= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Animal Crossing Feng Shui (luck), HRA score, and the Wishing Well FAQ Version 2.0 5/16/2003 Feng Shui section written by MateoLeviathon@aol.com = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = News and updates Please note change in web site and email: Check out my textures web site: http://www.geocities.com/t_cromis2 t_cromis2@yahoo.com 5/16/2003 - Fixed BIG error because you do NOT get points for themes/series on second floor. 12/10/02 - What to do if your town has been perfect for more than two weeks and you didn't get the golden axe. - How to get multiple golden axes in one town. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 1. Introduction 2. Basic decorating 3. How are Feng Shui, HRA score, and the Wishing Well different? 4. Feng Shui 5. Feng Shui items a. Special items b. Orange items c. Green items d. Yellow items e. Red items 6. HRA Introduction 7. HRA Definitions 8. HRA Point Scoring by Completing "groups" 9. Other Ways of Scoring 10. Sahara, Wendall and theme floor/wallpaper 11. HRA Rewards 12. Rumors 13. HRA Research 14. The Wishing Well 15. Acknowledgements 16. Closing and contact information 17. Legal Junk ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction Animal Crossing is Nintendo's hit game where you meet and greet fellow residents of your personalized town. The objective of the game is to be happy. Simple, isn't it? As you work hard to earn money and friends, you collect rugs, wallpaper, furniture, and many other "things" to spruce up your house. Most can be bought from a certain shop, owned by Tom Nook. Other ways of collecting items include helping friends, getting them from the dump, or even finding them by shaking trees. This guide won't help you find items, but it will help design your home so that you get incredible luck! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Basic decorating Okay, so you have an item you want in your house, now what? Well, first pause the game. To place wallpaper or flooring, simply select it from your inventory with the A button, and there will be a special option while in your house to place it. The old wallpaper or flooring will now be in your inventory to do with as you please. Before you think about selling it though, perhaps you should mail it to a resident to build good status with them. Furniture is only slightly more complicated. To place furniture, pause the game and select the piece you wish to place with the A button. Now drop the item, and poof! It will pop up from a leaf to whatever it's supposed to be. To move the item, walk up to it and hold the A button. Pressing toward or away from the object will push or pull it. Pressing sideways will turn the object in the direction you pressed. Some objects can be used by facing the front of the object and tapping the A button once. If you wish to move the item faster, or change items, simply walk up to the item you want to pick up and press the B button to put it into your inventory once more. Now you know how basic design works, so let's move on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. How are Feng Shui, HRA score, and the Wishing Well different? These three qualities are often confused, so I want to try to clear that up right off the top. Feng Shui gives you "luck." There is no way to determine your "luck score" (that I know of). But what it WILL do is increase the amount and frequency of finding bells, and the frequency and "quality" of getting items. That is, the items you get will be better - the animals will give you furniture more often and less of all that blasted stationary and outfits. IT WORKS! HRA points are awarded for matching items, for items from hard-to-get sources, and other things. Some "lucky items" will give you HRA point bonuses. Supposedly, high HRA scores make your town a "preferred place to live." Plus, there are two items that you get for high HRA scores (70,000 and 100,000). Other than that, and providing for a little friendly competition, HRA score doesn't seem to do anything. The wishing well basically tells you if you have too few or too many trees in a specific acre, and has nothing to do with Feng Shui or the HRA. Zippo, zilch. 