ARK Turkey Trial 2026 — Expected Dates, Super Turkeys, Wishbones, Skins & Rates
Short answer: Turkey Trial 2026, ARK: Survival Ascended's Thanksgiving event, has not been announced yet. Every ASA edition so far has started on the Tuesday before US Thanksgiving and run for two weeks, so the expected window is Tuesday 24 November to Monday 7 December 2026. If Wildcard keeps to that pattern, Super Turkeys land in about 14 days. We will update this page the moment a Community Crunch confirms the dates.
Turkey Trial 2026 expected dates
| Expected start | Tuesday 24 November 2026 (not confirmed) |
| Expected end | Monday 7 December 2026 (not confirmed) |
| Platforms | PC (Steam / Microsoft Store), Xbox, PlayStation |
| Mod ID (private / unofficial servers) | 927083 |
| Status | Awaiting Studio Wildcard's announcement |
Why those dates? The three ASA editions so far:
| Edition | Ran |
|---|---|
| Turkey Trial 2023 | 8 to 18 December 2023 (delayed by a major version) |
| Turkey Trial 2024 | Tuesday 26 November to Tuesday 10 December 2024 |
| Turkey Trial 2025 | Tuesday 25 November to Monday 8 December 2025 |
2024 and 2025 both opened on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving 2026 falls on Thursday 26 November, which puts the Tuesday on 24 November. One more hint that it is coming: Wildcard pushed a fresh server build of the Turkey Trial mod to CurseForge on 3 November 2026, the usual pre-event recook.
What Turkey Trial is
Turkey Trial is a two-week scavenger hunt. Super Turkeys spawn in the wild wherever Dodos do, and killing one drops a Wishbone. Wishbones are the event currency: you spend them on hat and swimsuit skins, emotes and random chibis. The whole network also runs boosted rates for the fortnight, and wild dinos spawn in autumn event colours, which makes it one of the best windows of the year for colour breeders.
Super Turkeys: how to kill one
The Super Turkey looks like a Dodo with ambition and fights like a boss. In past editions:
- It is docile until attacked, then it chases you and does not stop. Nearby herbivores turn aggressive too.
- It takes only 10% melee damage from creatures, so a Rex bite does almost nothing. Firearms, bleed and non-melee dino attacks work normally; headshots deal 3x.
- It cannot damage stone. Stand on a stone pillar or inside a stone pen and shoot it.
- It cannot attack while in water, so a Dunkleosteus or a Basilosaurus can kite it in shallows.
- Good picks: a Giganotosaurus for raw damage, a Managarmr to freeze it, a Mantis with a shotgun or sword, or just a pump shotgun and a stack of ammo.
- It is not tameable, not knockable and immune to torpor. Do not waste tranq darts.
Each kill drops Hide, Raw Meat and a Wishbone (guaranteed).
Wishbones: what they buy
Wishbone crafting in ARK: Survival Ascended happens at the Smithy during the event. These are the prices from the Survival Evolved editions, which the ASA events have followed closely; we will correct any that change:
| Wishbones | Item |
|---|---|
| 5 | Swim top or bottom skin (Meat, Turkey, Dodo Pie) |
| 5 | Random rare-or-better chibi |
| 10 | Hat skin (Chieftan, Turkey, Bonnet, Pilgrim) |
| 15 | Turkey Leg or Pitchfork skin |
| 25 | Belly Rub, Food Coma or Hungry emote |
| 2 | Thanksgiving Candy |
Wishbones cannot be transferred between servers; uploading them deletes them. Spend them on the map you earned them on.
Skins, emotes and chibis
Skins craftable during the event (2025 list): Bonnet Hat, Pilgrim Hat, Turkey Hat, Pumpkin Pie Hat, Cooked Turkey Hat, Forest Crown, Chieftan Hat; Dodo Pie, Dodorex, Meat, Murder Turkey and Turkey swim tops and bottoms; Dodorex-Print, Murder-Turkey-Print, Ugly Cornucopia Sweater and Ugly Trike Sweater shirts; Pitchfork, Turkey Leg, Turkey Costume, Cornucopia Trough and Turkey Fryer.
Emotes: Belly Rub, Food Coma, Hungry, Touchdown and Friendly Gesture are granted automatically to everyone who logs in during the event.
Chibis: the Chibi-Turkey, plus random and rare random chibis from Wishbones.
Event colours
Wild dinos spawn in these colours while the event runs: Orange, MediumAutumn, LightAutumn, BurntSienna, Brown, Light Brown, DarkMagenta, DarkViolet, Vermillion, Red, Dark Red, Dino Dark Red, MidnightBlue, BlackSands, DarkBlue, NearBlack, Black, Dino Darker Grey and Dino Albino. The autumn browns and the two near-blacks are the ones breeders chase.
Official server rates (2025, expected to repeat)
| Server type | Boost |
|---|---|
| Official PvP / PvE | 2x harvesting, taming, XP and breeding |
| Small Tribes | 4.5x harvesting, taming and XP, 5x breeding |
| ARKpocalypse | 5x harvesting, taming, XP and breeding |
How to enable Turkey Trial in single player or on your own server
- Main menu → Mods tab → search Turkey Trial (ID 927083) and install it.
- On the game setup screen open Mod Settings, select Turkey Trial and activate it.
- Dedicated servers: add
927083to the-mods=launch argument. Nothing else is needed. The mod only does anything while Wildcard has the event switched on.
Turkey Trial on BG Gaming
We run every official seasonal event across the whole cluster through the event mod, the same way Fear Ascended 2026 ran on all our maps in October. Expect Super Turkeys on every BG map for the full event, on top of the boosted rates we run all year, so Wishbones come faster than on official. Join BG Gaming: crossplay PC / Xbox / PS5, 12 maps, no wipes, 50,000 free coins for new players.
What else is coming before Turkey Trial
- 13 to 23 November: Extra Life dino colours and Cake Slices on the official network.
- 13, 20, 27 November and 4 December: the four winners of the Extra Life creature TLC vote are revealed one a week.
- 9 December: Dragontopia, Wildcard's dragon map, launches.
- Mid December: Winter Wonderland normally follows a week or two after Turkey Trial ends.
Full timeline in our ARK 2026 roadmap.
FAQ
When does Turkey Trial 2026 start? Not announced. Expected Tuesday 24 November 2026 based on the last two years; this page will be updated when Wildcard confirms.
What is the Turkey Trial mod ID? 927083.
Can I tame a Super Turkey? No. Kill it for the Wishbone.
Do Turkey Trial skins stay after the event? Yes. Skins, emotes and chibis you unlock are permanent. Wishbones and wild Super Turkeys disappear when the event ends.