Starting an ACNH Island from Scratch – Remember That?

Welcome to the Island of Bowsman!

As you all know, I have been playing ACNH – Animal Crossing New Horizons – for a few years now. I’m currently working on a cyberpunk/Stray themed island and it is a lot of work. In my last post, I confessed that I have considered just restarting and doing an ACNH Island from scratch. But, all the work I’ve put into my cyberpunk island…I can’t do it.

Not on my Switch 2 anyway…

I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to do this before but I still have my old Switch and I can have a NEW island on that one! Why didn’t I think of that? I knew I didn’t sell it for a reason!

So, I started a new island, Bowsman (named after my hometown, which I miss, a lot). I forgot how much I love the whole grind. The beginning stage of an island is so filled with opportunity and possibilities!

I’m using my gaming name, Cushk and I am the Rascally Grandma.

ACNH Basics

I’m doing this island differently than I have other islands. In the previous versions of my islands I have time travelled, gone to treasure islands, and gotten things from other people (like fruit and vegetables, decor, etc.).

On Bowsman I am doing none of that. I’m going to play it as if I don’t have the ability to do any of those things. I’m just going to enjoy the process.

• no time travel
• no treasure islands
• nothing from other people

Things I Forgot About Doing an ACNH Island from Scratch

If you’ve been playing ACNH for a while, you might have forgotten what it is like to do an ACNH Island from scratch. It’s…slow. You just can’t rush through it.

But that’s a good thing. I love how you just have to take it easy. Do one thing at a time and follow Tom’s suggestions.

Fish, catch bugs, craft items, pick weeds, talk to your villagers and chill out .

That’s what I love about the game. It’s relaxing. You’re not supposed to rush. It’s a completely no-pressure kind of game. Some people find it boring but it’s great for me.

I forgot:

• how quickly you go through tools
• how you can’t hit rocks efficiently on day one (you don’t get the shovel until day 2 when you donate 5 creatures to Blathers, assuming you have your museum on day 2)
• you can’t get to the other parts of your island (you have to get the vaulting pole from Blathers, too)

What I Did on Day 1

Just because there’s not much to do, doesn’t mean I didn’t do anything! I actually got a fair amount done.

• I made my first fishing rod, net, and stone ax.
• I placed my tent and help my villagers place theirs
• I got Dom and Flo as my first villagers (very pleased as I’ve never had either of them before and I love Dom)
• I caught bugs
• I caught fish
• I donated as much as I could to Tom
• I got the set up for Blathers and the tent museum
• I sold a lot of fish and bugs and weeds to the cousins
• I got enough Nook Miles to pay my fees and I’m now in debt to Tom for my first house
• I got some rocks and a couple pieces of iron – not selling because I know I’ll need them!
• I bought a few things for decor and my first scuba suit so I can start going diving for sea creatures tomorrow (later today)

And I think that’s it.

I’m looking forward to playing tomorrow and I’m planning to stream it so come and join me on Twitch! And I might be blogging about this island a lot because I’m super excited about it!