Getting Started in Clean The Bugs

Clean The Bugs is Retro Library’s co-op exterminator experience from StarMarine: up to twelve players clear bug-infested houses room by room, upgrade tools mid-run, chase medals, and race the leaderboard. This guide is the first-hour path — join correctly, claim early rewards, learn the loop, then branch into chapter and tool pages.

Official play link: Clean The Bugs on Roblox.

Before you start a job

Open the experience, wait for the lobby to load, and confirm you can see difficulty options. For session one, pick Easy. Easy still teaches movement, squish timing, trash dumping, and tool shops without the pressure of Hard or Pro. Save Normal, Hard, and Pro for after you finish Chapter 1 once and understand where bugs hide.

Party size matters. Solo is fine for learning rooms. Two to four friends is the sweet spot for calling out nests and sharing upgrade money. Full twelve-player lobbies are loud and fun, but beginners get crowded out of trash cans and Jackpot dumps — start smaller if you want to practice routes.

StarMarine — New game: Clean The Bugs

First badges and early objectives

New accounts usually unlock onboarding milestones quickly:

• New Hire — join and begin your exterminator career.
• First Squish — eliminate your first bug.
• One Down — early progress toward clearing a job.

Treat these as a tutorial checklist, not a grind. Squish anything that moves in the first room, dump trash when prompted, and follow on-screen UI for codes and daily rewards. Claiming dailies before a long session stacks gems and helper time with what you earn in-run.

Redeem codes on day one

Active launch codes are worth grabbing immediately:

• launch — gems currency
• assist — assistant helper for about five minutes

Redeem them in the in-game codes UI before you commit to a long clear. Full steps live on how to redeem codes, and the live list stays on the Codes hub. Fresh gems speed tool upgrades; the short assistant window is best spent on a dense kitchen or basement sweep, not AFK in the lobby.

The core loop in one paragraph

Enter a house → clear bugs room by room → bag trash and empty cans → spend earnings on tool upgrades → push harder rooms → finish for medals and badges. Hands are free and weak. Two Hands raise throughput. Vacuum is the mid-run power spike for dense floors. Dump at Jackpot when the UI favors it, and keep trash cans cycling for Can Collector progress. Details live in Tools and upgrades and the Tier List hub.

First house priorities (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 is the starter house. Clear living spaces and kitchen early so you can see spawn patterns, then work bathrooms and bedrooms. The basement is the signature side goal — finishing Down Under-related progress unlocks the basement badge track. Do not skip dark corners; beginners leave nests behind and wonder why the clear will not complete.

Use Easy until you can finish the house without getting lost. Then climb Normal → Hard → Pro when you want medals and Pro-only challenges such as Bare Hands. Room order, medal notes, and kitchen footage tips are in Chapter 1: The House.

What to buy first

Spend early cash on capacity and clear speed, not cosmetics. Typical order:

1. Unlock Two Hands as soon as it is affordable.
2. Push toward Vacuum before the densest floors.
3. Keep enough buffer to dump trash without walking half the map empty-handed.

If a shop upgrade does not help squish rate or carry, skip it until the house is under control. Maxed Out and Jackpot timing are covered on the tools guide; compare relative strength on the tier list.

Classes, gems, and helpers

Clean The Bugs includes a classes system, daily rewards, and gems. Codes feed gems; dailies stabilize income between sessions. The assistant from assist is a timed helper — activate it when you are about to clear a heavy room, not while reading menus. Check Updates after patches in case reward values or class balance shift.

Co-op etiquette for new hires

Call out rare bugs in chat. Do not block trash cans. Share upgrade knowledge instead of racing teammates for every coin if the lobby is learning together. Speed Cleaner (finish under thirty-two minutes) and Gold Standard (gold medal) are later goals — learn the map first, then chase times.

Where to go next

1. Learn inputs on Controls.
2. Finish the starter map with Chapter 1: The House.
3. Unlock and route Chapter 2: Next Door.
4. Optimize spend with Tools and upgrades.
5. Hunt shinies via Rare bugs.
6. Claim codes on Codes, compare buys on the tools tier list, track badges, and skim Scripts only if you understand Roblox executor risks.

Bookmark this wiki, redeem launch and assist, start Easy, and treat the first clear as map school. Once First Squish and One Down are done, you are ready for real difficulty climbs and medal runs.

Common first-session mistakes

Skipping codes, starting on Pro, ignoring trash dumps, and wandering without a room order all waste time. Another frequent miss: leaving the basement for “later” and forgetting it until the end timer pressure hits. Build a habit — clear a floor, dump, upgrade, then open the next door. That rhythm carries into Next Door and Pro challenges.

If a run fails, review which rooms still showed activity and whether your tool tier matched the density. Upgrade earlier next attempt. If you finished but missed medals, shave pathing with a smaller party and a fixed room circuit. Leaderboard races come after consistency.

Session checklist

• Join Clean The Bugs and select Easy.
• Redeem launch and assist in the codes UI.
• Claim daily rewards if available.
• Squish early bugs for First Squish / One Down progress.
• Unlock Two Hands, then Vacuum when money allows.
• Clear the house including basement goals.
• Note any rare spawns for later hunting.
• After one solid Easy clear, read Chapter 1 and tools guides before Normal.

You now have the day-one path. Dive into the sibling guides for depth, and keep the Guides hub open while you plan the next job.