4. Feng Shui Feng Shui (feng shway) is the ancient practice of using the three elements to bring good luck and ward off evil. The three elements are sun, earth, and people (animals). By moving furniture and using proper colors and styles, a Feng Shui expert is said to be able to bring a peaceful balance to a room or building. In Animal Crossing, Feng Shui is scaled down a lot. Some items have a certain Feng Shui "colors." These match the four directional colors: North = Orange = better luck in money and items South = Green = better luck in money and items West = Yellow = better luck in money (another source says money AND items) East = Red = better luck in items (I've noticed that Feng Shui seems to help me catch fewer sea bass, but doesn't seem to help catching really rare fish, like the popeyed goldfish. This issue is debated in the posts, and it's not clear if it is true or coincidence.) The lines or color in AC only apply to the outer *TWO* spaces of your room, so larger rooms need not worry about the middle area. Corners share colors, so your upper right corner (North East) share both orange and red. Here is simple diagrams of your house at various stages: Stage 1 (first house) ---------------------- | oy | oy | or | or | ---- ---- ---- ---- | oy | oy | or | or | ---- ---- ---- ---- | yg | yg | rg | rg | ---- ---- ---- ---- | yg | yg | rg | rg | ---------------------- | Door | Stage 2 (after one upgrade) |------- |------- |------ |------- |------- |------- | | o | o | o | o | o | o | | y | y | | | r | r | |------- |------- |------ |------- |------- |------- | | o | o | o | o | o | o | | y | y | | | r | r | |------- |------- |------ |------- |------- |------- | | | | | | | | | y | y | | | r | r | |------- |------- |------ |------- |------- |------- | | y | y | | | r | r | | | | | | | | |------- |------- |------ |------- |------- |------- | | y | y | | | r | r | | g | g | g | g | g | g | |------- |------- |------ |------- |------- |------- | | y | y | | | r | r | | g | g | g | g | g | g | |------- |------- |------ |------- |------- |------- | | Door | Stage 3 (final stage) ------------------------------------------------------ | oy | oy | oy | o | o | or | or | or | ------ ------- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------ ----- | oy | oy | oy | o | o | or | or | or | ------ ------- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------ ----- | oy | oy | | | | | or | or | ------ ------- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------ ----- | y | y | | | | | r | r | ------ ------- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------ ----- | y | y | | | | | r | r | ------ ------- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------ ----- | yg | yg | | | | | rg | rg | ------ ------- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------ ----- | yg | yg | yg | g | g | rg | rg | rg | ------ ------- ------ ----- ------ ------ ------ ----- | yg | yg | yg | g | g | rg | rg | rg | ------------------------------------------------------ | Door | As you can see, the colors cross at the corners, so it doesn't matter which of the two colors you put there. The blank center doesn't matter, it's the walls that count. Placing the appropriate items in their colored sections will bring you better luck in the game, including finding more money, and items. If you find it does something else, let me know so I can test it. I myself have found more money in trees this way. As I understand it, Feng Shui works on ALL floors of your house, even the basement. This is different than HRA points, which are only based on the first and second floor, NOT the basement. A good way to get lots of Feng Shui is to get Feng Shui tables, and then put Feng Shui on top of them, for double Feng Shui! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Feng Shui items Some items are obvious as to which color they work with, some are not. Don't assume an all red items will work with Feng Shui, it might not. That's why I have listed all the items that affect Feng Shui. There are also special items that boot your luck no matter which side you put them on. Place those items in corners for double luck! a. Special items: 1. G Logo 2. Hinaningyo 3. Luigi Trophy 4. Mario Trophy 5. Angler Trophy 6. Fishing Trophy 7. Spring Metal 8. Autumn Metal 9. Samurai Suit 10. Tanabata Palm 11. Treasure Chest 12. Tissue 13. Dracaena 14. House Model 15. Manor Model 16. Post Model 17. Mailbox 18. Piggy bank 19. Festive Tree 20. Big Festive Tree b. Orange items: 1. Spooky Table 2. Spooky Chair 3. Spooky Bed 4. Spooky Dresser 5. Spooky Wardrobe 6. Spooky Bookcase 7. Spooky Sofa 8. Spooky Clock 9. Spooky Lamp 10. Spooky Vanity 11. Cement Mixer 12. Oil Drum 13. Flagman Sign 14. Detour Sign 15. Men At Work Sign 16. Wet Roadway Sign 17. Merge Sign 18. Orange Chair 19. Maple Bonsai 