View source for Golden Cookie

[[File:GoldCookie.png|thumb|A golden cookie.]]
The Golden Cookie is a recurring object that shows up on the screen in a random position during normal gameplay. When spawned, a Golden Cookie will gradually grow and pulsate on the screen before slowly fading into nothing over the course of 13 seconds. If it is clicked before it disappears entirely, it will grant the player one of several semi-random outcomes, all of which will bolster the player's cookie production in some form or another. The frequency and duration of on-screen Golden Cookies can be increased via certain [[Upgrades]].

The player can see how many Golden Cookies you have clicked in the Stats menu. The menu also used to include the number of Golden Cookies you ''didn't'' click, but [[Orteil]] removed the feature because many players were complaining that it was "messing with their OCD". However, the number of missed clicks can still be found by typing Game.missedGoldenClicks into the [[Cheating#Opening_the_Browser_Console|console]].

Depending on which stage of the [[Grandmapocalypse]] the player is on, a red [[Wrath Cookie]] may be spawned instead of a Golden Cookie, which has a chance to give a ''negative'' result instead of a positive one. During the "angered" stage of the Grandmapocalypse, or if Skruuia is selected in the [[Pantheon]], all naturally spawning Golden Cookies will be replaced with Wrath Cookies; if Skruuia is selected, all Wrath Cookies will also have an increased chance of a negative result.
==Related Achievements/Upgrades==
===Upgrades===
{{table|upgrades|static}}
{{Golden Cookie upgrades||insert}}
{{Easter Egg upgrades|golden|insert}}
{{Unlockable Cookies|digestives|insert}}
{{Dragon upgrades|fang|insert}}
{{table-end}}
<references group="note"/>

===Achievements===
{{table|achievements|static}}
{{Golden Cookie achievements||insert}}
{{Shadow achievements|goldcookie|insert}}
{{table-end}}

==Golden Cookie Timing==
There are three crucial timings for Golden Cookies:
*Spawn time: how long it takes for Golden Cookies to be generated.
*Duration: how long Golden Cookies will stay on the screen.
*Effect duration: how long the cookie's effects will last. 

===Spawn Time===
Golden Cookie spawning is treated like any other object, and is thus subject to the game's built-in [[spawning mechanism]]. The time between one cookie spawn and the next is always between the 2 numbers '''T<sub>min</sub>''' and '''T<sub>max</sub>''' (which are initially set at 300 and 900 seconds, respectively). During this interval, there is a 

<math>\left(\frac{t - T_\text{min}}{T_\text{max} - T_\text{min}}\right)^5</math>

chance for a golden cookie to spawn each frame. (The default frame rate is 30 FPS, or 30 frames per second.) 

The probability of a golden cookie spawning can be approximated by the following functions:

<math>p(t)=\frac{30t^5}{T^5}\exp\left(\frac{-5t^6}{T^5}\right)</math>

<math>P(t)=1-\exp\left(\frac{-5t^6}{T^5}\right)</math>

<math>\bar{p}(t)=p(t-T_\text{min}) \quad \text{between } T_\text{min} \text{ and } T_\text{max}</math>

<math>\bar{P}(t)=P(t-T_\text{min}) \quad \text{between } T_\text{min} \text{ and } T_\text{max}</math>

<math>\bar{P}^{-1}(c)=\begin{cases}
\left(\frac{-T^5}{5}\ln(1-c)\right)^{\frac{1}{6}}+T_\text{min} & \text{when } 1-\exp(-5T)\ge c> 0\\
T_\text{max} & \text{when } c> 1-\exp(-5T)\\
\end{cases}</math>

where '''{{bar|p}}''', '''{{bar|P}}''' and '''{{bar|P}}<sup>-1</sup>''' are probability density function, cumulative density function and inverse cumulative density function, respectively. '''T'''='''T<sub>max</sub>'''-'''T<sub>min</sub>''', measured in seconds. If you dislike overly complicated functions and equations and all that mathy stuff, the average spawn time can be approximated as

<math>T_\text{min} + 0.70945\,T^{5/6}</math>

====Factors====
The following factors affect '''T<sub>min</sub>''' and '''T<sub>max</sub>''':
{| class="article-table"
! Type !! Name !! Factors
|-
| Upgrade || Lucky Day || 0.5
|-
| Upgrade || Serendipity || 0.5
|-
| Upgrade || Golden goose egg || 0.95
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Heavenly luck || 0.95
|-
| Dragon aura || Arcane aura || 0.95
|-
| Golden Sugar Lump Buff || Sugar blessing || 0.9
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Starspawn (during Easter season) || 0.98
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Starterror (during Halloween season) || 0.98
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Starlove (during Valentine's Day season) || 0.98
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Startrade (during Business Day season) || 0.95
|-
| Pantheon god || Jeremy, Spirit of Industry || 1.1/1.06/1.03
|-
| Pantheon god || Mokalsium, Mother Spirit || 1.15/1.1/1.05
|-
| Pantheon god || Selebrak, Spirit of Festivities (Business Day season) || 0.955/0.97/0.985
|-
| Pantheon god || Selebrak, Spirit of Festivities (any other season) || 0.97/0.98/0.99
|-
| Garden plants<ref group="note" name="InvGardenPlantEffect">The factors of all garden plants will stack first, then the '''inverse''' is combined with other factors multiplicatively in the table. The way that garden factors stack (multiplicatively or additively) depends on the type of the plants and the order of stacking depends on the position of the plants.</ref>
| Ordinary Clover || +0.01
|-
| Garden plants<ref group="note" name="InvGardenPlantEffect"/> || Golden Clover || +0.03
|-
| Garden plants<ref group="note" name="InvGardenPlantEffect"/> || Shimmerlily || +0.01
|-
| Garden plants<ref group="note" name="InvGardenPlantEffect"/> || Fool's Bolete || +0.02
|-
| Garden plants<ref group="note" name="InvGardenPlantEffect"/> || Green Rot || +0.01
|-
| Garden plants<ref group="note" name="InvGardenPlantEffect"/> || Drowsyfern || *0.9
|}
These factors stack multiplicatively with each other. For example, if you have Lucky Day, Serendipity and the Sugar Blessing buff, then '''T<sub>max</sub>'''=900*0.5*0.5*0.9=202.5 seconds, '''T<sub>min</sub>'''=300*0.5*0.5*0.9=67.5 seconds and '''T=T<sub>max</sub>-T<sub>min</sub>'''=135 seconds.

