Money tree
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| Type | Unknown | |||||
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| Appearances | Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Animal Crossing: City Folk | |||||
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Money Trees are a type of tree in Animal Crossing series. To grow them, the player buries a bag of money using a golden shovel. After the tree is grown, if it blooms there will be three bags of the amount of bells you planted or 30,000 bell bags, whichever is lower. The tree will only bloom, and thus produce money, once.
- In Animal Crossing for the GameCube, money trees can be planted with the regular or golden shovel by burying money in the daily shiny spot in the player's town.
Planting Money Trees can result in great rewards, but as a long term strategy you will plant more than you pluck.
Money Tree Probability
The trees likelihood of blooming is based off of the amount of bells buried. The maximum number of bells a tree will produce is 90,000 bells, meaning that it is pointless to bury more than 90,000 bells. Unfortunately, Money Trees are not statistically profitable. It is like gambling at a casino--if you play long enough, you will lose. This is because though the Money Tree's chance to bloom, which varies upon how many bells you originally buried, the expected return will never exceed the amount you invest.
| Bells Buried | Bloom Chance | Bells Dropped | Expected Return | % Return |
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| 1,000 | 1% | 3,000 | 30 | 3% |
| 5,000 | 5% | 15,000 | 750 | 15% |
| 10,000 | 10% | 30,000 | 3,000 | 30% |
| 20,000 | 20% | 60,000 | 12,000 | 60% |
| 30,000 | 30% | 90,000 | 27,000 | 90% |
| 40,000 | 40% | 90,000 | 36,000 | 90% |
| 50,000 | 50% | 90,000 | 45,000 | 90% |
| 60,000 | 60% | 90,000 | 54,000 | 90% |
| 70,000 | 70% | 90,000 | 63,000 | 90% |
| 80,000 | 80% | 90,000 | 72,000 | 90% |
| 90,000 | 90% | 90,000 | 81,000 | 90% |
| 100,000 | 100% | 90,000 | 90,000 | 90% |
| 110,000 | 100% | 90,000 | 90,000 | 82% |
| 120,000 | 100% | 90,000 | 90,000 | 75% |
Given this data, the most advantageous amount to bury would be 30,000 giving you a 90% probability of tripling up. This is because
- To minimize your expected loss it is best to bury an amount between [30,000 to 90,000] because the Expected Return is 90% of your investment. Less and the reward drops with the probability resulting in a lower expectation; more and you are removing the random probability from it (100% chance) and sealing your fate at a return of 90,000 bells.
- To maximize your potential gain it is best to bury an amount between [100 to 30,000] because if your gamble is successful your reward is triple your investment.
Use of a Clover
A 4-leaf-clover planted underneath the money tree will not increase the probability of the tree blooming and producing money. It will only prevent the tree from wilting; as it would for a normal tree.
Dealing with Deforestation
The ability to grow money trees is tremendously useful with dealing with large amounts of deforestation, possibly caused by the player due to an inconvenient tree layout. With 10,000 bells, over 100 trees can be planted in one day. Though this is slightly more expensive than purchasing saplings from Tom Nook, it is much quicker.
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