Hay Day: Why You Cannot Join the Current Derby

If you joined your Neighborhood or opted in after the Derby started, you must wait for the next Derby. Turning participation on now does not add you to the race already underway.

Check the entry deadline first

The Derby runs from Tuesday at 08:00 UTC to Monday at 08:00 UTC. The following 24-hour break is the window to arrange participation for the next race. You also need Farm level 18 or higher and membership in a Neighborhood.

• Compare when you joined or changed your participation with the Tuesday start, using UTC rather than assuming it is 8 a.m. in your local time.
• If you missed that start, plan for the next race instead of repeatedly changing the setting.
• During the Monday-to-Tuesday break, check your Derby participation choice and make sure you are in the Neighborhood you intend to race with.

Opted out, or just no tasks available?

Read the message on the Derby screen. Being unable to enter the race is different from being a participant with no suitable task on the board.

Eligible participants open tasks through the Derby Stand or the horseshoe icon. When a leader, co-leader or elder trashes an unselected task, a replacement appears after a short cooldown. An empty board alone is therefore not evidence that you have been opted out.

Your participation setting is on, but you are still excluded

A setting you see now does not establish what your status was at the entry deadline. Check when you joined the Neighborhood and when you last changed participation. Ask your Neighborhood leadership to help establish what happened before the start.

If you were already completing tasks in this Derby and then became excluded, that is a different problem from missing the cutoff. Save a screenshot of the message and any visible task progress. When asking Hay Day support to investigate, include your player tag, Neighborhood, approximate time and whether you left or were removed.

Do not leave and rejoin as an entry workaround. Joining after the start still means waiting for the next race; leaving before the Derby ends also prevents you from claiming its prizes.