Note that Cookie Chains are '''not''' affected by these factors and will always have '''T<sub>max</sub>'''=900*0.05=45 seconds, '''T<sub>min</sub>'''=300*0.05=15 seconds and '''T=T<sub>max</sub>-T<sub>min</sub>'''=30 seconds.

====Useful tables====
The tables below shows some common probabilities. You can reproduce the number by finding '''{{bar|P}}<sup>-1</sup>''':
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="4"| Time between Golden Cookie Spawns (in seconds)
|-
! Chance !! With no upgrades !! With only "Lucky day" !! With "Lucky day" and "Serendipity"
|-
| 0% ('''T<sub>min</sub>''') || 300 || 150 || 75
|-
| 0.1% || 349.9 || 178.0 || 90.7
|-
| 1% || 373.4 || 191.2 || 98.1
|-
| 10% || 408.6 || 210.9 || 109.2
|-
| 25% || 428.3 || 222.0 || 115.4
|-
| 33.<u>3</u>% || 435.9 || 226.3 || 117.8
|-
| Average (<nowiki><t></nowiki>) || 446.562 || 232.251 || 121.158
|-
| 50% || 448.6 || 233.4 || 121.8
|-
| 66.<u>6</u>% || 460.5 || 240.0 || 125.5
|-
| 75% || 466.8 || 243.6 || 127.5
|-
| 90% || 481.5 || 251.9 || 132.1
|-
| 99% || 503.7 || 264.3 || 139.1
|-
| 99.9% || 518.0 || 272.3 || 143.6
|-
| 100% ('''T<sub>max</sub>''') || 900 || 450 || 225
|}

Golden Goose Egg, Heavenly Luck and Arcane Aura, as well as Startrade during the Business Day season, all multiply the min and max time by 95%. Starspawn during Easter, Starterror during Halloween, as well as Starlove during Valentine's Day, all multiply the min and max time by 98%. The following tables assume that you have Lucky day and Serendipity. With a single 98% upgrade active, the probabilities are:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Chance !! No 95% upgrades !! One 95% upgrade !! Two 95% upgrades !! Three 95% upgrades
|-
| 0% ('''T<sub>min</sub>''')
| 73.5 || 69.833 || 66.367 || 63.033
|-
| 0.1% || 89.0 || 84.7 || 80.6 || 76.6
|-
| 1% || 96.2 || 91.6 || 87.2 || 83.0
|-
| 10% || 107.1 || 102.0 || 97.2 || 92.6
|-
| 25% || 113.3 || 107.9 || 102.8 || 98.0
|-
| 33.<u>3</u>% || 115.6 || 110.2 || 105.0 || 100.0
|-
| Average (<nowiki><t></nowiki>) || 118.887 || 113.317 || 108.001 || 102.940
|-
| 50% || 119.5 || 113.9 || 108.6 || 103.5
|-
| 66.<u>6</u>% || 123.2 || 117.4 || 112.0 || 106.7
|-
| 75% || 125.1 || 119.3 || 113.8 || 108.5
|-
| 90% || 129.7 || 123.7 || 118.0 || 112.5
|-
| 99% || 136.6 || 130.3 || 124.3 || 118.5
|-
| 99.9% || 140.9 || 134.5 || 128.3 || 122.4
|-
| 100% ('''T<sub>max</sub>''') || 220.5 || 209.5 || 199.033 || 189.067
|}

With no 98% upgrades active, the probabilities are:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Chance !! One 95% upgrade !! Two 95% upgrades !! Three 95% upgrades !! Four 95% upgrades
|-
| 0% ('''T<sub>min</sub>''') || 71.267 || 67.7 || 64.333 || 61.1
|-
| 0.1% || 86.3 || 82.1 || 78.2 || 74.3
|-
| 1% || 93.4 || 88.9 || 84.7 || 80.6
|-
| 10% || 104.0 || 99.1 || 94.4 || 89.9
|-
| 25% || 110.0 || 104.8 || 99.9 || 95.2
|-
| 33.<u>3</u>% || 112.3 || 107.0 || 102.0 || 97.2
|-
| Average (<nowiki><t></nowiki>) || 115.476 || 110.060 || 104.903 || 99.988
|-
| 50% || 116.1 || 110.7 || 105.5 || 100.5
|-
| 66.<u>6</u>% || 119.7 || 114.1 || 108.8 || 103.7
|-
| 75% || 121.6 || 115.9 || 110.5 || 105.4
|-
| 90% || 126.0 || 120.2 || 114.6 || 109.3
|-
| 99% || 132.7 || 126.6 || 120.7 || 115.1
|-
| 99.9% || 137.0 || 130.7 || 124.7 || 118.9
|-
| 100% ('''T<sub>max</sub>''') || 213.767 || 203.067 || 192.933 || 183.267
|}

===Duration===
The duration of a golden cookie is the amount of time it will last for before disappearing. Since you need to actually ''click'' on the golden cookie ''before it vanishes'' for it to actually have any effect, increasing the longevity of golden cookies makes it easier to find and activate them.

