When you first start the game, you start out with 0 bells. You can shake trees in the hopes of getting bells (100 at a time), or random furniture and misc. items. However you also have the possibility of shaking down a beehive. And when they sting you, you will either have to go to Tom Nook's shop, and purchase Medicine (for 400 bells), or save your game. After saving and re-starting the game, the beestings will go away. Another way to earn bells is to wander around and look for tiny x marks on the ground. They can be anywhere, in the dirt of the paths, in the grass, and even in the sand by the seashore. You have to have purchased a shovel to dig with first though. You can find fossils (which need to be taken to the museum and identified before you can donate or sell them), Pitfall Seeds (if you walk over an x hiding one of these, you fall into a hole in the ground and can't get out for a few seconds), and strange pot-like items (gyroids) that can be sold to Tom Nook for 828 bells a piece. The gyroids are also items that can be placed in your house and dance.

Before you get too far in the beginning of the game, you must go through a tutorial of sorts. This happens with every character you make, even if you've done it with previous ones on that game.

Basically, Tom Nook introduces himself, tells you about the house he built you, how much you need to pay to pay it off, and then tells you to come visit him at his shop where he'll give you a job. After you visit the shop, he gives you a Work Shirt, then has you plant flowers and trees around the shop. After that, you have to talk to all your neighbors, if you miss any, he sends you out again until you've met them all. Next, you have to deliver furniture to 3 people. After that, you have to write a letter to one of the neighbors. Then you have to write an advertisement for the bulletin board. And thus it ends. Tom Nook will deduct 1,400 bells from your mortgage for all the work you did for him, and you are finally on your own and able to do as you wish.

You can go fishing in the sea, streams, and ponds. Fish are a good and fast way to get bells. Just remember to walk and not run along the water, if you run you tend to scare the fish away! When you see a fish, throw your lure into the water. It will nibble at the lure but don't pull it in until you hear the 'plop!' and see the lure yanked under the surface. Then drag your stylus between the lure and your character quickly, repeating until either you have reeled the fish in, or it gets away.

If you don't have enough bells to buy a shovel or fishing rod, wander down to the beaches and collect the sea shells and coral. Each shell is worth a different amount, check the item section on this site for prices.

One thing you should do daily is check the recycle bin at the Town Hall. Sometimes it will be empty, sometimes it will have random junk, and other times you will find furniture and clothes. Another good place to check is at the Town Gate. Ask Booker (the guard on the left) if there is anything Lost and he will show you all the items in the lost and found. You can take as many as you wish. Also, if you ask Booker What's New, he will tell you if anyone has come through the gate that day. Such as the Turnip Seller, Red, or any of the other occasional characters. You'll find out more about those in the special characters section.

Don't forget to talk to all your neighbors! If you do this every day (or a few times each day, depending on how often you play), and send them letters in the mail, they will start giving you random gifts! If you don't like the gift or choose not to keep it, you can sell it to Tom Nook for more bells. Remember to check the recycling bin the day after you send a present. Your neighbors tend to dump items there after recieving something from you to make room in their houses. Also, if you send a piece of fruit to them in the mail, they will sometimes send you a different one back the next day. If you plant the new fruit and water it daily till it becomes a full grown tree, you can sell the fruit to Tom Nook for 500 bells. Sometimes one of your neighbors will see you walking abount and you will hear a little chime sound, 3 little white exlimation mark like things will also appear around the person's head. When this happens, you should talk to the person as they will either give you something, ask you something, or sometimes just say random things. In any case, it will help you become better friends. When you get to be close enough friends with someone, they will give you a picture of themselves to put in your house.

If you notice your house getting crowded and haven't paid off your loan yet (when you pay it off, you get asked if you want Tom Nook to build you a larger house), or don't want to keep paying off more and more loans, get a wardrobe. This allows you to keep 15 items in each of 6 compartments, so 90 total. You can't keep any fish or insects in the wardrobe, but really, why would you want to? To access your wardrobe items, stand in front of it and tap your character with the stylus. Be careful not to touch the wardrobe itself when you do so or you will put the wardrobe in your pockets instead of opening it. To put an item away or take it out, simply drag it to or from your pockets. You can also use envelopes to store extra items. Just drag the item from your pockets into an empty envelope.

You can use almost any item you buy or are given. Some are just for decoration like the indoor plants, but others can actualy do things. The beds you buy you can lay on and the chairs can be sat in. You can put things in any room of your house except the save game room, and the only things that can go outside are outdoor plants. Don't forget to water them! If you see your flowers turning brownish, you need to water them immediately, otherwise the next day they will have died and dissappeared. The same with any trees you plant. They start out very tiny, but every day you water them, they will become bigger the next day. If you don't water them daily until they reach the height of the other trees, they will die and vanish from where you planted them.

If a tree is blocking an area you wish to get to, and you cannot get around it, buy an axe. You can chop it down and then use the shovel to remove the stump. Don't do this too often however or you will be left with no trees and the townspeople will get grumpy.

Have you noticed the presents tied to balloons that float past in the sky yet? Once you have bought the slingshot, you will be able to shoot them down. It takes practice to be able to hit the balloon, but once it pops, go find the present and pocket it. Then go into your inventory and tap the gift, choose Open Present and see what you have managed to get!

Occasionally you will get a present in a letter, to get the present out, tap the letter in your inventory, read it, then tap it again and choose Get Present. Then do the same thing as above to see what you have been given.

Go down to the shore every morning. Sometimes you may find a fruit that doesn't grow on your island washed up on the beach, or a message in a bottle that isn't from another player. If you plant the fruit, and keep the tree watered until it reaches adult size, you can sell each piece of fruit for 500 bells. And of course you get 3 pieces each day.

If you want to know what your neighbors are saying to each other, walk up to them when they're talking to someone else. Then tap one of them with your stylus as though you were going to talk to them. You'll be able to read the entire conversation without starting one yourself.

Be careful about taping another character to start a conversation if you are carrying anything in your hands. You could accidently hit the other person, and if you do it too many times, they will get mad and yell at you.

If you see a weed and want to yank it while carrying something in your hands, just turn yourself around so your character is facing you, then tap the weed with your stylus.

Be careful when you run around the town. If you run through flowers, you will destroy them. If you walk through them at a normal pace, they won't be harmed.

Sometimes when fishing you will find junk items instead of fish. Tires, tin cans and boots have no bell value. You can leave them in the recycle bin at the Town Hall and they get collected twice a week. If the bin is full, you can also give them to Tom Nook, but he won't give you any bells for them. Another item that isn't worth bells is the Pitfall Seed. You can find these when digging at the spots marked with an x. They can also be tossed in the recycle bin at the Town Hall.

Scorpions and tarantulas will chase after you and bite you if you are not carful when they come out. Catch them first, otherwise you will black out and appear in front of your house if they bite you. They only come out at night, and make a kind of scratching noise.