After Super Mario Run for iOS and Android, Nintendo has made another of its intellectual properties available on smartphones and tablets. Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is the new mobile sensation, and it has had more than 15 million downloads in less than a week. Let's see how to play Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, find about all the hidden details, and learn all the secrets, so you make the most of the free tier of the game.
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Few words about Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing is a nearly 17-year-old title, with the first title released in April 2001. It's a virtual social reality game series, in which the player (as a human) lives in a village with a lot of furry companions.
With four main titles and two spin-offs, Animal Crossing has surpassed 30 million sales worldwide.
Up until recently, Nintendo offered the series only for its consoles. But this year the company released Animal Crossing Pocket Camp for Android and iOS devices.
What is Animal Crossing Pocket Camp
Nintendo named the smartphone version Animal Crossing Pocket Camp.
The philosophy and the gameplay are similar, but everything happens in real time. The player's goal is to create friendships with the villagers around the game's world.
On the console titles, the player was responsible for an entire village. But on Animal Crossing Pocket Camp we have our campsite and a camper, which we can customize any way we like.
Nintendo's establishment from a game
We all probably have heard about Pokémon Go and its huge success last year. However, we must keep in mind that Niantic was the producer and publisher of that app, not Nintendo.
On spring 2016, Nintendo announced that Animal Crossing would be coming for smartphones before the end of that year.
However, the company worked first on Super Mario Run, which theoretically is free to download, but it costs $10 to unlock all the worlds beyond the first.
That app got 32 million downloads the first six days, making it Nintendo's most successful mobile app. Of course, we are sure that this number doesn't reflect on actual purchases of the game.
On the other hand, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is free to download, and it has an in-game currency.
The game got 15 million downloads within its first six days. It's also rated as the best free app on Play Store and ranked at top 100 on the best grossing apps.
Even though we don't know how much money Nintendo has made through the app, we are sure a lot of folks were excited about it.
How to play Animal Crossing Pocket Camp
Animal Crossing Pocket Camp became available on November 22 worldwide for Android and iOS devices.
The app is compatible with Android 4.2 or higher, and iOS 9.0 or higher. The required available space to download the app is 54MB.
Finally, to use the app, we must have a constant internet connection. So if we are on a data plan, we need to be careful.
Does it cost money?
As we mentioned, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is free. But, it has an in-game currency (Leaf Tickets), with which we can speed things up or buy unique items.
While we are writing these lines, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is on the market for about a week, and we played it since the first day. We reached level 20 from the total of 40 levels, and we still didn't feel the need to pay for anything.
There are plenty of ways to win Leaf Tickets - the game's currency - so we don't think we are ever going to spend money on it.
How does Animal Crossing Pocket Camp work?
Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is a straightforward game, and you can grab the basics in no time.
Nonetheless, if this is your first time playing Animal Crossing, you might get scared and think you made an irreversible mistake. That's why we are here, to offer you a complete guide for beginners.
First start
The first time we launch the Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, it asks us to download 83MB of additional data before we can begin.
Next, we can connect a Nintendo account, if we want to ensure our progress. Moreover, by connecting an account, we get 100 Leaf Tickets.
If we are not interested in our progress or the money, we click "Start Fresh," and we can create an account later.
After downloading the data, we see K.K. on our screen, a dog with a guitar.
After K.K. finishes showing off, he welcomes us and asks us a question. Our answer is not important since it doesn't affect our progress in the game.
Continuing, we can customize our character. Anything we pick at this stage can change later, apart from our gender.
When we are happy with our choices, the real fun begins.
At the start of the game, we meet Isabelle, who asks us our name. Then she will ask us which style we prefer for our campsite.
The styles the game offers are Natural, Cute, Sporty, and Cool. This choice only affects the starting look of our camp.
Our furniture will have the style we choose, and we will also start with a different villager.
But there's no reason to worry since we can invite every animal and we will also craft all the furniture.
Basic gameplay
The base of the game is running a campsite and offering a helping hand to the rest of the campers.
By building a strong friendship, we can invite the villagers to our campsite. Sadly, it's not as easy as it sounds.
Every animal has different requirements we need to fulfill before they accept our invitation.
The first requirement is to reach a certain level of our friendship. Next, we need to craft the items they want, so we can make their stay more pleasant.
As an exchange, every few hours the animals give us different crafting materials.
Every villager likes one of the four styles we saw. But even if we chose the cute style, we can invite someone who is into cool stuff.
Animals will ask us different favors/requests, and by completing them, we build our friendship. To fulfill these claims, we need to run around the map and collect what they want.
The map
On the map, we will find eight different locations. In four of them, we collect fish, fruits, shells, and bugs, materials the villagers want.
Apart from our campsite, there is also the Market Place where we can find two sellers. One of them sells customization items, and the other one has items for our camper.
