Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is a zombie in a straitjacket carrying an explosive jack-in-the-box and is the 16th zombie encountered in Adventure Mode. If the Jack-in-the-Box explodes before the zombie has been killed, the zombie is destroyed along with all the plants and hypnotized zombies around him (within a 3x3, similar to Cherry Bomb). His weakness is the Magnet-shroom, which steals the jack-in-the-box without detonating it, as well as the Hypno-shroom, which, when eaten by him, makes his jack-in-the-box blow up non-hypnotized zombies instead. He is very deadly in Endless Modes, as he could detonate next to high-cost and/or slow recharge plants crucial to the player's setup.
The sounds that the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie makes before its jack-in-the-box explodes.
The explosion
Suburban Almanac entry
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie
This zombie carries an explosive surprise.
Toughness: medium Speed: fast Special: jack-in-the-box explodes Weakness: magnet-shroom
This zombie shivers, not because he's cold but because he's crazy.
(Archived content)(China only)
爆竹僵尸
这种僵尸带着个会爆炸的爆竹。
强度： 中等
速度： 快
特点： 爆竹引爆会爆炸
弱点： 磁力菇
这种僵尸令人不寒而栗，不是因为它的冰冷身躯，而是因为他的疯狂。
In English: Firecracker Zombie
This zombie carries an explosive firecracker.
Toughness: medium
Speed: fast
Special: firecracker explodes
Weakness: magnet-shroom
This zombie makes people shiver, not because of his cold body, but because of his craziness.
Overview
The Jack-in-the-Box Zombie enters the lawn, playing his special jingle tune with his jack-in-the-box. This tune continues to replay it until the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie gets defeated or after he blows himself up. The Jack-in-the-Box Zombie absorbs 500 damage and his appearance changes upon absorbing 250 damage before dying at 500 damage. When the Jack-in-the-Box detonates, he and all other plants, as well as hypnotized zombies in a 3x3 area are destroyed.
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie has the following probability of exploding:
5% chance of opening the surprise in 4.4 to 7.54 seconds upon spawning.
95% chance of opening the surprise in 13.22 to 22.68 seconds upon spawning.
100% chance of exploding immediately when spawned in Vasebreaker.
However, slowing down with Snow Pea, Winter Melon and Ice-shroom (after stunning) does not slow down the timer at all. This can however instead be used to delay his arrival, minimizing the impact of his explosion.
Once the Jack-in-the-box activates, it is only vulnerable against instant-kill plants (not including Squash, Potato Mine, and Ice-shroom). It explodes 1.1 seconds after it opens the box.
Generally, the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is dangerous due to his unpredictable attack pattern, as well as his speed.
However, his low health also means that long-range shooters can deal with him relatively easily in small numbers. Slowing plants - Snow Pea, in particular - can defeat him easily while minimizing the risk of him infiltrating into the deeper parts of the lawn.
A Magnet-shroom will remove the jack-in-the-box, rendering the zombie harmless (though he will retain his speed). In Adventure levels where Jack-in-the-Box Zombies do not appear often, Magnet-shroom is the most effective plant to use against them.
However, in levels with a high density of metallic zombies (especially in Survival: Endless), Magnet-shrooms can be easily overwhelmed. As they take a relatively long time to recharge after each item removed, they are very unreliable against Jack-in-the-Box Zombies in this game mode.
While defensive plants, like Wall-nut and Tall-nut, can be used to stall Jack-in-the-Box Zombies, their explosion can immediately destroy them, if they are not dealt with in time.
When hypnotized, his explosion will no longer damage plants, but damage zombies instead, dealing damage similar to a Cherry Bomb (and turning zombies into ashes, as well).
While this method is unreliable, using a Hypno-shroom on a Jack-in-the-Box Zombie may turn him into a strong area-of-effect removal. However, his low health makes this difficult to achieve.
Therefore, using Ice-shrooms, Kernel-pults or Snow Peas to freeze to slow down other zombies will let the hypnotized Jack-in-the-Box Zombie stay alive for longer, increasing his chance of exploding and destroying zombies in a 3x3 area around him in the process.
In the DS version, much like the Zombie Yeti, which attempts to escape after a short while, the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie will always explode after a short while.
It is impossible for the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie to reach the player's house while he still has his jack-in-the-box.
Vasebreaker
In Vasebreaker (specifically M is for Metal), Jack-in-the-Box Zombies always explodes as soon as they are revealed, smashing all nearby vases and releasing their contents.
If his vase is revealed (by a Plantern) , it is generally better not to break it immediately. Instead, the player should focus on other vases and only break his vase once the vases surrounding his are either all broken, or only contain plants.
If his Jack-in-the-Box is stolen right as his vase is broken, he will behave like a normal Zombie and march toward the player's house.
