I feed or provide drinks to NPCs? You will be rewarded for your help! Instead of new items to the Steamworks Menagerie, we've added the small pool of items to the various NPCs on the floor. If you provide 3 items to an NPC, you will get to pick your prize out of that NPC's pool.

🍸 This is an excellent year to catch up on past Steamworks Menagerie and Libertine Lounge items. There are 17 years worth of items, after all!

Olivette's Shop

To dance on the floor, you will need to be wearing an item with the word 'mask' in the name.

🎭 Olivette is in the ballroom this year building masks instead of opening Migrating Masks. She has a higher chance to create a new mask for you but you could potentially get an old mask too! These older masks include masks that once restocked in the Holiday Shop, like the Mardi Gras Face Mask, or from other holidays like the Orange Wreathed Red Rreign Mask. Make sure you CLICK/Select each item when crafting for a mask for the 'craft' button to work.

Note: We've moved everything back to legacy this year (dance rooms were on kumos!), so there may be a bug or two. You can report any you come across here. Thanks everyone!

Note : This is just the first day, there will be more to come! Perhaps a robot or two may challenge you.

June 27, 2026, 3:32 pm by Amber
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If they haven't updated in say 20 minutes, can you make a thread (if there isn't already)?

June 27, 2026, 3:31 pm by Laurey
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One other issue I noticed, I'm not sure if the new achievements for Masq are counting? I got 3 of them since the event started, but my achievement count has not gone up (unless it's a cache thing).

June 27, 2026, 3:31 pm by Amber
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We have been changing up a bunch. Us on staff end up testing this stuff a lot and then when I have to do a news post, I forget that not everything is as initiative or obvious (because I've been playing around with it for so long). It's like when you've stared at a word for so long you don't know if it's even a word anymore. Please, ask questions! I'm happy to explain anything and then edit said post to clarify for others.

June 27, 2026, 3:28 pm by Rogue
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The whole site has been incredibly confusing lately and masq is no exception apparently

June 27, 2026, 3:27 pm by Gastrodon
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Really love the items this year guys!! Great job :)

June 27, 2026, 3:25 pm by BoaConstrictor
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Thank you! I gave another 3 items to the NPC (first one in the row) hoping to trigger the "prize shop" again, still saw the "Prize available" field, no way to get back to the prize pool even though it says "You've given 6 times"

I refreshed the page - now the prize available field and "You've given 6 times" is gone :-( I checked my inventory, just to be sure, my Libertine items were definitely consumed.

I did try a third time now, and got the "Pick a Prize!"yet the initial prize I wanted "Cheesy Rice Cake and Sausage Skewer" is not there any more - I chose something different (old stuff), but now the Prize pool is gone again and I cannot fetch my prices for the first 2 deliveries. "I feel as though I should buy you something but, ah, I've already spent all my trinkets and money. Perhaps you'd like one of the things I bought? I suppose it is a lot for me to carry. You received: Black Mini Jeweled Crown!"

June 27, 2026, 3:25 pm by Amber
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Just FYI everyone: I've let Keith know about the various issues that have been pointed out here (getting an error from masks but still getting, not being able to get back to choose your prize menu, etc). He's pushing fixes but then will be MIA rest of the afternoon (we are both on PST time). I haven't seen any other issues, so I'll likely go back to my tech free Shabbat until this evening. Ping me for any issues you have that haven't been addressed here in the comments or doesn't have a bug thread <3

June 27, 2026, 3:22 pm by Saturnine
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I saw one of the masks uploaded yesterday and was excited to see it; nice to know we can craft it (also interested in talking to NPCs and giving food and drink :o)

June 27, 2026, 3:21 pm by brokensafety
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That sounds great!

June 27, 2026, 3:19 pm by Amber
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Yes! I'm going to be getting everything rounded up and added back there later today. It will include: Mystery Dance, Olivette's Workshop, Ballroom, Forums, Lounge + Menagerie. Any others you think should be included?

June 27, 2026, 3:16 pm by Amber
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Completely understandable if you are feeling lost. On the forums, there will be various threads and you can join up to three for the 'dance room' feature. This has a live chat, has NPCs dancing with people, and other users. You can also still dance using the scode dance=USERNAME on forums or statuses. I've also included the mystery dance up in the news post if you want to dance that way. :)

June 27, 2026, 3:16 pm by brokensafety
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Can we get some links on the front page right side? There's been a lot of links added to the front page right side that I don't use at all. During holidays, it would be helpful to have the holiday related links added back.

June 27, 2026, 3:15 pm by Kat77
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I am loving having a bit more to do (creating masks, getting new achievements, giving food/drinks!!) AND superglad to see a way to use all my excess trinkets! I am glad to note there ARE new items, even if they aren't in the shops!! And the fact you threw the crafting supply shop in there to make the masks, excellent idea, gives those items a use!!

June 27, 2026, 3:14 pm by Carlita
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I like the new features but I feel a bit lost. Where are the trinkets by dancing with others? I'm dumb xD

June 27, 2026, 3:14 pm by Laurey
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As someone who did not participate in the dance rooms on Kumos at all last year, it seems a bit confusing. I get that there are the dance rooms on the forums, so is that the only way to join? On the Ballroom page itself, trying to click the "step on the floor" button just returns an error that it's already full. So it's not really clear what is going on.

June 27, 2026, 3:03 pm by Amber
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Thanks for the feedback! We wanted y'all to have more to do (and also spend those lounge trinkets that waste away). It was fun picking the older items for the mask pool and NPCs. One of our artists enjoyed writing all the text for the NPCs too.

