FNAF Night-by-Night Survival Guide: Power, Doors and Every Animatronic

The first Five Nights at Freddy's has one room, four buttons and a monitor, and most players lose the same way: they run out of power at 4 or 5 AM because they panicked early. Here is how the office actually works and what to do on each night.

How the power drains

You start every night with 100% power. It drains slowly on its own, and faster for everything you switch on: each light, each closed door and the camera monitor adds one bar to the Usage meter under the power figure. One bar is the idle drain; two is fine for a moment; three or four for long stretches will empty the tank before 6 AM. On the later nights the idle drain itself is faster, so the margin gets thinner every night.

When the power reaches zero the office goes dark, both doors open and Freddy's face lights up in the left doorway while a tune plays. If the clock reaches 6 AM before it finishes you still survive, which is why a blackout at 5:50 is not always the end.

Who comes from where

Bonnie (the purple rabbit) leaves the show stage first and comes down the left side. Chica (the yellow chicken) comes down the right side. Both of them stop in the blind spot outside their door before they come in — you cannot see them on the cameras there, only with the doorway light. That is the whole trick: light, look, and close the door only if they are standing there.

Foxy lives behind the curtain in Pirate Cove (CAM 1C). Leave him unwatched for too long and he peeks out, then steps out, then runs down the west hall to the left door. If you shut it in time he bangs on it and takes some of your power; if not, he gets in. Watching him constantly does not help either — check him every so often.

Freddy barely moves on the first nights. From Night 3 or 4 he starts to travel down the right side, mostly in the dark, with a laugh when he moves. He is the reason to keep some power in reserve for the right door late in the night.

A plan for each night

1. Night 1. Listen to the phone call and learn the camera map. Almost nothing happens before 2 AM. Practise the light-then-door habit.
2. Night 2. Bonnie and Chica become active and Foxy starts to peek out. Check both lights every few seconds, glance at Pirate Cove now and then, and keep the camera trips short.
3. Night 3. Everyone is faster. Keep the doors open as much as possible and open them again the moment the light shows the doorway is clear.
4. Night 4. Freddy joins in. Check the east hall corner on the cameras when the laugh plays, and expect the right door to be the busy one.
5. Night 5. All four are aggressive. Aim to finish with power to spare: short camera checks, quick lights, doors only when someone is there.

Three things that end a run

Leaving a door shut after the animatronic has gone — it keeps draining the whole time. Staying on the cameras — while the monitor is up you are not watching the doors, and Bonnie or Chica can slip in. And flipping the monitor down in a panic when a button stops working: that is exactly when the jumpscare hits. If the buttons are dead, someone is already in the room.

Beat Night 5 and you unlock Night 6, which is harder again, and after that the Custom Night, where you set each animatronic's difficulty from 0 to 20. Your progress stays in the browser, so Continue on the title screen brings you back to the last night you reached.