---
title: "The advanced calendar: a different game or prize behind every door"
description: "Turn on the advanced calendar, build a page for every day, copy days, override shared pages for one day, give each day its own prizes and use an interactive graphic as a calendar."
url: https://scratcher.io/help/games/advanced-calendar
language: en
---

1. [Help center](https://scratcher.io/help)
2. [Games and formats](https://scratcher.io/help/games)
3. The advanced calendar: a different game or prize behind every door

# The advanced calendar: a different game or prize behind every door

Turn on the advanced calendar, build a page for every day, copy days, override shared pages for one day, give each day its own prizes and use an interactive graphic as a calendar.

With a normal calendar, every door leads to the same page. The **Advanced calendar** add-on gives every day its own page. Behind door 1 there can be a scratch card with a coffee voucher, behind door 2 a quiz, and behind door 24 the wheel with the big prize.

## How it is different from the normal calendar

| | Normal calendar | Advanced calendar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What is behind the doors | The same page or link for every door (**Navigation**) | A separate page for every day |
| Games and prizes | One game for all days | A different game and prizes per day |
| Shared pages (form, thank-you page) | Shared | Shared, but you can make a special version for one day |
| **Calendar completion** on the dashboard | No | Yes, people per door |
| Rule for opening doors | Today's door (and past doors if allowed) | The same, and also checked by Scratcher when the door is opened |

## Turn on the advanced calendar

1. Click the calendar and set the **Period** (or the dates of the doors) first. See the tip below.
2. Open the **Settings** tab and turn on the add-on **Advanced calendar**.
3. A calendar group and a **Calendar: Day 1** dropdown appear in the page list under **Flow**.
4. Build Day 1: add the game, texts, images and prizes to the day's page, just like on any page.

In an advent calendar, the dropdown shows weeks instead of days: **Calendar: Week 1**.

> **Good to know:** Set the dates before you build the days. Days are stored by number (Day 1, Day 2 …), not by date. If you make the period shorter later, the pages of the days that fall off are deleted. If you move the start date, the content stays on the same day number and so ends up on a different date.

## Build the other days

1. Open the **Calendar: Day 1** dropdown and choose a day, for example **Day 2**.
2. If the day has no page yet, Scratcher asks: "Do you want to create a blank page, or re-use an existing page you've already created?"
    - **Create blank page** starts from scratch.
    - **Re-use existing day** copies a day you already built. Choose it under **Select which page to copy** and click **Copy page**. The copy also includes that day's own versions of shared pages.
3. Change the day's game, texts and prizes.
4. Repeat for every day. Click **Cancel** (the cross) to go back to the day you had open.

You can also ask Rex, for example "Copy day 1 to day 2". The day you copy to must still be empty.

Build every day before the calendar goes live. A door whose day has no page doesn't open.

## Start a day over

Choose the day and click the undo arrow in the dropdown (**Reset day**). You confirm: "Are you sure you want to reset this day? This will delete all pages made specifically for this day." The next time you choose the day, you can build it again. Day 1 can't be reset.

## Give one day a special version of a shared page

Pages outside the calendar group, like the form or the thank-you page, are shared by all days. To change one for a single day:

1. Choose the day in the dropdown.
2. In the page list, click the lock icon next to the page (**Override page**).
3. The day gets its own copy, named for example "Thank you (Day 5)". Change it without affecting the other days.

The dialog **Overriding a page for this day** explains it: "By default, every day shares the same page. Clicking the lock icon creates an override — a copy of that page just for the day (or item) you currently have selected, which you can then customize without affecting any other day."

To go back to the shared page, choose the day and click the open lock (**Remove override**). Scratcher asks: "This will remove the overridden page for this day. Are you sure?"

On the day's own page in the calendar group, the lock adds more pages to that day, so a day can have several pages, for example a game and then a special result page. Removing it asks: "This will remove all pages for this day (except the first). Are you sure?"

## Prizes for each day

Every day's game has its own prizes, so you can give a different prize behind every door. Open the day, click the game, and add its prizes under **Prizes** > **Manage**. See [Add a prize](https://scratcher.io/help/prizes/add-a-prize).

- When you copy a day with **Re-use existing day**, check the game's prizes on the new day.
- With **Allow clicking past days**, people can still play the games of earlier days. If a day's prize should only be won on that day, give the prize an **Active period**.
- A big prize at the end? Use a draw among everyone who opened any door. See [Draw winners](https://scratcher.io/help/prizes/draw-winners).

