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Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ second summer update brought about the Dream Suite, save backups, fireworks, and even a new camera feature, but the most interesting addition has to be the quietest one: tripping.
Players who download the update may find that, on occasion, their villager slips and falls to the ground, like so:
Be careful when running around your island with a balloon in Animal Crossing: New Horizons after the latest update... you never know when you might trip and fall! #ACNH pic.twitter.com/GHZE6vwWqf
— Animal Crossing World ️ ️ (@ACWorldBlog) July 30, 2020
If you happen to be holding a balloon, which is one of the new items, it’ll float away. Boo.
Players have also found that when you hit a rock and get a gold nugget, your character will now be inspired to craft a new DIY, the King Tut mask. It looks extremely cool, except for one hilarious issue: If you wear the King Tut mask, you’ll trip way more often than you normally would.
THE KING TUT MASK IN ANIMAL CROSSING IS HAVING ME LAUGHING SO EARLY IN THE MORNING! #ACNH #AnimalCrossing #AnimalCrossingNewHorizons #animalcrossingupdate #animalcrossing pic.twitter.com/x8nMTMYw70
— | ᴏꜱᴀᴋɪ (@kirneth) July 30, 2020
Why would it happen more often when you’re wearing this mask? Well, in the past, Animal Crossing has had a luck system that affected all sorts of day-to-day things. On a good luck day, everything is amazing: You’ll get more money from rocks, it’ll be easier to befriend villagers, and you’ll even have a better time avoiding bees, because they’ll move more slowly. The world’s your oyster.
On bad luck days, it’s the complete opposite. You’ll find fewer resources, it’ll be harder to raise friendship levels, the money rock will become stingy, and — just to pour salt on the wound — you’ll trip and fall on your face. Wearing the King Tut mask will immediately lower your luck, which is why you’ll trip way more often. It’s probably an Easter egg hinting at the masks’ cursed nature.
Tripping wasn’t in New Horizons until now, and fans are taking its sudden inclusion as indication of not just a luck system, but a totally new character. You see, prior Animal Crossing games also had a black panther named Katrina who could, for a price, give you a fortune. These fortunes were an indicator that you were about to have good luck days or bad luck days, including times when you’d trip all the time. She could even foretell days when your villagers would try and avoid you!
King Tut Mask #AnimalCrossing #ACNH #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/cm0DVVRviN
— JustNtendo’s Screenshots and Video Recordings (@JNtendo) July 30, 2020
All of this is to say: If New Horizons has tripping now, it seems very likely that future updates will get a full-blown luck system, and perhaps a new visitor type to go along with that.