Animal Crossing Turnip Guide – How to get rich in Animal Crossing

If you're looking to make enormous profits then you need to start playing the Stalk Market.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

As wholesome and cozy Animal Crossing is, it – like most things – revolves around money. Don’t let the cute lil animals fool you, you’re going to be forever indebted the second you settle on this island to the viciously capitalist Tanuki, Tom Nook. Video games are all about escaping real life problems, but you thought you could escape the housing market so easily? Hah! No, you’re going to be paying off each brick until you’re old and wrinkly.

Unless you get into the stalk market. A risky game that could speed up your journey for financial freedom! Granted, it requires a bit of patience and plenty of luck. But if you can play the game right, you can make twice as much money back and sooner than you think, you’ll be racking in the big bells.

Quick overview

The best way to describe the stalk market is hoping you buy for a cheap price and sell at a higher one. Thus earning profits and (hopefully) making your bells back, and possibly even doubling them.

But there’s no way to guarantee you’ll sell at a higher value, instead you might buy turnips at 90 a piece and after a week’s waiting, you’ll sell them at 80 a piece, thus losing bells. But equally, you could be lucky and buy for 90 and sell at 150 a piece.

This guide will help you maximise your profits and teach you how to play the stalk game.

Buying

When it comes to buying turnips, you can find Daisy Mae every Sunday between 5AM and 12PM. She’ll wander your island and sell your white turnips. She might linger after noon but she won’t be selling you more after that. There’s no real limit to how many turnips you can buy other than the space in your pockets. You can empty your pockets and then buy a further dozen after.

In terms of pricing, the price of the turnips can vary between 90 and 110 bells. Of course, it’s ideal to buy them at their cheapest so you stand a better chance of selling higher. But Daisy’s prices are set. Don’t try to barter!

Selling

When it comes to selling your turnips, you go to Timmy and Tommy. They’ll buy your turnips every day except Sundays. But their buying prices will change every AM and PM. Their prices may be as low as 9 Bells but then shoot up to 660 Bells per turnip. You’ll need to go to the twins every day and every AM and PM to see how much they’re buying for. But remember, they might offer you a pretty sum one morning, and you might be tempted but you leave it to chance… Only to find out that the prices are dipping.

You need to know when to sell so you don’t lose any Bells. If it comes to it that you’ve just sold all your Bells for the same price you bought them for, that’s still better than losing a few thousand or even hundred thousand Bells.

But remember, you can go on other’s islands and sell your turnips there as they will have different prices. In fact, some players have taken to the Turnip Exchange to allow players to come and sell their turnips on their island. Mind you, some people demand you ‘pay’ for these services. Either way, you can check out the Turnip Exchange here.

The Selling Patterns

Thankfully, the prices aren’t perfectly random. Instead, there’s a way to gauge how much you can make. There are four selling patterns in-game. Random, decreasing, large spike or small spike. They’re all self-explanatory, and depending on the numbers Timmy and Tommy give you, you can gauge just what pattern you’ve got for the week. Thus knowing whether it’s worth waiting for a spike or if you need to sell right away because you’re in a decreasing pattern.

Random Pattern

As expected, this pattern has increased and decreasing phases throughout the week. And it’s the most frustrating because you’ll never really know when’s the ideal time to sell. Instead, you just have to cross your fingers and hope for the best.

In a Random Pattern, your maximum profit will only ever be 140% of whatever your base price was. Your best bet here (if you don’t have any friends whose island you can visit) is to sell the moment it is higher than your buying price. 

Decreasing Pattern

A week of losing Bells. This is the worst pattern of all four and if you find yourself in it, you’re going to need to sell as soon as possible to minimise your losses. Or you’ll need to visit another’s island or check out the Turnip Exchange.

Large Spike

At first, this could look like you’re in a decreasing pattern. But a decreasing patterns decreases every single day. Whereas, if you spot a slight increase, you might be looking at a large spike pattern. More importantly, if the 3rd half day after your first increase is greater than or equal to 2X your base price then you are definitely in a large spike. Keep a careful eye out for massive increases and remember that your third increase is going to be the best! And so you should instantly go for that one.

Small Spike

Similarly to the Large Spike, it will seemingly look as though it’s a decreasing pattern. But there will be a slight increase, an so you’ll be able to make your money back, and a little extra too! Unlike the Large Spike where you’re suggested to wait for the third increase, with the small one, you’re best bet is to sell at the second one.

Turnip Calculator

To make things all the more easier, there’s a turnip Calculator handy. You can input the prices you bought, and the more detail you give the calculator, the more accurate it’ll be. Find it here, and you’ll have a better guide and indicator when you should sell.

Time Travel

Surely you’ll be asking yourself if you can Time Travel. Yes and no…

You can travel forwards in time and hope you’re moving to the highest price to sell. But if you travel backwards in time, all your turnips will rot and you can’t sell them for anything at all and you’ll need to dispose of them!

So, if you time travel do it at your own risk!

But there you have it, hopefully this guide will help you in making those big Bells!