The Range Exchange & Mini-Games in Slime Rancher
The Range Exchange in Slime Rancher is a terminal you can find in your Ranch that will give you certain collection tasks each day. You will meet a total of 5 different ranchers through the Range Exchange and each will ask you for different things. If you complete the task they assign to you then you'll be rewarded with what it shows on the terminal.
For the most part the Range Exchange isn't worth going out of your way to do each day since most of the rewards you get are subpar. However, a few of the ranchers offer you hidden rewards which you can't get any other way. If you complete a Range Exchange request for Viktor Humphries, Ogden Ortiz or Mochi Miles you will get a Starmail that opens up a new portal on your farm after you read it.
You will then be able to take this portal to a new area where you will be able to participate in a mini-game of sorts to help out the other rancher. By participating in these mini games/side quests you can unlock upgrades for your Ranch that you can't unlock any other way along with unlocking access to even more plots of land.
Below are the rewards you will get for helping each of these 3 ranchers out. You get 2 sets of rewards from each of them before the final reward which is always access to their ranch/plots of land.
Ogden's Retreat Rewards: Miracle Mix Garden Upgrade (takes longer for crops to rot), Deluxe Upgrade for Garden (produce more food with each harvest)
Mochi's Manor Rewards: Occasionally doubles a Plort's sell price, Deluxe Coop (doubles number of chickens you can keep & moves Elders out)
Viktor's Workshop Rewards: Chicken Cloner (Doubles chickens half the time), Advanced Drone (Drones that can perform 2 tasks at once)
If you'd like additional information about each of the mini games involved in unlocking these rewards along with a little more information on each reward keep on reading.
Ogden's Retreat - Kookadoba Collecting
Video Walkthrough of me Kookadoba Farming
This is the slowest mini game to complete out of all 3 and one you will want to come back to every 2 - 3 days instead of grinding it non-stop. Essentially what you have to do is run around "The Wilds" area which you access through a portal in Ogden's Ranch and collect Kookadoba Fruits.
While you're in The Wilds you'll also encounter Saber Largos of many different types. Be sure to collect some Saber Plorts for your own farm - they are one of the more valuable plorts in the game and can be combined with many different slimes for lots of money.
Kookadoba Fruits are found in many places throughout The Wilds both on the ground as well as growing on the walls. They seem to have a 24hr respawn after you pick them which is the main reason I recommend against farming this location without respite. Your first time here you can collect 30 - 50 Kookadobas quite easily but if you keep coming back without giving time for them to respawn you'll find yourself running around not finding anything more and more.
Ogden tells you about this before entering The Wilds, but another unique thing about it is the location of the exit and entrance portal always changes. In my experience there are sometimes 2 or 3 open exit portals (more may open the longer you are here) so it shouldn't be an issue finding them. Your first time here you'll likely get lost but that's ok, more time to collect Kookadobas!
Across this island you'll find many statues shaped like Ogden with a green light emanating from them. These are called Kookadoba Crackers and they're used for the round yarn balls with Kookadobas in them you find across The Wilds that look like Slime Toys. Shoot one of these yard ball things into the Kookadoba Crackers and you'll get 5 or so Kookadobas.
Mochi's Manor - Quicksilver Plort Collection
Video Walkthrough of the best way to farm Quicksilver Plorts
Probably the easiest of the 3 mini games is the one given to you by Mochi. She asks you to collect Quicksilver Plorts which can only be obtained by participating in the timed mini games that you access through her farm. You're unable to leave the area with Quicksilver Plorts and you can't feed them to any other slimes to transform them into Quicksilver/whatever Largos.
The only use for Quicksilver Plorts is selling them to Mochi and getting her very minor monetary reward in return. As for the timed mini games - they take place on a race track of sorts where you need to blast a bunch of Quicksilver Slimes with electricity to feed them. The plorts are automatically collected for you so you don't need to worry about that.
