We’ve seen people do amazing things in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. There’s Mari and Harold, a couple who celebrated their wedding anniversary on Mari’s island and documented the beautiful day with a heartwarming video. KFC Philippines, with the help of Ogilvy, actually opened a restaurant in the game. There are players who had their graduation ceremony in New Horizons. Someone recreated scenes from the hit TV show “The Office.” A software engineer actually created Nookazon—a place where you can trade Animal Crossing: New Horizons in-game items.

We asked some local Animal Crossing players to share with us their proudest New Horizons moments and to share some tips and tricks.

Charisse Vilchez

Charisse from Itomori
Playing since June 2020

Proudest moment: I was supposed to travel for my birthday in June. Of course, due to the pandemic, it was canceled. I got a Nintendo Switch as a birthday gift to myself and since I was very new then, two of my closest friends invited me to their islands and gave me a birthday surprise! I met one over lunch and the other one before sunset. So guess what? My birthday trip still pushed through! I did not only travel once but twice! I felt so happy and giddy the entire time! Kilig na kilig ako because it felt so nice also to spend time with some friends also during quarantine.

Tips and tricks: When you see the glowing spot, dig and get the money. Then plant 10,000 bells in the glowing hole and after a few days, you will get three 10,000-bell money bags.

Alexandrina Chloe Giada Cervantes

Chloe from Pilipinas
Playing for two weeks

Proudest moment: I caught my first shark.

Tips and tricks: You can earn more bells by catching bugs and fish and selling them. That’s how I upgraded my house.

Mela Almonte

Melaa from Austen
Playing for three months

Proudest moment: When I figured out that I can stage scenes with all items and villagers at Harvey’s Island. I would create scenarios that were impossible to do during lockdown. Hanging out at a café, going to a street market, staging a Grand Canyon vacation.

Tips and tricks: I watch island tour YouTube videos to get design ideas and search on Pinterest for custom paths and clothes.

Martha Herrera-Subido

Martha from Valyria
Playing since April 2020

Proudest moments: When I finished my ABS-CBN newsroom and when I finished creating an outdoor bedroom with some of my favorite things: a huge bed, books, coffee, a painting area and a space where I could pull out tarot cards.

Tips and tricks: It’s easy to get overwhelmed once you’re granted terraforming capabilities and you’ve seen what other islands look like. I say, fill your island with things that make you happy. Create spaces that put joy in your heart. To get rich fast, play the stalk market and join a group. It’s nice to be part of a group chat with other players or join a Facebook community. People are so generous! You can score their extra DIY cards and you can even ask to catalog their items. Animal Crossing helps me feel like I’m part of a community during this pandemic.

Jaycee Pagdanganan

JayceeP84 from SpiceWorld
Playing for four months

Proudest moment: Finding a cool distraction from the bad politics and hard times and playing with friends to keep ourselves entertained and to keep the connection despite the physical distancing. Here’s our best photo during our nugget hunting extravaganza.

Tips and tricks: Crucial tip I learned the hard way: Do not change your time zone settings to check turnip prices. You’re going back to the future with rotten turnips.

Ruby Gan

Ruby from Farhamptōn
Playing since early May 2020

Proudest moments: When I was able to upgrade my house and got all the rooms. Although some rooms are still a work in progress, my basement is a gym with the special wallpaper from Sahara—and I’m mighty proud of that. Another proud moment is when I created Ralph’s house and turned it into a hotel of some sort, having different restaurants (Chinese, Japanese, ramen bar), a nice bathroom for guests, lounging bar at the second floor and a spa in the basement. Also, when I found out from Isabelle that we can customize the fireworks by submitting our own design, I submitted Kim Soo-hyun’s photo.

Tips and tricks: 1. I can plant 99,000 bells and they’ll multiply three times when the tree is full grown. 2. I can poop extra fruits that I’ve eaten. 3. You get the shopping app in your Nook Phone when you’ve ordered 100 items through the Nook Stop.

Kristel Ann Cruz

Soleil from Soliantu
Playing since June 11, 2020 (more than 300 hours)

I aim for a sunshine-themed island so the names are associated with the sun. I also made a character for my boyfriend and named him Apollo. I made his house a gift shop/ bookstore beside the museum.

Proudest moments: I love this game so much because it helped me a lot! It’s been an endless source of delight for me especially during these trying times, and it has helped me get connected with my friends whom I play with every day. My proudest Animal Crossing moments are when I finished the fossil section of my museum exactly a month after I started playing, building my entrance the way I wanted, and finishing furnishing my house, orchard and infinity pool!

Tips and tricks: Check turnip.exchange for great rates on trading turnips and bury your materials to save on storage space without lessening island ratings! I set aside a portion of my farm to do this and it actually looks great!

JM Tuazon

James from Clementine
Playing since April 2020 (close to 500 hours)

Proudest moments: There are a lot! I participated in a virtual Pride March in June with some UP (University of the Philippines) friends, so that’s definitely an unforgettable one because I haven’t even joined the actual Pride March in real life yet. Another one would be when I randomly stumbled upon Raymond while island-hopping to find Julian… and I was wearing my Raymond costume! Haha.

Tips and tricks: The guaranteed get-rich-quick scheme in Animal Crossing is playing the turnip stalk market. It will really get you millions of bells if you know how to play your vegetables right! Just buy as much as you can then find Facebook Groups with people sharing high turnip prices in their Nook’s Cranny. (I currently have 20 million bells because of this, hahaha). But if you’re just starting out, it would help to build an orchard of many fruit trees that you can sell at Nook’s Cranny. Also, make sure to set your island tune with Isabelle because it plays everywhere. It plays when you enter Nook’s Cranny, start a conversation with a villager, or go to the airport. It’s just a different version of the same tune. So I had mine set to the line in the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” song “Born Naked,” specifically the part which says “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag!” It’s so funny. Hahaha.

Kat de Leon

katisabrat from Kōkishin
Playing for two months

Proudest moment: Paying off my housing loans!

Tips and tricks: When chasing a giant clam, use the left stick on your Joy-Con to swim toward it rather than pressing A. The Giant Clam doesn’t swim away when you do this, thus it’s easier to catch.

Nazri Noor

Naz from Nuevonueve
Playing since the game’s release

Proudest moments: Jokingly, when I put my face into the game twice, once on a shirt and again on a huge mosaic that lives in the north room of my house. But in truth, it was finally breeding my first blue rose and adding it to my rainbow flower field. I really enjoyed the challenge of breeding flowers in this game, and the blue rose was by far the toughest to achieve.

Tips and tricks: If you hate the turnip stalk market grind like I do and want a consistent source of money that’s more space-efficient than fruit trees, consider flowers. When crafted into crowns or wreaths, blue roses and gold roses will soundly beat foreign fruit in all aspects, whether in selling price or space efficiency. You’ll earn more bells per square without having to sacrifice precious island space to a massive orchard. Of course, in the late game, there’s not a lot to spend on once you’ve paid off loans and purchased certain expensive fashion items. Bells are so plentiful that they’re practically worthless and you’ll become a bellionaire without even trying. But I just like flowers, OK?