====Factors====
{| class="article-table"
! Type !! Name !! Factors
|-
| Upgrade || Lucky Day || 2
|-
| Upgrade || Serendipity || 2
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Decisive Fate || 1.05
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Lucky Digit || 1.01
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Lucky Number || 1.01
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Lucky Payout || 1.01
|-
| Garden Plants<ref group="note" name="GardenPlantEffect">The factors of all garden plants will stack first, then combine with other factors multiplicatively in the table. The way that garden factors stack (multiplicatively or additively) depends on the type of the plants, and the order of stacking depends on the position of the plants. </ref>
| Fool's Bolete || *0.98
|-
| Garden Plants<ref group="note" name="GardenPlantEffect"/> || Green Rot || +0.005
|}
Additionally, having at least 1 Golden Cookie currently on-screen will reduce the duration of any newly spawned Golden Cookies by 5% per pre-existing golden cookie. This reduction is multiplicative and stacks with all the factors listed above.

===Effect Duration===
Golden cookies have a chance to give you one of several different buffs, each of which has its own unique effect and duration. The table below gives a summary of the different buffs one can get and what they do, as well as the amount of time they last for.  
{| class="article-table" style="width: 500px;" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"
|-
! scope="col" | Name of buff
! scope="col" | Effect
! scope="col" | Initial duration (seconds)
|-
| Frenzy || 7x cookie production || 77
|-
| Click Frenzy || 777x cookies per click || 13
|-
| Building Special || Randomly picks 1 of the buildings you own 
Grants (N/10+1)x cookie production (N = quantity of selected building)
| 30
|-
| Dragon Harvest || 15x cookie production || 60
|-
| Dragonflight || 1,111x cookies per click || 10
|}
Note that the bottom 2 buffs are [[Krumblor]]-exclusive and can only be activated if their respective auras (Reaper of Fields & Dragonflight) are equipped. 

==== Factors ====
The duration of the buffs shown above can be modified by a host of factors, which are listed in the table below:
{| class="article-table"
! Type !! Name !! Factors
|-
| Upgrade || Get Lucky || 2
|-
| Upgrade || Green Yeast Digestives || 1.01
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Lasting Fortune || 1.1
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Lucky Digit || 1.01
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Lucky Number || 1.01
|-
| Heavenly upgrade || Lucky Payout || 1.01
|-
| Dragon aura || Epoch Manipulator || 1.05
|-
| Pantheon god || Vomitrax, Spirit of Decadence || 1.07/1.05/1.02
|-
| Garden plants<ref group="note" name="GardenPlantEffect"/> || Gildmillet || +0.001
|-
| Garden plants<ref group="note" name="GardenPlantEffect"/> || Fool's Bolete || +0.001
|-
| Garden plants<ref group="note" name="GardenPlantEffect"/> || Queenbeet || +0.003
|}

==Outcomes==
'''Note:''' These numbers are long term probabilities for clicking Golden Cookies only. See [[Golden Cookie Probabilities]] for more details. As of v.2.002, it appears that ''all'' Golden & Wrath cookie effects will stack with each other, even pairs of buffs such as Frenzy and Clot (which previously would override each other).

*'''37.1~42.2%''' ''to get "Lucky!"'':
** Instantly gain an amount of cookies equal to either:
**#15% of the current amount of banked (i.e. unspent) cookies + 13, or
**#15 minutes worth of cookies (which is [[CpS]] * 900) + 13, whichever is less. 
**In order to maximise the yield from getting a Lucky, you must have at least 100 minutes (or 1 hour 40 mins) worth of CpS in your bank. (This is equal to the amount needed to plant a [[Garden#Doughshroom|Doughshroom]] in the [[Garden]] minigame.) 
**[[Wrinkler|Wrinklers]] are not taken into account when calculating the 2nd variable; the production rate the game uses is your production rate ''before'' your wrinklers consume part of it.
**Stacks with all CpS-altering buffs and/or debuffs; if a Frenzy is active while you get a Lucky, you can potentially get up to 105 minutes (AKA 1 hour 45 mins) worth of cookies.

[[File:Frenzy_cookie.png|thumb]]
* '''37.1~42.2%''' ''to get "Frenzy"'':
** Multiplies your cookie production by x7 for 77 seconds.
** Affects your [[CpS|Cookies per Second]], but does '''NOT''' affect Cookies per Click directly. (However, the various "mouse" upgrades will add a fraction of your CpS to your Cookies per Click, allowing this buff and similar ones to affect your Cookies per Click albeit indirectly.)
** You can see how much buff time is left by looking at the icon to the right of the [[Big Cookie]].
** Before version v2.002, Golden Cookie effects didn't stack with themselves, so getting a Frenzy while another Frenzy was active would simply reset the 1st one's timer. As of v2.002, buffs and debuffs can now stack with themselves, so getting a Frenzy while another Frenzy is active will add up the 2 durations together.

