# Full Island Rating Guide



## MayorBenjamin (Apr 16, 2020)

The official companion guide arrived on time for me so I thought I'd share one of the most sought after parts for people who can't access the guide.

*Star Rating Values*
The star rating values are split into two separate categories: Development and Scenery. In order to increase your star rating, you must meet certain thresholds in both of these categories 


DevelopmentSceneryRatingLess than 80Less than 2001 Star80 to 159200 to 2692 Stars160 to 399270 to 3493 Stars400 to 664350 to 4494 Stars665+450+5 Stars

*Island Scenery*



PlantlifeAdded PointsTrees (including bamboo)+1 point for each fully grown tree up to 190 pointsFlower Sprout+0.5 PointsFlower Stem+0.7 PointsFlower Bud+0.7 PointsAdult Flower+1 Point

*Furniture placed is graded on an 8x8 tile basis known as a block.*



DIY Furniture within a blockAdded PointsFor each unique piece of DIY furniture that is 3x1, 3x2 or 3x3 tile size+1 point4 or less different types of furnitureThe number of furniture placed x 0.25 points5-10 different types of furnitureThe number of furniture placed x 0.25 points10 or more different types of furnitureThe number of furniture placed x 0.25 and the number of types x 0.75

*Island Development*



ConditionAdded PointsMuseum built+15Nook's Cranny has been upgraded+15Able Sisters is built+15Bridge+ (Number of Bridges) x 15Incline+ (Number of Inclines) x 15

*Non-DIY Furniture is still graded on the 8x8 tile basis*


Furniture within a blockAdded PointsLess than 5 unique types of furnitureNumber of placed furniture x 15 to 10 unique types of furniture placedNumber of placed furniture x 0.5 + The number of types x 0.5 10+ unique types of furnitureNumber of placed furniture x 0.5 + The number of types x 0.75

*Furniture Type and Bonuses *


BonusAdded PointsThe placed furniture is recommended for the outdoorsNumber of outdoor furniture x 0.5 additional pointsThe placed furniture costs 2000-20,000 bellsNumber of applicable furniture x 1The placed furniture costs over 20,000 bellsNumber of applicable furniture x 2Placed fencesNumber of fences x 0.2
*
Negative Conditions*
Clutter

Clutter is gauged in the same 8x8 tile divisions as furniture
If 45/64 or more tiles are covered in the block, the block is considered cluttered
Buildings, bridges, buried items, rocks, cliffs, rivers and inclines will not count towards this 
Littering

If there are more than 15 small items dropped on the ground, your island will be deemed messy
Naturally occurring items such as tree branches, stones and star fragments do not count
If either of these conditions are met, your town can not achieve five stars.

PS: Sorry for the awful editing


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## Katie97 (Apr 16, 2020)

I just got the guide too and sharing info! Thanks for doing this!


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## JKDOS (Apr 16, 2020)

I was told by Amazon the book was delayed until end of April. I hope to get mine in the mail in a few days.


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## Underneath The Stars (Apr 16, 2020)

omg thank you!!! this is really helpful as i'm trying to get it.

does it say anything about the mystery islands? lmao


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## MayorBenjamin (Apr 16, 2020)

Underneath The Stars said:


> omg thank you!!! this is really helpful as i'm trying to get it.
> 
> does it say anything about the mystery islands? lmao


Doesn't say too much other than the changes in probability of finding each mineral in rocks


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## Underneath The Stars (Apr 16, 2020)

MayorBenjamin said:


> Doesn't say too much other than the changes in probability of finding each mineral in rocks



inch resting. thanks again!
the villagers and rare islands must be completely RNG. there are rumors going around that you can trigger a rare island by interacting with orville. seems untrue though.

also i was hoping they'd answer why everyone sees the octopi so much


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## Katie97 (Apr 16, 2020)

Underneath The Stars said:


> inch resting. thanks again!
> the villagers and rare islands must be completely RNG. there are rumors going around that you can trigger a rare island by interacting with orville. seems untrue though.
> 
> also i was hoping they'd answer why everyone sees the octopi so much


The book has two big pages on both Orville and Wilbur and it doesn't say anything about triggering rare islands unfortunately!


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## JKDOS (Apr 16, 2020)

I don't understand the clutter one.


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## CrankyPirate (Apr 16, 2020)

What counts as littering? Is putting items on stall counts as littering? Putting items on barrels? Placing a radio outside? Don't really get that part. Obviously if you not place but drop an item it could be littering, but placed items too?


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## Red Cat (Apr 16, 2020)

What about having too many trees? I don't see anything about that here, and it's not possible to hit the clutter criteria with trees alone.


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## Bioness (Apr 16, 2020)

Underneath The Stars said:


> inch resting. thanks again!
> the villagers and rare islands must be completely RNG. there are rumors going around that you can trigger a rare island by interacting with orville. seems untrue though.
> 
> also i was hoping they'd answer why everyone sees the octopi so much



Datamining shows nothing about the Dodos affecting island rarity. The Octopus thing is very likely just anecdotal bias e.g. people notice the Octopus more and are more likely to report that they have a high number.