20. Gerbera 21. Ruby Econo-Chair 22. Jack-o'-Lantern c. Green items: 1. Ranch Couch 2. Ranch Armchair 3. Green Table 4. Green Chair 5. Green Bed 6. Green Dresser 7. Green Wardrobe 8. Green Bench 9. Green Pantry 10. Green Counter 11. Green Lamp 12. Green Desk 13. Chalkboard 14. Green Drum 15. Deer Scare 16. Bird Bath 17. Lime Chair 18. Froggy Chair 19. Lily-Pad Table 20. Tall Cactus 21. Round Cactus 22. Cactus 23. Pine Bonsai 24. Mugho Bnsai 25. Ponderosa Bonsai 26. Holly Bonsai 27. Hawthorn Bonsai 28. Maple Bonsai 29. Jasmine Bonsai 30. Azalea Bonzai 31. Caladium 32. Lady Palm 33. Aloe 34. Bromeliaceae 35. Coconut Plant 36 Snake Plant 37. Rubber Tree 38. Pothos 39. Fan Palm 40 Weeping Fig 41. Corn Plant 42. Croton 43. Pachira 44. Jade Econo-Chair 45. Train Set 46. Donkey Kong Jr Math 47. Sleeping Bag 48. Tree Model 49. Weed Model 50. Market Model d. Yellow items 1. Blue Table 2. Exotic Lamp 3. Classic Sofa 4. Steamroller 5. Sprinkler 6. Lemon Table 7. Melon Chair 8. Sunflower 9. Gold Econo-Chair 10. Balloon Fight 11. Tennis 12. Tent Model 13. Kayak 14. Pansy Model Y. 15. Cosmos Model Y. 16. Tulip Model Y. e. Red items: 1. Blue Dresser 2. Ranch Bed 3. Lovely Dresser 4. Lovely Lamp 5. Cabin Bed 6. Cabin Table 7. Jingle Table 8. Jingle Chair 9. Jingle Bed 10. Jingle Dresser 11. Jingle Wardrobe 12. Jingle Lamp 13. Jingle Shelves 14. Jingle Sofa 15. Jingle Clock 16. Jingle Piano 17. Hamster Cage 18. Traffic Cone 19. Orange Cone 20. Haz-Mat Barrel 21. Iron Frame 22. Detour Arrow 23. Lawn Mower 24. Barbecue 25. Red Corner 26. Grapefruit Table 27. Watermelon Chair 28. Watermelon Table 29. Plum Bonsai 30. Quince Bonsai 31. Red Sofa 32. Red Armchair 33. Birdcage 34. Donkey Kong 35. Golf 36 Punchout 37. Baseball 38. Clu Clu Land D 39. Donkey Kong 3 40 Donkey Kong Jr 41. Soccer 42. Excitebike 43. Wario's Woods 44. Stone Coin 45. Lantern 46. Tailor Model 47. Noisemaker 48. Fireplace 49. Miniature Car 50. Tulip Model R. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. HRA Introduction The HRA does not have a lot of taste! Making your house "attractive" will not necessarily result in a good rating! This FAQ is intended to explain and explore the HRA point system. It won't tell you how to get items, but it WILL tell you what points you can expect. I've based this on a variety of guides and posts, and VERY LITTLE verified experience. The guides this is based on are known to have errors, so I have made an "HRA Research" section to investigate exactly what different items do. If you want to help, take a look there, please! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. HRA Definitions In Animal Crossing, "Series," "Theme," and "Set" have very specific meanings. Learning what these are and what items will help your HRA points! See the "Item database" FAQ for what specifically goes together, but here are some brief definitions: A Series is a large group of functional pieces, what you would typically think of as furniture. For example, Modern, Regal, etc. All Series have matching floor and wallpaper. I will generally use "furniture" only to mean objects that can be used in a series, such as the phrase "Furniture Series" A Theme is a medium to large group of "decorations." These are generally NOT functional items, although there are exceptions. Examples include classroom, boxing, etc. All Themes also have matching floor and wallpaper. I will use "objects" to discuss stuff that belongs to a theme. A "Set" is a small group of decorations (sometimes furniture, like a chair and table), sometimes as small as two items. Examples include apple, totem pole, etc. My impression is that there are many sets without matching floor and wallpaper. I will use "objects" to discuss stuff that belongs to a set. I will use "piece" to describe stuff in a more generic fashion. That is, "piece" could mean furniture or objects. The necessities of life are bed, table, chair, wardrobe, and place to put things (such as a dresser OR bureau; you only need to have a dresser OR a bureau, that is, one object that you can put things inside). A "complete Furniture Series" is 10 matching furniture items. I'm not going to list the items because it has already been done. (how tedious thank you so much people who did it!) Here are a couple of sites: The best item list I know of is at: http://members.shaw.ca/Wraith10/ac2.html then click on items. There's also a good one at: http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/animal_crossing_item.txt ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. HRA