## Turn the advanced calendar off

Turn off **Advanced calendar** on the calendar's **Settings** tab. Scratcher asks: "Are you sure you want to disable the calendar? This will delete all associated calendar pages." All day pages and day overrides are deleted, and the shared pages go back to normal.

## Use an interactive graphic as a calendar

You can also build a calendar from an **Interactive graphic**: a picture, for example a Christmas village, with clickable spots that open over time.

1. Add an **Interactive graphic** page and upload your picture under **Image**.
2. Click **Add map item** for each spot and place it on the picture.
3. On the **Settings** tab, turn on **Schedule map items activity** and then **Enable advanced calendar**.
4. Click each item and, under **Schedule**, click **Add schedule**. Choose when it changes (**From**, **On (single day)** or **Between**), the **Date type** (**Campaign day** with a **Day** and **Hour**, or **Fixed date**), and the **Initial state**.
5. Choose the items in the **Calendar: Item 1** dropdown and build a page for each, just like days.

With the add-on **Override item actions** ("Allow specifying a custom action on items"), an item can open a link or another page instead of its own day page. Choose **Go to item** to keep the day page.

> **Good to know:** In the editor and the preview, every item can be clicked, whatever its schedule. Check the dates in the schedules carefully, and remember that **Campaign day** counts from the campaign's start date. See [Interactive graphics with clickable hotspots](https://scratcher.io/help/elements/interactive-graphic).

Games and formats

- [Which game should I choose?](https://scratcher.io/help/games/game-formats-overview)
- [Scratch cards, wheels and other luck games](https://scratcher.io/help/games/luck-games)
- [Spin the wheel: slices, design and settings](https://scratcher.io/help/games/spin-the-wheel)
- [Scratch cards: cards, icons and cover](https://scratcher.io/help/games/scratch-cards)
- [Slot machine, spin, dice and mystery box](https://scratcher.io/help/games/slot-spin-dice-and-mystery-box)
- [Skill games: drop, memory, puzzle and more](https://scratcher.io/help/games/skill-games)
- [Catch objects (drop) and hit the target](https://scratcher.io/help/games/catch-drop-and-hit-the-target)
- [Smash it, tap it, memory, puzzle, match matrix and bubble shooter](https://scratcher.io/help/games/more-skill-games)
- [Finish conditions, timer and points in skill games](https://scratcher.io/help/games/finish-conditions-timer-and-points)
- [Quizzes and personality tests](https://scratcher.io/help/games/quizzes-and-personality-tests)
- [Quiz questions and answers in detail](https://scratcher.io/help/games/quiz-questions-and-answers)
- [Quiz results, branching and calculations](https://scratcher.io/help/games/quiz-results-groups-and-calculator)
- [Design your quiz: layout, progress bar and buttons](https://scratcher.io/help/games/quiz-design)
- [Polls, surveys, votes and product finders](https://scratcher.io/help/games/polls-surveys-and-product-finders)
- [Advent and Christmas calendars: set one up step by step](https://scratcher.io/help/games/advent-and-christmas-calendars)
- [Every calendar setting explained](https://scratcher.io/help/games/calendar-settings)
- [The advanced calendar: a different game or prize behind every door](https://scratcher.io/help/games/advanced-calendar)
- [Calendar problems and how to fix them](https://scratcher.io/help/games/calendar-troubleshooting)
- [Leaderboards: rank players by points or time](https://scratcher.io/help/games/leaderboards-and-predictions)
- [Score predictions for football and other sports](https://scratcher.io/help/games/score-predictions)
- [Lucky number: let people enter a code to win](https://scratcher.io/help/games/lucky-number-codes)
- [Countdowns, pre-registration and campaign ended pages](https://scratcher.io/help/games/special-pages)

## Related articles

- [Advent and Christmas calendars: set one up step by step](https://scratcher.io/help/games/advent-and-christmas-calendars): Choose between the Christmas calendar, advent calendar and free calendar, set the dates, design the doors, put a game and a prize behind each door and test every day before you go live.
- [Every calendar setting explained](https://scratcher.io/help/games/calendar-settings): A complete reference for the calendar element: the period, doors and labels, doors per row, navigation, door styles, past and active doors, mobile, randomizing, numbers and individual dates.
- [Calendar problems and how to fix them](https://scratcher.io/help/games/calendar-troubleshooting): Doors that won't open or open on the wrong day, time zones, testing future days, missed days, prizes per door, editing a live calendar, running out of codes and other common calendar issues.

## Still need help?

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- **[Book a meeting](https://scratcher.io/book-a-meeting)**

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