Mystery Island Tour

From Nookipedia, the Animal Crossing wiki
This article is about the service provided by Dodo Airlines. For the similar service provided by Kapp'n, see Boat tour.
Artwork of Wilbur and two players on a dock with a DAL plane

The Mystery Island Tour is a leisure activity in Animal Crossing: New Horizons operated by Dodo Airlines. The tour can be embarked on in exchange for a Nook Miles Ticket by speaking to Orville at the airport. Each tour brings the participant to a random deserted island, known as a Mystery Island, where they can harvest materials for crafting and catch rare bugs and fish. They also may find fossils, DIY recipes inside Message Bottles, and villagers if there is an empty plot on the player's island.

Characteristics[edit]

After paying a Nook Miles Ticket to Orville, the player will be transported to the island in a seaplane piloted by Wilbur, who will remain stationed on the dock for the duration of the tour. Once the player leaves to go home the island can never be revisited as, according to Wilbur, the map with the island's coordinates is destroyed for security reasons. In actuality, the islands are randomly generated from templates each time they are visited and deleted once the player leaves, so care must be taken to ensure no wanted items are left behind as they will be permanently lost. The player is free to do as they wish on the island as any changes will not affect future island visits.

Various tools are necessary in order to fully explore the islands and harvest their resources, though each island contains a Simple DIY Workbench in case the player needs to make their own while on tour. If the player cannot obtain the resources needed to make tools, they can purchase tools from Wilbur in exchange for Nook Miles. A vaulting pole and a ladder are the most crucial tools to have, as much of the islands are entirely inaccessible without these tools.

There are 20 archetypes in all for the Mystery Islands (with five missing in the game's data), some of which are much rarer to experience than others. Every island always contains a dock, a Simple DIY Workbench for crafting, rocks and beaches on the left and right sides containing palm trees and shells. Many of the islands will contain flowers, which is either the native flower or the sister flower of the player's island. There's a 30% chance that a message bottle may be found washed ashore in the sand, in addition to a 30% chance for a fossil to be buried. Each island that features regular non-fruit-bearing trees will have a least one that contains a Wasp's Nest and one with a furniture leaf. The fruit-bearing trees bear the same fruit as the player's island, with the exception of one island that bears the sister fruit.

Tourists[edit]

Inviting a villager from a Mystery Island Tour in New Horizons

Potential villagers can appear when visiting the tour islands, and they can be asked to move to the player's own island as a resident. Initially these villagers will always be either lazy, normal or peppy; once a villager of a given type has been invited, only villagers of the remaining type(s) will appear. Should a tourist be invited to become a resident, they will not move to the island until 3 new housing plots are prepared for Tom Nook.

Tourists will stop appearing on the islands from this point until Resident Services is upgraded into a building and the campsite is built. The player will then be able to purchase housing plots to place around town. From this point, villagers of every personality will begin appearing on the islands, if and only if an open plot is available (including if a plot is opened up by a villager moving away).

The villager that appears on a mystery island is determined randomly by choosing which species it will generate, then randomly choosing one of the villagers from that species. This makes octopus villagers, with only four in New Horizons, more common than a multitudinous species, such as cats, with 23 representatives. Once invited, the villager will occupy the oldest-placed housing plot the next day.

Types of Mystery Islands[edit]

Note that all Mystery Island names are conjectural unless otherwise stated.

Short river and pond[edit]

Mystery Island 0 NH.jpg

Chance: 9.68%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

A fairly ordinary island with a pond in the south-west corner and a river flowing from a pond on top of a cliff in the north to a mouth in the east. Three rocks can be found on the lowest level, and one on the raised section.

Short river[edit]

Mystery Island 1 NH.jpg

Chance: 9.68%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

Very similar to the previous island, but without the pond and a somewhat wider upper level. Three rocks can be found on the lowest level, and one on the raised section.

Spiral[edit]

Mystery Island 2 NH.jpg

Chance: 9.68%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

The river on this island follows a spiral pattern, with rocks arranged around different points of the spiral. Despite the unusual layout, there is nothing special about the island. The flowers and fruit-bearing trees on this island are the same as the ones native to the player's home.

Fidget spinner[edit]

Mystery Island 4 NH.jpg

Chance: 9.68%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

A small island with a large fidget spinner-shaped pond on the right half of the island, and a small raised cliff area in the upper left corner. Four rocks can be found in each corner.