*'''3.48~3.97%''' ''to get "Click frenzy"'':
** Multiplies your Cookies per Click by x777 for 13 seconds.
** Works only for manual clicking ([[Cursor|Cursors]] are unaffected)
** Stacks with Dragonflight
** Can also stack with Frenzies and Building Specials indirectly via the various "mouse" upgrades. These upgrades (unlocked by making X cookies just from clicking) will add a portion of your CpS to your Cookies per Click. After buying a few mouse upgrades, that CpS-based portion will make up the vast majority of your clicking power, so any CpS-altering phenomena will alter your Cookies per Click accordingly. Thus, activating a Click Frenzy during a Frenzy will multiply your Cookies per Click by nearly 5400x its regular value

* '''0.0035~0.0039%''' ''to get "blab" (extremely rare)'':
** Does '''absolutely nothing''' except for displaying one of the following messages:
*** Cookie crumbliness x3 for 60 seconds!
*** Chocolatiness x7 for 77 seconds!
*** Dough elasticity halved for 66 seconds!
*** Golden Cookie shininess doubled for 3 seconds!
*** World economy halved for 30 seconds!
*** Grandma kisses 23% stingier for 45 seconds!
*** Thanks for clicking!
*** Fooled you! This one was just a test.
*** Golden Cookies clicked +1!
*** Your click has been registered. Thank you for your cooperation.
*** Thanks! That hit the spot!
*** Thank you. A team has been dispatched.
*** They know.
*** Oops. This was just a chocolate cookie with shiny aluminium foil.

*'''0.76~0.84%''' ''to start a "Cookie chain"'':
** Cookie Chains, like their name implies, will create a chain of golden cookies, each one granting more cookies than the last. However, fail to click a single cookie and the chain will break. The first cookie will give you 7 cookies, then 3 seconds later another cookie will appear, granting 10x the previous cookie's yield, +7. In other words, the sequence goes 7, 77, 777, 7 777, 77 777, etc. 
**Note that during the [[Grandmapocalypse]], some of the Golden Cookies in the chain will turn into [[Wrath Cookie|Wrath Cookies]] instead. These act exactly like the regular Golden cookies except for 1 crucial detail: Wrath cookie chains will yield values made up of strings of 6s instead of 7s. (So Wrath chains go 6, 66, 666, 6 666, etc.) Likewise, Cookie chains started by Wrath cookies will also contain a mix of Golden and Wrath cookies.  
**Having over 10 billion cookies in your bank will cause the chain to start higher up in the sequence instead of always starting at position #1. Starting at 10 billion cookies, having over 10x as many cookies saved up in your bank will make the chain start 1 position higher. So, if you happen to have more than 10 billion cookies in your bank (but less than 100 billion), the cookie chain will start at position #2 (+77 cookies). Having over 100 billion cookies makes it start at position #3 (+777 cookies), having over 1 trillion cookies makes it start at position 4, and so on. 
** There are a couple things that can cause the chain to break:
*** First of all, missing a '''single''' cookie in the chain will cause it to break, no matter what. Only by successfully clicking every single cookie in the chain will you have a chance at continuing it. 
***Even if you ''successfully'' click a cookie in the chain, there is a flat 1% probability that the chain will break regardless.
*** The chain will automatically end if the reward that would have been obtained by clicking the ''next'' cookie in the sequence would be worth over 50% of your bank. (That is, you must have at least 2x the value of the next cookie in your bank to continue.) When calculating the next cookie's worth, it is assumed to be of the same type as the current cookie (Wrath or Golden).
*** The chain will also end if the reward that would have been obtained from the next cookie in the sequence would be worth <u>more than 6 hours' worth of your CpS</u> (360 mins, or 21600 secs). This number is affected by Frenzies and other similar buffs, so the cap can potentially reach upwards of 42 hours' worth (assuming you have enough cookies in your bank). As of patch 1.0466, if the value of the current cookie in the chain is greater than the current cap (due to either a Frenzy running out or Wrath/Golden cookie alternation), you will get exactly 6 hours' worth of CpS and then the chain will end. 
***Before version v2.018, if you own the heavenly upgrade "[[Ascension#Golden_cookie_and_discount_upgrades|Distilled Essence of Redoubled Luck]]" and it activates in the middle of the chain (2 cookies will appear simultaneously), the chain will stop. As of version v2.018, this will no longer break the chain. The chain will instead keep going ''if'' you manage to click both Golden Cookies before either one vanishes. The rewards from the 2 cookies will act as if they both spawned independently in the chain, one after the other.
*** Finally, using the spell "Force the Hand of Fate" in the [[Grimoire]] will instantly end any pre-existing Cookie Chain.
*** Other than the factors shown above, there is no cap to the length of a cookie chain. As long as none of the conditions listed above are broken, the chain will continue forever until you either fail to click a single cookie or violate one of the above conditions.
** An easy way to get the most cookies out of a chain is by minimising the window until only a small part of the screen is visible. That way, the cookies spawned as part of the chain will only appear in a small area, making it easier for you to click them and thus helping you reach even longer chains.
**'''Golden Cookies will not form cookie chains at all''' until you have baked at least 100,000 cookies across all ascensions.
** The following table shows the rewards and requirements for some of the levels of the chain:

{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" style="MARGIN: 0px auto; HEIGHT: 0px auto" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"
!colspan="4"| Rewards for Cookie Chain
|-
! Max Reward<br>(<=6 hrs CPS)
!scope="col" style="text-align: center"| Cookies in bank required<br>(2x Max Reward)
!scope="col" style="text-align: center"| CpS required
!scope="col" style="text-align: center"| Raw CpS required if activated during Frenzy
(CpS required ÷ 7)
|-
| 777,777,777
|style="text-align: right"| 1,555,555,554
|style="text-align: right"| 36,008
|style="text-align: right"| 5,144
|-
| 7,777,777,777
|style="text-align: right"| 15,555,555,554
|style="text-align: right"| 360,082
|style="text-align: right"| 51,440
|-
| 77,777,777,777
|style="text-align: right"| 155,555,555,554
|style="text-align: right"| 3,600,823
|style="text-align: right"| 514,403
|-
| 777,777,777,777
|style="text-align: right"| 1,555,555,555,554
|style="text-align: right"| 36,008,230
|style="text-align: right"| 5,144,033
|-
| 7.777&times;10<sup>12(T)</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 15.556&times;10<sup>12(T)</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 360.082&times;10<sup>6(M)</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 51.44&times;10<sup>6(M)</sup>
|-
| 77.777&times;10<sup>12(T)</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 155.556&times;10<sup>12(T)</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 3.601&times;10<sup>9(B)</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 514.403&times;10<sup>6(M)</sup>
|-
| 777.777&times;10<sup>12(T)</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 1.556&times;10<sup>15(Qa)</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 36.008&times;10<sup>9(B)</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 5.144&times;10<sup>9(B)</sup>
|-
| 7.777&times;10<sup>n</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 1.5556&times;10<sup>n+1</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 3.60082&times;10<sup>n-4</sup>
|style="text-align: right"| 5.14403&times;10<sup>n-5</sup>
|}

* '''5.09~7.14%''' ''to get "Dragon Harvest" (Must have [[Krumblor]] with Reaper of Fields aura active, proportionally decreasing odds of other effects)'':
** Get x15 cookie production for 60 seconds.
** Stacks multiplicatively with Frenzy and other similar effects. A Frenzy + Dragon Harvest combo can potentially boost cookie production by 105x.

* '''5.09~7.14%''' ''to get "Dragonflight" (Must have [[Krumblor]] with Dragonflight aura active, proportionally decreasing odds of other effects)'':
** Gives x1111 cookies per click for 10 seconds.
** Works only for manual clicking ([[Cursor|Cursors]] are unaffected)
** Only has a ''chance'' to stack with Click Frenzy. Whenever you activate a Dragonflight, there's an 80% chance to override any pre-existing Click Frenzy.
** Can also indirectly stack with Frenzy and Building Special, for the same reason as regular Click Frenzies 
**Requires Dragonflight aura to be active on Krumblor.

* '''0.76~0.84%''' ''to create a  "Cookie Storm"'':
** A massive amount of Golden and/or Wrath Cookies will appear everywhere on the screen for 7 seconds, each one granting you 1–7 minutes worth of cookies when clicked.
** As of the current version (v.2.002), Golden Cookies clicked during the Cookie Storm have characteristics of regular Golden Cookies, but '''do not count''' for clicked/missed Golden Cookie counters. However, they can still unlock Easter eggs and other random drops.

* '''8.79~10.01%''' ''to get a random "Building special"'':
** Picks a random building that you own and grants you a varying bonus to cookie production for 30 seconds based on how many of that building you own. The production boost is equal to 10% × N, where N equals the quantity of the selected building. For example, if you have 30 cursors, the CpS boost will be equal to 10% × 30 = +300%, for a total of 4x normal production. 
** Each of the different building specials has its own unique name: High-five ([[Cursor]]s), Congregation ([[Grandma]]s), Luxuriant harvest ([[Farm]]s), Ore vein ([[Mine]]s), Oiled-up ([[Factories]]), Juicy profits ([[Bank]]s), Fervent adoration ([[Temple]]s), Manabloom ([[Wizard Tower]]s), Delicious lifeforms ([[Shipment]]s), Breakthrough ([[Alchemy Lab]]s), Righteous cataclysm ([[Portal]]s), Golden ages ([[Time Machine]]s), Extra cycles ([[Antimatter Condenser]]s), Solar flare ([[Prism]]s), Winning streak ([[Chancemaker]]s), Macrocosm ([[Fractal Engine]]s), Refactoring ([[Javascript console]]s), Cosmic nursery ([[Idleverse|Idleverses]]), Brainstorm ([[Cortex Baker]].
** Stacks with Frenzy and other similar buffs; if Frenzy and a building special bonus are active at the same time, the 2 bonuses are multiplied. For example, having 60 Cursors during a High-five while a Frenzy is active will grant 49x production for the duration of the stacked bonuses.
** Two separate building specials will also stack multiplicatively with each other. A 30 cursor special (+300%, 4x) and a 25 grandma special (+250%, 3.5x) will multiply your production rate by a total of 14x. This "double building special" can ''also'' stack with Frenzy, leading to a total multiplier of 98x in the example scenario.

