Bubba's Lineage Quest — $2,000 Big-Ears Descendant Walkthrough

🔬 Sourcing. Quest specification and reward verified on screen in Cheru's YouTube playthrough at 28:00 (setup) and 28:40 (payout confirmation). The full source list is on /sources.

Bubba is the second of two NPCs in Horsey Game who pay $2,000 for a specific horse. Where Old Bu wants a rabbit-eared champion, Bubba wants something different — and the difference is what trips most players up. Bubba does not care about championship status. He cares about lineage descent + big ears.

The quest specification (verified)

Cheru @ 28:00 reads Bubba's ask:

"If you bring me a horse that descends from either Russian mafia, coronal mass ejection, or [a third lineage]. And it must have big ears."

The third lineage is partially audible on the recording — being collected from community submissions. If you've identified it on your save, send the clip to /contact.

Cheru @ 28:40 confirms the payout:

"I've just made myself $2,000. Easiest $2,000 I've ever made in my life."

Both must hold:

Lineage: the horse must descend from one of these named ancestor horses:
- Russian mafia (a specific named horse in the wild — likely a wild capture or trade)
- Coronal mass ejection (another specific named ancestor)
- [Third name pending verification]
Phenotype: the horse must have big ears (visible morphology)

Note: Cheru describes this as the "easiest $2,000" he ever made — implying the lineage requirement is more about finding the right ancestor than complex breeding.

Step-by-step walkthrough

Step 1 — Find a Russian-mafia or coronal-mass-ejection ancestor

These are specific named horses that exist somewhere in the world (likely as wild captures, breeding-pen finds, or trade-eligible horses on a specific farm). They are NOT defaults — most playthroughs never encounter them by name.

Where to look:

The 5 farms (Opening Speedrun Step 3) — each has named ace horses; one of these may be the ancestor you need
Wild captures — drive the map perimeter, lasso every wild horse you encounter, check the name in the stable inspect view
The market — buy and inspect cheap horses; cycle through stock until one of the named lineages appears

This is the slow part of the quest. Plan for 1-2 in-game days of horse-shopping.

Step 2 — Acquire a big-ears donor

Like with Old Bu's rabbit ears, big ears are a phenotype that needs to come from a donor genome. The most likely donor: another rabbit (rabbits have the largest natural ears in the 18-species DNA Database), or a custom splice.

Path A — Use a rabbit donor

Capture a rabbit (lasso, $50)
Extract its DNA at the DNA Lab
Splice rabbit ear-region alleles into your Russian-mafia or coronal-mass-ejection-descendant horse line

Path B — Use the DNA Database to plan

Open /tools/dna-database
Load both presets you're combining (e.g., horse + rabbit)
Use F1 CROSS — generates a horse-shape genome with rabbit alleles
Iterate by splicing single helices until ears look pronounced
Use this as a blueprint for the in-game DNA Lab work

Step 3 — Breed the named lineage with the big-ears donor

In the in-game breeding pen, pair:

The Russian-mafia / coronal-mass-ejection ancestor (Mom or Dad)
A horse with the big-ears phenotype (the other parent)

The first-generation foal will inherit half its alleles from each parent. Big ears is a visible trait, so first-generation often expresses it directly. If gen-1 doesn't have visible big ears, breed gen-1 again with another big-ears donor — gen-2 should consistently express.

The lineage requirement is satisfied as long as the great^N grandparent is one of the named ancestors. Multi-generation descent is fine — Bubba doesn't require direct child-of-named-ancestor.

Step 4 — Bring the qualifying horse to Bubba

Walk to Bubba's NPC location. Trigger the quest dialogue. Receive $2,000.

The horse can be any age; no championship-win requirement (unlike Old Bu's).

Time + payout math

| Phase | Time | Cash flow | |---|---:|---:| | Find a Russian-mafia / coronal-mass-ejection ancestor | 1-2 in-game days | $50-$900 (depending on whether wild capture or market buy) | | Acquire rabbit-eared / big-eared donor | 5 min | −$50 (lasso) | | Breed gen-1 (one mating cycle) | 1 in-game day | $0 | | Verify big-ears phenotype, breed gen-2 if needed | 1 in-game day | $0 | | Bubba payout | <1 min | +$2,000 | | Net | ~3 in-game days | +$1,050 to $1,950 depending on ancestor acquisition cost |

Cheru's "easiest $2,000" framing assumes you happen to already have a qualifying ancestor when the quest fires. If you start with neither parent and need to track down a Russian-mafia descendant from scratch, the first day of the quest is pure search.

Difference from Old Bu — when to do which

Both quests pay $2,000. They do not compete (you can hold both rewards on the same playthrough). The optimal order:

| Quest | Hard requirement | Easier when… | |---|---|---| | Old Bu | Champion-race win + rabbit ears | Already mid-game with stable + DNA Lab | | Bubba | Lineage descent + big ears | Got lucky early-game and have one of the named ancestors |

Recommendation: Do whichever you stumble into first. If you spot a wild Russian-mafia / coronal-mass-ejection horse, do Bubba first. If you have a strong racer ready for Champion Race, do Old Bu first.

Common pitfalls

Confusing rabbit ears with big ears. Old Bu wants rabbit ears specifically (a particular shape). Bubba wants big ears (size). The DNA Database's rabbit preset may produce ears that satisfy one quest and not the other — visually inspect before turning in.
Skipping lineage check. Bubba won't accept a horse with the right ears but wrong ancestry. Always verify the descent in your stable inspect view before the trade.
Buying every cheap horse hoping one matches. Most market horses won't be from the named lineages. Inspect the name field; don't just rely on visual match.
Forgetting the 8-year retirement wall. Multi-generation breeding chains burn in-game days. Plan around the horse lifecycle.

What to do after the quest

Don't scrap the qualifying horse. Its lineage is now permanently rare in your save — keep it as breeding stock for future plays where you might need the same ancestry.
Archive its genome in the DNA Database Specimen Archive.
If you haven't done Old Bu's quest — the rabbit-eared donor you used here may also satisfy that quest's phenotype requirement. Don't splice in additional ear changes unless you need to.

What's next

Old Bu's Rabbit-Ear $2,000 Quest — the other $2,000 NPC quest
Horsey Game NPCs & Quests — full NPC roster including Sweetie ($300 trophy auto-sell), the Alien ($3 license), and "Lady" ($2,000 sale offer)
Horsey Game CRISPR & DNA Lab — the splice workflow
DNA Database — F1 cross your big-ears donor genome before going to the in-game DNA Lab

Sources

See /sources for canonical attribution and direct links to Cheru's playthrough.

Last updated: 2026-05-09. Tested on game version 1.0.4. The third lineage name is partially audible in the source — community submissions welcome via /contact.

Last verified: 2026-05-09 · Game version: 1.0.4 · See /sources for citation list.