If you're like me, Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch is your go-to escape during the COVID-19 lockdown. Every free moment I have that I'm not tied up with school work or work-work, I am paying off my loans and decorating my Animal Crossing island. As an avid Animal Crossing fan, I am glad to see they brought some of the older features to the new game.
Have you ever noticed a glowing spot on the ground while doing your daily rounds? A quick dig with your shovel will show that there are 1,000 bells buried there. Some newcomers to the series may not know that if you bury that bag of 1,000 bells in the same spot, without closing the glowing hole it came out from, a tree will sprout in that spot. In a couple of days' time, you'll have a full-fledged money tree that will yield 3 bags of 1,000 bells.
But what if you bury MORE than 1,000 bells? Well, things change a bit then.
There is some secret to the money tree growing business that the game does not explicitly tell you. Past a certain point, the more money you bury, the less likely you are to get a 3x return.
This information is from the Animal Crossing wiki, so it's not official numbers, just what can be determined through crowd-sourced information. For that reason, you should take this advice with a grain of salt.
How much money should you invest? Well, that depends on how risk adverse you are.CREDIT: Ordinary Reviews
100 - 1,000: The Safest Bet
Up to 1,000 bells buried to grow a money tree is the safest bet. The tree always returns 3x your investment.
2,000 - 9,000: Some Risk, Some Reward
When you plant between 2,000 and 9,000 bells, you enter into some risk of your return. A money tree planted with a seed investment in this range has a 70% chance of returning 3x 1,000 bells bags and only a 30% chance of returning 3x your investment.
The big thing to note here is if you invest 1,000, you will always get 3,000 in return. If you invest 2,000, you only have a 30% chance of getting back 3x 2,000 bags. You are more likely to get 3x 1,000 bell bags in a 2,000 bell investment, so you might as well save half of the investment and spend it at Timmy and Tommy's shop.
10,000 - 99,000: Biggest Risk, Biggest Reward
This is the range where you can realize the biggest return on your investment, but it also carries the most risk. If you bury in this range, you stand a 70% chance of getting 3x 10,000 bell bags and only a 30% chance of getting 3x the amount you buried. For this reason, burying 10,000 bells to grow a money tree is the safest option to get the highest return on your investment.
Now, this isn't to say that you should never bury 99,000 bells. I have done it and gotten back 3x 99,000 bell bags, which is a huge return. Keep in mind that you decide the risk based on the amount buried. If you have the money to play with, then you certainly can gamble. My best suggestion is if you have that much money, invest it in the Sow Joan's Stalk market.
