One of the neatest aspects of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the ability to take trips to remote "Mystery" islands. These Mystery Tours are a subtle, but enjoyable feature that gives players something extra to partake in while mixing up the gameplay. On top of this, it allows them to extend their means of resource gathering and even lure new villagers who reside on these desolate islands.
It's a fun endeavor that provides some great benefits, to be sure. Yet, given its randomness and the costs involved in doing this, it's important to go in with a plan of attack, as it were.
This list will outline ten key tips, techniques, and means of preparation to help maximize each Mystery Island trip.
Updated March 16th, 2021 by Stephen LaGioia: Nintendo's delightful social sim on Switch has continued much of its momentum into 2021. This is thanks, in part, to the fairly consistent stream of unique events along with various editions such as Mario-themed items. Though there's also something to be said for the general staying power of the game, which rewards persistence and checking out one's island happenings on the regular. Not only this, but the game has had a certainly fluidity, with tweaks such as the 1.2 Earth Day update, which removed the Big Fish and Hybrid Flower Island. With these factors in mind, it seemed like a good idea to keep dedicated New Horizons players in the loop with even more tips for maximizing their Mystery Island visits.
14 Be Sure To Clear Up Inventory Space
Inventory management tends to be an ongoing task in New Horizons. Yet, this is particularly the case when embarking on a Mystery Tour, as these are one-and-done trips that remove access to home storage and item pawning.
Even those who have maxed out their inventory space will likely find it filled up rather quickly, given all of the unique and often valuable goods to gather at these locales. There will likely be ample fruit, wood, rocks, and even hybrid flowers. Before setting out, be sure to sell and/or store anything that isn't essential to bring on the trip. A good rule of thumb is to leave at least half of the inventory space clear for newly-obtained items.
13 Bring A Ladder And Vaulting Pole To Travel With
While these Mystery Islands will be small, they're also typically loaded with terrain that can be tricky to traverse without the right tools. Of course, gathering resources and goods are key - but so too is the equipment to get around obstacles to get these goods in the first place.
It's certainly possible to stumble upon a simpler, more traversable island. Still, the fairly-common "Spiral Island," "Falls Island," and the elevated "Mountain Island" pretty much demand Ladders and Vaulting Poles to cover all the ground needed. Be sure to bring these items, or at least the resources necessary to craft them while there.
12 Bring Materials For Building
Speaking of building materials - these can be a key element for optimal island plundering. Basic building blocks such as wood, stone, and Iron Nuggets can come in handy in crafting or replacing various tools often needed to gather key items. Even something as simple as weeds can be useful, as they can help one prepare for an unexpected hornet onslaught by way of medicine-crafting.
As each Mystery Island will come with a Simple DIY Workbench, it makes sense to take advantage of this.
11 * Collect Everything Possible In One Trip
As the pilot Wilbur wisely mentions, the same island (in its exact state) cannot be returned to once a player leaves. Everything resets during the next Mystery Tour. This means that it's usually a good idea to stock up on anything and everything that can be carried, within reason. Gather things like foreign fruits, clay and Gold Nuggets from rocks, as well as other items of value.
As there are several different Mystery Islands, there's a good chance that the specific island visited will not be seen again after many more visits.
10 Stock Up On Nook Miles Ahead Of Time
Each Mystery Tour trip will require 2,000 Nook Miles, which is triggered by buying a Nook Miles Ticket at the Nook Stop Terminal in Resident Services. Given its fairly steep price, it's usually a good idea to load up on several thousand Nook Miles before making this investment.
It's certainly tempting to impatiently take the plunge and burn through any Nook Miles remaining. But doing so risks the potential of wasting precious Miles and being unable to return to a rarer, more bountiful island.
9 Prioritize Mining Stones
Resource-gathering is an important task to partake in when exploring a Mystery Island, but this is especially true when it comes to mining rocks. It's a good idea to "leave no stone unturned" as it were and gather all the precious stone, clay, and nuggets possible. For one, the odds of unearthing a valuable Gold Nugget are significantly increased by doing so.
And it's important to keep in mind that home islands only have four or five stones, which only yield resources once per day. So assuming tools and/or time is limited, this handful of rock formations should definitely be a focal point when exploring a Mystery Island.
