Some Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have been sharing false tips on how to reach rare islands using Nook Miles Tickets. Nintendo’s latest addition to the casual life-simulator series takes place on a tropical island equipped with many buildings including an airport. As Animal Crossing relies on a real-time clock, every day on the player’s home island is different. When players chop wood or mine a rock, they’ll have to wait until the next real-world day to do it again. This feature may sound limiting at first, but the inclusion of a real-time clock is a staple of the Animal Crossing series. It motivates players to grab their Nintendo Switch and check in on their Animal Crossing: New Horizons island each day.
One large gameplay element unique to Animal Crossing: New Horizons allows players to travel to uninhabited islands by collecting Nook Miles Tickets. Once brought to the airport, the tickets can be redeemed with the friendly Dodo bird Orville. The player is then brought to one of many islands that they may dig, chop, and mine at to their heart’s content. The game decides which of the many islands the player will be sent to, and it’s completely random. Recently, Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have been heading to social media and claiming they have discovered ways to land on specific islands which hold more valuable collectibles.
A recent Polygon article explained that after continuously trying the supposed “airport tricks,” they had no luck reaching any rare islands automatically. According to the article, players across the internet have claimed that multiple specific methods will work, and after constantly trying them all, none were successful. Each version of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons “airport trick” includes some small specific requirement, such as performing the clapping emote at Orville until he blushes. Another claims players will receive a different rare island depending on what tool they are holding once they step inside of the airport. However, according to Polygon's testing these all seem to be pointless, with the game seemingly relying on randomization despite any efforts to the contrary.
Animal Crossing is known for including small hidden features without sharing any information about them in-game. This is exactly why the trick sounds so believable and gained so much traction. The highly interactive and immersive world of Animal Crossing is filled to the brim with content. When a game on this scale is released players are bound to share any discoveries they might have found. A player most likely just got lucky after performing one of these “airport tricks” and then went on to excitedly share online that it works.
Nintendo games are often packed with secrets and a feeling of endless discovery. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is no different, and the ever-changing real-time aspect of the game only strengthens those feelings. False rumors and potential discoveries are bound to appear when players discuss new exciting games, and false information has always been easily spread about video games in particular. Everyone had that one classmate who claimed he caught Mew in every new Pokémon game. In today’s world, rumors on the internet are much harder to distinguish as false. In terms of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it seems players will have to keep relying on luck to find rare islands.
Source: Polygon