Point Scoring by Completing "groups" Pay close attention to the words series, theme and set! Here's a quick summary of how to score high (thanks again to Mateo): First, finish a theme or series, and put that in your first floor. You should have doubles of a few items, and everything that is useable (chairs, closets) needs to be facing away from the walls (if you put them on walls) and able to be reached and used. Make sure you have the matching wallpaper and flooring Second, get a matching wall paper and flooring in your second floor. Then get a lot of sets, and complete them. Put only completed sets into your second floor. If you want to save some items for when you're done, put them all in the basement, or bury them and don't let anyone dig em up. Now if your HRA score is STILL short (which it should be well over the mark) then I hope you saved the Autumn medal, moon, or anything else the mayor might have given out. Since by now you should have earned the house model, that works too. Put those in your first floor, on tables if possible, and try again. Rare items give lots of HRA points. My current thinking is that: The basement is never rated. The HRA only looks at the first and second floors (I know this for sure). There has been some debate on what gets rated where. I've done some experimenting, and found that series and themes get points ONLY ON THE FIRST FLOOR. However, I think that if you mix a completed series or theme on the first floor with ANYTHING, you get points deducted. On the second floor, you can mix items. Please email me if you have EXPERIENCE to confirm any of the above! t_cromis2@yahoo.com If you have questions DON'T EMAIL ME! I'm not being rude, it's just that the expert is MateoLeviathon@aol.com So ask him!!!! Carpet and wallpaper match (without complete furniture series) 1k Completed furniture series 48k Wallpaper and carpet of same series 10000 Wallpaper or carpet of same series 4800 Complete necessities of life same series 16000 Complete necessities of life diff series 4400 Theme objects (# of pieces x 7000) + 15000 (I think this has to be a complete Theme to score) (guide says "complete series number of pieces x 7,000 + 15,000") Wallpaper and carpet of same theme 10000 Completed object set (# of pieces x 3000) If presenting a Theme or Series on the first floor you lose 4000 points for each piece that belongs to another Theme or series. If a piece is placed so that it is unusable you lose 800 points per piece that is unusable. Some items can only be found in Nook's lottery, making them difficult to get. Lottery-only just means that Nook will not sell them. You can still get lucky and get them from random events such as by doing chores for an animal or shaking a tree. For example, I have a friend that somehow got the hamster cage, not by lottery. Here are the items that are lottery-only: SERIES Blue Dresser Cabana Armchair Cabin Bookcase Classic Hutch Exotic Lamp Green Pantry Kiddie Stereo Lovely Kitchen Modern Cabinet Ranch Hutch Regal Cupboard (All holiday themed Series are available through special conditions) Themes Black King Black Queen Blue (Boxing) Corner Cement Mixer Covered Wagon Garden Gnome Garden Pond Hamster Cage White King White Queen ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Other Ways of Scoring You receive a bonus if the set of items you have is lucky. Points are deducted if you place objects without leaving room for you to walk around. Generally, if you bought an item at Tom Nook's store it will score fairly low. But if you received it as a prize from a special event the object will prove to the HRA you are serious about interior design, and you will get more points! Here's some other ways to get points: 51 Item bought from Tom Nook 412 Item bought from Crazy Redd 412 Item from Sahara 412 Item from Wendell 412 Item from Gulliver 412 Item from Igloo game 412 Item from Tortimer (that can be bought) 1111 Item from Tortimer (that cannot be bought) 1031 Item from Jack 1224 Item from Jingle 888 Item from Snowman 821 Gyroid dug up 1029 Tom Nook Lottery prize 700 Limited time items (Harvest series, etc.) 3 Clothes/Fish/Insects 3 Your own designed clothing 300 Fossils after appraisal 1000 Complete Fossils after appraisal 1000 Birthday cake 1111 For item received after completing Museum 1111 For item received after starting Post Office savings 1111 For item received after maxing Happy room points 1111 For item received for winning Fishing Tournament 1300 Items on Tropical (Gameboy) Island 1983 NES game