Origins:
Challenges

The Rituals of the Ancients of Origins and their rewards, which two can be done in a First Room game, the soul chests and the One Inch Punch, digging with the shovels and the Golden Shovel, the gramophone and the Mark IV tank.

3 min read
6 chapters
updated 2026-10-06

Read Origins Leaderboard

Rituals of the Ancients

Origins was the first Zombies map to give each player challenges from the start of the game. A finished challenge shows a token next to the perks on the HUD; the reward is claimed at one of the two Rituals of the Ancients boxes, in the starting room by Generator 1 and by Generator 6. Each player claims their own reward, whenever they like.

Challenge	Reward	In a First Room game
115 headshots on normal zombies	A Pack-a-Punched SCAR-H, Galil or STG-44	Possible
Capture the 6 generators	A Max Ammo	Out of reach
Spend 30,000 points	Double Tap Root Beer	Possible
Fill the 4 soul chests	The One Inch Punch	Out of reach

The number of headshots is a nod to Element 115. A player can receive the reward weapon even if they already carry the same weapon, and end up with two versions of it. Completing all four in one game earns Overachiever.

First Room rules

The first capture

Once Generator 1 has been captured, the box of the starting room gives a free Zombie Blood, or Double Points in solo.

The reward weapon

B2 allows taking it back from the box after reconnecting, as soon as the 115-headshot reward is available, since April 2023.

Double Tap

Reconnecting to get it back after losing it to a down is not allowed.

No tampering

Patching which weapon the box gives was voted down in 2023, and reward box manipulation in 2026.

Soul chests

Four stone chests sit in giant robot footprints: by Generator 5 and Stamin-Up, on the path from the Excavation Site to the church, on the way from No Man’s Land to Generator 4, and in the corner near Generator 4 and Juggernog. Kill 30 zombies next to a chest to fill it; zombies dug up with a shovel do not count, and a robot stepping on an unfinished chest closes it and resets it. Once all four are full, every player can take the One Inch Punch at a reward box.

Digging

Four shovels lie on the map. Two are always in the starting room, leaning against the walls: one near the radio where the players spawn, one in a small corridor between a barrier and the door to Generator 3. The other two appear at two of three spots: by the tank in the church, and in the tunnels to the Wind and Lightning tunnels. A shovel digs up the piles of dirt and bones scattered around the map; only a limited number are out at once, and dug piles come back over time.

A Staff of Ice part glowing in the snow, dug up from a pile in Origins, Call of Duty Black Ops II Zombies

Staff parts

On snowy rounds, some piles hold a part of the Staff of Ice.

Good finds

A weapon or a power-up, half the time with a plain shovel. The first dig is always a good one, and so is the dig after three bad ones in a row.

Bad finds

One or two live grenades, or a zombie that climbs out next to you.

Power-ups

Zombie Blood, Blood Money, which gives 50 to 250 points, and more rarely a Max Ammo, Double Points, Insta-Kill, Fire Sale or Nuke.

Golden Shovel

After 30 digs, a player’s shovel turns gold. Good finds rise to 70%, the rare weapons grow, and each dig has a 5% chance to give the Golden Helmet.

Hidden piles

With the Golden Shovel and under Zombie Blood, an orange-glowing pile appears that holds an Empty Perk Bottle, an extra perk slot.

The gramophone

The gramophone always lies on the floor of the Excavation Site, next to a table. Played with the black record, it opens the lower levels of the dig site, where the staffs are built. Played at the end of an elemental tunnel with the record of that element, red, blue, purple or yellow, it builds a gateway to the Crazy Place. In a radio log, Maxis tells how the seal of the main chamber opened when a soldier played a record by “La Source Noire” on a gramophone.

The tank

The Mark IV tank with players riding on it in Origins, Call of Duty Black Ops II Zombies

The Mark IV tank waits under the church by Generator 6. Climb on and use its control panel for 500 points: it follows the muddy road to the Tank Station by Generator 2, cools down for at least two minutes, then can be sent back to the church. Once it has been started from its panel, it can also be called from the switch at either stop for 500 points. Zombies jump on it as it moves, and its side flamethrowers burn some of them.

Jumping off at the right places is the only way to reach the parts of the Staff of Lightning, and riding the whole loop without getting off earns I’m on a Tank!.