Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Redd is a worse scammer than you thought

Jolly Redd’s trickster ways aren’t new to anyway playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons: The character is literally a fox who appears on your island’s version of a back alley. But everyone believed there was a limit to how far the fox could go when selling you rare paintings and statues.

Since release, the communal knowledge among fans held the core belief that, when you bought something from the con artist, you could always expect Redd to have at least one real artwork within his inventory. This was how it seemed to work in previous games, at least. But data mining by Animal Crossing extraordinaire Ninji reveals that, in actuality, not only is Redd’s store randomized, there is actually a chance that you could get zero genuine articles. None!

Granted, the chances are very small for this scenario — only 10% — but still, that’s wild. Some fans have probably gone into Redd’s and thought they lost it as they closely examined all his offerings against guides without finding anything that seemed real. But no, you probably just had terrible luck that day.

Then again, there’s just as much of a chance that most of Redd’s wares will be the real deal. It’s a toss-up.

But if the game does decide to spit out something real, there’s only a small chance it’s something that your museum doesn’t already have. It’s going to take most of us a while to fill up this portion of the museum!

If it’s any consolation, though, at least Redd’s shop offers stuff in colorways that aren’t native to your island, Ninji says.

Plus, for some folks, fakes are no problem, as they can be used to decorate your island or home. It’s not like your villagers will know the difference! I’m just grateful that, despite continuing to sell us garbage, Redd isn’t also trying to pull me into some insurance scam.

Now if only he’d show up on my island again ...

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