Coraircate
Senior Member
Hello, and I am writing this In-Depth Guide to Animal Crossing: City Folk. Feel free to contribute to it. It will experience edits over time.
Start the Game!
Your first order of business is to begin playing the game. You may be in need of a System Update to play the game. Select the game from your Wii Menu and continue into the game.
The Bus
See: http://forums.the-bell-tree.com?topic=7063295/1/
Once on the bus, you meet Rover, who will ask you various questions. These questions will give you your beginning face, hair, shirt, and shoes. The face cannot be changed, so find a good one on the above guide.
First Rover will ask for your name. He will then ask it your name is "Cool" or "Cute." If you answer "Cool," Rover will assume you are a boy and he will confirm this with the second question ("I know" or "Not a boy"). If you answer "Cute," Rover will assume you're a girl and will confirm this with the second question ("I know" or "Not a girl")
The next three questions will determine the appearance of your face/eyes. These are permanent so be sure to check this guide out before creating your character! The hairstyle can be changed later by visiting Shampoodle in the City.
"A" indicates the top answer choice while "B" will be the bottom answer (i.e. AAA means top answers for all three questions while AAB means top answers for two questions and bottom answer for the last question.)
Welcome to...
On the bus ride, Rover asks where you move to. Input the name of your town, and Rover will give you a map. Once you arrive in your town, you now must go to Town Hall. Talk to whoever is behind the counter, as it is different between day and night. After your conversation, set out to find Nook's Cranny.
Working
He'll tell you to meet Mayor Tortimer and all the residents of the town. Tortimer is at Town Hall, and the neighbors will be about town or in their houses.
When you've finished, Nook will give you a work uniform and tell you to get dressed. You do this simply by opening the inventory screen (pressing the minus button on the Wii Remote) and dragging the symbol onto your character.
Now for your first real job. You have to plant saplings and flowers around the store. You can actually plant them wherever you want, but Nook'll be too lazy to look. You go into your inventory, select them, and press 'plant' on each.
He'll now tell you to go and deliver some furniture to a neighbor. Find them using the map or your own detective skills, and in return, they'll give you a piece of furniture you can put in your house or sell to Nook (after you've done all the jobs.) They'll also ask for your birthday, which you won't be able to change later.
Your next job is to write a letter to one of Nook's customers. He'll give you something to write on, so just select it and write. Make sure you select the right person to send it to. You can write whatever you want, but it could get shown to other people, so please don't write anything you don't want other people seeing...
I found that out the hard way. To post it, go to the Town Hall, and go to the right window in front of the carpet with a letter symbol on it. The Pelican on duty will rush over to it. Talk to her, and mail the letter.
Another delivery, this time a wallpaper or carpet. Deliver it, and get another reward. Yet another delivery, this time taking a watering can or other tool to a neighbor, the one you sent to letter to. Deliver as normal, and go back to Nook.
Final Job at last, and it's to write something on the Town notice board. It's located next to the Town Hall. You can write anything, but anyone visiting your town can see it as well, untill enough messages are written for it to be forgotten.
Nook will now take (a rather small) 1,400 bells off your mortgage on your house, leaving you with 18,400 bells to pay off.
What Now?
Now that you've finished working, you may be left wondering what to do. The first thing you want to do is take off that ugly work shirt. But keep it. It's the only one you can get.
We need to pay off our mortgage. To do that we need money. For now, you can either shake fruit trees, or you can get foreign fruit from friends. To do that, you actually need friends. Go to the Town Gate, talk to the dog on the right, and get a Friend Code. Once obtained, add it to your The Bell Tree profile. Then go to The Gate, one of the many forums on The Bell Tree, and try to get friends. Once that is done, try to ask them if they can help you start your town off by helping to plant fruit trees and flowers. If they are nice, they will do it for free, but some may ask for a price.
Just a tip, I'd be willing to help out.
Anyway, what you want to do is pay off your mortgage. With fruits paying only 100, you get 1500 bells per full load. That would be more than 10 trips, but there is an easier way. Nook will buy almost anything. So will you. So sell the fruit until you can get a shovel and a net or fishing rod.