I've personally used over 100 tickets and haven't once seen an Octopus, but even that doesn't matter because a single person or few don't determine statistics.


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## Krissi2197 (Apr 16, 2020)

Oh man I cant wait for my guide to come! This is really helpful info.


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## Boundingfeather (Apr 16, 2020)

Does the guide say anything about if and when trees start affecting your island rating negatively?


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## Mairen (Apr 16, 2020)

thank you so very much for taking the time to post this! this information will really help people narrow down how exactly to get those ratings they are seeking


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## MasterM64 (Apr 16, 2020)

Thank you for sharing this info, I’m glad to see that Nintendo made it possible to grade your island, but yet have flexibility for customization at the same time!


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## Krissi2197 (Apr 16, 2020)

JKDOS said:


> I was told by Amazon the book was delayed until end of April. I hope to get mine in the mail in a few days.


I checked my Amazon and it still says the delivery date isnt determined. Does it say that for you too?


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## Zura (Apr 16, 2020)

Too many items next to each other is cluttered?! I wish there was a visual representation of this


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## LuchaSloth (Apr 16, 2020)

Really not a fan of the island rating system this time around. I tend to like a minimalist approach, and it's hard to find items that still look "natural" in the environment without cluttering things up. It honestly feels like a 5 star rating caters towards people who like stuff everywhere. I was cool with past games where you needed flowers and trees, and to have no weeds. But, I think the requirements this time around leave a lot to be desired.


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## stiney (Apr 16, 2020)

CrankyPirate said:


> What counts as littering? Is putting items on stall counts as littering? Putting items on barrels? Placing a radio outside? Don't really get that part. Obviously if you not place but drop an item it could be littering, but placed items too?



I had a whole bunch of DIY recipes in my town, on tables, and nothing else on the ground, and Isabelle kept telling me that people were complaining about the litter. As soon as I moved them to my house she stopped complaining.

I also have a lot of small items placed on things like stalls/tables, and a couple of small items that are straight on the ground--I hope the ones on the ground don't count against me because I think they look cute there. The ones on the stalls haven't been triggering the littering complaint.


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## mystery (Apr 16, 2020)

Do trees that are just sprouts count towards the 5 star town?


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## 0orchid (Apr 16, 2020)

I feel sad they won't let me have a bunch of trees and 5 stars. Not sure exactly how many trees I had but I just finally unlocked 5 stars today after being at a 4 star plateau for about a week. The only thing I did was chop down a ton of trees while terraforming. I planted a few more a while after that and hopefully won't go back down to 4 stars!


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## tajikey (Apr 16, 2020)

LuchaSloth said:


> Really not a fan of the island rating system this time around. I tend to like a minimalist approach, and it's hard to find items that still look "natural" in the environment without cluttering things up. It honestly feels like a 5 star rating caters towards people who like stuff everywhere. I was cool with past games where you needed flowers and trees, and to have no weeds. But, I think the requirements this time around leave a lot to be desired.



I've got a 5-star rating, and I wouldn't describe my island as having stuff everywhere. I was very strategic in what I placed where.  For example, I've got fruit orchards on both sides of my island, 20 trees each. I placed 10 leaf piles along the length of each orchard. That counts as crafted items, and makes complete sense where they're placed.

I've also got a carnival area flanked on one side of the town center, and a cart racetrack on the other. You just have to be strategic in your placement of items. Once I got to 4, I would follow the suggestion Isabelle provided, then go back and check again until I got to 5. Now I'm waiting for my first Jacob's Ladder as I continue to adjust my island to be exactly what I want. I don't TT, so it's a day by day thing.


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## mystery (Apr 16, 2020)

0orchid said:


> I feel sad they won't let me have a bunch of trees and 5 stars. Not sure exactly how many trees I had but I just finally unlocked 5 stars today after being at a 4 star plateau for about a week. The only thing I did was chop down a ton of trees while terraforming. I planted a few more a while after that and hopefully won't go back down to 4 stars!


How many pieces of furniture do you have outside?


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## CrankyPirate (Apr 16, 2020)

stiney said:


> I had a whole bunch of DIY recipes in my town, on tables, and nothing else on the ground, and Isabelle kept telling me that people were complaining about the litter. As soon as I moved them to my house she stopped complaining.
> 
> I also have a lot of small items placed on things like stalls/tables, and a couple of small items that are straight on the ground--I hope the ones on the ground don't count against me because I think they look cute there. The ones on the stalls haven't been triggering the littering complaint.



Then probably it’s the same for me. I have material on tables near my workshop so I have all the woods and minerals, but I guess that’s littering then.


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## Hedgehugs (Apr 16, 2020)

Does anyone know if having too many fencing counts against you? Sorry if I missed it in the OP somehow.


