How to Play Animal Crossing: New Horizons with Experience

Last Updated: May 2, 2022

Maybe you've already mastered the basics in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. If so, then this is the article for you. This article will teach you a bunch of helpful tips and things you may not have noticed to help you become a pro at Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Method 1

Method 1 of 9:

Don't focus on paying off your loan.

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The loan does not have a due date, so avoid worrying about paying it off. While you should pay off the initial 5,000 nook miles to upgrade to a house, which unlocks new features, don't worry about paying off your loan too much after that. There isn't a due date on the loan, and unless you want your house to be bigger, able to be customized, or have more storage space, you don't really have to worry about this.
- Saving your money for other things like buying furniture or flowers to decorate your island is usually more important. Other than decorating, storage, changing your look, or going to sleep, you won't use your house that much.
- Focusing on improving your island instead of your house can help you get a good island rating. You will be able to buy more things like fencing, furniture, DIY recipes, and flowers whenever Isabelle tells you.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 9:

Check to see who is visiting your island.

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Notice who your daily visitor is. Every day, you will have a special visitor on your island. They can either offer you things to buy or something else that might benefit you in another way. You will get one of these visitors every day, and while some will be hanging out in the plaza, some will be roaming around your island. Look around your island until you find them.
- Keep in mind that K.K. Slider will always come on Saturday, and Daisy Mae will come on every Sundae after you build Nook's Cranny. Kicks, Leif, and Saharah are also guaranteed to come once every week. Either Label, C.J., Flick, Jolly Redd, or Gulliver will fill up the remaining two spots, and the ones that didn't go will be prioritized next time.
- Remember that Celeste, who comes during Meteor Showers, and Wisp, who comes randomly, can show up any time, even if you've already had a visitor on your island that day. They can even both show up on the same day.
- If you frequently time travel, note that sometimes visitors that come once a week may not show up. This is because the game gets confused and thinks they already visited, even when they may not have visited already.

Method 3

Method 3 of 9:

Clean up your island and gather materials.

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Every day, your island will have new weeds, sticks, shells, and rocks. All the material spawns will have reset too. You may even have more fruit or flowers, depending on if you planted any. The first thing you should do is clean up your island. Go around to any places with trees and pick up sticks, as well as pick up any weeds. Not only will your island look nicer, but it will improve your island rating a little. Once you have done this, you can go around and harvest materials.
- This is also a good time to harvest fruit or dig up any stray flowers that you don't want on your island.
- Make sure to have space in your inventory before you do this. As Gulliver would say, if you don't have enough space, you'll be blundering yer plundering.
- This is also a great time to dig up any fossils. Even if you have already finished the museum, if you have Blathers assess them and then sell them, you can make a lot of money.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 9:

Find easy ways to earn lots of bells.

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To get bells fast, there are few different methods you can use. Try using one of these methods:
- Collect and sell fish and bugs. While many fish and bugs don't sell for very much, some of the rarer ones will sell for up to 15,000 bells, and this can be a great way to make money fast.
- If you aren't very good at catching moving fish and bugs, selling the stationary fruit and shells can be a good idea. To make the most out of selling fruit, try planting non-native fruit on your island. Non-native fruit will sell for five times more.
- Plant a money tree. If you dig up a glowing spot on your island, you will get 1,000 bells. Before covering the hole, go to your inventory and bury 10,000 bells. In a few days, you will have a money tree with 30,000 bells.
- Find the money rock. Every day, you will see 6 rocks on your island. One of them is the money rock. It will drop bells when you hit it. If you hit the money rock all 8 times, you will get 16,000 bells.
- Play the stalk market. On every Sunday after building Nook's Cranny, Daisy Mae will visit your island selling turnips. If you buy the turnips at a low price on Sunday, and then sell them for a higher price during the week, you can make a lot of bells.
- If you do more selling then buying, you may want to enact the bell boom ordinance by talking to Isabelle. It costs 20,000 bells to enact, but with a 20 percent increase in selling prices, this will more than pay for itself.

Method 5

Method 5 of 9:

Work to finish the museum.

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You may have already donated the 5 bugs, fish or sea creatures to Tom Nook and then opened the museum by donating 15 more to Blathers, but have you ever gone farther than that? Many times, completing the museum is pushed off. However, it can certainly be very satisfying to complete the museum. If you take the time fishing, diving, catching bugs and then donating, it should be done sooner than you think. You should also dig up all the fossils on your island and get them assessed.
- Whenever Jolly Redd is visiting, buy a painting to donate it to the art gallery. But be very careful not to buy a fake, as Blathers will not accept it.
- Don't worry, it takes a long time to finish the Critterpedia. Certain bugs, fish and sea creatures are only in season at certain times, so it will take months to complete in singleplayer.
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Method 6

Method 6 of 9:

See what all the shops/vendors are offering.