With the shovel, go around town trying to find small brown X's on the ground. Use the shovel to dig up the X. Give the fossils to the museum, and sell the gyroids and pitfall seeds to Nook.
Use the net/fishing rod. With the net, you can hit A or swing the WiiMote to swing the net. If the net hits a bug, you catch the bug. Depending on the season, different bugs can be found. If it is Winter, you will have less luck with bugs and should instead get a fishing rod. In the spring or summer, a net will do you justice, as bugs are more common.
The fishing rod can be used by pressing A or swinging the WiiMote. Once the bobber is in the water, the currents will carry it. Shadows will move around, and depending on the way it's looking, it may go for the bobber. Fish love to merely bump it a few times before attacking, but wait for it to sink before you try to catch it. To catch it, press A or swing the remote multiple times.
Take the things you find to the museum, but if you catch another of the same kind, sell it to Nook.
<big><big>Money Making</big></big>
Shaking Trees
Every day, 1 non-fruit tree in each acre of your town will drop 100 bells. This amounts to a total of 2,500 bells if you find all 25 trees. Additionally, 2 random non-fruit trees in your town will drop a common piece of furniture, which can either be kept or sold to Tom Nook for a few extra bells. Additionally there are 5 swarms of bees each day. If you're skillful and/or lucky enough to catch all 5 of them then that's a bonus 12,500 bells each day. This is not a reliable means of making money, but can be a nice little boon to the desperate.
(Note: If you don't want to get bees because you don't want to get stung, simply open your gates.)
Shells
Along the beach (in the southernmost part of town) you will find a random assortment of sea shells. Shells typically don't sell for very much, but they spawn rather quickly and are effectively "free" bells. Simply pick them up and sell to Tom Nook. This is a good way to get a few bells to buy tools at the beginning of the game, or anytime you're just a few bells shy of affording something you want. If you pick up all the shells on the beach and then save/restart the game will generate a new batch of shells along the beach. The first house can be paid off in one day this way.
Furniture
Furniture can be obtained through a lot of ways, like: the lost and found, the recycle bin, balloon presents, from neighbors, special events, from trees, etc. The common furniture can be sold for a small amount. Special events have special furniture (such as Jingle series) that sell for a lot more.
Money Rock
Each day, a random rock in your town is designated as the "money rock". This rock, when struck with a shovel, will drop bells. This is a healthy little boost of money each day, as on most days you can get 8,100 bells without much effort. Stand at one of the corners and face the rock, but dig holes on the outside of you so you only occupy one space around the rock.
Digging
Every day, "stars" appear on the ground. These fissures mark items buried in the soil, which can be dug up using a shovel. These items can be one of three different items: A fossil, a gyroid, or a pitfall seed.
Fossils appear in town every day: If all fossils are found each day, 3 new fossils will appear every day. They can be donated to the museum as part of a collection, or sold for bells. As the museum will only accept one of each fossil type, spares can be sold to Tom Nook. Non-spares could also be sold for bells if the player does not value the museum. Different fossils sell for variable amounts, up to 6,000 bells.
Gyroids only appear in town on the day after rain or snowfall in town or the city. If so, 3 gyroids will appear. If they are not used as furniture, gyroids can be stored with Brewster as part of a collection, or sold for bells. As with the museum, Brewster only accepts one of each gyroid type so spares could be sold even if the player does collect gyroids. All gyroids sell for 828 bells each.
Pitfall seeds do not have a value, and cannot be sold for bells. One pitfall seed appears buried each day.
(Note: There are always 4 or more fissure marks each day, if you can't find them, it's because they are pretty hard to find on worn-out snow or grass)
Fruit
Each town has a "native fruit": Fruit trees the town starts with will only be of this fruit. By trading with friends over Wi-Fi, or exchanging letters with animal neighbors, players can obtain fruit not native to their town. Whereas a native fruit sells to Nook for 100 bells, a "foreign" fruit will sell for 500. A full load of 15 "foreign" fruit sells for 7,500 bells at Nooks. This is one of the best ways to make money!
