The water gun is one of the first toys most players chase in Waterpark Simulator, and it does two very different jobs. It cleans surfaces and it soaks guests, some of whom love the spray and some of whom file complaints about you at closing time. The tool is also tied to a few progression objectives, and one of them, Spread Love with Water Gun, is currently misbehaving for a lot of console players.
Quick answer: Open the research table with E, unlock the water gun in the Attractions branch after the Hot Dog Stand, then pick it up from the board on your left. To Spread Love, spray angry guests until one reacts positively and the counter climbs.
How to unlock the water gun in Waterpark Simulator
You do not start with the water gun. It sits behind a research node, so you have to spend points before you can hold it.
What the water gun does
The tool has two functions. It cleans faster than the mop, and it soaks guests for fun and for objectives.
There is a trade-off with cleaning. The water gun clears messes quicker than the mop, but cleaning with it earns you no research points, while the mop does. If you are trying to progress rather than just finish the day fast, keep using the mop for cleanup.
Spraying guests is the main draw. Some guests enjoy it, and some hold a grudge and write things like “I was bullied” in the end-of-day reviews. There is no reliable way to know in advance who will react well. The closest thing to a hint is the Tablet’s Visitor Thoughts panel under the Park tab, which shows what individual guests are thinking.
How to complete Spread Love with Water Gun
First, a correction that saves you time. Spread Love with Water Gun is a progression objective with its own counter, not a Steam achievement. The game has 71 achievements and none of them use the word “love”, so do not go hunting for a trophy.
To move the counter, you spray angry guests and try to get a positive reaction out of them. Angry guests show a purple, angry-face icon floating above their heads, and that icon is your target. When the spray lands well, the icon disappears, a small cash pop-up appears, and the task tally ticks up (for example, from 8/10 to 9/10). If you genuinely cannot find any angry guests, you can let your park slip to farm them, though that is a messy way to do it.
Here is the honest part. For many players, especially on console, the counter refuses to move no matter how many angry guests they spray. This looks like a bug rather than a technique problem, so if someone claims a guaranteed method right now, treat it with caution. What has helped some stuck PS5 players is switching to Easy difficulty after Normal failed to register the objective.
Note: Easy is not a confirmed fix, and it has a real cost. Easy and Sandbox runs do not count toward achievements that require Normal or Hard, including Sniff Happens. Use it only to clear a stuck objective, not on a save you care about for trophies.
How to spray 100 smelly guests (Sniff Happens)
Sniff Happens asks you to hit 100 smelly guests with the water gun. Smelly guests are easy to identify because they carry a visible smell effect above them, and only those guests count toward the total.
Keep the gun equipped as you patrol and pick smelly guests off whenever you spot one, rather than setting aside a dedicated farming session. Two conditions matter. It only counts on Normal or Hard, so Easy and Sandbox earn nothing here. It also doubles as a progression objective on the road from two to three stars, so you will likely make headway on it naturally. Removing showers from your park keeps more guests smelly, which speeds things up.
How to cool off burning guests (the yogi quest)
This is the one place the game actually requires the water gun. You start the quest by talking to the yogi standing outside next to Caymart, marked with a yellow exclamation mark. The quest asks you to cool off guests who are on fire, which raises the question of where you find a guest who is on fire. The answer is that you set them on fire.
There is one requirement before any of this works. Your first hot tub unlocks at the 3-star pool tier. Wellness items carry a green background in the build menu, which makes them easier to find.
Water gun vs duck gun vs Water Cannon
Version 1.0 added two more things that spray water, and they are easy to mix up. The water gun is the researched handheld you already know. The duck gun is a separate handheld you buy with cash from the old man at Caymart, with no research needed. The Water Cannon is not a carried tool at all. It is a duck-shaped structure you place in your park that power-washes anyone who walks into range.
| Item | Type | How to get |
|---|---|---|
| Water gun | Handheld tool | Research table, Attractions branch after Hot Dog Stand |
| Duck gun | Handheld tool | Bought with cash from the old man at Caymart, no research |
| Water Cannon | Placed structure | Built in your park; sprays guests in range automatically |
Common questions about the water gun
Does Spread Love count on Easy?
Some stuck PS5 players report the counter moving on Easy after Normal failed. It is unconfirmed, and Easy voids every achievement that requires Normal or Hard, so treat it as a last resort.
Does the water gun work in multiplayer?
Nobody has clearly documented it. The 1.0 update disabled the spray can in multiplayer but said nothing about the water gun, so it is likely still active.
How many achievements does the game have?
There are 71. Older counts of 55, 52, or 60 are all pre-1.0 numbers and out of date. The relevant water gun ones are Pew Pew! for using it on a guest and Sniff Happens for hitting 100 smelly guests.
Unlock the tool at the research table, keep it equipped to chip away at smelly guests, save the sauna trick for the yogi quest, and treat Spread Love as a work-in-progress objective until the counter behaves. If the tally still refuses to move on Normal, an Easy save is the only workaround worth trying, with the achievement cost in mind.