Your goal is to collect as many Quicksilver Plorts as possible before the time runs out. I have two methods that I think work really well for doing this, both of which I will go into detail about below - after which I will explain the 3 powers and when I think it's best to use them.
Quicksilver Plort Farming Method #1: After you build up 100 Static Charge and have hit a few rings to extend the time you have pick a nice narrow turn or a narrow passage that all the slimes run down. Stand at the mouth of this turn or passage and blast all the slimes that come by.
Quicksilver Plort Farming Method #2: Grab a Slooow Field power up and find a moderately steep hill. Shoot the Slooow Field at the start of the incline and when the slimes run through this Slooow Field they will lose their increased speed and be unable to climb the hill. If you can combine this with the Static Clinger Power Up you'll get an insane amount of plorts.
Special Power Ups:
Thunderclap: As the name implies, it basically creates a giant Thunderclap AoE on the ground which feeds all slimes in the area. Out of all 3 power ups this one is by far the worst imo.
Static Clinger: Probably the second best power up in the list - you shoot this at a slime and it "clings" to it. It will feed the slime you shot it at as well as any other slime that gets close enough. I've tried experimenting to see if once the slime gets out of my LoS I still get Quicksilver Plorts but my testing has never been conclusive.
Slooow Field: Use this power up at the bottom of any incline and the slimes will pretty much stop dead in their tracks because they won't have the speed necessary to climb the hill. Alternatively, anywhere there is a narrow tunnel or turn is also a good spot to put it.
Viktor's Workshop - Bug Report Collection
Last but not least we have the Viktor's Workshop minigame. This one is probably the most important one of the 3 because you'll unlock the Advanced Drone gadget recipe which allows us to create drones that will finish 2 tasks at a time instead of only 1. These drones require Manifold Cubes to make which are the reward you get from Viktor every 20 Bug Reports.
Viktor asks you to collect Bug Reports from the Slimeulation, a world he created which is basically a copy of the Far Far Range with a few differences here and there in the landscape. Throughout this emulation you need to look for objects that are out of place which can range from Slimes that have something 'off' about them to rocks and even trees.
When you discover an object that is out of place you need to shoot Debug Spray at it, doing this will cause it to explode into numerous Glitch Slimes which you can vacuum up. For out of place Slimes you don't need to use the Glitch Spray, when you try vacuuming them up they will explode into Glitch Slimes on their own.
Below is a list of all out of place objects that you should keep an eye out for in the Slimeulation. Each of these objects will 'shake' every couple of seconds if you watch it, aside from noticing an object doesn't belong this is the only other way to tell what is fake. I've also included pictures of each object below too if you'd like to see exactly what we're looking for.
Out of Place Objects: Slimes with a -_- face, Cuberry Trees, Pogofruit Trees, Pink Stalk Plants (Moss Blanket), Rocks, Crystal
Most of the out of place objects stand out like sore thumbs if you're familiar enough with the Slime Rancher world. If you see a rock, crystal or tree in a location you know there isn't one in the "real" world - it's most likely an out of place object and can be turned into Glitch Slimes.
After you're in the Slimeulation long enough an Exit Portal will open up and you'll find arrows all over that point you to this portal. Once this portal opens up I strongly recommend you run straight for it without stopping. The Tarr Slimes that spawn can cause you to lose your Glitch Slimes when they hit you and you lose a lot more per hit you take than you usually get from vacuuming things up.
Note: None of the items you gather while in the Slimeulation will transfer with you into the real world except the Glitch Slimes when they turn into Bug Reports. For this reason you should not focus on picking up anything of value except the Glitch Slimes.
All slimes with an -_- face are out of place.
Pink Stalk Plant, often found in the Moss Blanket and Indigo Quarry.
Rocks in the Dry Reef and Indigo Quarry are sometimes out of place.
Pogofruit Trees with a full set of fruit & in a location they aren't normally are out of place objects.
Cuberry Trees with a full set of Fruit are often out of place objects too.
Certain Crystals in the Indigo Quarry are out of place objects.