Villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons arrive on your island randomly or when you befriend them on Mystery Islands. But there is another way to get villagers to move in if you have Animal Crossing amiibo cards. Here’s how they work.
First off, Animal Crossing amiibo cards are rare. The first series released in 2015 alongside Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for Nintendo 3DS and contained 100 cards. Each card depicts a villager or guest like Tom Nook and Isabelle. There are now five different Amiibo series making up around 500 unique cards, as well as additional ‘special’ character cards that feature tie-ins with Sanrio and Legend of Zelda characters.
These amiibo cards unlocked certain villagers and special items in Happy Home Designer and Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and they’re also compatible with New Horizons.
How To Use Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards In New Horizons
To use amiibo cards in New Horizons to invite villagers to your island, head to the Town Hall and access the Nook Stop terminal. Navigate down to the ‘Invite amiibo camper’ option — you’ll be presented with the option to scan one of your amiibo cards.
To scan an amiibo card, simply tap it against the NFC touchpoint (the right Joycon stick) and the villager on your amiibo will be transported to your campsite.
The villagers you invite via amiibo won’t join your island straight away — instead, they’ll have special DIY requests for you to fulfil.
Villagers will need to be invited back multiple times before they agree to stay on your island — three times appears to be the minimum.
If there is no empty house on your island, you will need to force one of your existing villagers to leave so your new villager can move in.
Animal Crossing amiibo are hard to find in stores but are available on eBay. Prices fluctate and can go as high as $90 for more popular villagers, but there are other DIY options from Etsy if your favourite villager is unavailable.
Once you’ve obtained your favourite villagers as amiibo cards, you can populate your entire island with the villagers you really want.
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