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## Katie97 (Apr 16, 2020)

Hedgehugs said:


> Does anyone know if having too many fencing counts against you? Sorry if I missed it in the OP somehow.


Generally, the book says fencing is a positive thing and you get 0.2 added points per fence. However, there are a total of 64 spaces available in every 8x8 block and if 45 or more tiles are covered in that block, it’s considered ‘cluttered’ and fencing is included in items that can cause ‘clutter’ whereas buildings, bridges, burned items, rocks, cliffs, rivers and inclines are not.


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## stiney (Apr 16, 2020)

CrankyPirate said:


> Then probably it’s the same for me. I have material on tables near my workshop so I have all the woods and minerals, but I guess that’s littering then.



It's so frustrating! I wanted to keep them near my airport as freebies for anyone who visited, but that will have to late. I dumped a few off in a friend's town--she's leaving her town open every morning while she works so that her friends' kids who play can come and run around and visit in a guaranteed safe town, so I left her some fruit and DIY recipes to contribute to the cause, but I still have a ton of extras. Might just sell the extra Bunny Day ones at this point.


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## 0orchid (Apr 16, 2020)

mystery said:


> How many pieces of furniture do you have outside?


Dang I have no idea, I don't even think it's that many but I can go back and try to count then post.

EDIT: I think I have 169 but I may have missed something, I have hundreds of flowers (at least 300+ but not sure how many), 3 bridges, 3 inclines, and no idea how many fences but probably the bare minimum amount needed for 5 stars


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## brockbrock (Apr 16, 2020)

How many points total do we need to attain a 5 star rating?

EDIT: IGNORE THAT. I AM CLEARLY BLIND.


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## mystery (Apr 16, 2020)

I wonder if I don’t have enough nature or something. I’ve easily got a good 200 pieces of furniture and fences outside and I thought I had at least 200 flowers and over a hundred trees if not more thanks to all the hybrid growing but I can’t get over 4 stars


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## JKDOS (Apr 16, 2020)

Krissi2197 said:


> I checked my Amazon and it still says the delivery date isnt determined. Does it say that for you too?



No. Mine is worse. It says "Release date: Thursday, April 30, 2020 ". If I track it, there is nothing there. Just a note about "We will email you when we have an estimated delivery date."


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## Cutiekuma (Apr 16, 2020)

MayorBenjamin said:


> The official companion guide arrived on time for me so I thought I'd share one of the most sought after parts for people who can't access the guide.
> 
> *Star Rating Values*
> The star rating values are split into two separate categories: Development and Scenery. In order to increase your star rating, you must meet certain thresholds in both of these categories
> ...


WOW, this is so helpful
I had no idea


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## Corrie (Apr 16, 2020)

Beautiful, thank you! I'm at 2 stars and was wondering what to do next to get 3!


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## Bioness (Apr 16, 2020)

In this game, what are the "types" of furniture? I know in storage it shows housewares, miscellaneous, and wall mounted.


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## mystery (Apr 16, 2020)

Finally got 5 stars every tree basically has a personal leaf pile and I’m a tad concerned it will drop back to four when my money tree grows but all in all a fairly successful objective


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## ermis (Apr 17, 2020)

There is a hard limit of 220 trees also, that if you exceed decreases your star rating by one. I found this out the hard way and counted/tested it. Verified by Ninji as well also 

	Post automatically merged: Apr 17, 2020



Boundingfeather said:


> Does the guide say anything about if and when trees start affecting your island rating negatively?


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## RandomSanity (Apr 25, 2020)

Thanks for posting this.. I can't seem to make the transition from 4 to 5 stars, it's come to the point where I had my island decorated nicely and now I'm forced to just dump extra stuff around because I still apparently need more decoration.

I have tons of trees and flowers so I'm assuming I've maxed those bonuses. I cut this down a bit, but I've not exceeded the 220 limit.

Any tips would be appreciated.


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## xara (Apr 25, 2020)

thank you for sharing!!


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## Insulaire (Apr 25, 2020)

Thanks for this. I’ve been not too impressed with a lot of the cluttered and busy (to me) islands I’ve seen labeled five stars on YT, so I’ve been doing it my own way and was pleased to learn I’d reached four stars today. Looks like I’ll be able to get to five using this guide without compromising the simplicity I’d like for my layout!

I guess we don’t know since this was written pre-Leif update, but presumably shrubs count like flowers?


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## fallenchaoskitten (Apr 25, 2020)

I already have a 5star, but thank you for posting this to help the community who don't have access!


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## Nenya (May 23, 2020)

bump


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## sleepydreepy (May 23, 2020)

woah this is insane, thanks for the guide!

I haven't had a problem getting a 5 star rating EXCEPT for the tree limit! I have 5 stars rn but still have 2 major "blank" areas on my map, and I am _exactly_ at my tree limit, and know that once I design those remaining 2 areas im gonna be way over!


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