One More Lawn Guide: Start Here, Mow Better
A first-hour One More Lawn guide: set the deck, finish the front yard, survive Elvira at 5 cm and read your first perfection receipt.
The fastest way into One More Lawn is to treat the front yard as a driving lesson, not a job. Learn the key, blades, deck lever and bag there, then take Elvira's backyard at exactly 5 cm and read the receipt before you touch co-op or the golf course. That sequence teaches every system the game later judges you on.
This guide is the route I would give a friend who has thirty minutes and the free demo. It assumes no prior mower games and no interest in watching a two-hour video first.
Before the first cut: three settings
Open Options before you start the engine.
- Controls: if you own a controller, try it. The mower is a vehicle, and a trigger for the throttle feels natural. If the controller fights your mouse, Options > Controls can disable it entirely.
- HUD: keep it on for the first job. The cut percentage and perfection meter are the only feedback you get before the receipt.
- Family Friendly Mode: toggle it if you stream or play with kids. It turns cigarettes into lollipops and beer into water bottles, and each player in co-op can set it independently.
Then sit on the mower and look at the deck lever. Scrolling while looking at it changes the cutting height. The HUD shows the current deck number in centimetres. For the front yard, the default is fine; for Elvira, it is not.
Step 1: the front yard is a three-minute lesson
The title screen describes the front yard as "Learn to drive - about 3 min". Believe it. The lawn is small, the obstacles are forgiving, and the game is watching whether you understand three things:
- The key and the blades are separate. Holding the key starts the engine. The blade switch is what actually cuts grass.
- The bag fills. When the bag gauge is full, drive to the truck and empty it. A full bag does not stop the mower, but it stops paying you.
- The deck lever changes the cut. Look at the lever, scroll, and watch the HUD number move.
Do not chase 100% here. Do a clean perimeter, two or three straight passes, dump the bag, and finish. The first receipt is a baseline, not a high score.
Step 2: read the receipt like a mechanic
The receipt has three scored lines: Coverage, Height and Care. It also shows Time and a Best line. A demo screenshot shows 94.0% overall with 100% coverage, 100% height and 70% care, which is the clearest evidence that care is a real scoring channel and not flavour text.
- Coverage punishes missed grass and tufts. Fence lines and tree rings are where it bleeds.
- Height punishes a deck set to the wrong number. It does not care how good the stripes look.
- Care punishes broken or disturbed objects. Gnomes, flowerbeds and fences are the usual suspects.
Time appears on the receipt and in the Best line, but it does not appear to enter the percentage. Use it as a tiebreaker for your own runs, not as a reason to drive faster than you can steer.
The full breakdown, including the 40/40/20 inference, lives in the perfect lawn scoring guide→.
Step 3: Elvira's backyard at 5 cm
Elvira is the neighbour out back. Her job is longer than the front yard, the grass is taller, and the receipt has opinions. The three requirements are explicit: cut everything, set the deck to exactly 5 cm, and do not break anything, especially the gnome Gómez.
A route that works:
- Edge first. Take the string trimmer along the fence and wall before you bring the mower in. The trimmer reaches grass the deck cannot, and it keeps you from scraping the fence while trying to get closer.
- Set 5.0 cm and leave it. Check the HUD number after every bump. The lever can move, and a single pass at the wrong height costs Height score.
- Mow the open middle in long passes. Turn on already-cut grass, not on the uncut strip, so you do not scalp a corner.
- Walk the garden beds before the last pass. Move Gómez if the game lets you, or give the bed a wide berth. One clipped ornament can cost more than a missed tuft.
- Dump the bag before the final stretch. You do not want to finish the lawn with a full bag and no payout.
If the receipt says 100% coverage but the perfection is stuck in the low 90s, the problem is almost always care, not grass.
Step 4: spend ten minutes with the trimmer
The string trimmer is the least glamorous tool and the one that saves the most coverage. It has a throttle and a stop prompt, and it cuts the strip the mower cannot reach. Use it before mowing so the mower has room, or after mowing so you can see exactly what is left.
Do not treat it as a faster mower. It is for edges, fence lines, tree trunks and the awkward strip beside the shed. The full technique is in the string trimmer guide→.
Step 5: only then try co-op
Six players on one lawn is the best party trick in the game, but it is a terrible first lesson. Join a lobby after you can finish Elvira solo. You will know who is supposed to take edges, who takes the long rows, and who is about to drive through the flowerbed.
The host can invite through Steam or share a six-digit lobby code. Voice chat is proximity-based, so everyone hears the person nearest their mower. The co-op guide→ covers the setup and the roles.
In co-op, agree on a stripe direction before the first blade drops. Six mowers cutting six directions produce a lawn that looks like a chessboard accident, and no amount of skill fixes it after the fact.
What to ignore in the first hour
- Do not grind cash for upgrades. There are no performance upgrades. Chiquito sells toys, paint, fuel, fertilizer and gnomes. The official notes say nothing you buy makes you mow faster.
- Do not chase the golf course or island in the demo. They are locked. The work-order cards say so, and no settings change that.
- Do not restart for a 99%. The receipt keeps a best score, and the next run is shorter because you know the lawn.
A realistic first-session target
Finish the front yard once, finish Elvira with 5.0 cm and an intact gnome, then play one co-op lobby. A 90%+ receipt on Elvira in the first session is a good result. The demo's own screenshot shows a best of 98.5%, so do not expect a perfect 100 on the first Saturday.
FAQ
How long is the One More Lawn demo?
It contains the front yard tutorial and Elvira's full backyard, plus six-player co-op. The golf course, island and editor are locked. Most players will see everything in one or two sessions.
What height should I use for Elvira?
5.0 cm. The receipt explicitly checks "Deck at 5 cm". Set it with the deck lever and verify the HUD before you start mowing.
Can I fail a job?
You can finish with a low score, and you can restart from the receipt screen. The game does not appear to hard-fail you for a broken gnome; it takes the points and lets Elvira comment.
Should I play co-op before finishing the story jobs?
No. Learn the deck lever and the bag loop solo first. Co-op multiplies the chaos, not your understanding.
Official source: One More Lawn on Steam ↗, the 0.9.18 controls update ↗ and the community guide hub ↗.