acquired on Tropical (Gameboy) Island 1983 Secret NES game acquired (e-Reader card) 1000 Secret Furniture acquired (e-Reader card) 1000 Special NES games (Tennis, Donkey Kong, DK Math, Balloon Fight) 777 Lucky or special items A few other points: Villagers sometimes tell you not face dolls or gyroids towards the wall because it gives you bad luck. May also be true of statues. You can't reorder through your catalog any items you get from the "special visitors (Gulliver, Sahara, Wendell, Tortimer, Jingle, Jack, Franklin, Gracie). You CAN reorder items you buy from Redd or get in the Nook lottery. Don't throw out multiple items. You get a set amount of points for a finished series, then extra points for every item you have in that series, even if it is a duplicate. A completed T-rex on the left side of a room will up your rating by about 14,000. This has been confirmed. I don't know about other fossils... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Sahara, Wendall and theme floor/wallpaper The first carpet you get from Sahara will cost you 3,000 and a carpet. After that, each new carpet costs another carpet and double the previous price. You can't reorder Sahara carpets from Nook. Also, if she doesn't offer the carpet you want, just say no and ask again. Eventually, you'll get the one you want. Wendall is more of a pain. Each player gets one wallpaper per visit. You can get more by using multiple players. However, it has been reported that he will not give out more than three wallpapers per visit. Every single one of Sahara's carpets goes with one of Wendall's wallpaper (or is it Wendell? I'll have to pay attention next time he shows up. Doh). I mean, you can have your own tastes and mix the wallpaper, but for HRA points, all of Wendall's and Sahara's stock goes together correctly. Also, almost every correct set of matching wallpaper and floor also always goes with a Theme, not a series. Here's a list: (Wendall/Sahara) Ringside Seating / Boxing Ring Mat (Recommended with Boxing Theme) Classroom Wall / Classroom Floor (Recommended with Classroom Theme) Mortar Wall / Mossy Carpet (Recommended with Mossy Garden Theme) Blue Tarp / Closed Road (Recommended with Construction Theme) Lunar Horizon / Lunar Surface (Recommended with Space Theme) Garden Wall / Sand Garden (Recommended with Rock Garden Theme) Western Vista / Western Desert (Recommended with Western Theme) Music Room Wall / Music Room Floor (Not recommended with anything in particular) Office Wall / Office Flooring (Not recommended with anything in particular) Ancient Wall / Ancient Tile (Not recommended with anything in particular) Sandlot Wall / Sandlot (Not recommended with anything in particular) Meadow Vista / Daisy Meadow (Not recommended with anything in particular) Tree-Lined Wall / Sidewalk (Not recommended with anything in particular) Basement Wall / Basement Floor (Ditto, and strangely enough can't go on the basement wall and floor, but goes on your main or second floor...) Backgammon Wall / Chessboard Rug (Recommended with Chess Theme But there have been complaints that the Chessboard Rug does not fit the size requirements of a normal chess board) Industrial Wall / Concrete Floor (Not recommended with anything in particular) Desert Vista / Sahara's Desert (Not recommended with anything in particular) Tropical Vista / Tropical Floor (Not recommended with anything in particular) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. HRA Rewards 70,000 points = house model 100,000 points = manor model Your town becomes a preferred place to live at 20,000, 40,000, 70,000 and finally at the maximum of 100,000 HRA points, and this makes the Wishing Well happy. (not sure what that means, but it's in the guide...) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. Rumors These are items I have come across in postings, but have not confirmed. If a few people tell me that a rumor is true, I will move it out of the rumor section. (Or if a few people say it's false, I will note it as a false rumor). All my rumors have been confirmed or falsified at this point. Yipee. