Jeff's New Horizons Blog

Yesterday, I received my bean-tossing kit in the mail…although I’m just going to refer to them as beans. You can throw the beans, but the process isn’t as enjoyable as it was in New Leaf. The “launch” isn’t as powerful, the beans don’t go as far when you toss them, and they disappear before they hit the ground.

In New Leaf, the beans would sometimes bounce around after hitting the ground, and it was just so satisfying. Also, people and animals don’t make surprised faces when hit with beans any more. So it feels like they downgraded the beans.

I was working on my obstacle course last night, and I came to the conclusion that I needed to remove an incline to give myself enough room. So the ramp that went up to the campsite is now gone…along with the western half of the campsite area. It may return in the future, though.

Today, Rizzo informed me that he just patrolled the island for any shady characters, and he assured me that all is well. Having Rizzo watch out for shady characters is like a fox guarding a hen house.

Apple was talking about moving out of town, but I told her to hang around town. On an apple tree.

After I came out of Nook’s Cranny, I walked towards my house…and I saw a snowball spawn on the path! It was completely on-screen and it appeared out of nowhere! I always thought that would happen just off-screen, but that’s not the case.

At about 10:00 tonight, I opened my gate for Friday Night Forest. Logan and Timo were the first to show up. We threw beans at each other, shook our new maracas, and yelled through our megaphones…all items that were newly added with the recent game update.

By 10:15, still no one else had joined in, so I let Logan and Timo make a practice run on my new obstacle course. I actually ran along with them. But as soon as we were done (Logan won), Nami came over. We talked for a bit, and then hung out in my house.

About 11:00, Xavier joined in. Fortunately, everyone had their Elf outfits. After a brief discussion about tacos, I led the four elves over to the obstacle course. The theme is holiday movies (and specials), so I tried to recreate some elements from several of them. Here’s a quick summary of what they’re based on, and what racers had to do at each place.

• Elf: Start on a sleigh, cross a chair in an elf classroom, and “make a toy” by launching an RC helicopter.
• Frosty the Snowman: Use a magic hat and then move through a field of snowmen.
• Rudolph: Beware of the Abominable Snow Monster (called a “Bumble” by Yukon Cornelius) by using a vaulting pole to cross a small lake to safety. Bumbles can’t swim.
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: Use a water pump to flush away the sewage from Cousin Eddie’s RV.
• Charlie Brown Christmas: Activate a doghouse to “pet Snoopy.”
• Cross an ice bed (this one isn’t based on a movie, I just thought it would be a good obstacle to add).
• A Christmas Story: “Lick the light post” by turning on the lamp.
• Race back to the starting point. On the return trip, no tasks needed to be completed.

Logan was the first one back to the starting point, followed by Timo. But I thought it looked like Logan missed one of the tasks, so I checked my video to confirm it. And indeed, he missed the magic hat. It looks like he was standing beyond it and basically grabbed the side of a sign instead. Sorry Logan, but I had to disqualify you. Timo wins! The prizes were 99k bells and ten large snowflakes.

After a bit, Logan went hiding and wanted to be found, while some of us just went swimming and diving. We eventually regrouped on the northwest beach, where we sat on clams and Logan changed his appearance to look like Nami first, and then me.

About midnight, Logan and Nami left. Timo, Xavier, and I admired the northern lights up in the sky.

I threw some beans in Timo’s eyes, we vaulted across the river, and then we beat up Rizzo. It was a pretty good night. About 12:30, I ended the session for the night. Thanks to all who came!

I’ll be posting my video of the obstacle course at some point this weekend, but it probably won’t be until Sunday morning. Have a good weekend everyone, and I’ll see you all next time!

Yesterday, Agent S was sick with a cold. I bought some medicine for her, and she rewarded me with a soft-serve hat.

Saharah was in town, so I bought a backyard-fence wall and train-station flooring from her. I didn’t bother buying any rugs this time.

When I visited Rizzo, he informed me that I had an ant on me!

He offered to buy it for 120 bells, and I accepted the deal.

Today, C.J. was in town with a seasports challenge for me: He wanted me to catch three big-time fish in a row. So I caught a yellow perch and two dace(s) to complete the challenge.

I grabbed some fish from storage to sell him. He gave me 246,750 bells for 12 sturgeons, five football fish, two red snappers, two koi, and two oarfish.

As usual, a few tools broke today, and I crafted their replacements. In the process, I hit a new Nook Miles milestone: I earned 1,000 Nook Miles for crafting my 1,000th tool.

Update Time

Later on, I downloaded the new game update. Nintendo sent me a letter with some maracas attached. That will be a fun thing to play with during Festivale…or any time, really.

There are some new seasonal items available, including a bean-tossing kit (like the beans from New Leaf), a Resetti model for Groundhog Day, and two Super Bowl-related items. I ordered the beans right away, but I’m waiting a few days on the others (because I’m still ordering items for my race).

Even though Nintendo’s update teaser video from the other day made it appear that rugs could be placed outdoors, that is not the case. I tried it tonight. Apparently the item shown is just a flat furniture item (like a manhole cover) that you get for Festivale, and not a rug.

I have not noticed any other changes in my short time with the update. However, Jen at Crystal Dreams pointed out that you can now get a mermaid fence recipe from Pascal (in exchange for a scallop, of course). Have you all noticed anything else different in the update? Leave a comment below!

My obstacle course/race is nearing completion. The current plan is to hold my first race during Friday Night Forest. If you’re on my friend roster and plan on visiting either this week or in the coming weeks, please consider downloading my Buddy the Elf outfit.

I made a Buddy the Elf outfit. Feel free to use it if you want. #animalcrossing #acnh pic.twitter.com/XYRhenGlZR

— JVGS Jeff (@jvgsjeff) January 27, 2021

The plan is for the first four visitors who have the outfit to race first. (Those four might be featured in my video of the race, but no promises.) If fewer than four people with the outfit visit on Friday, we’ll still race, I just won’t use that footage in my video.

See you all next time!

Yesterday, I wanted to customize my robot hero to make it blue. But I was shocked when I saw that it requires 50 customization kits! That’s 30,000 bells worth just to give it a paint job! So I had to buy some more at the store, but I did it. Here’s a look at my freshly-painted blue robot hero.

When I visited Bones, he surprised me with a greeting I did not expect. He said “Hi, Grandma!” I’m not your grandma! But it turns out that he was just dreaming. Crazy dog.

Today, I found a lost item up near the campsite. It smelled like the minty sports creams (football cream?) that athletes use, so I knew it belonged to a jock.

I asked Tybalt about it, but he said it looked like something Louie would use. So I took it to the local gorilla, and he thanked me by giving me a visual-punk outfit.

Flick was in town, so I grabbed some bugs out of storage to sell him. I sold him 15 wasps and six emperor butterflies for a total of 92k.

I consider wasps and emperor butterflies to be medium-priced bugs, and they’re the type I wouldn’t normally bother saving for Flick in summer. But in winter, there isn’t much variety when it comes to semi-valuable bugs, so I save them just so I have something to sell to Flick when he comes.

See you all next time!