* '''1.74~1.94%''' ''to get "Everything must go" (Exclusive to [[Business Day season|Business Day]] season, proportionally decreasing odds of other effects)'':
** All buildings are 5% cheaper for 8 seconds.
* '''0.017~0.02%''' ''to get "sweet" (very rare)'' 
**Gain one sugar lump.

===Combo Tables===
This section concerns the possibility of two completely overlapping buffs. For example, the probability of getting a full dose of Click Frenzy during an ongoing Frenzy, rather than a partial overlap where Frenzy ends midway through the Click Frenzy. (To see how often a Frenzy Golden Cookie followed by a Click Golden Cookie are likely to occur, please check [[Golden Cookie Probabilities]].)

To get a full overlap of Frenzy+Click Frenzy, the second Golden Cookie (Click Frenzy) must spawn before 77-13=64 seconds, which is impossible since Golden Cookies cannot spawn before '''T<sub>min</sub>'''=300 seconds without any improving factors. However, with the upgrades Lucky day (halves spawn time), Serendipity (halves spawn time again), and Get lucky (doubles effect duration), the necessary timing for spawning the second cookie becomes 2*(77-13)=128 seconds, which is larger than '''T<sub>min</sub>'''=300/4=75 seconds, thus allowing the effects to overlap. The probabilities can be calculated from '''{{bar|P}}(128)''', the cumulative density function. It is also possible to use the Grimoires Force the Hand of Fate to spawn golden cookies, thus increase the odds of stacking effects. The reason stacking golden cookie effects are so powerful is because the overlap with each other (excluding elder frenzy).  For example, if your get frenzy proceeded by a building frenzy multiplying your cps by  4000%   your current cps will be 700% x 4000% x duration x cps or (2800000% x duration x cps). However, if the effects take place after one and other you would have 700% x duration x cps + 4000% x duration x cps making your cookie made only 4700% x cps  x duration, whereas with stacked buff you would be making 2800000% x cps x duration.

The following table gives the probabilities of full overlap buffs for given pair effects with Lucky day, Serendipity, and Get lucky. Each column represents further spawning factor and each row represents possible extra effect duration factor.

<div style="width:auto;overflow:auto">
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="margin:auto;"
!colspan="16"| Stack Probability
|-
! !! !!
! 98 !! 95 !! 95+98 !! 95x2 !! 95x2+98 !! 95x3 !! 95x3+98 !! 95x4
|-
!rowspan="4"|
! Frenzy+Click
| 76.9% || 85.3% || 94.2% || 97.4% || 99.5% || 99.9% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0%
|-
! Frenzy+Flight
| 93.9% || 97.2% || 99.5% || 99.9% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0%
|-
! Harvest+Click
| 0.3% || 0.5% || 1.2% || 1.9% || 3.6% || 5.3% || 9.3% || 13.0% || 20.8%
|-
! Harvest+Flight
| 1.6% || 2.5% || 4.7% || 6.9% || 11.8% || 16.2% || 25.4% || 33.1% || 47.2%
|-
!rowspan="4"| With [[Krumblor|Epoch Manipulator]]
! Frenzy+Click
| 93.9% || 97.2% || 99.5% || 99.9% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0%
|-
! Frenzy+Flight
| 99.6% || 99.9% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0%
|-
! Harvest+Click
| 1.0% || 1.6% || 3.1% || 4.6% || 8.2% || 11.5% || 18.8% || 25.0% || 37.2%
|-
! Harvest+Flight
| 4.7% || 6.9% || 11.8% || 16.3% || 25.7% || 33.4% || 47.5% || 57.8% || 73.3%
|-
!rowspan="4"| With [[Ascension#Golden_Cookie_upgrades|Lasting Fortune]]
! Frenzy+Click
| 99.6% || 99.9% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0%
|-
! Frenzy+Flight
| 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0%
|-
! Harvest+Click
| 3.1% || 4.7% || 8.3% || 11.8% || 19.2% || 25.5% || 37.9% || 47.4% || 63.1%
|-
! Harvest+Flight
| 11.4% || 15.9% || 25.0% || 32.7% || 46.9% || 56.9% || 72.6% || 81.6% || 92.0%
|-
!rowspan="4"| With both
! Frenzy+Click
| 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0%
|-
! Frenzy+Flight
| 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0% || 100.0%
|-
! Harvest+Click
| 8.2% || 11.6% || 18.9% || 25.3% || 37.7% || 47.0% || 62.8% || 72.9% || 86.0%
|-
! Harvest+Flight
| 23.7% || 31.1% || 45.0% || 55.1% || 71.0% || 80.1% || 91.1% || 95.6% || 98.9%
|}</div>
The average lengths of time a stacked frenzy will last are, in seconds:

<div style="width:auto;overflow:auto">
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="margin:auto;"
!colspan="16"| Stack Duration
|-
! !! !!
! 98 !! 95 !! 95+98 !! 95x2 !! 95x2+98 !! 95x3 !! 95x3+98 !! 95x4
|-
!rowspan="4"|
! Frenzy+Click
| 25.008 || 25.473 || 25.844 || 25.943 || 25.992 || 25.998 || 26.000 || 26.000 || 26.000
|-
! Frenzy+Flight
| 19.825 || 19.935 || 19.990 || 19.998 || 20.000 || 20.000 || 20.000 || 20.000 || 20.000
|-
! Harvest+Click
| 3.048 || 4.050 || 5.983 || 7.493 || 10.105 || 11.892 || 14.693 || 16.459 || 18.971
|-
! Harvest+Flight
| 3.000 || 3.971 || 5.827 || 7.258 || 9.683 || 11.295 || 13.712 || 15.140 || 16.990
|-
!rowspan="4"| With Epoch Manipulator
! Frenzy+Click
| 27.825 || 27.935 || 27.990 || 27.998 || 28.000 || 28.000 || 28.000 || 28.000 || 28.000
|-
! Frenzy+Flight
| 20.993 || 20.999 || 21.000 || 21.000 || 21.000 || 21.000 || 21.000 || 21.000 || 21.000
|-
! Harvest+Click
| 6.346 || 7.947 || 10.702 || 12.621 || 15.592 || 17.439 || 20.124 || 21.712 || 23.830
|-
! Harvest+Flight
| 6.175 || 7.688 || 10.235 || 11.954 || 14.491 || 15.962 || 17.893 || 18.883 || 19.973
|-
!rowspan="4"| With Lasting Fortune
! Frenzy+Click
| 28.993 || 28.999 || 29.000 || 29.000 || 29.000 || 29.000 || 29.000 || 29.000 || 29.000
|-
! Frenzy+Flight
| 22.000 || 22.000 || 22.000 || 22.000 || 22.000 || 22.000 || 22.000 || 22.000 || 22.000
|-
! Harvest+Click
| 11.055 || 13.058 || 16.150 || 18.108 || 20.913 || 22.541 || 24.744 || 25.932 || 27.337
|-
! Harvest+Flight
| 10.595 || 12.399 || 15.060 || 16.635 || 18.682 || 19.719 || 20.887 || 21.376 || 21.794
|-
!rowspan="4"| With both
! Frenzy+Click
| 31.000 || 31.000 || 31.000 || 31.000 || 31.000 || 31.000 || 31.000 || 31.000 || 31.000
|-
! Frenzy+Flight
| 24.000 || 24.000 || 24.000 || 24.000 || 24.000 || 24.000 || 24.000 || 24.000 || 24.000
|-
! Harvest+Click
| 17.472 || 19.532 || 22.469 || 24.205 || 26.524 || 27.757 || 29.240 || 29.922 || 30.576
|-
! Harvest+Flight
| 16.428 || 18.115 || 20.311 || 21.453 || 22.736 || 23.275 || 23.754 || 23.898 || 23.982
|}</div>

==Strategy==
The Golden Cookie may fail to spawn the first time you start a new game on a browser with no saved Cookie Clicker data. This happens if minTime and maxTime do not get set properly. If you are going for a "true neverclick" run, reload Cookie Clicker after "Game saved" first appears (alternatively, save manually by pressing Ctrl+S).

Golden Cookies are more visible against the black background of the secondary windows in Cookie Clicker (Stats, Options, Info). If you've been waiting for a long time for a Golden Cookie, click into Stats.

Before obtaining the Golden Cookie [[upgrades]] you can time roughly when the next one will appear based on when you clicked on the last one. The minimum time between each is 5 minutes without upgrades. This makes getting the 7 and 27 clicks needed to buy Lucky Day and Serendipity easier. After you get the upgrades there's less of a need to time them as they appear frequently. With both upgrades, if you get a Frenzy outcome; the earliest time a new Golden Cookie can spawn is thirty seconds before the frenzy ends.

By keeping a large sum of cookies in your bank, at any given point you can maximize the returns of the Lucky outcome. The maximum available from a Lucky outcome is 900 times your current CpS (15 minutes of production), or 15% of your current banked cookies. The game chooses the lower number, so for maximum gain from lucky cookies you need to have 6,000 times your CpS in the bank. If you have that amount in your bank, both upgrades and get all the Golden Cookies on average every 4 minutes and 50 seconds you'll receive 15 minutes worth of production from Lucky and 7.7 minutes from Frenzy, which is equivalent to a 470% CpS bonus, not counting the other outcomes. This makes Lucky Day and Serendipity some of the most powerful upgrades in the game if you're willing to invest the time into watching for Golden Cookies.

On the other hand, banking cookies ties up resources that you could use to buy cookie-producing buildings instead. With Serendipity, and assuming you hit all Golden Cookies, each banked cookie earns 0.15 cookies on average every 290 seconds, so each additional ''average'' cookie-per-second from Lucky costs 1933⅓ cookies. As long as the price of buildings hasn't increased too much, buying them immediately without banking is a cheaper way to improve your CpS—especially because "Frenzy" applies only to building income (roughly doubling every building's effective CpS) but doesn't affect the interest rate from banking. If the building you're considering buying costs ''less than'' 1,933⅓ times twice its net CpS contribution, you should buy it as soon as you can afford it. In practical terms, if your antimatter condensers are upgraded to String theory but not Large macaron collider, you should start banking only when the next condenser will cost about 1,400,000 times your CpS multiplier. This threshold will be proportionally higher if you don't anticipate hitting all of the Golden Cookies.

*A trick to make Golden Cookies easier to see is to resize the browser window to an area so the Golden Cookie is easily clicked. The Golden Cookie always appears somewhere within the area of the browser window. When the area is restricted in such a way it only takes a quick glance to check if a Golden Cookie has appeared.
*This strategy is also very helpful during cookie chains and cookie storms. During cookie chains, golden and wrath cookies appear larger so you're less likely to break the chain by missing a cookie. Similarly during cookie storms, the cookies will appear over one another in a tight space, making it easier to click more cookies. 