Fruit trees sprout three fruits. If fruits are shaken off the tree the day they appear, a fruit tree will produce fruit once every three days. This means each foreign fruit tree, if harvested at the fastest pace, is worth 500 bells per day. As the minimal "perfect town" requires 300 trees (12 trees in 8 acres, 10 trees in 17 acres), if all of these trees are foreign fruit trees, the town's fruit can be harvested for 133,000 bells per day. It takes about 1/2 hr to pick and sell to Nook 75,000 bells worth of "foreign" fruit.
Coconuts act similar to foreign fruits, though they can never be a town's native fruit (and are thus always worth 500 bells), a palm tree will only produce two coconuts every three days. Coconuts can be found on the beach occasionally.
Turnips
On Sunday mornings (6:00am to 12:00pm), Joan the warthog can be found wandering around town, selling both white and red turnips. She sells white turnips (in multiples of 10) for a random value from 90-110 bells, and up to one bag of red turnip seeds for 1,000 bells.
White turnips:
Tom Nook is the other end of "the stalk market". He buys white turnips for a value that differs over time. Each morning (12:00am - 12:00pm) and afternoon (12:00pm - 12:00am) on all days except Sunday the value of white turnips will change. These changes can be one of a few "patterns" (typically "always decreasing", "small spike", "small Monday morning spike", "large spike" and "random") and recognising the trends of each pattern will allow the player to maximise their profit (or minimise their losses) when trading in white turnips. Nook prices typically range from 30 to 650.
*Huge profits can be made when two towns are used. One town has Nook buying them and the other town has Joan selling them. Travel between towns buying and selling. If Joan is selling for 100 and Nook buying them for 600 then a full load of 15 bunches of 100 turnips results in 750,000 bell profit on one trip!
Red turnips:
Red turnips require planting and then watering every day. They grow daily and can be dug up with a shovel and sold for a value based on their size. They need to be buried for at least 3 days to turn a profit on the cost of a seed, and if buried for 6 or more days will sell for 16,000 bells. However if a red turnip goes a full day without being watered, they will wilt and be rendered worthless unless watered by a silver can, which resets them and starts the growth process from scratch (as if they were a newly-planted seed) the following day.
Start the Game!
Your first order of business is to begin playing the game. You may be in need of a System Update to play the game. Select the game from your Wii Menu and continue into the game.
The Bus
See: http://forums.the-bell-tree.com?topic=7063295/1/
Once on the bus, you meet Rover, who will ask you various questions. These questions will give you your beginning face, hair, shirt, and shoes. The face cannot be changed, so find a good one on the above guide.
First Rover will ask for your name. He will then ask it your name is "Cool" or "Cute." If you answer "Cool," Rover will assume you are a boy and he will confirm this with the second question ("I know" or "Not a boy"). If you answer "Cute," Rover will assume you're a girl and will confirm this with the second question ("I know" or "Not a girl")
The next three questions will determine the appearance of your face/eyes. These are permanent so be sure to check this guide out before creating your character! The hairstyle can be changed later by visiting Shampoodle in the City.
"A" indicates the top answer choice while "B" will be the bottom answer (i.e. AAA means top answers for all three questions while AAB means top answers for two questions and bottom answer for the last question.)
Welcome to...
On the bus ride, Rover asks where you move to. Input the name of your town, and Rover will give you a map. Once you arrive in your town, you now must go to Town Hall. Talk to whoever is behind the counter, as it is different between day and night. After your conversation, set out to find Nook's Cranny.
Working
He'll tell you to meet Mayor Tortimer and all the residents of the town. Tortimer is at Town Hall, and the neighbors will be about town or in their houses.
When you've finished, Nook will give you a work uniform and tell you to get dressed. You do this simply by opening the inventory screen (pressing the minus button on the Wii Remote) and dragging the symbol onto your character.
Now for your first real job. You have to plant saplings and flowers around the store. You can actually plant them wherever you want, but Nook'll be too lazy to look. You go into your inventory, select them, and press 'plant' on each.
He'll now tell you to go and deliver some furniture to a neighbor. Find them using the map or your own detective skills, and in return, they'll give you a piece of furniture you can put in your house or sell to Nook (after you've done all the jobs.) They'll also ask for your birthday, which you won't be able to change later.
