Getting Started

As you begin the game, you'll find yourself in a taxi, heading out to your new town. Your driver will start interrogating you, asking you all manner of personal questions in a rather brusque manner. That saucy cur! Anyway, this is your opportunity to set out a number of items of pertinent information, such as the current date, and then your name. After entering your name, you'll be able to let the driver know whether or not it's "burly" or "cute". If you choose the first option, you'll be considered to be a boy; if you choose the second, you'll wind up as a girl. After that, you'll have to choose the name of your town, before the driver finally lets you out and you get to start your new life.

You begin by entering Town Hall. Talk to the clerk here to hear all about your new house, which has been set up for you by Tom Nook. When you're done talking, head out of the Town Hall and head over to your new house. Feel free to poke around a bit, if you wish; there's not much to do at the moment. When you leave, though, the devious slumlord known only as Tom Nook will approach you and shake you down for a full 19,800 bells. Since you currently have a grand total of zero bells,

Tom Nook's Tasks

After you get your house set up, Tom Nook arrives and asks you to stop by his store; you'll have to engage in a bit of indentured servitude before you can actually take advantage of his store to buy and sell items. When you're ready to get working, head over to his store; just make sure you have at least seven open slots in your inventory.

When you arrive in the store, Tom will want you to switch into your work clothes, which he'll automatically plop into your inventory. To do so, open your inventory (which you can do by hitting the map button, then clicking on the suitcase icon to the far left of the row of icons), then dragging the work clothes onto your portrait.

Task One: Plant the Plants

Your first task for Tom will be to prettify his house by planting trees and plants all around it. He'll give you seven plants and shrubs to plant, so head outside, find a likely spot, then start tapping the plants in your inventory and select the Plant option from the popup. You can be as stylish as you like, or you can just plant all seven plants in the same spot; Nook isn't going to be able to tell the difference.

Task Two: Introduce Yourself To the Town

The second task that Nook gives you will be to introduce yourself to the neighbors. This basically entails tracking down and talking to all of the other homeowners in the area; there should be three or four of them to worry about. Some will be in their homes, while others will be walking around. You have to talk to all of them, and you'll need to repeatedly talk to at least one of them until they ask you about your birthday. In addition, you'll need to talk to the Mayor, who's standing outside the Town Hall. You don't need to worry about the characters in the museum or the shop or anywhere else; just your neighbors and the Mayor will do.

Task Three: Furniture Delivery

Ah, well, time yet again to venture out into the world and deliver goods for Nook. This one's simple: just find the neighbor that Nook wants you to deliver the furniture to on the map, talk to them, give them the item from Nook, then take whatever they want to give you.

Task Four: Write a Letter

Be sure to note whom Nook wants you to write the letter to; it's best to do this right away, before you forget who you're sending to. Nook will give you some stationery, so select it in your inventory and choose Write a Letter. Select the intended recipient, then write whatever you like. It's not like anyone's going to be reading it; feel free to type out "!@q23423" and send that. No matter what you type, head over to the Town Hall, and walk to the right of the person behind the bar to hit the post office. After mailing your letter, you'll be able to return to Nook for your next assignment.

Task Five: Carpet Delivery

As before, all you have to do here is find the target for your delivery, give them the carpet, receive what they choose to give you in return, then return to Nook.

Task Six: Water Can Delivery

Tom Nook will buy basically any junk that you happen to find around time, and also act as a fence for the hot ice you pick up during your nighttime career as a cat burglar.

Hey, guess what you have to do now? You know the drill; find the recipient and give them the can.

Task Seven: Post On the Message Board

Tom wants you to take advantage of some of that free word-of-mouth advertising. Obviously, a viral advertising campaign, followed up by overbearing stealth marketing among the hip urban crowd, is what's called for. To your dismay, though, all Tom can think is to post a message on the town messageboard, near the Town Hall. Head over there, select Post, then type out something like "Come to Tom Nook's shop!" or something equally catchy.

And that's it! With these seven tasks out of your way, you're able to get started in the wild world of Animal Crossing. Nook will now agree to buy items from you and sell his stock, if you wish.

Making Your Fortune

The first thing you're going to need to worry about in Animal Crossing will be making a bit of cash. With money, you can start to pay off Nook, buy items from his and other shops, put money into your savings, and so on and so forth. Of course, Animal Crossing isn't all about making bank, but getting the first few thousand bells in your pocket will be important, since it'll let you buy a shovel, net, fishing rod, and other basic tools from Nook.

At the outset, the easiest way to make some bells will be to head down to your shoreline, where you should be able to find plenty of shells and sand dollars, and the like. Bring everything you find back to Nook and sell it, and you should be able to get enough cash for a shovel or a fishing rod, which will help you compound your earnings by giving you other methods of earning cash.