How to Play Five Nights at Freddy's

Written by Travis Boylls

Last Updated: September 14, 2024 Fact Checked

Five Nights at Freddy's is a 2014 indie survival horror game and is often considered one of the scariest games ever. Do you have the guts to play it? If so, read on.

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1
Listen to the phone guy. The phone guy was a previous security guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He will give you useful and important information. Some of the information he gives is to check security cameras often, as well as to close doors and turn on lights only if necessary. However, you should only be checking Cam 4C on Nights 1 and 2. On Nights 3 onward, you should be checking whatever camera Freddy is on to stall him, which also works well because any and all camera activity stalls Foxy, regardless of camera. Phone Guy also give some background information on the restaurant itself, so if you're very into the lore, listen closely on the last bit of his message.
- As the nights go on, the Phone Guy's messages will be shorter and will mostly apply to the day's events pertaining to the animatronics, and what you should do on that night. Many of his instructions are meant to throw the player off, such as the "play dead" instruction. "Playing dead" while an animatronic is near the Office is a surefire way to get yourself killed. The movement patterns of the animatronics will be much faster than the first night.
- On the fourth night, the Phone Guy has recorded his last message. In the recording, you can hear animatronic noises, then Freddy's jingle, the Toreador March. An animatronic jumpscare scream is heard, and the call is cut short. Many have used this phone call to connect FNAF 1 and FNAF 2, since Phone Guy is alive in FNAF 2, therefore making FNAF 2 a prequel.
You have a limited power supply for each night. If you run out of power, Freddy will catch you, unless you make it to 6 AM before his jingle ends. Your shifts last for six hours, from 12 AM to 6 AM, so keep this in mind while rationing power. The transition from 5 AM to 6 AM can interrupt Freddy's attack if you run out of power, so try to survive until 5 AM and 1 minute at the least. ^{[1]
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While the game will still be tough the first two days, especially for more inexperienced or rusty players, the animatronics will become more active on the third night. Be sure to have most of your power saved, at least 50% by 3 AM. You'll need it much more on nights three, four, five and six.
There are five animatronics in the game: Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken, Foxy the Pirate Fox, Freddy Fazbear, and Golden Freddy. Bonnie and Chica come from the left and right doors, having a random path. ^{[2]
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Research source} Foxy has a rare chance to appear on Night 1. To deal with him, you simply need to check the cameras. It was once believed that you could only stall Foxy by checking on his camera specifically, 4C, but it has been proved that any general camera activity will stall him. Freddy comes to the right in a single path. To stall him, you must watch the camera he is currently on, unlike Foxy. Golden Freddy is summoned through a poster that has a literal one-in-a-million chance of appearing on Cam 2B.
The Phone Guy will not have a message for you that night, so you will be on your own. The animatronics will be as active as ever as this is the last main night, and this is the one that you'll need your power the most. On night five you get a strange, garbled phone call that is speculated to come from Freddy. It's quite possible that after Phone Guy's death, the animatronics had access to the phone, which is why you receive this. This call has been confirmed to come from the book "Autobiography of a Yogi." Don't let it distract you though! ^{[3]
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6
Do your best. If this is your first time playing, be prepared. Five Nights at Freddy's is somewhat weird, and very scary. Be prepared for not just the fifth night, but things like jumpscares, animatronics traveling, and much more! ^{[4]
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- If you have succeeded in surviving the fifth night, you can play night six and seven.
- Upon beating Night 6 you can unlock night 7. Here you can set the animatronic's AI difficulty. Setting Freddy to 1, Bonnie to 9, Chica to 8, and Foxy to 7, when you press "Go!", instantly, Golden Freddy's jumpscare appears, indicating that the child haunting Golden Freddy was killed in 1987. There is a lot of speculation and theories about this.

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How do you get rid of Golden Freddy?

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If you happen to see Golden Freddy on the floor of your office, quickly flick your monitor (the cameras) up for one second, then back down. Otherwise, Golden Freddy will crash your game, and you will have to close and re-open your game to play it.

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What is the mask for?

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The mask is to fool the animatronics that you are Freddy instead of the night guard.

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What will happen if I run out of power?

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You will die. Unless Freddy's jumpscare is cut off by the 6 am bell, which is rare.

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Tips

If you lose, you may try again. Practice makes perfect.

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If you want, you can record yourself playing the game and post it on YouTube.

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If you don't want to get too scared, try grabbing a stuffed animal before you start playing, and you can squeeze it and bury your face in it if it gets too scary, or inviting a friend over and playing with them.

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Foxy and Freddy will rarely come out on Night 1 and 2. That does not mean that they won't be moving, they might be out and about. To hear Foxy you hear his metal feet running down the hallway and bangs on the door. It takes about 10% of you're power out. He moves a lot on night 3 and up. He is the SLOWEST OF THEM ALL. But the scariest character. Freddy teleports. The rest is the same.
On Nintendo Switch there are cheats in the menu. These cheats are: unlimited power, fast passing nights, and radar map. Unlimited power and fast passing nights are quite self explanatory, but radar map is slightly confusing. I'll explain: radar map makes small icons of where each animatronic is so that you don't have to switch from 1c, which ultimately makes the game easier.
In my opinion, the doors are the largest waste of power in the entire game. Sure, you could keep them closed at all times to ward off enemies, but that defeats the purpose of the game. Not to mention, doing so will barely get you through an hour before you completely run out of power.
Only check on the cam where Foxy is. This will make it less likely for Foxy to run. Also, checking on Freddy isn't necessary, just close the right side door before checking your cams.
Freddy is only active on Night 3 onwards unless the power runs out. If the power runs out, Freddy will be on the left, otherwise he attacks on the right.
On Night 3 and onwards, listen closely to Freddy's deep laugh. Once you have heard his laugh 6 times, close the right door or he will get in.
You can also remove the jump scare files from the game, if they're too much for you. They can be kinda scary if you aren't ready for them!
If it gets too hard, try this pattern: Left light, right light, check on Freddy, check on Foxy, close the doors as necessary, repeat.
Keep in mind that Foxy and Freddy are the biggest threats. Bonnie and Chica can only kill if you put the camera up and down again.
If Golden Freddy appears, you have 3 seconds to flip up the monitor before he gets you and crashes your game.

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Warnings

If you do see the poster of Golden Freddy and he appears in your office, do not stare at it for too long or else he will kill you. You have about three seconds to pull up the monitor before he crashes your game.

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If you get the Custom Night, do not set it to 1/9/8/7. Golden Freddy's kill screen will appear immediately, and crash the game.

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Try not to play the game too much or too late at night, or you may have nightmares.

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Do not play if you don't like jumpscares, flashing lights or loud noises.

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