The music he plays with the jack-in-the-box is a xylophone-remixed version of the popular nursery theme called Pop! Goes the Weasel, which many real-life jack-in-the-boxes play.
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie, Dancing Zombie, and Ladder Zombie are the only zombies that can use their special abilities when hypnotized.
Even after a Magnet-shroom pulls the jack-in-the-box out of his hands, the zombie's animations do not change.
The Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is one of only three zombies (with feet) that do not wear shoes, the other two being the Imp and the Zombie Yeti.
When a Jack-in-the-Box Zombie's head falls off, it is that of a normal zombie's. This also happens with the Newspaper Zombie.
Newspaper Zombie's head is just a normal Zombie head with glasses and hair. But the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie's head is different.
When a Jack-in-the-Box Zombie explodes it may destroy the Pumpkin around a plant but not the plant in it. This issue is caused by Pumpkin's hitbox, which is larger than most plants.
Interestingly, hypnotized zombies are vulnerable to his explosion and the same charred animations play when this does occur.
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is one of the three zombies that does not use his hand to eat, the others being the Ladder Zombie and Newspaper Zombie (except for Gargantuar that smashes the plants, the Catapult Zombie that hurls basketballs and crushes plants, and Dr. Zomboss and the Zomboni that crush plants).
When Jack-in-the-Box Zombie explodes, the word "SPROING!!" along with a purple explosion will appear.
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie's, Umbrella Leaf's and Pogo Zombie's Almanac entries, and the achievement Sproing! Sproing! are the only things that have the word "Sproing" in them.
There is a glitch where his face sprite does not change when he explodes.
Jack-in-the-Box-Zombie, Dr. Zomboss, Imp, and Money Bag Zombie are the only zombies that has a maniacal smile.
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie, Football Zombie, and Giga-Football Zombie are the only zombies that remain fast even after their shields or objects carried are stolen or destroyed.
It can be inferred from his Almanac entry that the reason Jack-in-the-Box Zombie wears a straitjacket is because he was a patient in a mental asylum, prior to his zombification.
Jack-in-the-Box-Zombie cannot eat a Spikerock, but he can destroy a full-health Spikerock with only one explosion. He is the only zombie in the game that is capable of this.
The Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is the only zombie in Plants vs. Zombies that plays music. It comes from the Jack-in-the-Box, as when it is stolen by Magnet-Shroom or when he is defeated, the music stops.
Even when he is slowed down by a Snow Pea or Winter Melon, the music still plays at the same speed.
This also happens with the Pianist Zombie in Plants vs. Zombies 2.
In the Nintendo DS versions, Jack-in-the-Box Zombies would always explode after a while. This was an intentional change, in order to prevent the music from repeating excessively on the system.
Therefore, the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is a very poor choice in Versus Mode on the DS, as he would almost always explode as soon as he reaches the separation line.
In the online version of Vasebreaker, the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is replaced with the dynamite due to his lack of presence in the version.
In fact, he is the only one of them that makes a persistent sound.
His Jack-in-the-Box, Zomboss' Zombot, Squash Zombie's and Gargantuar's smash, the crushing of Catapult Zombie and Zomboni, and the Jalapeno Zombie's flames are the strongest zombie attacks in the game.
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is one of two zombies that can destroy instant kills, the other one being Bungee Zombie (if timed correctly).
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie is immune to freezing, hypnosis, butter, and damage when he is about to explode. However most other instant-kills are an exception.
But if timed correctly, the jack-in-the-box will explode before the explosive plant explodes and the explosive plant will be destroyed without triggering its own explosion.
In Versus Mode he only costs 100 brains, as opposed to Cherry Bomb's cost of 150.
In Versus Mode, the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie explodes whenever he meets a plant.
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie's explosion color is the same as the Doom-shroom's explosion, but reuses SFX from the Cherry Bomb.
He is the only Almanac zombie that is capable of destroying himself to deal damage to plants.
Squash Zombie and Jalapeno Zombie from ZomBotany 2 also share this trait. However, they only appear in this mini-game, and are not featured in the Suburban Almanac.
In the Nintendo DS version, the clown head inside the jack-in-the-box is slightly bigger in comparison with the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie's head.
In the Nintendo DS version, when the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie about to explodes, his face looks like smiling.
His feet look somewhat similar to the Zombie Yeti's feet unless they are crossed.
In the Android version, his tune is higher-pitched than in other versions.
Jack-in-the-Box Zombie and Gargantuar are only zombies that can break open other vases in Vasebreaker.
If a new Jack-in-the-Box Zombie appears in a level where one has already just died then the music will carry on and not restart as the first one continued it.
Thus the flattened sprite of defeated plants are simply the plant counterpart of a headless zombie that dropped to the ground where if explosions are applied near them, they will despawn, with their only difference being a zombie that dropped to the ground immediately despawns while the sprite of a defeated plant takes 5 seconds before despawning.
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