Storage Hunters Glossary
Every term you will run into — areas, NPCs, mall counters, mutation and grading vocabulary — in one searchable A-Z list. Not sure what a word means mid-guide? Look it up here.
By Jim Liu · Last updated 2026-07-14
A
- Area
- One of the game’s 5 auction zones, unlocked in order by net worth. See Areas & Unlocks.
B
- Back Alley
- The second auction zone, unlocked at $750 net worth. Better containers and loot than the Junk Yard.
- Basketball NPC
- A Back Alley quest-giver who asks for 6 basketballs — widely reported as the single longest quest in the game. See the basketball quest tracker.
- Bidding
- The auction mechanic: you see a locker’s front row and pick a max bid before it is revealed. See the bidding calculator.
- Black Market Guy
- A Back Alley NPC (unlocks at $5,000) who trades regular weapons first, then legendary ones.
C
- Capsule Milestone
- The $100,000 net-worth threshold that unlocks the Time Capsule.
- Cargo Ship
- The third auction zone, unlocked at $7,000 net worth — the first real step up from the two starter zones.
- Cleaning Service
- A free Shopping Mall counter that strips the Dirty mutation (0.8x) off an item.
- Container
- The lockers, safes and vehicles you bid on at auction. Also called a locker in most guides on this site.
D
- Dirty
- The one negative mutation, worth 0.8x — it lowers an item’s value. Strip it for free at the Cleaning Service. See the mutations list.
E
- Energy Café
- A Shopping Mall counter that sells stat-boosting consumables, including Luck boosts of up to +50%.
- Exclusive item
- One of 4 items that only enter the auction pool during Rain or Moonlit weather — a separate mechanic from mutations. See Exclusive Items.
F
- Farmyard
- The fourth auction zone (also called Sunset View Farm for lost items), unlocked at $10,000 net worth.
G
- Gavel Trophy
- A display trophy that raises your mutation luck. See Safes, Trophies & Luck.
- Gem
- The premium currency, used to speed up grading and roll the Time Capsule. Earned mainly through the Tip Jar upgrade and tips.
- Grader
- The Shopping Mall counter that grades an item into Replica, One-Star, Two-Star or Three-Star — one shot, no reroll. See the grading calculator.
- Grading
- The process of sending an item to the Grader for a multiplier. Two of the four outcomes (Replica, One-Star) lose money.
J
- Junk Yard
- The free starter auction zone — no net-worth requirement.
K
- Key
- A lost item found under the Back Alley bridge that unlocks the Lost Item Garage — and the Scythe inside it.
L
- Locksmith
- The Shopping Mall counter that opens safes. Contents stay hidden until he cracks them.
- Lost item
- One of 29 hidden collectibles scattered across the map, with milestone rewards at 5, 15 and 29 found. See Lost Items.
- Luck
- A stat that improves your odds of rolling rarer mutations. See the luck calculator.
M
- Mall
- Short for Shopping Mall — see the full mall services guide.
- Moonlit
- A weather event that boosts the Firefly mutation and unlocks the two vampire-themed exclusive items.
- Mutation
- A value multiplier applied to an item, from Dirty (0.8x) up to Secret (50x). See the full mutations list.
N
- Net worth
- Your total cash value — the number every area unlock, quest gate and the Time Capsule are measured against.
- NPC
- A non-player character offering a quest, usually tied to an area and a net-worth gate. See Quest NPCs.
P
- Price Tags
- An upgrade that moves customer offers closer to an item’s fair value on every sale. Recommended second, after Tip Jar.
Q
- Quicksell
- A Shopping Mall NPC who buys an item on the spot instead of waiting for a customer offer.
R
- Rain
- A weather event that boosts the Wet and Shocked mutations and unlocks the Rubber Duck and Camping Backpack exclusive items.
- Repair Shop
- A Shopping Mall counter that repairs damaged items so they sell for their proper value.
S
- Safe
- A locked container whose contents stay hidden until the Locksmith opens it. See Safes, Trophies & Luck.
- Scythe
- A lost item hidden in the Lost Item Garage, gated behind the Key.
- Shipyard
- The fifth and final auction zone, unlocked at $125,000 net worth — the priciest hauls in the game.
T
- Tier List
- A ranking of all mutations by value multiplier, SS down to NEG. See the mutation tier list.
- Time Capsule
- Unlocks at $100,000 net worth. Rolls a random mutation onto an item for a Gem cost — it does not let you choose the result. See the mall services guide for what it can and cannot roll.
- Tip Jar
- The first upgrade most guides recommend — customers get a chance to leave bonus Gem tips.
- Trophy Capacity
- An upgrade that raises how many Gavel Trophies you can display, which in turn raises mutation luck.
V
- Value-to-weight
- The core bidding heuristic: price a locker by how much its likely contents are worth relative to how full it looks, not by fullness alone. Covered in the beginner’s guide.
W
- Weather event
- A rotating condition (Rain or Moonlit) that boosts specific mutations and unlocks weather-exclusive items while active.
How this is organized
Terms are grouped alphabetically, not by system, on purpose — when you hit an unfamiliar word mid-guide, you know its first letter, not which category it belongs to. Every definition links to the page that covers it properly: area names link to Areas & Unlocks, mutation names to the mutations list, NPCs to Quest NPCs, and so on. Use the search box to jump straight to a term, or the letter row to browse.
If you are brand new to the game and want the terms in the order you will actually meet them, rather than alphabetically, start with the beginner’s guide instead — it introduces value-to-weight, the Grader and your first Luck sources in play order. Come back here whenever a later guide drops a term without re-explaining it.
Frequently asked questions
How many terms are in the Storage Hunters glossary?
The list currently covers every recurring term used across our guides — areas, NPCs, mall counters, mutation and grading vocabulary — organized A to Z. It grows as new systems get added to the game.
Why does the glossary link out instead of explaining everything here?
Because a one-line definition is enough to answer "what is this," but not enough to actually use it well. Each term links to the page that covers it in full — the tier list for mutations, the areas guide for zones, and so on — so you are never stuck with just a definition.
Is "container" the same thing as a "locker" in Storage Hunters?
Yes, the two terms are used interchangeably across guides for this game — both mean the auctioned storage unit, van, safe or vehicle you bid on sight-unseen.
How this glossary was compiled
Every definition here restates a fact that is already sourced on its linked page — area thresholds from Areas & Unlocks, mutation multipliers from the mutations list, grading outcomes from the grading calculator, and so on. This page does not introduce a new number anywhere; it exists purely to shorten the distance between “what does this word mean” and an answer.
Sourced 2026-07-14 · Maintained by Jim Liu