Animal Crossing: New Horizons brings family together

Sadie burst into my office in tears.

“I’ve… ruined… the whole… thing,” she cried, her words broken by gasps for air.

“There are cockroaches in my house and no one on the island remembers me.”

About a month ago, I bought “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” for the Nintendo Switch. It was a big purchase as video game prices go.

But this is a pandemic and I’m on the hunt for things we can do together as a family. Cooped up in the house on crappy weather days? No problem. Flip on the Switch and craft tools and furniture, build homes and stores and make new animal friends on our family island.

We didn’t know much about the game before we played it. We knew it was a huge hit by the posts we saw on Twitter. It was the No. 1 best-selling game in March, and second in April.

“Finally,” I thought. “Something that doesn’t require killing zombies.”

Sadie was the first to play the game. What we didn’t know at the time was that the first person to play the game would become the island representative.

She named the island “Apple” and set some decisions in motion that impacted play for the rest of us. She invited a curator to locate his museum on the island. She built Nook’s Cranny (a kind of trading post) and the first bridge. She sold land to new villagers.

All was well on Apple until Sadie made some risky choices this past week.

Read more at https://www.vindy.com/life/lifestyles/2020/05/animal-crossing-nh-brings-family-together/ (may encounter paywall).