When you load up Edinburgh Fringe 2026 you’ll see you can use the character selection screen to choose between a Performer, Punter or a Local. Remember, this is an open-world RPG, so there’s a lot of freedom to walk around having adventures but your win conditions are determined by your character choices!
If you select ‘Punter’ you will spawn at Waverley Station. The map is divided into Old Town and New Town but if you find every hidden Richard Herring poster you can unlock Leith. Musselburgh will be DLC if the game gets big enough. Anyway, the Pleasance faction controls the Courtyard and is fighting for control of Bristo Square with the Assembly, Underbelly and Gilded Balloon factions. Each faction has its own colour scheme and unique missions and side quests. You can complete each of these faction’s quests by seeing ten fun sketch shows, ten debut shows from exciting newcomers and ten shows from the huge theatre or world music section. This will level you up and unlock Pay What You Want venues like Monkey Barrel, Just The Tonic and the various Free Fringes. To complete these venues you need to see ten people with silly podcasts, ten groundbreaking clowns and ten great comedians that no one else has discovered yet. The final boss is The Tattoo Mega Piper inside Edinburgh Castle and to beat it you’ll need to equip American Tourist Outfit and spam Photo Attack using Large Camera.
If you select ‘Performer’ you will start minus 10,000 gold and will only be able to perform in certain free venues unless you’ve played the game before. Then you can load in your Edinburgh 2025 save file and start the new game with all your gold coins and Reputation Points from the last version, though not the same jokes. The simplest way to win is by surviving till the month counts down and moderately enhancing any of your stats. If you take zero reputational or professional damage for the whole game and earn stars from newspapers, you might win the 10,000 gold coins needed to get your character back to zero. This will unlock Sold Out mode for this and all future games.
If you select ‘Local’ the easiest way to win is to select ‘rent out flat’ when prompted, you will win the game and the ‘Spanish Holiday’ cutscene will play. If that option is greyed out, and you don’t run a bar or restaurant, your character is going to take 100 Inconvenience Damage every day for the entire month, double if you accidentally walk into the Royal Mile PvP area.
As any character, your game will be easier if you attend any Folk Music Venue (+500 Charisma, unlocks Dog On A String), shows at Summerhall (+80 Culture) and, if you need a power up, get a Tattie Dog from Piemaker (+100 Health, -20 Speed).
Pierre Novellie: Okay, One More Then Bedtime, Monkey Barrel Comedy, 5–29 Aug, 7.05pm
Pierre Novellie: Do the One About…, Assembly George Square Studios, 18-29 Aug, 1pm