ACNH Halloween update: Tips and tricks for Jack
- sep
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Pumpkins, leaves changing colors, new characters, and more.
Within the Northern Hemisphere, Animal Crossing: New Horizons fall changes officially starts to show on your island on September 1. You'll notice that the small island icon that shows up in the bottom right corner of your screen during loading times is a more yellowy hue. Additionally, when you shake your island's trees, you'll occasionally find acorns and pinecones.
However, you'll need to wait until October 1 to see some real changes. This includes the leaves changing color and the start of additional fall events. There are a few new characters not to mention the Halloween and Thanksgiving activities to get excited about. Here's everything coming in the free Animal Crossing Fall Update.
ACNH Fall Update
- Autumn changes and colors
- Buy candy from Nook's Cranny
- Halloween costumes and character customization
- Grow your own pumpkin patch
- New crafting materials and DIY recipes
- New fall characters & holidays
- Jack the Czar of Halloween
- Franklin the turkey chef of Thanksgiving
Leaves changing color
The most obvious change that comes with the Animal Crossing Fall Update is the leaves changing colors. Orange and red canopies will dapple your island while the grass also turns yellow—a stark contrast to the vibrant green we've seen for so many months. Nook's Cranny also changes its decor slightly by putting out pumpkins, a string of fall leaves, and featuring mushroom vinyls in the windows.
Buy candy from Nook's Cranny
During the month of October, players can purchase candy from the green cabinet in Nook's Cranny. Each piece costs 120 Bells. We highly suggest stocking up on your candy horde throughout the month of October so you're better prepared to meet Jack on All Hallows Eve
Halloween costumes and character customization
By purchasing fancy clothes from Able Sister's during October you'll be able to dress your character up in festive attire. Additionally, a number of eye colors and skin colors are getting added so your characters can look more otherworldly. This includes things like having blue skin and yellow eyes. Have fun and get your character ready for Halloween!
Grow your own pumpkin patch
Look at those adorable little pumpkins! I'm super excited to get my own pumpkin patch set up in the perfect section of my island. It isn't clear yet how you will acquire pumpkins. They might be available for purchase at the Nook's Cranny cabinet or it's possible that you'll have to get them from Leif the sloth.
New crafting materials and DIY recipes
After September 1, players who have the DIY Recipes app unlocked will receive the Tree's Bounty Little Tree recipe from Isabelle after turning their games on. Additionally, she'll explain that acorns and pinecones can now fall from your island's trees. We've also seen from Nintendo's official trailers that mushrooms will appear on the island as part of the fall update.
Remember your pumpkin patch? Well, if you gather pumpkins, you'll be able to craft them into various Halloween DIY recipes during the month of October. Tend to your patch so you can get your island completely ready for this spooky night.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Fall Update Characters & holidays
Two main characters appear during the Autumn season in Animal Crossing: Jack, the pumpkin-headed specter who shows up around Halloween, and Franklin, the turkey chef who shows up around Thanksgiving. If you do what they ask for, they can reward you with festive furniture and items.
Animal Crossing Jack the Czar of Halloween
On October 31st, players will get to celebrate Halloween festivities with their villagers and a special holiday character named Jack. Jack is a specter with a pumpkin head who has appeared in several previous Animal Crossing games. Although, we're not entirely sure what his function will be since some of the other pre-existing NPCs have been tweaked a little in this latest game.
In past games, Jack has shown up during October and asks you to give him candy. If players obliged his sweet tooth, he would, in turn, give them Spooky furniture. However, if a player refused to give him candy or gave him some other item, Jack would pull some tricks like replacing the clothes you're wearing with moldy ones or taking your hat and making you wear a pumpkin helmet instead.
Tips and tricks for Jack
To prevent anything bad from happening on Halloween, we've got a few tips and tricks for you to follow while Jack is on your island.
- Keep open slots in your inventory: If Jack tries to reward you with something, but you don't have room to receive his gift, then you're going to have to take time away from the Halloween activities to drop things off somewhere. Save yourself the hassle and make room before doing anything else on Halloween. We recommend having at least five slots open.
- Have plenty of candy on you: The problem with identifying Jack in New Leaf is that all of your villagers dress up as him on Halloween making it hard to tell if it's the real Jack or just one of your friends. We're guessing that Jack will operate similarly with New Horizons. As we mentioned before, Jack will ask for treats on Halloween and if you don't comply he'll play a trick. With this being the case, we recommend having a stash of at least 15 pieces of candy on your person throughout the day.
Don't wear your favorite clothes around Jack: Since Jack has been known to steal your clothing in the past, we recommend you don't wear anything you want to lose around him. For example, if you finally saved up and bought that expensive 1,000,000 Bell Crown from Able Sister's it would be terrible if this phantom took it away.
Jack's Animal Crossing amiibo card isn't working — yet: Jack's Animal Crossing amiibo card can be purchased on Amazon. However, as of today when I scanned my card at Harvey's Island, the game told me "Jack can't be invited to Photopia". It's possible this could change sometime in October. I'll keep you posted.
If Jack's functions turn out to be different, we'll definitely update this section.
Jack's Spooky Furniture
These are all of the items that players could get from Jack in New Leaf. Jack may give out some of these items in New Horizons. We'll update when we learn more.
- Spooky Wall
- Spooky Carpet
- Spooky Bed
- Spooky Bookcase
- Spooky Clock
- Spooky Lamp
- Spooky Sofa
- Spooky Table
- Spooky Vanity
- Spooky Wall Lamp
- Spooky Wardrobe
- Spooky Chair
- Spooky Dresser
- Spooky Paper
Animal Crossing Franklin the turkey chef
In past Animal Crossing games, Franklin was a central part of the Harvest Festival, which takes place around the Thanksgiving holiday in November. The chef would set up in the village and then inform you that he was missing key ingredients for his dishes.
If the player helped him acquire the ingredients he needed, he'd reward them with Harvest Series furniture and decorations. We're guessing he'll play the same role in New Horizons. As always, we'll update as we learn more.
Franklin's Animal Crossing amiibo card can be purchased on Amazon. However, when I tried to scan his card today the game told me the same thing Jack's did, "Franklin can't be invited to Photopia". I'll keep trying and will update if this changes.
Franklin's Harvest Series furniture
These are all of the items that players could get from Franklin in New Leaf. Franklin may give out some of these items in New Horizons. We'll update when we learn more.
- Harvest Bed
- Harvest Bureau
- Harvest Chair
- Harvest Clock
- Harvest Dresser
- Harvest Lamp
- Harvest Mirror
- Harvest Sofa
- Harvest Table
- Harvest TV
- Harvest Wall Lamp
- Harvest Wall
- Harvest Rug
Animal Crossing Fall Update
It's time to fall in love with Animal Crossing: New Horizons' changing leaves and upcoming Autumn characters. I'm especially looking forward to the Halloween activities and meeting Jack in person.
Hopefully, these Autumn festivities prove to be a fun change for all you fellow Animal Crossing players out there.
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