CATCHING BUGS

Your deserted island has a large variety of bugs to catch and collect. Find butterflies, beetles, mantids, and more! These can be donated to the museum, sold for bells, or displayed in your home. Keep catching all year ‘round to complete your collection.

In order to catch bugs, you must visit Timmy or Tommy to purchase a net, or craft one yourself. You then venture through the island to find bugs hiding in flowers, trees, or just jumping aimlessly around.

Be careful, though, as there are hidden dangers. Wasps hide in the trees and they get angry if you shake them up, and poisonous tarantulas come out at night time.

GARDENING

Gardening is a great hobby to pick up while on your deserted island. Not only is it therapeutic, but it adds beauty throughout the island. There are many types of flowers you can plant, but you may have to explore to find them. Pick up a Nook Miles ticket to visit a neighboring island that might have the types of flowers you're missing.

These flowers come in a variety of colors, but the standards are red, yellow, and white. Plant these next to each other and water them every day to grow hybrid flowers in the colors orange, blue, pink, purple, and black!

These flowers can simply be collected, they can be used to decorate the island, or you can use them in different DIY recipes to make things like flower crowns and more.

DECORATING

With a little bit of hard work you can grow your deserted island from just a couple of tents to a bustling city. One of the ways to achieve this is through decorating. As you upgrade your house, you can have up to six rooms to decorate as you'd please. Nook's cranny restocks daily with new furniture and decorations to use in your designs.

Not only can you decorate the inside of your house, you can decorate your whole island! Place picnics on the beach, make a public park, make an outdoor gym, or even make a carnival! The possibilities are endless and you have complete control over what you'd like to see around the island.

LIVE MUSIC

Live music is another perk of island life. Once you develop your island to a suitable standard, musicians can be invited over to play shows in your town square. Namely, the legendary KK Slider might make an appearance.

To get KK Slider, all you need to do is build a few shops, place some paths and fences, decorate a little, and maybe plant some flowers. After all, you want to make him feel welcome and give him an incentive to come. He gets a vacation, and you and your fellow residents get a show.

Once KK decided your island is suitable to play shows at, he'll come every Saturday night. HE likes to play what his heart desires for most of the day, but at night time he'll start to take requests. He may even send you a copy of the song you request in the mail the next day, so choose wisely.

FISHING

Your deserted island has a bustling ecosystem, with all kinds of living creatures, including fish. Once again, the Nook brothers can hook you up with a fishing rod in exchange for some bells, or you can craft one yourself. Use this to reel in those big fish to either sell them, donate them to the museum, or display them.

Different fish come to the surface throughout the year, so be sure to fish each month if you want to see all of them. These fish include things like goldfish, trout, bass, stringfish, barreleye, flounders, and more. Similarly, you might find water bugs or turtles in the river.

CRAFTING

When you arrive to your deserted island, Tom Nook will provide you with a crafting table and a few recipes. Throughout your time on the island, you can find more recipes and eventually you'll have a whole arsenal of things you know how to craft.

There are many ways you can obtain new DIY recipes. You might find that someone littered an old can onto the ground. You pick it up, intending to throw it away, and inspiration hits! You grab some dirt and some plants and you turn that old can into a terrarium. Share your recipes with your fellow recipes, and they can share theirs with you. This way the whole island will be crafting all kinds of things to decorate their homes and the island with. You also might find recipes washed up in the ocean, floating by in balloons, or from your friends on other islands.

There are tons of things you can craft. You might find yourself making tools to make your time on your island easier. Maybe you wanna craft yourself a bed or a dresser. Maybe you find a bunch of shells and wanna make an archway of shells that leads to the beach. The possibilities are endless.

VISITING NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Your deserted island getaway is not only a vacation, it's your new home. But that doesn't mean you're stuck there! With a Nook Miles ticket you can take a seaplane to one of the neighboring islands.

You can visit your friends by these seaplanes to hang out with them, shop in their stores, or meet their neighbors. Alternatively, take the seaplane to a random island. You might find more crafting materials here, special bugs and fish, hybrid flowers, or some new friends to invite to live on your island. Lastly, you can visit Harvey's island to take pictures in his photo studio.

FASHION

If your deserted island gets developed enough, the Able sisters will set up shop. At their store you can find tons of clothing and accessories to purchase. They have clothes for every situation you could find yourself in whether you need something for gardening, fishing, sleeping, or a costume party. Anything you need, you can find.

MEET THE LOCALS

Your neighbors are the life of the island. You'll find them out and about, exploring the island just like you. In order to have the best island experience possible, you should get to know them. If you become friends, they'll share DIY recipes with you, teach you reactions, and even give you gifts.

They're all different, though, and you might get along with some more than others. You might find villagers that are really into working out, some that are only into the finest china and expensive things, some that seem to treat you like they're your big sister, some that seem like their energy will never run out, and some that are just grumpy all the time.

We encourage you to give all of your neighbors a chance, but it's okay if you don't get along. They all move on eventually, so practice patience and they'll be off the island in no time.

ART GALLERY

Visit Jolly Redd's Treasure Trawler to purchase works of art to add to the museum or display in your home. You can find a large variety of paintings as well as sculptures for sale.

Redd isn't exactly known for his character, though, so be careful not to get scammed. For every real piece of art you find, he'll have three fake ones. Make sure to take your time and examine the art before you choose to purchase it. Blathers has a great eye, so if it's fake he won't accept it.