On Shovelstrike Quarry we can play a mini-game to earn large quantities of specific crafting materials.
To enter Shovelstrike Quarry, we need the help of five friends or to pay 20 Leaf Tickets.
On OK Motors we have the car mechanics of the game, and they help us customize and expand our camper.
In every goods location, there is also a villager who currently isn't at our campsite.
By clicking on any given location, we see what the animal needs. Also, we get information about what we can collect there.
We can collect items with a simple tap on the screen.
Mainly, we collect fruits by a simple tap on our screen and picking them off the ground. To collect bugs, we have a net, and we tap the screen when we see the exclamation point.
Also, to collect shells, we just have to tap on them, while fishing works similar to bugs; we catch them with a fishing rod.
If we tap the screen before the message shows up or wait too long, the bug or fish will disappear. Finally, being too aggressive near bugs will scare them.
On these locations, we can also find other players. We can visit their camp, befriend them, give them kudos, and view their Market Box.
The campsite
The base of the game is our campsite. One of the primary goals is to befriend various villagers and convince them to visit our campsite.
Fulfiling all their requirements is very time consuming and somewhat complicated.
To make them visit, we must place all the requested items. The good thing is that we don't have to keep them forever. When we trick the animals into coming to our camp, we just store the items back into our inventory.
So we suggest you to use the choice “Invite to Campsite (Auto-arrange).”
With this setting, the game places the items automatically in our campsite, and when the animals finish exploring, we get asked to store them.
The villagers that currently reside in our campsite won't be available to talk on the map.
Moreover, we can host up to 8 animals a time. We can kick out anyone we want and invite another one anytime.
The campers will offer us essential materials that are used to craft items. Also, three of them have requests they want us to complete.
We think it's pretty clear at this point that we need to construct items to bring new villagers to our campsite. To see what everyone needs, we go to Contacts.
The animals who we have already invited to our campsite at some point will have a colorful background and the rest will not.
Crafting Items
The items we have already crafted will say “Completed!” and the rest will have an active button “Craft.” Crafting items cost materials and Bells. We can acquire them by completing requests.
We can see our crafting materials inventory from "Items," and then visiting the fourth tab.
Besides furniture we also have special objects; these need Leaf Tickets for their construction, or they are a part of a current event.
Every object needs different crafting materials, so we need to think before crafting something and wasting our materials.
Requests
On the map, if we click on a location that an animal is visiting, we can see "Rewards." There we can see what we get from completing that request.
We can complete each request within three hours, and every villager has three requests. As for the animals in our campsite, we only get one request from three of them.
Amenities and friendships
Apart from furniture and items, we can also craft four amenities, one for every style.
We can craft amenities on level five, and it requires a lot of materials.
The first amenities are the tents; they take 12 hours to construct, and we can upgrade them up to level 3.
When a tent gets to level 3, then we can build a second amenity which is even larger.
We need to be careful since every amenity falls under a style. If, for example, we want to build the "Picnic Set," then we must construct the "Natural Tent" first.
Apart from aesthetic, amenities also help increase the max friendship level. The villagers who like the style of the amenity we chose will get so excited, that will let us be level 10 friends. The max friendship level is 20.
The base max friendship level is 7. To increase our friendship level, we need to complete their requests and listen to their stories.
On the grand opening of an amenity, five random villagers will show up. With these animals, we will get five friendship points.
Goals
On Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, we have two type of goals: Timed Goals and Stretch Goals.
Timed Goals are daily goals that we can complete within 24 hours. Also, we can find the goals for the current event at the same location.
We get three daily goals, and they usually ask us simple actions. We can see the reward on the left.
On the other hand, we can complete Stretch Goals anytime, but they are more difficult. The rewards are much more significant, and we can even get Leaf Tickets from them.
When we see the button "Complete," we finished our goal, and we need to tap it to get our reward.
The reward will go straight into our inbox, and we usually have 7 or 30 days to collect it.
Tips and Tricks
Now that we saw the basics, its time to tell you a few secrets so you can become even better at the game.
Nintendo Account and free Leaf Tickets
As we mentioned, in the beginning, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp syncs our progress with a Nintendo account. This is not the only reason we should connect an account.
When we connect to our account, we get rewarded 100 Leaf Tickets, which is worth $5. But the rewards don't stop here; with the connection, we get access to My Nintendo.
From the main bar, we tap on "More," and from there we have access to My Nintendo.
There, we can claim 50 Leaf Tickets without doing a thing. Also, we can do various Missions Nintendo asks to get even more points.
With these coins, we can buy crafting materials, clothes, and bells.
Amenities, themes, and friendships
Whatever nature theme we chose at the beginning, it doesn't mean we are forbidden to talk to other animals or build other furniture. On the contrary, we must make all the furniture, and invite villagers from different themes in our campsite.