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. HRA Research In this section I will record the ACTUAL EXPERIENCES of players, and how it affected their HRA score. I will look for trends, verification of guidebook information, etc., and post my analysis in this section and elsewhere in the FAQ as appropriate. If you want to help with this, then instead of re-arranging your house constantly, just make ONE change a day, and see what it does to your points. Tell me what you did and what happened to your points. Make sure you include all the information discussed below. When you do major rearrangements, don't tell me, it's just the singular shifts that I want to know about. Your basement, of course, can be a constantly-shifting trash heap like mine! :) O.K. here's what I'm looking for: A. Item B. Source - where did you get it (animal, Nook, Redd, lottery, etc.). If you ordered it from your catalog, where did the first one come from. If you got it from a friend or trade, say so, plus where did the giver get it from? C. Comments if you have any D. Action/position/floor (for example "put it on the south wall, second floor") E. Points - NOT your total points. I just want the difference that the item made, so you need to keep track of your points BEFORE took action (put in an item, removed an item or moved an item), plus AFTER the action. Then subtract. Use a calculator if you need to. Hah. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14. The Wishing Well If you want a lot of animals, keep the wishing well happy! Get the Golden Axe by having a "perfect" rating for 15 consecutive days! Want to learn more? There's a great FAQ on this at www.gamefaqs.com, so I've deleted out my comparatively meager section on this. I'll put some cool hints here. You can get multiple golden axes in one town. You just have to endure an additional two weeks of perfectness for each golden axe. If your town has been perfect for more than two weeks and you haven't gotten the golden axe, this will fix the problem. Three people have reported that this works. It does involve time traveling. Some consider that cheating. However, in my (Cromis) humble opinion, if this happens to you, it is a glitch in the game. And this is a work-around for the glitch, so it's not cheating (again, in my humble opinion). Once you get your town perfect for more two weeks and still no golden axe, save your game. Change the clock to one month earlier and go to your town (by this I mean start playing your character). RESET. Change the clock back to its regular time, endure Resetti and go to the wishing well! Enjoy your super axe! Yes, you do have to get your town perfect before you do this. The reason that you reset is because a) the game still thinks you played a month earlier and b) no weeds will grow and undo your town's perfectness. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15. Acknowledgements MateoLeviathon@aol.com for providing 99% of the Feng Shui information, as well as the basic decorating information. Nintendo and Prima guides were used. Wraith10 at acforums.megadoomer.com for most of the "HRA Point Scoring by Completing Groups" section ellix_warrior at acforums.megadoomer.com for information on "lottery-only" items, and for the Saharah/Wendall section puppetz for scans of guide pages (see them for yourself at: www.genjiworks.swirldot.net/forum2/index.php?act=ST&f=17&t=242&s=6ea51154c86ce a991654ce31ff3e2e1c gotta get all that on one line in your browser joshuaman for stage1 and stage3 Feng Shui house diagrams Mingy Jongo for multiple golden axe tip. MechaShadow for what to do if perfect 2 weeks and no golden axe. Nintendo and Prima guides. Doh. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16. Closing and contact information Just about everything I know about these subjects (and many things I don't really know for sure!) is in here, so it probably won't do you any good to email me, but you can try. I'm at t_cromis2@yahoo.com Seriously, if you have questions DON'T EMAIL ME! I'm not being rude, it's just that THE FENG SHUI & HRA EXPERT IS --> --> MateoLeviathon@aol.com <-- <-- So ask him!!!! That's on AOL, so you can IM him on the same name too. He'll be glad to answer your questions. Corrections, additions, information on items with Feng Shui powers or HRA bonuses, etc. etc. etc. - it's all welcome! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17. Legal Junk This document Copyright 2002, 2003 T. Cromis. If you would like to post this on your site, send a request via email to t_cromis2@yahoo.com, and I'll be glad to let you post it, as long as you post it entirely and unchanged. This document cannot to be sold, distributed, or reproduced individually or part of a package for any purpose without my consent. This FAQ can be used or printed by anyone for PERSONAL use. Sites that have been given to use this FAQ: acforums.megadoomer.com jakev3.tripod.com www.gamefaqs.com www.neoseeker.com www.pregaming.com