Your next job is to write a letter to one of Nook's customers. He'll give you something to write on, so just select it and write. Make sure you select the right person to send it to. You can write whatever you want, but it could get shown to other people, so please don't write anything you don't want other people seeing...
I found that out the hard way. To post it, go to the Town Hall, and go to the right window in front of the carpet with a letter symbol on it. The Pelican on duty will rush over to it. Talk to her, and mail the letter.
Another delivery, this time a wallpaper or carpet. Deliver it, and get another reward. Yet another delivery, this time taking a watering can or other tool to a neighbor, the one you sent to letter to. Deliver as normal, and go back to Nook.
Final Job at last, and it's to write something on the Town notice board. It's located next to the Town Hall. You can write anything, but anyone visiting your town can see it as well, untill enough messages are written for it to be forgotten.
Nook will now take (a rather small) 1,400 bells off your mortgage on your house, leaving you with 18,400 bells to pay off.
What Now?
Now that you've finished working, you may be left wondering what to do. The first thing you want to do is take off that ugly work shirt. But keep it. It's the only one you can get.
We need to pay off our mortgage. To do that we need money. For now, you can either shake fruit trees, or you can get foreign fruit from friends. To do that, you actually need friends. Go to the Town Gate, talk to the dog on the right, and get a Friend Code. Once obtained, add it to your The Bell Tree profile. Then go to The Gate, one of the many forums on The Bell Tree, and try to get friends. Once that is done, try to ask them if they can help you start your town off by helping to plant fruit trees and flowers. If they are nice, they will do it for free, but some may ask for a price.
Just a tip, I'd be willing to help out.
Anyway, what you want to do is pay off your mortgage. With fruits paying only 100, you get 1500 bells per full load. That would be more than 10 trips, but there is an easier way. Nook will buy almost anything. So will you. So sell the fruit until you can get a shovel and a net or fishing rod.
With the shovel, go around town trying to find small brown X's on the ground. Use the shovel to dig up the X. Give the fossils to the museum, and sell the gyroids and pitfall seeds to Nook.
Use the net/fishing rod. With the net, you can hit A or swing the WiiMote to swing the net. If the net hits a bug, you catch the bug. Depending on the season, different bugs can be found. If it is Winter, you will have less luck with bugs and should instead get a fishing rod. In the spring or summer, a net will do you justice, as bugs are more common.
The fishing rod can be used by pressing A or swinging the WiiMote. Once the bobber is in the water, the currents will carry it. Shadows will move around, and depending on the way it's looking, it may go for the bobber. Fish love to merely bump it a few times before attacking, but wait for it to sink before you try to catch it. To catch it, press A or swing the remote multiple times.
Take the things you find to the museum, but if you catch another of the same kind, sell it to Nook.
<big><big>Money Making</big></big>
Shaking Trees
Every day, 1 non-fruit tree in each acre of your town will drop 100 bells. This amounts to a total of 2,500 bells if you find all 25 trees. Additionally, 2 random non-fruit trees in your town will drop a common piece of furniture, which can either be kept or sold to Tom Nook for a few extra bells. Additionally there are 5 swarms of bees each day. If you're skillful and/or lucky enough to catch all 5 of them then that's a bonus 12,500 bells each day. This is not a reliable means of making money, but can be a nice little boon to the desperate.
(Note: If you don't want to get bees because you don't want to get stung, simply open your gates.)
Shells
Along the beach (in the southernmost part of town) you will find a random assortment of sea shells. Shells typically don't sell for very much, but they spawn rather quickly and are effectively "free" bells. Simply pick them up and sell to Tom Nook. This is a good way to get a few bells to buy tools at the beginning of the game, or anytime you're just a few bells shy of affording something you want. If you pick up all the shells on the beach and then save/restart the game will generate a new batch of shells along the beach. The first house can be paid off in one day this way.
Furniture
Furniture can be obtained through a lot of ways, like: the lost and found, the recycle bin, balloon presents, from neighbors, special events, from trees, etc. The common furniture can be sold for a small amount. Special events have special furniture (such as Jingle series) that sell for a lot more.