The same goes for amenities. Because we choose the sporty tent doesn't mean we have to upgrade it to level 3 and then build the bigger sporty amenity. That would be completely wrong.
It would be in our best interest to craft all four amenities since they will give us the ability to reach level 10 with all the animals. Especially since we can craft them and then place them in our inventory, it's essential to build them.
So let's not get stuck into a style, we can build everything, mix and match styles and amenities, and store everything for later.
Loans
We all know what a pain is to have a pending loan. But in the game, that problem is non-existent. To expand our camper, we can take a loan without even wanting it or knowing we do. Kind of like college.
In total we can get five loans; first, we pay 10k to expand the interior of our camper from 4x4 to 4x6. Then, we take another 30k loan to add a second floor. We continue with 50k and an expansion of the second floor.
Right here we will have to stop with the loans.
Thankfully, Giovanni (the car mechanic usurer) isn't like a bank. He only allows us to have one active loan, and before taking the next, we have to repay him in full.
To pay a loan, from the main menu we tap on "More" and then "Loan." There, we can see how much we owe and the paying options (1k, 5k, 10k Bells).
The good thing about the loans is they don't come with a rate, and we can take them as soon as we start the game, which we suggest.
Power Saving Mode
If you are outside, but it's time to collect your precious fruit, then Nindento got you covered. By connecting a Nintendo account, we can access “Power Saving Mode.”
To find it, we just tap on “More→Settings” and scroll down to locate it. So we enable it and collect everything without running out of battery.
Tex, your new best friend
We will meet quite a few animals before Tex, but when we meet him, we can't let him go. As we said, every villager provides us with different materials to thank us for our hospitality or helping him with requests.
That's why we need to make friends with the right animals.
Tex gifts us with cotton, which is somewhat rare and needed in large quantities for constructing the amenities.
So it's better to keep Tex in the eight villagers who stay in our campsite. This way we will have a good source of cotton.
Reset time
In the game, everything changes as the time goes by. In the map, we will notice that every three hours the animals rotate, so the requests do too.
Every three hours the trees grow more fruits. The three hours countdown starts when we last tap on the tree for the fruits to fall.
The marketplace, on the other hand, rotates every 6 hours, so if we want to find something new, we now know when to visit back.
Earlier we mentioned that villagers offer us crafting materials for our hospitality; we can get these every 1 hour, just by talking to them.
Lastly, the Shovelstrike Quarry rotates every 24 hours, but the best time to visit is when the icon is golden. During that time, we will get bonus crafting materials.
Instant cash
The trees need 3 hours before they grow new fruits, but the bugs, fish, and shells spawn every second.
So even if we collect everything in a location, if we visit back a few moments later, new collectibles will have spawned.
In other words, if we have time to run around, our inventory will fill up, and after selling everything, we will get rich.
Something else we can do to make an extra buck is to sell items we no longer want.
Yeah, sure, we crafted them to lure all the animals in our campsite, but they don't fit our theme.
So by going to the Market Place, we locate the seller on the right, and we sell him everything we crafted in about half the price.
Leaf Tickets and where to spend them
We can spend Leaf Tickets in various ways, but not all of them are as useful. For example, for 250 each, we can craft two special items.
These special items will bring K.K. and Tom to our campsite. K.K. plays his guitar, and Tom... sleeps.
If you want to buy one of them, buy K.K.'s stool; at least you will have live music. Our opinion: Much ado about nothing, they are just decorations and nothing more.
Also, 20 Leaf Tickets to enter Shovelstrike Quarry are too much. We don't think it's worth spending them for just an okay reward.
Since we reached halfway to the max level, we can surely tell you that buying extra crafting spots is more than worth the Leaf Tickets.
We start with one spot, and it takes forever to craft everything that we want. The cost for one extra is 80 Leaf Tickets, and we can have a total of three.
Another good investment is expanding our inventory. When we start the game, we have 100 spots that fill up in a blink of an eye.
On level 40, we will have 150 spots, but even that's not enough. So spending 20 Leaf Tickets to buy five spots and doing that five times is genuinely worth our money.
Easter Eggs
The game is very new, but the users of ACPocketCamp subReddit have already found a few Easter Eggs.
If we log in to the game in our birthday, then all the villagers will wish us Happy Birthday. At least someone remembered outside of Facebook.
Do we want animals with insanity? Just fill the camp with lamps and the visiting villagers will go in front of them and turn them on and off.
Do you like Animal Crossing Pocket Camp?
Do you already play Animal Crossing Pocket Camp or will you download it now?
Have you played any other Animal Crossing titles? Which style is your favorite?
Share with our readers in the comments your campsite and your opinion on the article.
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