One Animal Crossing: New Horizons fan discovered the hard way that the donation box is not worth the effort, despite earning 101k bells back from selling it when it was a hot item. Some players might've missed this item before, hidden away in the Nook Stop ATM as a DIY recipe that can be crafted. When others interact with the finished item, they're able to leave a donation of 1,000 bells to whoever owns it, allowing others to thank those they have visited in a fun and cute way.
There's a little more to the donation box though, as the player Afraid_Tiger_4798 learned when selling a donation box as a "hot item of the day" at Nook's Cranny. Allowing players to double their money when selling an item selected on these days, players that get lucky with it as one of the options will look to fill the donation box fully with 99k bells as to make a return of 200k bells. But this gamer underestimated just how long of a task this would be, as the game forces players to deposit only 1,000 bells at a time: "I'm actually so mad at how long this took."
Is 100k Bells Worth The Frustration In Animal Crossing New Horizons?
This Slow, Manual Work Isn't Worth The Hassle
Earning 101k bells sounds like it would be worth the effort in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, especially just for selling a "hot item" and essentially getting free money back in return. But the game's limitations instead leave it feeling like a frustrating and best-avoided method of making money, unless players really need it. Forcing slow 1k bell deposits at once is a very "time-consuming" task when players could be enjoying the game in many other ways.
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While some may argue this isn't the worst way to get some free income, one player even goes as far as to comment that "it was the biggest waste of my time." It doesn't seem really worthwhile to make the effort to sell a donation box this way, but one commenter does have a solution if players really want to give it a go: "I keep a donation box outside of my house, I add probably 5-10,000 bells a day depending if I feel like doing it, but I have maybe 7 or 8 full donation boxes in my storage now!" It's a slow and tedious process, but if players need bells it's a solution outside of selling crops, fish, or bugs.
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ACNH Is Intended To Be Slow
This isn't the only way that players can work with the game to get some extra money for themselves either, with plenty of other ways to take advantage of unique mechanics. The game's money trees are a great example of this, allowing players to earn a potential of 299,997 bells by burying 99k bells and simply waiting to reap the rewards, though the chance of it always being the highest total possible does vary.
This donation box exploit probably isn't worth the time it takes to do, but if players want to slowly donate each day or leave them out on their island for others to donate towards, it could be worthwhile. Manually contributing 1k bells at a time is slow though, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons has many more fun ways to earn money - even if it's not quite so much at once. It would be a more enjoyable time to simply fish, harvest crops, go diving, catch bugs, or even go on a mystery island tour for some unique critters to find.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Released
- March 20, 2020
- ESRB
- E for Everyone: Comic Mischief
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EPD
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Engine
- Havok
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- no
- Cross Save
- no
- Expansions
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons — Happy Home Paradise
- Franchise
- Animal Crossing
- Platform(s)
- Switch
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