So you’re just setting off on Tom Nook’s latest escapade, and once again he’s caught you out of pocket. While the wily real estate raccoon is very ready to put you in plenty of debt, he doesn’t mind how long you take to pay your bells back. Still, why hang around when there are bells to be made? If you’re new to the game and want to make bank fast, these are some of the best tips and tricks for how to get bells quickly in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
How to get bells quickly in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
© Nintendo
You might start from nothing in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but there are plenty of ways to get bells quickly if you know what you’re doing. We’ve listed a few of the best ways to get started on boosting your bell bank balance early in the game, before detailing a few of the less legitimate methods to acquire vast sums of wealth that players have already discovered.
Scour the beaches (and the beeches)
Very early on in your New Horizons journey, you’ll be looking to get bells quickly anywhere you can. A great source of early cash can be found in the shells that regularly wash up on the beaches of your island. You should also make sure you shake the trees on your island once a day, as not only will you find sticks, you’ll sometimes get bundles of bells or even items for your house that can be sold if you don’t want them. Once you start making a decent income, these items won’t be worth much in the grand scale, but early on they’ll add up to a good sum when combined with fishing and bug hunts.
Develop an orchard
© Nintendo
Fruit is worth big money in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and your island will come with its own wealth of one type of fruit trees. Rather than sell all the fruit you collect of these trees, we recommend saving a good bunch to produce an orchard. Once you’re able to craft or buy a shovel, you can plant any fruit directly from your inventory by standing next to a hole in the ground.
Collect other types of fruit from gifts, visiting friends or by setting out on Mystery Island Tours (you’ll find coconuts and one other type on each tour), then dedicate a space on your island to planting plenty of fruit. Once the trees are grown you’ll have a steady output of fruit every few days which can be sold for plenty of bells.
Find the Money Rock
See those stones dotted around your island? Once you get a shovel, they’re not just a good source of stone, clay and iron nuggets. Every day, one of the rocks on your island will become a money rock, spewing out bells instead of stones. The rock will change each day, so you’ll want to check them all every day to find it.
© Nintendo
When it comes to getting the most from your Money Rock, you should definitely learn how to harvest rocks properly. You only have a limited time after hitting a rock for the first time before it’ll stop supplying any goods that day. To maximize the output, you should place holes in the ground one space away from the rock (as shown in the image above). We've got more detailed guidance on this technique, so click here if you need it. This will make sure you can’t get pushed away from the rock and you have enough time to get eight items from it. Do this with the money rock and you’ll be rewarded with a massive 8000 bell satchel as well as several smaller chunks of bells.
Sell the item of the day
Progress through the days and you’ll eventually see Timmy and Tommy set up Nook’s Cranny, a shop that stocks all kinds of useful goods. They also ask for one special item each day, doubling its value when sold. If you can, collect and give these items over at the store on the day they show up and you can make big bells in no time at all.
Plant a Money Tree
© Nintendo
If a Money Rock sounds weird to you, wait until you find out about the Money Tree. By planting cash in the ground in certain places, you can grow a tree that’ll produce bells instead of fruit. Impressive, right? We’ve put together an easy guide on how to grow a Money Tree in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so click here and be sure to read that. Money Trees will offer up thousands of bells each time it bears fruit, so don’t miss your chance to plant them.
Risk the turnip trade
Once you've met Daisy Mae, you'll have the chance to take part in the turnip trade in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (read our full guide to the turnip trade and how to make big winnings by clicking here). Every Sunday this adorable salespig will show up, offering as many turnips as you can spend your bells on. The catch is that the price she sells at change each week. even more risky, the value turnips have when sold to Timmy and Tommy change twice every single day. Timmy and Tommy reset their Turnip prices at midday (12pm) and at midnight (12am). They might be worth much less than you bought them for, or much more. You can't keep turnips in storage, and one week after you buy them, turnips will spoil.
Basically, you need to buy your turnips from Daisy Mae, then check Timmy and Tommy's shop regularly throughout the week in the hopes that you'll be able to sell them for a profit. Basically they're the stocks and shares of the Animal Crossing world. Good luck, and we wish you the best of bells.
And now for the shadier methods…
Below we’ve included a couple of cheekier methods to earn money in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. How you choose to play your game is up to you, but be aware that exploiting the game’s systems to earn lots of money can effectively break the AC economy, making things a bit too quick and easy. If you’re okay with Isabelle’s disapproval at your methods,
Tarantula Island
Don't skip out on Tarantula Island, ya'll! Got to pay off my house on my 3rd calendar day of playing w/o time travel. ANIMAL CROSSING GOT ME GRINDIN'~
— Serenity (@mydearserenity) March 22, 2020
Tips/Info can be found in the thread below. [1/?] pic.twitter.com/FoDXLXtK0X
No it’s not a myth, and yes, it is scary. Tarantula island is a rare island you can arrive at when taking a Mystery Island Tour. As the name suggests, it’s a place that’s packed to the brim with tarantulas. They’re terrifying, but also worth 8000 bells. So if you’re lucky enough to find a home for tarantulas, make the most of it and secure some cash. Some players have earned more than 200,000 bells in a single trip! It’s a bit cheesy, but if you want to find out more, click here for our more in-depth guide.
Item duplication exploit
Update: As of patch 1.1.1 for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the item duplication buy has now been fixed. If you want to read about it anyway, we've left the original description below.
And here’s the big one. There’s a current exploit in Animal Crossing: New Horizons that lets you duplicate items if you have two player Residents set up on the same Nintendo Switch console. By creating an outdoors table and placing the in-game Nintendo Switch (a valuable free item you start the game with) on top of it, you can rotate the table and have your second player pick up the item at the same time. This will pick up the item, but also keep it on the table, effectively duplicating the item and letting you sell an infinite amount of them. Check the video below by AbdallahSmash if you want to see this move in action.
This is clearly an exploit and shouldn’t be in the game. Nintendo will likely patch this out soon, so don’t be surprised if it isn’t still available when you come to read this. It’s absolutely a game-breaking exploit, so don’t use it if you don’t want to ruin your path through Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Those are the best ways we know of to get bells fast in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Be sure to visit our game hub by clicking here for plenty more Animal Crossing: New Horizons news, tips and tricks.
