Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake Dampé's Grave Digging Tour Guide: Schedule, Hard Stones & How to Get the Piece of Heart
Among the thirty-six Pieces of Heart hidden across Hyrule in the Nintendo Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the one buried inside Kakariko Graveyard has long been infamous among Nintendo 64 veterans for its punishing randomness. Fortunately, Dampé's Grave Digging Tour works on a much fairer nightly distribution system in the remake, complete with a new hard-stone mechanic that can catch returning players off guard. From his exact evening schedule and recommended Rupee budget to every reward in the pool, here is how to claim Dampé's Piece of Heart without wasting your wallet.
1. Requirements, Schedule, and Preparation for Kakariko Graveyard
Before heading to the eastern edge of Kakariko Village to track down the hunched gravekeeper, make sure you meet three essential requirements so you do not waste a single in-game night:
- Play exclusively as Young Link: Dampé's Grave Digging Tour is only available during Link's childhood timeline. Once you pull the Master Sword in the Temple of Time and travel seven years into the future as Adult Link, Dampé will have passed away (and his open grave will instead lead to his spectral race for the Hookshot).
- Arrive strictly between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM: unlike the nighttime side quest where you track down Richard the Dog in Castle Town Market at night at any hour before dawn, Dampé only leaves his wooden shack to host his Grave Digging Tour during a tight three-hour window from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM in-game time.
- Bring 50 to 100 Rupees: each basic shovel dig costs 10 Rupees. While you are busy trading all four masks from the Happy Mask Shop, upgrading to the Adult's Wallet (200 Rupees) at the House of Skulltula is highly recommended so you do not cap out at 99 Rupees when Dampé unearths high-value gems.
The Sun's Song shortcut: if you reach Kakariko Village during the afternoon or after 9:00 PM, stand just outside the graveyard entrance and play the Sun's Song (Right, Down, Up, Right, Down, Up, learned at the back of the Royal Family's Tomb) to jump straight to 6:00 PM, right as Dampé begins his nightly patrol.
2. How Semi-Randomized Nightly Digs (and Hard Stones) Work on Switch 2
In the original 1998 release, every time you paid Dampé 10 Rupees on a patch of soft soil, the game rolled a flat 10% chance for the Piece of Heart,meaning unlucky players could burn through hundreds of Rupees over multiple nights. In the Nintendo Switch 2 remake, the minigame uses a semi-randomized nightly pool.
Each night at 6:00 PM, the game shuffles a fixed set of rewards,including the unique Piece of Heart and several large Rupee gems,underneath the various clumps of soft dirt scattered around the graveyard loop. Follow these four steps to secure the heart upgrade in a single evening:
- Follow Dampé's patrol loop patiently: Dampé limps slowly along the stone path and around the rows of headstones. Never pay him to dig while he is standing on stone pavement or grass, or your 10 Rupees will be wasted automatically.
- Target him only on soft dirt clumps: as soon as Dampé steps squarely onto one of the raised brown dirt patches, lock onto him with ZL, speak to him, and pay 10 Rupees.
- Always pay the extra 5 Rupees for hard stones: new to the Switch 2 remake, Dampé's shovel will occasionally strike hard stones mid-dig, prompting him to ask for another 5 Rupees (15 Rupees total for that spot) to break through the rock. Always accept: clearing the stones ensures you do not skip the dirt patch holding your prize.
- Clear every dirt clump in a single night without leaving: because the reward locations only reset if you leave Kakariko Graveyard or let the clock pass 9:00 PM, systematically dig each clump of dirt once during the same night. The Red and Purple Rupees you unearth along the way will largely pay for the empty holes.
3. Complete Dampé's Grave Digging Tour Costs and Rewards Table
While several dirt clumps in each nightly cycle will turn up empty, landing a single Purple Rupee funds five additional digs on the spot. Here is the full breakdown of every cost and reward in Dampé's Grave Digging Tour:
| Dig Outcome / Reward | Rupee Cost or Value | Frequency & Switch 2 Remake Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Soft Dirt Dig | Cost: 10 Rupees | Base fee charged by Dampé on any soft dirt clump between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM |
| Hard Stones Prompt (New) | Cost: +5 Rupees (15 total) | Extra fee requested when Dampé's shovel hits hard rock halfway through a dig |
| Empty Hole | Reward: 0 Rupees | Common across several dirt clumps each night; never dig the same spot twice in one night |
| Blue Rupee | Reward: 5 Rupees | Recovers half of your initial 10-Rupee dig fee |
| Red Rupee | Reward: 20 Rupees | Nets a +10 Rupee profit (+5 Rupees if hard stones were cleared) |
| Purple Rupee | Reward: 50 Rupees | Instantly pays for five more digs so you can finish clearing the nightly pool |
| Piece of Heart (Grand Prize) | Unique (1 per save file) | Guaranteed within the nightly dirt clump pool; replaced by a Purple Rupee on future nights |
Quick-save tip if your wallet runs dry: if you happen to hit four or five empty dirt patches right at the start of the tour and run low on funds, simply drop a manual save right at 6:00 PM at the graveyard gate before paying for your first dig. Reloading that save after a bad streak lets you restart a fresh nightly layout with your full 100 Rupees intact.
My Perspective
Anyone who suffered through Dampé's Grave Digging Tour on the Nintendo 64 remembers the pain of burning through three full wallets on a cold 10% dice roll while waiting for the gravekeeper to limp from one headstone to the next. Turning the tour into a semi-randomized nightly board where the Piece of Heart is physically waiting under one of the dirt clumps removes one of the original game's most notorious time sinks,and having Dampé demand an extra five Rupees whenever his shovel hits hard rock adds a fittingly cheeky touch to Kakariko's resident gravedigger.
Based on the outskirts of New York City, Chaya 'Chayane' spent five years studying software engineering in Montreal before returning to her home state. A Full-Stack developer and Deep Learning AI architecture researcher, she explores neural networks and algorithmic optimization while engineering data pipelines for Retrocharting and Gamescharting alongside Grimtag. A gamer for over 20 years and an avid collector of Nintendo history and The Legend of Zelda, she explored World of Warcraft's Azeroth before bringing her deep technical background to video game analysis.
