The start of a game can be a very magical thing. There’s nothing quite like starting up a new video game, and indulging in a mystery that only comes when experiencing something for the first time. With Animal Crossing, the first week players spend in their new village can set the tone for the rest of their playthrough– if there even is one. For as relaxing as Animal Crossing is, its penchant for real time sensitivity does make it something of an acquired taste.
All the same, Animal Crossing has an inherent appeal that brings people out of their comfort zone; but it’s important to keep in mind that actually making the most out of the series takes time. Even New Horizons, a game filled to the trim with content, demands players take their time and earn some Bells (the series’ currency) before making the most out of everything NH has to offer.
10 Hit Rocks With The Stone Axe, Don’t Break Them
One of New Horizons’ more interesting contributions to the franchise is the ability to gain energy from Fruits. By eating a piece of Fruit, villagers will gain a point of energy which can then be used to outright pulverize rocks, getting the item within. This can range from a stone, to clay, to even Bells themselves.
That said, do not break stones looking for bells. Instead, hit them with the Stone Axe. The Stone Axe actually spawns higher value items such as Nuggets when used to hit rocks. Leave the rocks be, and then farm them on the daily for Bells & Nuggets.
9 Invest In The Shovel
For as good as the Stone Axe is, though, it’s not the absolute best tool at your disposal to hit rocks with. That honor goes to the Shovel. When hit with the Shovel, certain rocks will actually spawn an entire ring of items around the rock. It makes getting Bells and other goodies quite convenient.
That said, it does take some time to get a Shovel. Players are likely to first gain access to good tools about 2 or 3 days in. The good thing about the good tools, though, is the fact they don’t break as fast as flimsy tools. They’re certainly worth the wait.
8 Go On Island Tours
It doesn’t take long for players to get their hands on a Nook Ticket. Realistically, most will have theirs by the end of the first day unless they’re playing incredibly slow. More Nook Tickets can be redeemed for 2000 Nook MIles a pop, which actually isn’t too much in the grand scheme of things, but might be daunting in the first week.
Island Tours are a real moneymaker, though, and the Nook Tickets basically pay off their value in Bells. These Islands are filled with fruit, fish, and bugs to grab– sometimes unique ones, too. Go at night and villagers can even potentially land on Tarantula Island, an island quite literally infested with Tarantulas, each one selling for 8000 Bells.
7 Plant Fruit From Island Tours
Considering foreign fruit has always sold for more at Nook’s Cranny, it only makes sense that villagers will want to sell off any fruit they find on Island Tours asap. Coconuts tend to be the most abundant of the bunch, but it doesn’t really matter what you find so long as it’s not your island’s native fruit. That said, hold off.
Instead, plant the fruit you find, water the trees, and before the week is up you’ll be able to multiply your Island Tour fruit payout exponentially. Considering how much open space New Horizons gives players, there is no excuse for not planting fruit.
6 Turn Weeds Into Leaf Umbrellas
Deweeding is a process every new player has to go through in order to make their town, village, and now island as visually appealing as possible. Where weeds were once just a pure nuisance with no real value, however, New Horizons has recontextualized them into a potential moneymaker. And not just because they can be sold.
With the introduction of the new crafting system, previously seemingly useless items now have greater value. Weeds can be crafted into Leaf Umbrellas. It doesn’t take many Weeds to craft them and players will absolutely have an abundance. Once crafted, sell your army of Leaf Umbrellas to Timmy and get a headstart on some finances.
5 She Sells Seashells At The Town Store
“People love shells from faraway beaches,” or so the saying goes. This philosophy certainly applies to Timmy, an avid connoisseur of all things sellable. In typical Animal Crossing fashion, New Horizons’ island is filled with collectables for players to sell, but seashells stand out in particular for their abundance.
While they’re not always guaranteed to spawn in large numbers, it never hurts to loop around one’s beach and pick up any shells littered about. They can actually rack up a decent amount of Bells when sold to Timmy– another thing to keep an eye out for on Island Tours.
4 Sell All Bugs And Fish After Unlocking Blathers
You may live on an island, but it’s important to be civilized. Give Tom Nook the critters he needs to unlock Blathers, and then start selling off bugs and fish. Although Blathers’ museum is incredibly impressive and only becomes more beautiful the more it’s filled with donations, bugs and fish can make Bells fast.
There is seldom a shortage of bugs or fish on one’s island. Catching bugs is as easy as sneaking up on them and trapping them in your net, but some of the trickier bugs to catch sell for a lot of Bells (as evidenced by the tarantula.) The same goes for fishing, although its activity is a bit more involved (pro tip: you can tell which fish you’re going to catch based on HD Rumble.)
3 Assess And Sell Fossils
Another reason to get Blathers asap is so that he can assess fossils. Found in the ground, players should be on the lookout for hollow crosses in the dirt. Once found, simply dig up the fossil with your shovel. Worth noting, fossils aren’t always guaranteed to be in these dig spots, but that’s what’ll spawn more often than not.
Like bugs and fish, certain fossils sell for quite a bit of cash. Completely neglecting fossil donation early on can frankly result in a complete turning of the tables as far as the Bell economy goes. Players will almost certainly be flush with Bells if they support Nook’s business endeavors instead of Blathers’ historical preservation efforts.
2 Be On The Lookout For Balloons
Balloons are back and they’re arguably better than ever considering the frequency with which they appear with. Perhaps it’s because New Horizons is a more involved game on a whole, making use of a deeper gameplay loop, but it really does seem like balloons pop up quite often. Almost every time one boots up the game, in fact.
In typical Animal Crossing fashion, balloons tend to drop furniture. While furniture has more immediate use than ever, now able to be placed in one’s town itself, selling off any balloon presents is a nice way of earning easy Bells early on.
1 Time Travel
It’s cheating, but the rules change during quarantine. With more time than ever to play Animal Crossing, let’s be real: you’re gonna run out of stuff to do. Anyone who really dives into their video games, but wants to play New Horizons legitimately, is going to run into more than a few roadblocks on their journey.
Time traveling speeds up progression, allows players to unlock the meat of their island (and the game’s actual mechanics) fast, while naturally earning Bells in the process. Time Travel more or less makes those fruit trees you planted earlier instant money makers. Some will frown on it, but Animal Crossing is a primarily single player game. Play how you want.