Mountain[edit]

Mystery Island 6 NH.jpg

Chance: 8%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Ladder

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x5 Crafting Materials
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

An island containing three levels of elevation. A ring of fruit trees surrounds the top-most cliffs, atop which many flowers and five rocks can be found. These rocks have a higher than normal chance to generate ore when hit, and may also spawn a Pill Bug or Centipede.

Money rocks[edit]

Mystery Island 7 NH.jpg

Chance: 5%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Upgraded Resident Services
Vaulting pole

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x6 Bells
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

A island containing a large ring-shaped pond, forming an islet in the center. Fruit trees and flowers surround the pond. The islet contains 5 rocks, all of which will dispense Bells when struck with a shovel or axe. The only way to pole vault across is on a tiny strip of land at the back of the island that juts out towards it. A money rock blocks the way and must be destroyed (by eating fruit) to cross.

Bamboo[edit]

Mystery Island 8 NH.jpg

Chance: 9.85%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: Bamboo
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

A small square island covered entirely in Bamboo. Bamboo Shoots can be found buried next to the stalks.

Fruit orchard[edit]

Mystery Island 10 NH.jpg

Chance: 10.15%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: Secondary fruit
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

A somewhat wide island with a small raised section to the north, and a river that flows down and exits to the west. The island is covered with 19 fruit trees bearing non-native fruit, all of which can be harvested and sold for a large profit on the player's island. The fruit will always be the player's "secondary" fruit, which will always be the same when coming to this island. Three rocks can be found on the lowest level, and one on the raised section.

Having a 10.15% encounter rate, this mystery island has the highest chance, statisically.

Scorpion island[edit]

Mystery Island 12 NH.jpg
Mystery Island 12 Scorpion NH.jpg

Chance: 1%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Upgraded Resident Services

Internal name

Trees: regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Scorpion
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x7 Bells
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: Once per day

A island with four triangular cliffs in each corner. The clearing in the center contains 7 rocks, all of which will dispense Bells when struck with a shovel or axe. Scorpions will generate en-masse within the clearing, making for a difficult but potentially very lucrative bug catching opportunity. If the player is bitten they will respawn back on the dock.

This island can only be visited a maximum of once per day and is only available during times the scorpion is available to catch.

Tarantula island[edit]

Mystery Island 13 NH.jpg
Mystery Island 13 Tarantula NH.jpg

Chance: 2%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Tarantula
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x7 Crafting Materials
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: Once per day

A small square island with a ring of water in the center. Tarantulas will generate en masse in the center, making for a difficult but potentially very lucrative bug catching opportunity. If the player is bitten they will respawn back on the dock. The ring of water in the center is narrow enough for the player to jump across without the need for a vaulting pole.

This island can only be visited a maximum of once per day, and only at times the tarantula is available to catch.

Rugged woodland[edit]

Mystery Island 14 NH.jpg

Chance: 1.5%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Upgraded Resident Services

Internal name

Trees: regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Tree insects
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: Once per day

An island with several isolated raised sections and no rivers or ponds. Hardwood Trees can be found all over the island. Only insects associated with trees will appear here.

The following insects can be found on this island:

This island can only be visited a maximum of once per day.

Flat woodland[edit]

Mystery Island 17 NH.jpg

Chance: 1%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Tree insects
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: Once per day

This island is almost identical to the Bamboo island, but with Cedar Trees instead of Bamboo Trees. Only insects associated with trees will appear here. Four rocks can be found in each corner of the island.

The following insects can be found on this island:

This island can only be visited a maximum of once per day.

Curly river[edit]

Mystery Island 18 NH.jpg

Chance: 8%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Water insects
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

The island features a tiny raised section in the north-east corner, with a winding river that doubles back on itself and exists to the east, resembling a horseshoe. Three rocks can be found on the lowest level, and one on the raised section.

The following insects can be found on this island:

Big fish[edit]

Mystery Island 19 NH.jpg

Chance: 3%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Vaulting pole

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Large (size 4+) only

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: Once per day

The island features a raised section in the north-east corner, with two waterfalls that empty into a ring-shaped river that exits to the west. The waters of this island contain only large fish. It has a slightly lower chance of appearing than the other island with big fish, and contains only regular flowers and insects.

Only large fish (i.e. fish of size 4, 5 or 6) appear on this island.

This island can only be visited a maximum of once per day.

