Summary

Earning Bells requires some grinding inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, especially for new players. There are a variety of ways tomaximizeAnimal Crossingprofitsearly in the game, thoughmost of them typically abide by basic economic laws. Timmy and Tommy graciously offer twice the typical payment for certain hot items, with the selection rotating every day.

In a cunning move that technically wouldn’t be legal to do in the United States, Reddit userRainbowEuphorbiamanaged to convince Timmy and Tommy to fork over almost two million Bells for a measly 10 donation boxes. By starting a new island and avoiding picking up and learning the various recipe cards that wash up on the island, the player increased their chances of having the daily hot item be the donation box. One at a time,the player filled the boxes so that they were full of Bells before cashing in at the special price.

Isabelle from Animal Crossing New Horizons on a background from the game.

With each box filled with the maximum number of Bells, Timmy and Tommy paid the player double the base price for the donation box, and also double the number of Bells inside each one, technically committing two federal crimes. “Congratulations on committing at least two US Federal Offenses!” Reddit user Nightfire613 commented on the post,“Tax evasion and money laundering!“Others in the comments suggested OP could also be charged with market manipulation, given their explicit decision to avoid learning other recipes – raking up the possible offenses they could be charged with (ifNew Horizonstook place in the US).

10 Reasons To Play Animal Crossing: New Horizons Again

There’s always something to do in Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons, whether it be catching critters or redecorating with villagers.

How To Use The Donation Box Exploit To Make Millions Of Bells

This Trick Requires Some Planning

It’s fairly easy to commit what would be federal crimes inNew Horizons, with some careful planning. Traditionally, donation boxes sell for a base price of 960 Bells, meaning when they’re the hot item of the day, players can get 1,960 Bells for each item. But this is only for empty donation boxes. Each donation box will hold 99,000 Bells (by adding 1,000 Bells at a time), essentially increasing its sale price by the number of Bells inside. This meansa single full donation box will sell for 199,960 Bellsif it’s the hot item at Nook’s Cranny.

The recipe for the donation box can be purchased from the Nook Stop kiosk inside Resident Services for only 800 Nook Miles, an easy amount to achieve even for new players. Traditionally,donation boxes are used for players visiting another player’s island to offer a monetary gift to the player they’re visiting, usually whileselling turnips on another’s island. Since the item was added as part ofNew Horizons' 2.0 update, players have found plenty of creative uses for it.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Donation Box DIY recipe from Nook Stop

As the hot item of the day at Nook’s Cranny is always something craftable, the more craftable items a player has, the lower the chance the donation box will be the daily option. That said, it’ll take some time to fill each box with the maximum number of Bells, particularly when just starting out. Though holding off on learning new crafting recipes is a way to increase the likelihood of it being the daily hot item, it’s not entirely necessary to pull off this heist ofAnimal Crossing:New Horizonsfederal crimes.

animal crossing new horizons

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Animal Crossing New Horizons character resting on a beach towel

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Talking to Tom Nook in his tent in the plaza at the start of Animal Crossing New Horizons