The normal ending is not the end. After the credits roll and you think you’ve seen everything Big Walk has to offer, a keyhole appears at a door you couldn’t open before — and it’s already unlocked. That door leads to a green building that holds the real finale, but only if you bring 15 gourds with you. Seven of those gourds don’t even exist until you beat the game once. Here’s the full route from post-game spawn to the 100% ending, including the building’s exact location and where every gourd fits.
What Changes After You Beat the Normal Ending
The secret ending is gated behind one hard requirement: you must complete the normal ending first. There’s no shortcut, no glitch, no early access. Once you finish the game, the world updates in two visible ways: 
- A keyhole appears at the secret door location, and it’s already open.
- Seven new purple gourds spawn on the map, scattered across areas you’ve already explored.
The door itself will not respond to anything before the normal ending — pressing the button nearby does nothing, and the keyhole simply isn’t there. So if you’re reading this before finishing the game, go do that first. The rest of this guide assumes you’re in the post-game state.
Step-by-Step: Reaching the Secret Ending
The route is short once you know where to go, but a couple of steps are easy to fumble if you’re in a hurry.
- Spawn in and head toward the tutorial room exit. From the main area, make your way outside and orient yourself toward the major train station on the red line.
- Locate the big green building next to the station. On the map, it’s the large green structure directly adjacent to the red train line. The station itself is the one where the red train arrives — you should have unlocked this station during normal play, so fast-travel to it if you’re far away.
- If the door is closed, press the button near it. The button sits on the wall beside the entrance. Pressing it opens the door, but only after the normal ending is complete. If the button does nothing, you’re not in the post-game state yet.
- Enter the building and find the gourd placement area. Inside, you’ll see slots for exactly 15 gourds. The 7 purple ones you found after the ending go into the new slots; the other 8 standard gourds fill the rest.
- Place all 15 gourds. The secret ending triggers automatically once the last gourd is set in its slot.
Warning: Do not leave the building after placing the first few gourds. The game doesn’t save your gourd placement progress mid-way — if you exit, you’ll have to re-place everything when you return.
Green Building Location: Follow the Red Train Line
The secret ending building is impossible to miss once you know what to look for, but the map can be confusing if you haven’t memorized the station layout. The building is the big green structure sitting right next to the red train line. Not the blue line, not the yellow line — the red one.
The train station beside it is the same one you unlocked during the main campaign. If you’ve been using the map room’s scale model to track your progress, look for the station with a completed flag on the red line; the green building is directly adjacent to it.
If you’re still having trouble finding it, the map room’s physical map with the compass will show the building’s position relative to the red line — the building is marked as a distinct green block on the map, unlike the smaller structures around it.
Tip: If you haven’t found the map room yet, check out the Big Walk Map Guide for the full route to the map’s location. It makes post-game navigation significantly easier.
All 15 Gourds: What You Need and Where They Fit
The gourd requirement breaks down into two groups: the 8 you collected during the main game and the 7 purple ones that only appear after the normal ending.
| Gourd Type | Count | When Available |
|---|---|---|
| Standard gourds | 8 | Normal gameplay |
| Purple gourds | 7 | Post-normal ending only |
| Total | 15 | All required for secret ending |
The purple gourds spawn in locations you’ve already visited, but they won’t be visible until the normal ending is complete. There’s no new area to explore — just new pickups in familiar territory. The map room’s scale model will show the purple gourds as distinct markers once they spawn, so check it before you start hunting.
Each gourd, regardless of type, goes into a specific slot inside the green building. There’s no order requirement — you can place them in any sequence, and the game tracks which slots are filled. The secret ending triggers the moment the 15th gourd is placed.
The Map Room Connection: Why It Matters Post-Game
The map room isn’t just for the Big Views achievement — it’s your primary tool for tracking down the purple gourds after the normal ending. The scale model inside the room shows every pickup location in the world, including the newly spawned purple gourds. Incomplete locations appear as flag poles with no flags, which makes it easy to spot areas you haven’t fully cleared.
The physical map with the compass is also useful if you’re trying to triangulate a purple gourd’s position relative to landmarks. It doesn’t show your current location, so you’ll need to use the subsection indicator in the top-right corner to figure out where you are on the map.
Note: The map room is not required for the secret ending itself — you can find all 7 purple gourds by pure exploration if you want. But if you’re missing one and can’t figure out where, the scale model will save you an hour of wandering.
More Guides:
- Big Walk: How to Start the Train (the Big Ride Achievement Guide)
- Big Walk: The Purple Flag Pole Golf Puzzle Guide
- Big Walk: All 7 Radio Station Locations
- Big Walk Green Flare Puzzle Guide: How to Find the Hidden Seaside Box
- Big Walk: How to Solve the Yellow/White Counting Binoculars Ocean Puzzle
