Animal Crossing: New Horizons is officially available for Nintendo Switch, and because we Animal Crossing Items know those first few days can be filled with far too much walking around wondering what’s going on, here’s our beginner’s guide to island life.

How do I make money? What are Nook Miles? How do I stop wasps stinging me? All of the major questions are answered in our selection of tips below.

Animal Crossing New Horizons guide: 21 tips for becoming a happy islander.

Read VGC’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons review if you haven’t yet decided to take the plunge and join island life.

POWER UP (AND MOVE TREES) WITH FRUIT.

Eating fruit in New Horizons gives your character the extra nutrients required to shovel a tree right out of the ground, which is really useful if you want to rearrange your island without sacrificing a rare fruit tree.

Eating fruit will fill up your fruit gauge, which will climb as high as ten uses. It’s always useful to fill this if you’re about to head off on an expedition to another island, as it will mean you’ll have plenty of strength to burgle any nice trees you find.

GET IRON NUGGETS FROM ROCKS – WITH AN EMPTY STOMACH.

In the early days of island life Iron nuggets are an important resource that allow you to upgrade some of the facilities on your island. The absolute best source of iron are the rocks littered around your home: hit them with a shovel up to eight times and you’ll collect an abundance of the stuff (along with clay and rock – other useful DIY ingredients) each day.

One important tip though: make sure you’ve not eaten any fruit before you shovel a rock, otherwise you’ll lift it right out of the ground and receive just one item. Lifting and replanting trees is an easy way to use up your fruit reserve.

USE A FLIMSY AXE TO GATHER WOOD.

If you don’t want to end up accidentally chopping down your prize orange tree, then a Flimsy Axe is Buy Animal Crossing Items an essential item to have in your inventory. Not only will the cheaper axe not chop down trees (unlike superior axes, which will), but you’ll be able to get a third wood resource from each tree.

Once a day you’ll find a glowing spot on your island, which if shovelled will uncover a bag of money. If you replant that bag, a money tree will grow in its place. Even better, if you place an even greater bag of money into the hole, a more lucrative tree will grow.