Trash[edit]

Mystery Island 20 NH.jpg
Mystery Island 20 Trash NH.jpg

Chance: 1%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Ladder

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Water insects
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Trash

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

The island features a large curved raised section in the north to north-east, with smaller raised sections in the south-east and south-west corners. A hook-shaped river on the lowest level flows from the center of the island and exits to the west.

The waters on this island contain no fish, only trash and there is little else of value on this island. The only insects that spawn are water-related ones.

The following insects appear on this island:

Dorsal-fin[edit]

Mystery Island 21 NH.jpg
Mystery Island 21 Great White Shark NH.jpg

Chance: 0.5%

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Water insects
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Dorsal-finned

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: Once per day

An island where all dorsal-finned fish can be found in abundance in the island's waters. These fish include Saw Shark, Whale Shark, Great White Shark, Hammerhead Shark, Ocean Sunfish, and Suckerfish. The island contains a squared ring of water creating a small islet in the center, which features a formation of cliffs that resemble a dorsal-fin. No fish will spawn in the surrounding water of the islet, not even when using Fish Bait.

Notably, this is the only location in the game that naturally features a fourth-tier of elevation. Towns cannot naturally generate with this, as they can only be created with the Island Designer Construction Permit.

This island can only be visited a maximum of once per day.

Waterfalls[edit]

Mystery Island 23 NH.jpg

Chance: 10%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Ladder

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Regular
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: None

A three-tier island with a river and multiple waterfalls, which empties into the sea on the eastern side, and a holding pond on the western side. Flowers cover the entire island.

Gold Nuggets[edit]

Mystery Island 24 NH.jpg
Mystery Island 24 Gold Nuggets NH.jpg
Mystery Island 24 Scorpion NH.jpg

Chance: 0.3%

Internal name

Trees: none
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Native flowers

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Scorpion
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Regular

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x1 Gold nuggets
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: Once per day

An island containing a small rectangular raised section, with very large squared pond behind it. A tiny square island lies in the center containing a single rock that dispenses up to 8 gold nuggets. The only way to get to the center is to climb up the cliff, and down the back, then vault over the pond. Scorpions are the only insect to spawn on this island.

This island can only be visited a maximum of once per day.

Previously available Mystery Islands[edit]

The following islands could previously be visited on the tour, but are no longer accessible in the most up-to-date version of the game.

Rare Flowers[edit]

Mystery Island 11 NH.jpg

Chance: 2%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Available from start

Internal name

Trees: regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: rare

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Insects that fly around flowers
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Koi and Goldfish

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: Once per day

An island containing a large pond surrounded entirely by rare hybrid flowers. Valuable butterflies spawn in abundance amongst the flowers, and Koi and Goldfish can be fished from the pond. This island was accessible prior to version 1.2.0.

The following insects will appear on this island:

This island could only be visited a maximum of once per day.

Rare Flowers and Big Fish[edit]

Mystery Island 16 NH.jpg
Mystery Island 16 Big Fish NH.jpg

Chance: 3%

Emotion Curiosity NH Icon cropped.png Requirements
Upgraded Resident Services
Ladder

Internal name

Trees: Native Fruit and regular
Pink Roses NH Icon.png Flowers: Rare

Bug NH Icon.png Bugs: Insects that sit on flowers
Fish NH Icon.png Fish: Large only

Shovel NH Inv Icon.png Rocks: x4 regular
Timer NH Inv Icon cropped.png Limit: Once per day

The island features a very large raised section in the center, with several ponds and a waterfall that are shaped like a fish with a raised caudal fin. Rare hybrid flowers can be found on the upper levels of the island, with only flower-related insects appearing. The waters of this island contain only large fish. This island was accessible prior to version 1.2.0.

The following insects can be found on this island:

The following fish can be found on this island:

This island could only be visited a maximum of once per day.

Music[edit]

Mystery Island Tour audio tracks

Title Game Track Notes
Mystery Island Tour (Day) Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Mystery Island Tour (Day, Rainy) Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Mystery Island Tour (Day, Snowy) Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Mystery Island Tour (Night) Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Mystery Island Tour (Night, Rainy) Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Mystery Island Tour (Night, Snowy) Animal Crossing: New Horizons



Trivia[edit]

  • Each island is numbered within the game's data. Islands 3, 5, 9, 15, and 22 are not present, suggesting that they were removed during development.