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Check what the shops are offering every day. Nook's Cranny and the Able Sisters tailor shop will have new things they are selling every day, so make sure to check so you don't miss something you really want.
- Make sure to not only check what's on display at the Able Sisters, but also the changing room. They will not only have more colors and variety, but they will also have all new clothing that isn't on display. The only downside is that you have to try it on, so you can't buy two of the same type of clothing without leaving the changing room and coming back.
- Whenever it's a start of a new special event, the upgraded Nook's Cranny and the Able Sisters will also sell seasonal items too. You should especially check the shops then, as seasonal items are something that you cannot obtain all the time.
- This also applies to island visitors and vendors like Lief or Kicks. Whenever they are visiting your island, at least check what they are selling. Lief normally sells two kinds of shrubs, two kinds of flowers and starters. Kicks normally sells a few types of shoes, socks, and bags/pouches.
- It is also worth checking what the vendors on Harvey's island have to offer. Saharah, Kicks, Lief, and Redd all sell items that will rotate. Keep in mind that these items only rotate once a week (On Mondays), rather than once a day.

Method 7

Method 7 of 9:

Use the Terraforming app.

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Once you have K.K. Slider visit your island for the first time, you will have unlocked the island designer app. It allows you to change the landscape or "Terraform" your island. You can remove or add rivers, ponds, and waterfalls with the Waterscaping permit, add and destroy cliffs with the cliff scaping permit, and make paths all over your island. You can buy the Cliff scaping and Waterscaping permits for 6,000 Nook Miles at the Nook Stop. You can also buy certain paths to use too, or a custom design option to make a custom path.
- Remember that you cannot destroy a cliff if there is something on it. You must also leave a few squares of space around a tree that is on the cliff. This also applies if you are trying to create a river or a pond.
- You can also lay down an invisible custom design path to prevent flowers and weeds from growing in certain places on your island.
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Method 8

Method 8 of 9:

Check out the custom design app.

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Customize your island with the custom design app. To get to the custom designs app, open up your NookPhone, and click on the pink app with the black pencil icon. You will now see a bunch of pre-made designs, and a bunch of blank ones. To make your own design, click of one of the blank ones and select "Change Design". Using the L and R buttons, choose your color that you want to use. To change the tool you are using, press Y. You can also change the color palette this way.
- You can also get the pro custom design editor using the Redeem Nook Miles feature using the ABD machine inside resident service. This will allow you to change a specific color. You will also be able to make clothing items specifically with more detail. These items include shirts, sweaters, dresses, hats, umbrellas, fans, and custom standees.
- You can use custom designs in the terraforming app, for wearing, and when customizing items.

Method 9

Method 9 of 9:

Start collecting DIY recipes.

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Work to collect as many DIY recipes as possible. These are very useful when decorating your island because you can build them whenever you want when you have the materials, instead of whenever they happen to show up, like at Nook's Cranny. You can collect them by shooting down balloons using a slingshot, by collecting message bottles on the beach, by talking to villagers who are crafting, by thinking of them yourself, by buying them, or by having friends give you the recipes.
- If you are looking to collect a certain recipe, but a certain personality type that you don't have on your island is the one who give you the recipe, don't worry. You will also be able to get the DIY recipe from a message bottle if the villager who sent the bottle was of that personality type.
- You may also want to travel to Kappin's boat tours. While they do cost 1000 nook miles each, you are guaranteed to find a message in a bottle there. Keep in mind that you can only take one of these trips per day.
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Tips

Check your mail. This is where you get things you ordered from Redeeming Nook miles, Nook Shopping, or even other things. Sometimes villagers will also send you things, so check your mail even if you didn't order anything.

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If you are having a difficult time finding different types of fish, try looking in different locations. Fish can spawn in rivers, clifftop rivers, a pond, the ocean, or the place where the ocean and the river meet. Many fish spawn at different times of day, too.

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If you can't seem to find different types of bugs, try playing at night or looking in many places, as they can be found on tree stumps, on flowers, underground, on trees, flying around, and walking on the ground. Certain bugs are also only out at certain times of the day.

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