Animal Crossing New Horizons is all about collecting Bells and paying off the accumulative debt given to the player by the tycoon, Tom Nook. This guide will help players earn Bells fast in Animal Crossing New Horizons. From the moment the player lands on their tropical vacation, they are immediately given a massive bill to pay off for travel expenses, a phone, and shelter. This is the entire appeal around Animal Crossing. While debt is something many people would try to avoid in the real world, it is the main gameplay mechanic of the series. Every entry begins with the player taking out a loan and the player must travel around the island, gathering resources to sell back to make Bells so players can make a dent in the massive bill. Bells are the main currency of the series and can be collected by doing a wide variety of things like selling fruit, bugs, fish, and fossils found on the island. Nook Miles, a new currency introduced in Animal Crossing New Horizons, functions in a similar way, where players complete tasks around the island for Nook Miles to purchase a different set of items. Bells are needed to expand land development, purchase furniture and more. This guide will help players gather Bells fast in a variety of ways.
Gathering enough Bells to pay off Tom Nook's bill is one of the main goals of the game. With each complete bill payment, the player is rewarded with an upgrade to their own. What begins as a tent, can transform into a small studio apartment, then to a one-bedroom, and so on. Bells can also be used to purchase items from the Nook's Cranny shop that is built a few days into the island. Some items are exclusively sold once at the shop while others can be purchased multiple times. If the player is really eyeing that Japanese-style futon to sit in their living room but is short on Bells to make the purchase, this guide is perfect for helping players make Bells fast in Animal Crossing New Horizons.
Getting Bells Fast in Animal Crossing New Horizons
For early game players, the best way to get Bells fast is to go around the island capturing as many bugs and fish as possible. These creatures can be traded in at the Resident Tent for some solid cash. Also, once the Nook's Cranny shop is open, avoid throwing money into the seller box at the front of the shop. The purpose of this box is for players to throw items in to sell when the shop is closed after-hours. Although, the items that are thrown into this box are only sold for 80% of its initial value. Go into the player's storage and place these creatures there until the shop is open to maximize the number of Bells from them.
Tarantula Spiders are also an excellent way to get Bells. Each one of the creepy crawlies can be sold for 8000 Bells each. Gathering an entire inventory full of them will provide the player with well over 200,000 Bells. This will easily cover some of the early game bills from Tom Nook. To get Spiders to spawn, it must be past 7 pm, as these creatures only come out at night. Using Nook Miles to head to a Nook Tour will send players to a new island. Destroying all of the resources on the island, including removing all of the tree stumps, bugs, and flowers will allow Spiders to begin to spawn.
- Chop down all of the trees using an ax.
- Remove all of the stumps using a shovel.
- This only works past 7 pm as this is when the spiders spawn.
- Pick up all of the flowers. Players are not required to uproot them, only pick them.
- Capture all of the bugs or scare them all away.
The way this works is by removing all of the spawnable creatures off the map, the game has to generate new creatures to keep the island occupied. Bugs will continue to spawn so run over to them to despawn them. 1/5 times, Tarantula Spiders will spawn instead of the native bugs. Make sure to bring a strong net to capture each of these and keep the player's inventory clear to capture as many as possible. This process may take about an hour to complete but will generate a large number of Bells once these creatures are sold.
Another method of getting Bells fast involves the fruits on the island. At the beginning of the game, the player is given one of six possible fruit as a starter fruit for their island. Native fruit sells for much less than fruit from other islands. For example, if the island is full of Cherries, then Cherries will sell for much less when compared to other fruit (classic supply and demand economics). Using the Nook Tour to go to other islands or visiting friends islands for their fruit sell for much more than the native fruit. So if the player begins with Cherries, they will want to collect Coconuts, Peaches, Apples, Pears, and Oranges. Returning back to the player's islands with these fruits and selling them at the shop will make Bell's rain from the sky. Playing with friends is the most effective way of gathering other fruits outside of the player's island.
Animal Crossing New Horizons functions as a reflection of a capitalistic society. Characters with the most money are set to live the most lavish and fulfilling lives, while those who begin in the dirt, will have a hard time making their way out. Animal Crossing is all about the grind for a wealthier and grander life. While beginning the game deep within debt, as the debt begins to slowly get paid off, the player learns valuable lessons of saving money and investing for their future. The tent will grow into a home, then into a mansion, they always dreamed of. While this game is marketed towards children, it does contain real-life lessons regarding economics. That is one of the more surprising side effects to come out of Animal Crossing New Horizons.
Animal Crossing New Horizons is available now on the Nintendo Switch.