10 New Horizons Animal Crossing Tips for Beginners

Key Takeaways

• Choose an island map with space to explore and involve any other players in the decision.
• Plant fruits to get more trees and resources, sell items strategically to increase your income.
• Always be prepared with enough inventory space, eat fruit for energy and watch out for spiders and wasps.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of the most popular games for Nintendo Switch, Switch OLED and Switch Lite. You may have played it yourself. If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re missing out on a treat. Despite its cartoony appearance, the game can be incredibly addictive. You may find yourself investing a lot of money in improving your home and developing your island.

If you’re thinking about trying out Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you might be looking for some helpful tips and tricks for beginners. If so, we’re here to help. Here are 10 tips for Animal Crossing: New Horizons if you’re just starting out.

1 Choose your first map wisely

Make sure you have plenty of room to explore

When you first cross Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you’ll be given a choice between four randomly generated maps as your island home. If you don’t like the look of them, you can quit the game, start over and see if there are any different options on offer.

We suggest you choose one that has at least one large, open area near the beach, as not all areas will be accessible when you start. You will need to make a crossing pole to cross rivers, for example, and a ladder to reach higher ground.

If you don’t like the look of the island layout after exploring a bit, you can restart the game before the learning journey is completed (at the end of the first day) and choose again.

If family members plan to play using the same Switch, they should have a say, as they will be stuck in the same place again. You can only have one island per Switch, even if multiple players can live there. This is true even if you use different accounts.

If you don’t like the look of the island layout after exploring a bit, you can restart the game before the learning journey is completed (at the end of the first day) and choose again. When naming your island, you need to remember that you cannot change it afterwards, so choose wisely.

2 Make sure the tents are separate

You will need a lot more space in the future

When you finally arrive at your island, Tom Nook will provide you with a tent and basic supplies, and you need to find a suitable place to put it. Your tent will eventually become your house and garden, so you need to make sure you have plenty of room to expand.

When placing each site, try to imagine how it will look when it is larger than just a tent.

You will then be asked to find plots of land for several neighborhoods and later, you will need to decide where to place the museum, Nook’s Cranny shop, and the visitor center. When placing each site, try to imagine how it will look when it is larger than just a tent.

For example, don’t (as we did) put up a museum tent directly in front of your home. When it is fully built, it is one of the largest structures and will obscure the view of your house. You can put any starter tents on top of the trees, so you don’t need to find natural clearing. Also, once you have the ability to make a proper ax (not a soft one), you will be able to chop down the trees in the way.

3 Collect everything as new resources appear every day

If you see something, take it as it may appear tomorrow

One of the first tasks in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is to pay back the loan for your tent and move to another location. This loan is in Nook Miles, a new currency that is effectively awarded for every action you take on the island.

The easiest way to make quick cash is to write down the things that pay the most and search for those more often.

Once you’ve paid off your first mortgage, you’ll need to pay back the heaviest amount of your first mortgage (and other, more expensive amounts on each property ladder). These loans will later need to be paid in Bells rather than Nook Miles.

Thankfully, Timmy and Tommy Nook are more than happy to give you cold, hard cash for anything you bring them. The easiest way to make quick cash is to write down the things that pay the most and search for those more often.

4 Give away all unique items and sell everything else

Save that museum by saving one of all things

If you’re looking for things to sell, you should save at least one of every fossil you dig up, or a new insect or fish you catch. The Blathers in the museum won’t give you money for them, but they will look good on display. Fossil holes, indicated by jagged crosses on the floor, appear once a day. The scraps you find can raise a pretty penny or look cool on a shelf in your house.

Another exception to selling things is keeping art. Wood, sticks, stones, iron cells, clay and other resources found throughout the island may not be necessary for a few of the DIY recipes you start with, but others can be important down the line.

Do not sell pieces of metal or clay. They are hard to find and are in high demand in a few days.

5 Manage your “pockets” of creativity wisely

Make sure you have plenty of room if you visit other islands

When you start New Horizons you will have few tools available, so the number of inventory slots in your “pockets” is enough. However, as your crafting skills improve, or if you visit other islands, you need to make sure you have enough empty spaces for anything new you can find.

If you visit other islands, you need to make sure you have enough empty spaces for anything new you can find.

Fortunately, items dropped on your island will stay there forever, so you can always pick them up later. When you upgrade from a tent to a house, you get a place to store everything in your house that you don’t want to take with you.

6 Look for visiting guests and listen for unexpected packages

You may win some great prizes

Along with Nook, his nephews and a handful of other residents, you’ll occasionally run into other visitors who will give you simple download requests. It’s worth looking for these as they always reward you with household items or clothing. You should also make sure you talk to your neighbors regularly as sometimes they have your stuff too.

Air packages arrive regularly, usually several in one day.

Air packages arrive regularly, usually several in one day. You need to listen to them, as the sound of blowing wind indicates that a gift box tied to a balloon is somewhere nearby. You need a slingshot to release the balloon and send the package crashing to earth.

Do not throw the balloon over the water. Your package will sink, even though you get rewarded with Nook Miles for it.

7 Visit other islands using Nook Miles

Get new resources by island hopping

Some resources are always hard to find on your island. However, you can go to other randomly generated islands to get items instead. Simply exchange 2,000 Nook Miles for a ticket and head to the airport. You will be transported to the same island as yours, where you can loot new resources that you might not find on your island.

Be sure to pick more fruits from the trees when you visit another island, as they may be different from the ones you currently get.

We advise you to clear your packs of anything unnecessary before the trip, as you will probably want to pack them full of insects or fresh fish. Be sure to take more fruits from the trees when you visit another island, as they may be different from the ones you are currently getting. It also helps to have a friend who has Animal Crossing: New Horizons too, as you can visit their island after you’ve progressed a bit and collect new items there.

8 Plant the fruit you find or find

You reap what you sow

One of the reasons to make sure you collect as much fruit as possible from other islands is that you can use them to grow certain trees on your own. For example, you can plant palm trees full of coconuts on your beach. All you need to do is dig a hole, plant one type of fruit you have collected and after three days or so you will see a new, fully grown tree bearing the same fruit you brought back.

Then, you can collect fruit from those new trees and plant them elsewhere on the island, if you want to have some of them dotted.

9 Leave no stone unturned and eat the fruit to become more powerful

Fruits will make you cut through the trees

Sometimes, resources and creepy crawlies can be found in unusual places. Centipedes, for example, will only appear if you hit a rock with your axe. Sometimes you can be surprised by what appears on the end of your fishing line, too. A boot, say, or say, that can be used in making.

Eating the fruit also gives you superhuman strength. If you eat a fruit, you can dig up an entire tree with your shovel, or smash a rock. This can happen once per fruit eaten, however.

10 Watch out for spiders and wasps

The touch doesn’t look good

Not everything on your island is nice and friendly. Move too many trees, and you might just loosen the wasp nest, leading to a nasty sting and a rush for a remedy. You may also be entertained by tarantulas roaming around at night, only to find them jumping up on you and giving you a nasty shock. Make sure your net is in place when encountering a spider.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is such a great game with so much depth that our helpful tips above are just the tip of the iceberg; there is still more to discover. Hopefully, though, they’ll give you a guiding hand as you start the game. The rest is up to you.