How come we're using "else if" for the other conditions as opposed to just creating a new "if" statement?

else if statements will only be checked if the if/else if statements above it did not run.

So for example if we say that item.key equals "coin" only the first if statement would be checked, once that runs the else if statements connected to it are just skipped over entirely without JavaScript even checking what their conditions are.

Which is a good thing since if you know that the item.key variable equals "coin" then there is no need to check if it is equal to "poison" or "star". That is what makes else if statements different from if statements.

An else if statement will return right away once the condition is true. Meanwhile, all the if statement will be evaluated regardless if a true statement has been found or not. if and else if is related to each other, while two ifs not.

if(false){
  // do something
}
else if(true){
  // do something
}
else if(true){ // this won't be evaluated
  // do something
}

if(false){
  // do something
}
if(true){
  // do something
}
if(true){ // this will still be evaluated
  // do something
}

Edited: Initially, i used return. If it's in a function, having multiple if which will return once the condition is true, it'll having the same effect as using if else since a return will stop the execution at the point it was called

Both of these are similar

function callMeIfElse(){

    var condition = 2;

    if(condition === 1){
        return;
    }

    else if(condition === 2){
        return;
    }

    else if(condition === 3){ // this won't be evaluated because a true condition has been met
        return;
    }

}

function callMeIf(){

    var condition = 2;

    if(condition === 1){
        return;
    }

    if(condition === 2){
        return;
    }

    if(condition === 3){ // this won't be evaluated because the function has already returned
        return;
    }

}