If you haven’t jumped into Nintendo’s mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, yet then you’re missing out on a fun version of the console classic. Yes, it’s a stripped down version of the Animal Crossing series, but it was definitely my most played Christmas game and not just because I was visiting family and therefore away from all my other gaming devices. The dip in dip out approach to Animal Crossing: Pocket Gamer makes it the perfect mobile port and the seasonal events means it should keep me coming back for more.

There are things I miss from the console version of the game, such as fossil hunting, the post office messages and being able to display items in the museum. Crafting clothes still hasn’t been implemented, but it’s coming. However, I wish I could interact with my friends more .At the moment, all you can do is visit their camp, give kudos, water their garden and buy things from their market box. Hopefully,  I’ll be able to make them clothes or leave messages with future updates.

I’m a bit of a slow learner, which means I’m still having ah-ha moments, so I thought I’d share them. Here are the top 10 things you need to know when you start Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.

1. Link your Nintendo account: This rewards you with 100 leaf tickets, which gets you off to a good start, as this is one of the in game currencies. Don’t get into a situation where you’ve spent all your leaf tickets. Check stretch goals for ways to earn more and keep them topped up, as they are good for emergencies.
2. Upgrade your amenities: Animals kept telling me to do this and I didn’t know what they meant. Amenities are the two features outside of the central campsite space, such as the bell tent and the sporty tent. They sit in the top right and left corners of the campsite and can be upgraded to become more interesting attractions, which increase the max friendship levels of contacts (the animals). If you don’t upgrade them, friendships will max out meaning your progress slows.  Upgrading amenities also unlocks fun features like the tree swing and the skate ramp, but upgrade those too to get new features.
3. Use your market box: This is the area where you can sell surplus goods to other players. Don’t stack them with high ticket items, such as rare fish. New friends won’t have the bells spare to pay for them and you’ll end up chucking them to open slots in your market. Instead, keep your slots stocked with low cost items that players need regularly, such as fruit, shells and fish. Sell them in pairs at 100 bells and they’ll usually sell.
4. Maximise your fruit harvest: Fruit is one of the main trade goods. Once picked, it’s three hours until you can harvest that tree again. If you use fertilizer, fruit will grow back immediately. Pick a tree’s fruit and then fertilize it to produce another crop. Shake the tree, but leave the dropped fruit on the ground. Fruit will stay on the ground indefinitely, leaving you with a ready source. Focus on apples and pears because they are the rarest, yet the most requested fruits. Oranges and cherries both grow in two locations, but it’s still worth using dropped fruit as storage.
5. Swap your contacts out: If you are trying to upgrade amenities, you’ll need a lot of cotton and the applicable essence, such as cute, sporty or cool. Focus on the animals who reward you with the resource you need for your latest crafting project. For instance, Tex tends to give cotton, Kyle gives steel and Bunnie gives wood. You can corral animals at your campsite by hitting the contacts side button. Here you can send contacts home and invite the ones you need. Once at your camp they will stay and be available for chats and rewards all day, rather than on the random three-hour cycles.
6. Don’t bother mining: If you’re short of resources, you can head to the quarry, to break rocks for rewards. If you don’t have friends to recruit to help you, you can pay 15 leaf tickets instead, but it’s rarely worth it. It’s better to spend leaf tickets on making up a minor resource shortfall (under 10 leaf tickets) to start crafting.
7. Rare items are worthless: You can score rare creatures, such as blue butterflies or angler fish, but contacts never request them and players won’t buy them because they’re expensive and useless. It’s times like these that I miss the museum feature from the console version. Just sell them for bells if you need the slots, otherwise just keep them.
8. Make friends: Although the premise of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp seems to be ‘making friends is great’, the theme is really ‘friends are there to do stuff for you’. Make lots of player friends because it will help you reach stretch goals and also comes in handy if you need to recruit them for quarrying. Also make friends with animals and build up low level contacts because the rewards come thick and fast with new critters.
9. Don’t spend real money:  There really is no need to spend real money to advance in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Leaf tickets are rewarded for logging in daily and also for leveling up, so don’t be tempted.
10. Play little and often: The game rewards little short bursts of playing. Once you’ve spoken to all the animals, harvest resources, added new furniture and started crafting more, you’re done for the morning. Log in later that day once everything has reset.

Nintendo has just introduced a seasonal plant to the garden feature. This is a limited time reward. Plant dahlias and harvest rare butterflies to trade for limited edition rewards. You can also harvest the spent plants to trade for essences and resources, which is an easy way to bump up your stores.  However, these 10 tips are the staple strategies for successful friend-making inn Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. See you in the great outdoors.