Chocobo Hot and Cold

Chocobo Hot and Cold is the biggest sidequest in Final Fantasy IX. It involves a mini-game part and a treasure hunt part.

Chocobo Hot and Cold
To start the sidequest, the player must use Gysahl Greens in an area with Chocobo tracks. Choco will then come. If the player rides into Chocobo Forest on the Mist Continent, a Moogle named Mene will allow Zidane to use Choco to dig in the ground, to find items, and Chocographs, both of which will earn the player points, which the player can spend on various items. It normally costs 60 gil to play the game and you get 60 seconds to search for items; the exception is playing at Chocobo's Lagoon before obtaining the Sea abilty; then only half of the area will be available, and you can spend 30 gil for 30 seconds of searching.

Chocograph
Whenever the player digs up a Chocograph, the player can use it to find treasures on the world map, with the aid of three things: the picture on the Chocograph, the name of the Chocograph, and a hint is also given away by the Help-Moogle by pressing Select. Certain treasures require certain skills to obtain.

Chocograph Pieces
Chocograph Pieces are stones that gives the player a hint as to the various places where Chocobo's Air Garden floats on the world map.

Hidden Treasures
There are also hidden treasures on the world map, that have to be found to complete the sidequest. The player has to use Dead Peppers to uncover these, which are found beneath foaming water and in cracked mountain walls. There is also one hidden treasure that only appears after the completion of disc 3, which contains Zidane's Ultima Weapon.

Choco
Choco can gain Beak levels while playing Chocobo Hot and Cold, which makes it easier to dig. The formula for the depth that is subtracted is:

Forest: to be confirmed

Lagoon: to be confirmed

Air Garden: $$\left \lfloor \frac{beak level}{3}\right \rfloor + 3$$

Also, some Chocograph treasures may contain gas that sends Choco into Chocobo's Dream World, where can change his color, and learn a new ability (example, Red Choco can cross Mountains, Blue Choco can cross shallow waters). Choco is told that he can go to Chocobo's Paradise if he helps Zidane uncover all treasures.

Dead Pepper
After unlocking the second dig spot, Chocobo's Lagoon, the player can obtain Dead Peppers, an exotic pepper plant that Chocobos are fond of. These all have an effect when used in the field. When used when Choco is on land, Choco pecks furiously and can uncover hidden caves. When used in water, Choco can dive. When used in air, Choco can fly up to Chocobo's Air Garden.

Items
You can dig up other treasures as well as chocographs which give points which can be used to buy other equipment:

''These values change depending on where you dig. These values are from Chocobo's Forest. Item point values are doubled in Chocobo's Lagoon and tripled in Chocobo's Air Garden. The +5s for chocographs and chocograph pieces are not affected by this, however.''

Extra Points
If you manage to find four items within the time limit, Mene will reward you with an additional ten seconds on the clock and all subsequent points will be doubled. An exception exists for Chocobo's Lagoon before the Sea ability is obtained; in that case, the game will end after four items.

A further five points are available for finding an item within 5 seconds of finding the previous one. This bonus may also be subjected to the time and area multipliers.

It is not permitted to find more than eight items (four at the Lagoon before Sea); if you reach this limit within the time limit, Mene will complain that you're driving him out of business and your remaining time will be exchanged for bonus points according to the following formulas.

Forest: $$64 + 16 * {seconds remaining}$$

Lagoon: $$32 + 8 * {seconds remaining}$$

Air Garden: $$200 + 50 * {seconds remaining}$$

(These formulas may vary with Choco color; these were all determined from a Gold Chocobo.)

The maximum possible score for a single item is locating a Chocograph in the Air Garden within five seconds of finding a previous item, after already finding four items. This will net a score of 10 for the chocograph, plus 5 for the fast find; then this total is doubled for finding four items already; then tripled for the Air Garden; then plus the five point bonus for finding a Chocograph. This comes out to (10 + 5) * 2 * 3 + 5 = 95 points.

How to spend your points
Points can be exchanged for items according to this list:

Tip

 * The treasure always appears somewhere at random after you've dug once, so if you have any way of quicksaving right after the first peck, you can quickload and find the treasure easily within 5 seconds with a few tries.