June 27, 2026, 3:02 pm by Bunny20
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Totally digging this new Masq! I like having other stuff to do besides dancing. Excellent work y'all, it looks great!

June 27, 2026, 2:59 pm by Amber
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You still get the item, we're aware it is throwing an error though. :)

June 27, 2026, 2:59 pm by Amber
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There is nothing new in the shops this year. Any new items are attached to the NPCs. Each NPC has a few new items as well as old retired holiday shop (and other shop) items to choose from. Thanks for pointing that out though the issue of not getting back to the prizes. I gave another item to an NPC and got the list again. I'll be sure to let know though!

June 27, 2026, 2:58 pm by MarchOnOff
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I got it, missed that row. Went to make a mask, got Something went wrong. Shocking.

June 27, 2026, 2:55 pm by BoaConstrictor
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So I gave 3 drinks & food to someone , was presented with a list of rewards, tried to find out, what they were, chose the Item directory (my first visit at the new one), I didn't understand, these people gave out new stuff, it sounded as if this was the way to catch up on old wares. Anyway, how do I get back to that NPC I should get my reward from? There is a "Prize available!" filed, which is not a button.

June 27, 2026, 2:54 pm by MarchOnOff
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Where is this year shop? Both stop last year? I missed something, right?

June 27, 2026, 2:54 pm by Danis
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Thank you, Amber! I'll never complain about having more retired items recirculated! 😁 the event is super fun this year!

June 27, 2026, 2:51 pm by Amber
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Not a problem, ! You'll find them on the main ballroom page below the dancing bit. The title should be 'sidelines'. The NPCs cycle through so you'll see different ones throughout the day.

June 27, 2026, 2:50 pm by Sirensong
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Where do I find the NPCs to give food to? Sorry for all the questions.

June 27, 2026, 2:49 pm by Amber
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As of right now, those are the pool of items for each NPC. I'll likely look up some more old retired items to add to them later in the holiday but there will not be any new items. If I do add more items (retired!) items, there will be a news post. Also, each of the NPCs have different items attached to them. So you'll want to feed/hydrate them all!

June 27, 2026, 2:47 pm by Danis
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do the npc's pool of items change at all or is it just those few items for the whole event?

June 27, 2026, 2:31 pm by Amber
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Can you make a bug thread, ! (I should've been telling you all to do that whoops)

June 27, 2026, 2:30 pm by Marlboro
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refreshing the purchase page at the Masq shops eats the tokens but not giving the items

June 27, 2026, 2:28 pm by StarShadow
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Just did 5-6 masks and got only old ones. Hope some new ones show up. Interesting new activities.

June 27, 2026, 2:27 pm by Amber
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Thanks, . Letting know. <3

June 27, 2026, 2:25 pm by Amber
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Create a thread on the Masq forums, !

June 27, 2026, 2:25 pm by Sirensong
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- It's throwing the error with every mask creation that gives an achievement. A lot of the new achievements do the same.

June 27, 2026, 2:21 pm by kuzi
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sorry if I'm missing the obvious but how does one create a dancing booth? (one achievement is "Dance in a Dancing Booth room you created.")

June 27, 2026, 2:19 pm by Amber
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It's in the news post (forgot to add it before), but yes I'll work on getting it in the ballroom top header. There are a lot of older masks, some not even from Migrating Masks, that I've put in the pool. There is a higher chance of getting a new one but isn't a guarantee as you saw. I hope you at least like the mask you got! Oh, good! It could be you clicked too fast, the site was hiccuping, or something else.

June 27, 2026, 2:17 pm by StarShadow
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Got the create mask to work but of course only got an old one. Hope I get a new one some time. Will the mystery dance button be added to the main page?

June 27, 2026, 2:17 pm by Sirensong
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- I did get a mask. I think the error is the same one you often get when getting other achievements these days, because I did receive the first achievement as well.

June 27, 2026, 2:17 pm by Amber
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Can you take a look in your inventory and tell me if the items are still there or if a mask showed up?

June 27, 2026, 2:14 pm by Sirensong
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- Didn't realize I needed to click. Did that, and hit craft a d got, Something went wrong.

June 27, 2026, 2:13 pm by Amber
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We're working on it, !

June 27, 2026, 2:12 pm by Chezzerai
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Would love to do the auto dancing again this year but, Keith, you need to cancel the ones that I was on in Kumos last year before it will allow me to get started this year.

June 27, 2026, 2:11 pm by Amber
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Did you click the items? It's not enough for it to just show up on the page.

June 27, 2026, 2:09 pm by Amber
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<3

June 27, 2026, 2:09 pm by StarShadow
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Wow, too many achievements... will take a while I think.

June 27, 2026, 2:09 pm by Sirensong
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So confused. I got a food item, a drink, and a craft supply. All of these buttons show I have the items, but the Craft button is grayed out. What am I doing wrong?

June 27, 2026, 2:07 pm by Angelica
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the wait was really worth it

June 27, 2026, 2:01 pm by Kat77
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Oooh these sound like interesting new changes!! I can't wait to see how it goes!

June 27, 2026, 1:59 pm by BaronOfBirchmen
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!!🎊🎉

June 27, 2026, 1:58 pm by PeachGoblin
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It's time to dance! ♫ ♪

June 27, 2026, 1:58 pm by Amber
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Welcome back, !

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