This guide explores friendship in Stardew Valley, detailing how to maximize relationships with villagers. Building friendships is crucial for integrating into Pelican Town, whether aiming for companionship or romance.

The Heart Scale: The in-game heart system tracks friendship levels. Each heart requires 250 friendship points. Higher heart levels unlock special events, mail, and dialogue.

Friendship Point Gain: Interactions influence friendship points. Positive actions increase points, while negative actions or ignoring villagers decrease them.

Boosting Friendship: The "Friendship 101" book (obtained from the Prize Machine or the Bookseller in Year 3) permanently boosts friendship gains by 10%.

Interaction Point Values:

• Talking: +20 points (or +10 if the villager is busy). Not talking results in a -2 point daily penalty (-10 with a bouquet given, -20 for a spouse).
• Bulletin Board Deliveries: +150 points with the recipient.
• Gifts:
  • Loved: +80 points
  • Liked: +45 points
  • Neutral: +20 points
  • Disliked: -20 points
  • Hated: -40 points
  • Winter Star Festival gifts: 5x points
  • Birthday gifts: 8x points

Stardrop Tea: This universally loved gift grants +250 points (+750 on birthdays/Winter Star). It can be obtained from the Prize Machine, Golden Fishing Chests, the Helper's Bundle, or from the raccoon for completing requests.

Movie Theater: Inviting a villager to the movies grants points based on movie and snack choices:

• Loved Movie: +200 points
• Liked Movie: +100 points
• Disliked Movie: 0 points
• Loved Concession: +50 points
• Liked Concession: +25 points
• Disliked Concession: 0 points

Conversations and Dialogue: Dialogue choices impact friendship, with positive responses yielding +10 to +50 points and negative responses causing decreases. Heart Events offer similar opportunities for significant friendship gains or losses (up to ±200 points).

Festivals and Events:

• Flower Dance: Dancing with a villager (4 hearts or higher) grants +250 points.
• Luau: Contributing to the soup affects friendship with all villagers. Results range from +120 points (best soup) to -100 points (worst soup).
• Community Center Bulletin Board: Completing all bundles rewards +500 points with each non-dateable villager.

The guide is updated to reflect the Stardew Valley 1.6 update, ensuring accuracy for current players. The core friendship mechanics remain the same, but new additions are noted. The images are included as shown in the original input.

Note: Image URLs are assumed to be functional and are included as requested. Replace /uploads/../.jpg placeholders with actual image URLs if necessary.