Bug-Off

	; Flick in the event plaza in New Horizons;
Northern Hemisphere months
Southern Hemisphere months
Occurrence
	Varies between games (see recurrence)
Music (New Horizons)
	https://nookipedia.com/wiki/File:NH_Tournament_Day.flac
Time	Competition; 12 PM – 6 PM; 9 AM – 6 PM; Awards Ceremony; 6 PM – 9 PM
Host	Tortimer; Nat; Flick
Main appearances
	DnM DnM+ AC DnMe+ iQue; WW CF NL NH
Other appearances
	Film HHD aF PC
	Names in other languages ムシとりたいかい大会; 捕虫大赛; Insectosafari; Caza de Bichos; Insettomania; Турнир «Мастер сачка» 곤충채집대회; 捕蟲大會; Insectosafari; Caza de Insectos; Insektikus-Turnier; Beestjesbeker

The Bug-Off is a bug catching competition in the Animal Crossing series that is held during the summer, in the months of June, July, August, and September. In New Horizons, islands set in the southern hemisphere have the Bug-Off during the months of November, December, January, and February.

Prior to New Horizons, the Bug-Off is hosted by Nat, except in Animal Crossing: Wild World, where it is hosted by the mayor, Tortimer. In New Horizons, the event is now hosted by Flick, who also appears as a regular visitor. The event runs from 12 PM to 6 PM in Wild World, and 9 AM to 6 PM in City Folk, New Leaf, and New Horizons.

Appearances[edit]

Prior to New Horizons[edit]

Nat introducing the player to the Bug-Off in New Leaf

Each entry is rated in points according to size (small, average, big), rarity and luster (dull, average, impressive) - which makes it random to determine what insects will be rated highly, but more common insects tend to be overall lower rated than rarer ones. In Animal Crossing: Wild World, bugs are rated by size only, meaning the same species of insect may be able to overwrite an already existing entry.

During the day of the competition, each time a player gives a bug that achieves a new high score, they receive a gift from Nat (Tortimer in Wild World). In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, players will receive an item from the Insect Set if they hand over a record-breaking bug worth at least 80 points. At the end of the competition, the winner of the Bug-Off receives a mention on the bulletin board as well as a bronze, silver, or gold trophy through the mail for reaching third, second, and first place respectively. There are no trophies for second place in Wild World and City Folk.

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, there is an awards ceremony where trophies are presented to the top three participants. It occurs in Nat's tent between 6 PM and 9 PM, and trophies will be mailed instead if the player does not show up between those times.

The Bug-Off is the bug counterpart to the Fishing Tourney, which runs during the other eight months of the year. The Bug-Off is different to the Fishing Tourney, since there is only one type of competition - bugs are caught according the color, rarity, luster and size only, unlike the Tourney which has two competitions: size and type.

In New Horizons[edit]

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the Bug-Off is hosted by Flick instead of Nat. Players are tasked with catching as many bugs as possible within three minutes. The player can participate as many times as they choose until the event ends at 6:00 PM; however, every entry after the first costs 500 Bells. While the timer is active, a generic message is displayed whenever a bug is caught as opposed to the player's normal catch quote, and the "Yes!" message that normally displays for a first-time catch will not be displayed either. Any Nets used will not break during the tourney, but they still sustain damage, and will break after the timer is up if their durability runs out during a round.

Any bugs the player catches are sent to a bug cage in the plaza rather than their pockets. After scoring, the player can sell the cage's contents to Flick for 1.5 times the sell price at Nook's Cranny, and they are required to do so before they may participate again or swap their points for items. To keep any caught bugs, the player must select the bug from the bug cage before bulk-selling.

During the Bug-Off, villagers are seen trying to catch bugs with Nets (although they cannot actually catch them), and they will only talk about the event, meaning no items can be received or given, and no favors or Reactions can be received. Villagers who are in their houses will converse as usual, except in some cases they may remind the player about the Bug-Off when talked to, and then mention why they're not participating themselves.

Scoring[edit]

Players receive points based on the number of bugs caught, regardless of their rarity.

1 point per bug
2 bonus points if three or more bugs were caught

Multiplayer[edit]

There are additional benefits for participating in the Bug-Off during local or online multiplayer. During multiplayer, the 500 Bell entry fee is waived for all participants. In addition, there is a cooperative bonus: if 5 - 9 bugs are caught between the players, all players will earn 5 bonus points each (regardless of the number of bugs caught individually). If the total amount of bugs caught is between 10 and 14, all players will receive 7 points bonus. The highest possible bonus is 10 points, when total amount of bugs caught is 15 or more.

To begin a Bug-Off, only one player needs to ask Flick to start the timer. The timer will begin for everyone without prior warning, meaning that other players must prepare their nets and find the nearest bug close to them to catch. A Bug-Off can also only be started after everyone has cleared their cages (whether by selling to Flick or manually removing the bugs from it).

Players can join or leave the island during the Bug-Off, but the timer will not pause. If connection is lost and/or the island state is reset, it is possible for everyone to lose their catching progress.