Money Rock
Each day, a random rock in your town is designated as the "money rock". This rock, when struck with a shovel, will drop bells. This is a healthy little boost of money each day, as on most days you can get 8,100 bells without much effort. Stand at one of the corners and face the rock, but dig holes on the outside of you so you only occupy one space around the rock.
Digging
Every day, "stars" appear on the ground. These fissures mark items buried in the soil, which can be dug up using a shovel. These items can be one of three different items: A fossil, a gyroid, or a pitfall seed.
Fossils appear in town every day: If all fossils are found each day, 3 new fossils will appear every day. They can be donated to the museum as part of a collection, or sold for bells. As the museum will only accept one of each fossil type, spares can be sold to Tom Nook. Non-spares could also be sold for bells if the player does not value the museum. Different fossils sell for variable amounts, up to 6,000 bells.
Gyroids only appear in town on the day after rain or snowfall in town or the city. If so, 3 gyroids will appear. If they are not used as furniture, gyroids can be stored with Brewster as part of a collection, or sold for bells. As with the museum, Brewster only accepts one of each gyroid type so spares could be sold even if the player does collect gyroids. All gyroids sell for 828 bells each.
Pitfall seeds do not have a value, and cannot be sold for bells. One pitfall seed appears buried each day.
(Note: There are always 4 or more fissure marks each day, if you can't find them, it's because they are pretty hard to find on worn-out snow or grass)
Fruit
Each town has a "native fruit": Fruit trees the town starts with will only be of this fruit. By trading with friends over Wi-Fi, or exchanging letters with animal neighbors, players can obtain fruit not native to their town. Whereas a native fruit sells to Nook for 100 bells, a "foreign" fruit will sell for 500. A full load of 15 "foreign" fruit sells for 7,500 bells at Nooks. This is one of the best ways to make money!
Fruit trees sprout three fruits. If fruits are shaken off the tree the day they appear, a fruit tree will produce fruit once every three days. This means each foreign fruit tree, if harvested at the fastest pace, is worth 500 bells per day. As the minimal "perfect town" requires 300 trees (12 trees in 8 acres, 10 trees in 17 acres), if all of these trees are foreign fruit trees, the town's fruit can be harvested for 133,000 bells per day. It takes about 1/2 hr to pick and sell to Nook 75,000 bells worth of "foreign" fruit.
Coconuts act similar to foreign fruits, though they can never be a town's native fruit (and are thus always worth 500 bells), a palm tree will only produce two coconuts every three days. Coconuts can be found on the beach occasionally.
Turnips
On Sunday mornings (6:00am to 12:00pm), Joan the warthog can be found wandering around town, selling both white and red turnips. She sells white turnips (in multiples of 10) for a random value from 90-110 bells, and up to one bag of red turnip seeds for 1,000 bells.
White turnips:
Tom Nook is the other end of "the stalk market". He buys white turnips for a value that differs over time. Each morning (12:00am - 12:00pm) and afternoon (12:00pm - 12:00am) on all days except Sunday the value of white turnips will change. These changes can be one of a few "patterns" (typically "always decreasing", "small spike", "small Monday morning spike", "large spike" and "random") and recognising the trends of each pattern will allow the player to maximise their profit (or minimise their losses) when trading in white turnips. Nook prices typically range from 30 to 650.
*Huge profits can be made when two towns are used. One town has Nook buying them and the other town has Joan selling them. Travel between towns buying and selling. If Joan is selling for 100 and Nook buying them for 600 then a full load of 15 bunches of 100 turnips results in 750,000 bell profit on one trip!
Red turnips:
Red turnips require planting and then watering every day. They grow daily and can be dug up with a shovel and sold for a value based on their size. They need to be buried for at least 3 days to turn a profit on the cost of a seed, and if buried for 6 or more days will sell for 16,000 bells. However if a red turnip goes a full day without being watered, they will wilt and be rendered worthless unless watered by a silver can, which resets them and starts the growth process from scratch (as if they were a newly-planted seed) the following day.
