Raymond broke the cross for Animal Crossing: New Horizons market economy

When Tom found Raymond's client a cat, he had to take precautionary measures. Bought for 500 Nook Miles tickets, which cost at least a few million instruments Crossing the Animals: New Horizons, this was no small transaction. The buyer had to take two trips to his island to get rid of all the discounts. Raymond, on the other hand, packed his office in boxes – the dumb line is completely indifferent to the turmoil happening outside.

"I dug a hole in the front of Raymond's house," Tom told Polygon in an email. The idea was to make it impossible for the buyer to come to the cat before making a deal. However, when a resident decides to go out, all the visitor has to do is convince them theirs The island starts a conversation. Without posing an obstacle, it would be easy to steal Raymond.

But Tom doesn't want to take chances. He was here because his girlfriend had a list of "dreams," which the citizens had foreseen to build his island. The whole internet may have lost Raymond and his heterochromia, but Tom's girlfriend was looking the other way chubbier, good citizens. When Raymond was offered, it didn't take long for Tom to raise the money he needed to buy Judy, the crossing lamb of Animal Crossing with the stars in her eyes. He still has 200 Nook Miles tickets left, enough to buy a handful of residents depending on the community. There are still many dreams of hunting, he told Polygon.

Since the release of the game on Nintendo Switch in March, the whole economy has sprung up around it Crossing the Animals: New Horizons. On the lower end, people trade or buy certain sets of furniture for thousands of pieces of furniture. But the fans have rebuilt the industry for some citizens, especially as people aspire to build beautiful islands. This desire goes beyond terraforming or decorations. The fans want to have the right number of trips to their islands.

Normal suspects can be found in many "dream" lists – Marshal, Whitney, or one of the most commonly chosen high-octopi. This can run many Nook Miles tickets, but it's also easy to find.

For example, you can simply import these old-school citizens into your game with amiibo cards. While amiibo sells at a premium right now, with individual cards going for $ 100 or more, there are also burgeoning Bootleg event.

With the Android phone and others capable, players can download any of the Greater Crossing residents to their game. But there is something different: There is no amiibo for any new citizen. The only way to find them is to find them naturally, with perfect opportunities, whether that's at Mystery Island Tours, theaters, or if the game decides to get them to make an open plan.

All new citizens are very grateful for this street time, but Raymond's privacy has exploded over the last month. Aside from her elegant design, many are attracted by her willingness to wear a home-made dress.

The result is that people will now do whatever it takes to get Raymond. For some, that would mean spending real money on eBay, where millions of bids can go for a few dollars. For others, such as New Horizons fan Alex, it would mean spending 65 hours grinding Hundreds of Nook Miles tickets through game challenges – never mind the 15 hours and more guessing that it took many trips to Mystery Islands over and over, all in the name of finding Raymond. Stories like this are common.

To help drive all of this, the whole market has sprung up in the last few weeks. Nook.market – a site where fans can make a store full of hundreds of items and citizens for sale – is owned who say almost half of all questions travel to marketing belongs to Raymond directly.

Raymond is also classified as the smartest citizen on nook.market, Jacob and Rory, the two minds behind the trading tool, told Polygon. Nookazon, perhaps the most widely used trading website yet, tells Polygon that based solely on statistics, Raymond is the most sought-after citizen of the world. In connection with this writing, Raymond can travel anywhere from anywhere from millions of metals, to many residents seeking help.

Screenshot: Nookazon by Polygon

Discord has also become a popular destination for hunter-gatherers. TagBackTV, a YouTube channel known for virtual tours of the star-studded Animal Crossing Islands, has a busy chat room with two rooms dedicated to commerce.

It's hard to keep up with the conversation here – things are moving fast, thousands of players are looking to buy or download anything and everything. It's fascinating to watch the buying and selling that happens with this kind of strong branding, with letters reducing numbers and things, given the fun game environment.

"The villager trade actually gained a bit of attention last week," TagBackTV told Polygon in an email. TagBackTV Discord executives are looking for ways to facilitate live trading, which according to TagBackTV is "slowly taking over all trading channels." He also noted that Raymond is certainly one of the most sought-after residents, but almost all citizen traders can go find the prices.

"Some of the questions asked by the commercial community are completely bogus, especially by residents," TagBackTV said. While he and his presidents are encouraging people to keep things in perspective, it hasn't helped much. You know of a recent exchange where someone bought a handful of robots for 300 million pieces of metal.

Maybe this kind of inflation is impossible to avoid. It's easy for Animal Crossing to give you millions of instruments when playing Stalk Market, especially through sites like Turnip.exchange, when players advertise the islands buying veggies at a premium. (Personally, I've never sold my turnips for less than 500 pieces, and that depends on my friends.)

The franchise has even entered the mainstream, which means that when smaller communities are trapped in niche gaming habits they are currently being played in size – and that means there's a bigger network available to play the economy.

Image: Nintendo EPD / Nintendo by Michael McWhertor

Players can also hunt tarantulas, which sell for a good chunk of change – and even more if you throw yourself into Flick, a bug collector. Finding a Flick is simply a matter of finding the stock markets, where players advertise any characters who visit their island for advice, furniture, NMT, or instruments. And then we have amiibo cards, many of the players that have already slept there, waiting to be converted into profits.

Early on, players have also found an adventurous multiplier that allows people to sell high-priced content to their heart's content. This tension was masked, but not before many players became bellionares. In the end, players with Converted Shapes can also produce saved files with millions of instruments or dreams. With so much money circulating, players are at liberty to ask for bad prices.

"Some of the insane begging for 100+ tickets for the Nook miles with your first child born to one citizen," TagBackTV said.

It is a lucrative market large enough for waves of scammers to tap into, hoping to enrich it by promising impossible jobs. To help combat this, sites like Nookazon allow players to report to others, who will be called commentators on the site.

On TagBackTV's Discord, fans are encouraged to be loyal traders, which can only happen after being part of the public for a set period, without incident. Loyal vendors can simply choose to deal with each other, reducing the risk of exchanging with unknown entities. And if any player is reported for misconduct, there is a policy of zero tolerance. These rules have helped, TagBackTV says, but scams are still possible.

Scams are everywhere, really. On social media, it's not uncommon to see "giveaways" where accounts promise dreams such as Raymond, popular furniture sets, and millions of instruments – all just a simple follow-up.

For those who do not want to take the opportunity with strangers, or at least for a few capitalists, the Raymond market may seem unlikely. Raymond hoping to talk to Polygon over Discord started the day looking for a smug cat, but gave up hours of searching later, when it became clear they couldn't find him.

"I stopped looking for Raymond because the price was so high," Animal Crossing player Dragonoeede told Polygon. “I don't know why people praise her so much. Nothing is more special than other citizens. "