It seems like absolutely everybody has been playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. And, of course, as with any popular game, rumors abound regarding secrets, hidden mechanics, and Easter eggs (and not the kind delivered by Zipper T. Bunny, either).
One rumor which has gained a particularly large amount of traction on Twitter is what has come to be known as the “Airport Trick.”
In New Horizons, players can use the airport to visit their friend’s islands as well as use Nook Miles to purchase tickets for a “Mystery Tour.” Mystery Tours deposit the player on a random procedurally generated island. These Mystery Islands can contain everything from fruit to fish to bell-filled Money Rocks to even the dangerous but valuable Tarantula. One particular Mystery Island, appropriately dubbed “Tarantula Island” by the game’s fan base, features nothing but a horde of these creatures, allowing players to turn a tidy profit catching and selling the spiders for 8,000 Bells apiece.
While the rare bug, hybrid flower, and profitable fish-filled Mystery Islands are certainly out there, they are frustratingly rare. Time and again, players find themselves visiting an island that contains nothing but a few common bugs or maybe a fruit tree or two. That’s, supposedly, where the “Airport Trick” comes in.
There are tons of variations of the trick floating around the Internet, but it boils down to this: interacting with the pilot dodo Orville in a certain way (usually via making him happy or embarrassed) in order to increase your chances of having him take you to a rare island. Some versions of the “Airport Trick” encountered on Twitter include:
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- Clapping at Orville until he reacts by blushing
- Making Orville react while he is sitting at his computer
- Carrying an item related to the island you want to visit (such as a bug net for tarantulas, or a shovel for Money Rocks)
Reports of exactly what the “Airport Trick” supposedly accomplishes are just as varied. Some claim that the trick works only once a day, while others insist that it just “increases your chances” of striking gold — but it’s still fairly likely that you’ll wind up on an ordinary island instead.
With such an inconsistent rumor, it’s pretty much impossible to decisively prove it either right or wrong. Searching “airport trick” on Twitter will turn up a mix of tweets insisting the trick works and those claiming it’s just luck. The “it’s just luck” posts seem to be slightly more frequent — for example, check out this Twitter thread started by Patricia Hernandez, a writer who claims to have tried the trick over three real-time days with no luck.
Animal Crossing pals: have you tried the airport trick? How did it go? I keep seeing it being repeated, in different variations (only once a day/holding specific tools determines the thing, etc), but it doesn't work for me. Yet I keep seeing it!
— Patricia Hernandez (@xpatriciah) April 9, 2020
It’s unlikely whether Nintendo will ever say for sure that the “Airport Trick” is or is not a real mechanic. But one thing can be said with absolute certainty, Orville’s blushing animation is absolutely adorable, so you should clap at him when you visit the airport, trick or no trick.
Has the “Airport Trick” worked for you? Do you think it’s real or just a rumor? Let us know!