Rewards[edit]

After obtaining 10 or more points, players can exchange their points for a "bug relic." The 13 possible items are distributed in a random order, after which the player will start receiving duplicate items. In addition, if the player obtains 100, 200, or 300 points over the course of the day, Flick will mail them a corresponding trophy (bronze, silver, or gold). This total is cumulative; points that have been traded in for relics still contribute to the total.

Although the tourney ends at 6:00 PM, Flick will remain in the plaza until 8:00 PM, so points can still be exchanged for rewards until he leaves. After he has left, the bug cage remains in the plaza for the rest of the night, in case the player still needs to retrieve their bugs from there.

Bug-Off items in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Item	Type	Buy price	Sell price	Available from
Artisanal bug cage	Furniture	Not for sale	450 Bells	Flick
Bronze bug trophy	Furniture	Not for sale	400 Bells	Flick
Gold bug trophy	Furniture	Not for sale	450 Bells	Flick
Silver bug trophy	Furniture	Not for sale	425 Bells	Flick
Spider doorplate	Furniture	Not for sale	90 Bells	Flick
Spider web	Furniture	Not for sale	25 Bells	Flick
Termite mound	Furniture	Not for sale	550 Bells	Flick
Toy centipede	Furniture	Not for sale	50 Bells	Flick
Toy cockroach	Furniture	Not for sale	70 Bells	Flick
Bug aloha shirt	Clothing	Not for sale	240 Bells	Flick
Bug cage	Clothing	Not for sale	122 Bells	Flick
Butterfly backpack	Clothing	Not for sale	210 Bells	Flick
Ladybug umbrella	Clothing	Not for sale	80 Bells	Flick
Butterflies wall	Interior	Not for sale	840 Bells	Flick
Ladybug rug	Interior	Not for sale	375 Bells	Flick
Bug wand	Tool	Not for sale	1,500 Bells	Flick

Includes data sourced from the Data Spreadsheet for Animal Crossing New Horizons, compiled and edited by 6480, noizhub, Ricky, chaiinchomp, saberslime, robotic_scarab, mollumisc, sunmarsh, kyrokey, obstinateRixatrix, jackiwi, Zalex, SuperHamster, kait, hyuum, Azarro, Czarcasm, cinnamon_swirlix, astronomyfortwo, Welcius, glowtopia, BriKun, Alyrei, dodocodes.com, StevieCoops, sneeze, Shiny190, TwistedPeach, LavaToaster, capstone, vmario, rocklamp, Alexis, Aeon, and PanchamBro.

Recurrence[edit]

Game	Recurrence	This year	Next year
Game	Recurrence	2023	2024
Wild World	Third Sunday of June, July, August, September	Jun 18, Jul 16 Aug 20, Sep 17	Jun 16, Jul 21 Aug 18, Sep 15
City Folk	Third Saturday of June, July, August, September	Jun 17, Jul 15 Aug 19, Sep 16	Jun 15, Jul 20 Aug 17, Sep 21
New Leaf	Third Saturday of June, July, August, September	Jun 17, Jul 15 Aug 19, Sep 16	Jun 15, Jul 20 Aug 17, Sep 21
New Horizons	Fourth Saturday of June, July, August, September (Northern Hemisphere) Third Saturday of January, February, November, December (Southern Hemisphere)	Northern: Jun 24, Jul 22 Aug 26, Sep 23 Southern: Jan 21, Feb 18 Nov 18, Dec 16	Northern: Jun 22, Jul 27 Aug 24, Sep 28 Southern: Jan 20, Feb 17 Nov 16, Dec 21

Gallery[edit]

City Folk[edit]

Announcement
Nat's tent
Nat meeting the player

New Leaf[edit]

Inside Nat's tent
The winners of the Bug-Off being applauded

New Horizons[edit]

Bulletin board announcement
Flick's stand on a Southern Hemisphere island in December
The player catching a Banded Dragonfly during a Bug-Off in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Trivia[edit]

A dialogue error causes Flick to wrongly assume the following for the Bug-Off in the southern hemisphere:
- The February Bug-Off has Flick asserting that the next Bug-Off (including bug season) will continue onto March, which is invalid given the internal coding of when the Bug-Off takes place.
- The December Bug-Off has Flick declaring bug season to be over, despite the following month featuring many new bugs to catch, as well as another Bug-Off taking place.

Names in other languages[edit]

	ムシとり大会 Mushi tori taikai	Moth tournament

	곤충채집대회 gonchungchaejibdaehoe	Insect Competition

	捕虫大赛 Bǔchóng dàsài	Insect Contest

	捕蟲大會 Bǔ chóng dàhuì	Insect Contest

	Турнир «Мастер сачка» Turnir «Master sachka»	"Master of the net" tourney

	Beestjesbeker	Bug cup

	Insektikus-Turnier	Insect tourney

	Caza de Bichos	Bug Hunt

	Caza de Insectos	Insect Hunt

	Insectosafari	Insect Safari

	Insettomania	-