==='Get Lucky' Upgrade===

With the introduction of the '''Get Lucky''' upgrade, banking more than 42,000 seconds of cookies becomes a viable strategy. The doubled duration of the "Frenzy" outcome means Lucky Golden Cookies can potentially give you up to 900 times your CpS including the boost from the frenzy, or 6,300 times your base CpS (''105 minutes of cookies!''), assuming that the amount is less than 15% of your banked cookies. Due to the reduced probability of getting the same type of Golden Cookie twice in a row, the Golden Cookie following a Frenzy has almost a 90% chance of being a "Lucky". 

Once you have Get Lucky, the Click Frenzy can appear while already in a Frenzy. This combo can lead to massive cookie creation. If you also have all the "mouse" upgrades, giving you 7% of your CpS per click, with an average of 6 clicks per second for 25 seconds (you usually lose about a second moving the cursor onto the cookie), you can receive up to approximately 17⅓ hours of production, not including the clicking bonuses from the Cursor upgrades (excluded from the calculation because of how variable the bonuses are) which can boost the final result to well over half a day's worth of production. With keyboard clicking (like the MouseKeys feature) enabled, the total figure can easily be in the neighborhood of CpS*150,000.

Another Golden Cookie "combo" that is made possible by the increased effect durations granted by Get Lucky is a Frenzied Cookie Chain. The rewards at each level are not changed, but the income cap does take the Frenzy into account, therefore you may be able to get a higher "top reward" than you would otherwise get without the frenzy. (Specifically, this benefit occurs if the first seven significant figures of your base income lie between 1.028807 and 7.201646). Achieving this combo can grant a bonus of anywhere between 10800 and 75600 times the CpS, above what the chain would otherwise have given you.

Note that this also makes it entirely possible for a second "regular" Frenzy to occur whilst one is already in play. In this case, the effects do '''not''' stack; instead, it merely resets the duration of the 7x multiplier back to 154 seconds immediately following the second Golden Cookie click, not after the expiry of the first Frenzy. Similarly, triggering an Elder Frenzy (666x multiplier for 12 seconds) does not stack the multipliers, but instead replaces the Frenzy with the Elder Frenzy entirely.

The brinkmanship of knowing just how long to leave a cookie on-screen before clicking it in order to maximize your cookie production thus depends on having a good eye for the Frenzy's timer bar, in order to click it when just over 26 seconds are left in case of a Frenzy + Click Frenzy overlap combo. Keep in mind, however, that the amount of cookies lost by cutting a Frenzy short by a few seconds is relatively minimal, and that in most cases, clicking the Golden Cookies as soon as they appear is sufficient.

With Dragon's Fortune aura, your CpS is further increased by 111%. This effect stacks the Frenzy + Lucky combo with a factor of 2.22. Combining this effect with 'Force the Hand of Fate' again stacks this effect for a total of 4.93.

Following the example above, the first effect would give you 233 minutes of CpS for each Lucky obtained during a Frenzy. Combined with 'Force the Hand of Fate' this rises to 517 minutes of CpS!

==='Cookie Storm' Strategy===
[[File:Cookie_Storm.png|thumb|300px]]
During a 'Cookie Storm', a player can minimize their window or zoom all the way in so that all the Golden Cookies gather in one spot on the screen. This will let a player click as many Golden Cookies as possible and can be very helpful if a player is trying to collect all of the Easter eggs.

This can also be used for cookie chains.

Note: as of version 2.044, the layout after resizing your browser now makes it so golden cookies will spawn more spread apart, and are also slightly smaller.

==Trivia==
*Golden Cookie effects, achievements, and upgrades all incorporate the number seven in some form; for example, "Frenzy" gives the player 7x production for 77 seconds, while the "Leprechaun" achievement requires clicking 777 Golden Cookies. This phenomenon is a reference to how Western cultures view seven as a lucky number.
*The "Frenzy" effect previously provided the player x2 cookie production for 60 seconds.
*The "Lucky" effect previously gave the player 20% (currently 15%) of their current cookies plus 13.
*The upgrade "Get Lucky" and its flavor text are a reference to the Daft Punk song by the same name.
*All Golden Cookie-related achievements are based on all time clicks, not clicks from the current game.
*The only Golden Cookie achievement which involves a number that isn't a multiple of 7 is "A stroke of luck", which needs 27 golden cookie clicks. This may be a reference to the number of bones in the human hand, the part of the body which would normally do the clicking.
*Because Golden Cookie-related upgrades are based on all-time clicks, if you unlock the 'Get Lucky' upgrade and reset, once you click one golden cookie, all three upgrades become available.
*According to a news statement, Golden Cookies taste "somewhere between spearmint and liquorice".
*The "Fortune" achievement's achievement ID is, probably intentionally, 77. The "Fortune" achievement requires you to click on 77 cookies.
*Golden Cookies take on a different appearance depending on which [[Season]] is active:
**During [[Easter season]], the Golden Cookie is replaced by a bunny.
**During [[Valentine's Day season]], it is replaced by a conversation heart.
**During [[Business Day season]], it is replaced by a contract.

==Notes==
<references group="note" />
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