8 * Shake Or Chop Down Trees
Like one's own island, there will usually be quite a few trees to harvest for resources on a Mystery Island. These should be thoroughly searched by chopping them with axes, or at least shaken if the axe isn't a feasible option.
Not only will these trees often drop foreign fruit, but they'll also have a chance of yielding a new furniture item, as well as the ever-valuable Wasp Net. Just be sure to bring some medicine to remove the swelling that comes from those pesky wasp stings.
This can be useful as only a handful of furniture items and nests can be shaken free from trees on one's own island daily.
7 * Search For A Lone Fossil
Another relatively rare item that can be had on Mystery Islands is a fossil. Since just four or five fossils can be found each day on one's home island, it's definitely productive to seek out these buried goodies when venturing to these locales.
Unfortunately, there's a 50% chance that an island will not hold a fossil. But the good news is that one can catch on quickly as to whether or not one is there, given how small these islands are - keeping the time investment at a minimum.
6 * Make Frequent Trips
There are several potential Mystery Islands that can show up, especially when upgrading one's own island at Resident Services. With close to two dozen that are randomly sifted through, players should make a point to embark on these Mystery Tours somewhat regularly. Save up on Nook Miles and build up a savings of them for a rainy day.
Visiting often enough will maximize one's odds at stumbling upon one of the rarer, more lucrative islands such as Finned Fish Island or Gold Rock Island. Both of these have just a 1% chance of showing up when embarking on the tour.
5 Travel By Night To Reach Potential Scorpion Or Tarantula Islands
Highlighting a technique that's a bit more nuanced - one potentially lucrative move in venturing to these islands is to wait until nightfall. Doing so will increase the chances of stumbling upon an island that's home to Tarantulas or Scorpions (depending on the season).
Why should these pesky bugs be sought after? Well, it so happens that they're among the most valuable assets to obtain in the wild, selling for a whopping 8,000 Bells apiece! Just be ready to put up a fight - as they will pounce!
4 Ample Tools To Get Resources
As it's briefly been mentioned, tools are an important element to maximizing a Mystery Island trip. A number of tools should be brought - or at least crafted on-site - in order to gather fruit, wood, fish, bugs, and resources from stone.
This means having fishing rods, axes, nets, and shovels ready to go. Easily-breakable "Flimsy" tools should be avoided here unless used as a last resort. Rather, sturdier, newly-made objects like the Stone Axe should be used in this scenario.
Consider even bringing a backup of the tools that'll likely be used more often when exploring. As Wilbur mentions - once a player leaves, there's no coming back, so plan accordingly!
3 Gather Foreign Fruit
One of the biggest draws and sources of value for these Islands is their potential to yield foreign fruit. The universally-foreign coconut can usually be found on their beaches, but players will often be lucky enough to find a variety of trees with fruit that doesn't grow on their island.
To compare - native fruit will sell at Nook's shop for 100 Bells each. Meanwhile, coconuts yield 250 apiece, and non-native fruit goes for a whopping 500 each. Basically - get ready to do plenty of tree-shaking and chopping. It'll quickly bring in quite a few Bells.
Fruit-gathering can be further exploited by planting some of them on a player's own island to grow trees. This will multiply one's earnings - and the fruit will still sell for non-native prices even after being grown on one's home island.
2 Look Out For Large Fish In Oceans
Fishing can be a source of both fun and ample cash in New Horizons. Yet, this activity can be particularly fruitful when doing the Mystery Tour. Focus on scanning the coastline for some larger shadows in particular, as this increases the odds that rarer, more valuable fish will be caught.
Though rarer fish can, of course, be obtained on one's home island, the chances of these encounters increase with some Mystery Islands. This includes the uncommon "Big Fish Island," and the rare "Finned Fish Island."
1 Tarantula/Scorpion Farming
Going back to Tarantulas and Scorpions - there's another trick that can potentially yield more of these rare critters. This technique is a bit ambitious compared to most on this list, though it's also one that can be quite lucrative if pulled off successfully.
Basically, the goal is to coax the spawning of them by clearing out the island of growth - and thus, other bugs that get in the way.
Do this by chopping down all trees and removing their stumps, picking flowers, clearing out rocks, and removing other insects. Excess resources can be dropped on the corner of the beach. After some time, there's a chance a number of these critters will spawn. This is because the flat, bare grounds provide the conditions for these bugs. Again - this will have to be done at night (7pm to 4am).