Ticci Toby route: how to meet him and start his path

Shared by player R4NDALIVORY on itch.io in answer to someone who couldn't reach Toby's scene, and confirmed working by the player who asked:

1. In Chapter 1, pick Toby as your favourite creepypasta. That pick gates some later content.
2. In the forest, do whatever you like. Visiting Jeff or Eyeless Jack out there does not break anything.
3. Once you're in the house, skip Toby's room. This is the whole trick. Entering it early removes the encounter.
4. Go to Jeff's room and take the hoodie from his clothes. That gives you the knife.
5. Try to open Masky and Hoodie's door with the knife. The door jams.
6. Toby appears. Because you never went into his room, he shows up here instead.
7. Help him find his muzzle. It is in his room. He thanks you for it.
8. Show him the jammed door. Having helped him first, he won't be angry about it.
9. Tell him his full name. That closes the sequence and puts you on his path.

Save before you enter the house so you can retry this without replaying the forest.

Creepy Dates gates several encounters on where you have already been rather than on dialogue choices. Toby is the clearest example: the game only sends him to find you if you haven't found him first. That is also why generic advice like "save before every choice" isn't enough here — the decision that locks you out is a room you walked into, not a line you picked.

The practical habit: save on arrival at each new location, not just before conversations.

This comes up as a search regularly. What is confirmed is the encounter above, where Toby finds you at Masky and Hoodie's door because you avoided his room.

Not yet confirmed: Whether there is an additional Chapter 1 scene where Toby catches you somewhere else, and whether it changes anything downstream. We only publish route details we can trace to the developer or to recorded gameplay, so this section will be updated rather than filled in with guesses. If you have a save file that proves otherwise, the Hahadit's official itch.io page comment thread is the fastest place to settle it.

The muzzle ("bozal" in the original Spanish) is Toby's, it is in his own room, and finding it for him is the favour that makes the rest of the scene go well. It is a good illustration of how the game's item system works: objects are tied to the character they belong to, and handing the right one to the right person opens dialogue that is otherwise closed.

The knife from Jeff's hoodie works the same way — it is not a weapon here, it is the tool that jams a door so a scene can happen.

Toby's route fails in one specific way more than any other route in the game, and it fails silently — the game never tells you that you missed something. These are the mistakes that cost players the encounter.

Entering his room first — the big one

It bears repeating because it is the whole trick: Toby appears at Masky and Hoodie's jammed door only if you have never been inside his room. There is no warning, no missed-notification, nothing. Players who walked in early simply never meet him on that save. If you already did it, your fix is a reload to before you entered the house, not a search for a second trigger.

Skipping the Chapter 1 favourite pick

Picking Toby as your favourite creepypasta in Chapter 1 gates later content on his path. It costs nothing to set it even if you are unsure about the route yet, and it cannot be retroactively changed once the chapter has moved on.

Going to the door without the knife

The sequence depends on the knife from Jeff's hoodie. Without it, Masky and Hoodie's door does not jam, and without the jam, Toby has no reason to appear. Take the hoodie before you touch that door — and remember the knife is worth taking on every route anyway.

Showing him the door before helping him

Order within the scene matters too: find his muzzle in his room first, then show him the jammed door. Having helped him, he is not angry about it. Doing it the other way around risks the worse-received version of the conversation.

Not saving on house entry

Because the lock-out here is a room entry rather than a dialogue choice, the only reliable protection is a save taken the moment you first enter the house. "Save before every choice" does not help when the decision that locks you out is walking through a doorway. This is the strongest argument for the room-entry saving habit described on the endings page.

One reassurance: the forest is safe. Players who took the Toby favourite pick and then visited Jeff or Eyeless Jack out there confirmed it breaks nothing. The house is where the order rules apply.