How to solve the pumpkin puzzle in Borderlands 3

Borderlands 3 skull puzzle
(Image credit: 2K Games)

How do you solve the Borderlands 3 pumpkin puzzle in Bloody Harvest? While a patch back in 2021 made the Halloween event a permanent fixture in Borderlands 3, it's always a good time to revisit some Spooky Season shenanigans. If you want to play Bloody Harvest content, all you need to do is click "Play" on the Borderlands 3 main menu, and then click the "Events Disabled" option to toggle to Bloody Harvest.

Bloody Harvest brings a number of ghastly challenges and puzzles to overcome, rewarding players with weapons or cosmetic items. It's even quite puzzling to find the quest giver to start the damn quest: you're looking for Maurice, on top of your Sanctuary III ship.

The Borderlands 3 "Easy as Pumpkin Pie" puzzle is another riddle to solve, and it requires you to match the colours of jack-o-lanterns to their corresponding skulls. So you can get back to shooting the bad things with your many hundreds of guns—which is what you here for from Gearbox's flagship title, right?—I'm going to help you solve the Borderlands 3 skull puzzle. 

Where to find the Borderlands 3 pumpkin puzzle

The Easy as Pumpkin Pie puzzle is located in a temple inside the new area of Heck so, in order to access it, you'll need to have search the galaxy for ghosts in Borderlands 3 to complete the Descent into Heck quest first.

Maurice will have created a portal to the new area of Heck once you've done that. Once there, look out for a temple area with two sets of stairs leading upwards at the back of the room: four jack-o-lanterns decorate four pillars at the top of the stairs. You'll find a room close by that contains four brightly-coloured skulls hanging from chains.

How to solve the Borderlands 3 skull puzzle

Head to the jack-o-lantern at the far-left (as you're facing up the stairs) and check the colour glowing from its eyes and mouth. Once memorised, head back to the room with coloured skulls and pull the one with the corresponding colour. Head back to the stairs with the jack-o-lanterns and repeat with the remaining ones, from left to right—again, when facing up the stairs—in the correct order.

Each time you pull one of the hanging skulls in the room, the colour of each jack-o-lantern will change, so memorising all four won't work: you need to do them one at a time. Once you've pulled the chain on the fourth skull, the wall at the back of the room will collapse and you'll be able to claim your reward.

Sarah James
Senior Guides Writer

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she's quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.

Read more
Dragon sorcerer with long hair and beard confronts player in Baldur's Gate 3
How to solve the Sarin skeleton puzzle in Baldur's Gate 3
Borderlands 3 - Shift codes loot
Borderlands 3 Shift codes: Every active Shift code and how to redeem them
Diablo 4 Poison in the Roots - Tree of Whispers' coven
How to complete the Poison in the Roots quest in Diablo 4
The Barrow-Dyad exotic SMG.
How to unlock the Barrow-Dyad exotic in Destiny 2
Tiny Tina as the Bunker Master
All Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Shift codes and how to redeem them
Destiny 2 organ puzzle
All Kell's Fall organ puzzle codes in Destiny 2
Latest in RPG
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Sphene applauds in Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story.
I'm not yelling 'we're so back!' yet, but Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story could be the first sign the MMO is returning to what made it so critically-acclaimed
Latest in Features
Blue Protocol players dancing minutes before the game closes forever
What will we do at the end of the world? If MMOs are any indication: mostly what we already do, plus a lot of dancing
Sphene applauds in Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story.
I'm not yelling 'we're so back!' yet, but Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story could be the first sign the MMO is returning to what made it so critically-acclaimed
Several tight-wearing superheroes surge towards the camera in a heroic fashion in City of Heroes.
One year later, City of Heroes' officially recognized fan server has me praying it's the future of dead MMOs
Immortal Pillars expansion for Age of Mythology: Retold
Age of Mythology Retold's new Chinese pantheon expansion takes a bold stance on updating an old game: Just make good new stuff
Ragnarok Battle Offline
After punishing my graphics card with Monster Hunter Wilds, I've returned to the rock-solid frame rates of my old hunting grounds: Windows XP
Ghoul in sunglasses
I'm convinced being a ghoul in Fallout 76 is the best way to vibe in West Virginia, thanks to these powerful perk cards and my new true love: Radiation