How to Make Animal Crossing Villagers Move in New Horizons

A big part of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and really any entry, is getting your new hometown exactly the way you’d like it. This can involve building up facilities, making the surroundings look good, and… controlling the population. Once you get settled, you might start wanting to make Animal Crossing villagers move in or out. But how? Well, fortunately it isn’t too difficult.

How do I make an Animal Crossing villager move in?

Well, you start Animal Crossing: New Horizons with two random villagers. After that, you use 5,000 Nook Miles at the Nook Stop Terminal at Residential Services to recruit three villagers and go through the motions of building three homes.

After Residential Services is set up, you have new ways to lure people in after spending 10,000 bells on a new home that Tom Nook will have you place in town after you acquire it from him. You can still go to an island with Nook Miles and hope to meet someone you could lure to your home. (That’s how you get your third through fifth residents.) However, you can also use a Campsite to entice new neighbors or just wait for someone to randomly, eventually buy the home you set down.

To get a Campsite, you have to have been playing long enough for Residential Services to have an actual building. Once it is there and you ask Tom Nook what to do twice, he’ll give you a recipe for a Campsite Construction Kit. As with many projects, this means gathering and using materials. The price isn’t as steep as Nook’s Cranny, fortunately. You need to have 15 iron nuggets, 15 wood, 15 softwood, and 15 hardwood.

Once you get everything together, you have a plot you can place. Find a good spot in your town and set it up. Then, let Nook know what you did. The Campsite will then be set up. New animals could randomly visit or you could use it with amiibo cards to get a specific person to stop by and move in.

How do I use an amiibo to make an Animal Crossing villager move in?

You need two things before you can use an amiibo to make any Animal Crossing villager move into your Animal Crossing: New Horizons town. You have to have been playing for a week, so Residential Services has been upgraded, and you need to have a Campsite set up. Once both of those things happen, there will be a new option at the Nook Stop Terminal. You choose the “Invite amiibo Camper” option and use an Animal Crossing amiibo card. As long as you have fewer than 10 villagers and an open home plot for them, you should have no problem convincing that person to move in.

But, what if you do have 10 villagers already? Well, that’s when amiibo cards really work their magic. After completing three requests for an amiibo camper by crafting one item for them on each visit, you can invite them to move in. Even if your town is already full and you have 10 villagers, you can then choose to have one of those villagers move out so the camper can move in.

How do I make an Animal Crossing villager move out?

It is much easier to make an Animal Crossing villager move out in the Nintendo Switch entry than in past games. That’s because here, the animals are far more emotionally sensitive. Which is to say that the characters and the game both pay more attention to who you are and aren’t talking to. You just ignore the person you would like to see move.

This isn’t an instant process and won’t trigger until you have a few villagers and have been playing for a few days. The idea is if you want an Animal Crossing villager to move out, you have to completely ignore them for days. Pay attention to everyone else, but avoid them, even if they approach you. How long you’ll need to dodge the critter will vary, but eventually they will have a thought bubble over their head.

Talking to them once the bubble has appeared allows you to tell them that it is time for them to move on. They will then move out swiftly and make room for the next new animal friend.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for the Nintendo Switch. And, in case you missed it, here’s a “guide” for tips on making your island the sort of place real-world friends would want to visit.