Shovel

From Nookipedia, the Animal Crossing wiki
Artwork of a female Player using a Shovel from Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

Shovels in the Animal Crossing series are used to dig holes and bury items in the ground. It is an essential tool for planting flora, unearthing fossils to donate to the museum, and removing stumps from trees that have fallen to an axe.

Usage

A player digging a hole

A shovel can be used to dig holes in any location where there is no obstruction, such as stone paths, ground designs, buildings, structures and trees. Flora such as flowers, fruit, saplings and bamboo shoots can be buried within holes in order to grow them. Items can also be buried in the ground, and are marked with a small star-shaped crack. Items can be unearthed with a shovel, while digging plants will destroy them. Tree stumps and bushes can only be removed by digging them out with a shovel.

Shovels can also be used on certain rocks. Daily in every game, a random rock in town will dispense Bells or ore when struck with a shovel. In Doubutsu no Mori e+, a random rock in town can be broken once a week to access the Resetti Surveillance Center. In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, a fake rock will appear somewhere in town and can be broken with a shovel to reveal a single piece of ore. Additionally, in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, all rocks except for one will yield resources, such as clay, stone, or iron nuggets, while the remaining one will yield Bells like in previous games

File:Obtaining the Golden Shovel.jpg
Getting the Golden Shovel

In every game, there are more advanced versions of the shovel that have unique effects, though they differ between the games. The Silver Shovel has a slim chance of altering the Money Rock, causing it dispense double the usual amount of money, or ores instead of Bells. The Golden Shovel has the ability to bury Bells to plant Money Trees, or unearth random Bells from the ground.

Obtaining

Animal Crossing

Item Image Buy Price Sell Price Available From Info
Shovel Shovel PG Model.png 500 Bells 125 Bells Tom Nook Standard Shovel
Golden Shovel Golden Shovel PG Model.png Not for Sale 125 Bells Bury a Shovel in one of the glowing spots around town and it will grow into a tree bearing the Golden Shovel Can randomly unearth 100 Bells from the ground
Can bury Bells in glowing spots to plant Money Trees

Animal Crossing: Wild World

In Wild World and all future games up through New Leaf, Money Trees can only be planted with a Golden Shovel, however, unlike in Animal Crossing, they can now be planted anywhere a standard tree will grow.

Item Image Buy Price Sell Price Available From Info
Shovel Shovel WW Inv Icon.png 500 Bells 125 Bells Tom Nook Standard Shovel
Golden Shovel Golden Shovel WW Inv Icon.png Not for Sale 125 Bells Bury a Shovel and after three days it will turn into a Golden Shovel Can bury Bells to plant Money Trees

Animal Crossing: City Folk

City Folk introduces a Silver Shovel with a unique effect, in addition to the standard and golden variations.

Item Image Buy Price Sell Price Available From Info
Shovel Shovel CF Icon.png 500 Bells 125 Bells Tom Nook Standard Shovel
Silver Shovel Silver Shovel CF Icon.png Not for Sale 125 Bells Resetti Surveillance Center
Received from Mr. Resetti after talking to him
10% chance to double money dispensed by money rock
Golden Shovel Golden Shovel CF Icon.png Not for Sale 125 Bells Bury a Shovel and overnight it will turn into a Golden Shovel Can bury Bells to plant Money Trees

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

New Leaf changes the requirement to obtain the Golden Shovel, and adds the ability to fill in holes without a shovel by facing the hole and pressing the 'Y' button.

Item Image Buy Price Sell Price Available From Info
Shovel Shovel NL Icon.png 500 Bells 125 Bells Timmy and Tommy Standard Shovel
Silver Shovel Silver Shovel NL Icon.png 500 Bells 125 Bells Museum Shop
For sale only after donating at least 15 fossils to the museum
Chance for money rock to dispense ore instead
Golden Shovel Golden Shovel NL Icon.png Not for Sale 125 Bells Garden Center
Received from Leif after purchasing 50 bags of Fertilizer
Can bury Bells to plant Money Trees

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Shovels in New Horizons will break after a specific amount of uses. Digging up items buried in the ground, uprooting plants and trees, and hitting rocks all reduce a shovel's durability. A shovel's durability is not reduced when hitting other players or characters, hitting objects that aren't rocks, digging holes without finding anything or when filling holes.

Unlike most other tools, shovels will not break for the certain actions even when they are no longer durable. This is to prevent the breakage from interfering with the action. Such actions include breaking rocks, uprooting full-grown trees, or when hitting a rock that dispenses an item. The shovel will remain usable until a short moment after such actions have stopped.

Item Image Buy Price Sell Price Available From DIY Materials Durability
Flimsy Shovel Flimsy Shovel NH Icon.png  800 Bells
 100 Nook Miles
 200 Bells Crafting
(Recipe received from Blathers after building the Museum tent)
 Nook's Cranny

 Wilbur
Hardwood
Breaks after 40 uses
Shovel Shovel (Red) NH Icon.png  2,400 Bells  600 Bells Crafting
(Recipe available from the Pretty Good Tools Recipes Pack at the Nook Stop)
Flimsy Shovel

Iron Nugget
Breaks after 100 uses
Colorful Shovel 70px  2,500 Bells  625 Bells  Nook's Cranny (upgraded)
- Breaks after 100 uses
Outdoorsy Shovel Outdoorsy Shovel NH Icon.png  2,500 Bells  625 Bells  Nook's Cranny (upgraded)
- Breaks after 100 uses
Printed-Design Shovel 70px  2,500 Bells  625 Bells  Nook's Cranny (upgraded)
- Breaks after 100 uses
Golden Shovel Golden Shovel NH Icon.png Not for sale  10,675 Bells Crafting
(Recipe received from Gulliver after helping him 30 times)
Shovel

Gold Nugget
Breaks after 200 uses

Names in other languages

Japanese スコップ
Unknown
Shovel

Russian Лопата
Unknown

German Schaufel Shovel

European French Pelle Shovel

Italian Pala Shovel