Ah Animal Crossing, what a fun game! I got Animal Crossing for Christmas 2002 and played it for the entirety of winter break. My favorite things in the game were probably the Gracie shirts, which I adored, though I never managed to collect all of them, and of course the Gyroids. Thanks to Gracie’s demanding personality and flashy car I learned the fine art of button mashing, which has served me well in Mario Party ever since. Now the only person who can compete with me is Karlen, a fellow Animal Crosser, though she’s not as big of a Gracie fan as I am. I had three towns in the course of the year I played the game off and on (mostly on), go learn about them below!

Town #1: Squares

This was my very first town, which I wanted to name Squaresville, but it wouldn’t fit, so I just called it Squares. I paid off the biggest house and had lots of fun there, but after a month of furious play (the time between the Fall 2002 and Spring 2003 semesters) I got tired of my character. She was the unpleasant looking blue haired one with stoner half-closed eyes. The town itself I loved and honestly wish I had just made a new character rather than moving to Wok. But what’s done is done, and Squares is deleted - live and learn!

Townies: Bangle, Coco, Derwin, Fang, Gonzo, Goose, Grizzly, Kiki, Ozzie, Patty, Puddles, Robin, Scoot, Sydney, and Yuka.

Town #2: Wok (Wok Day is July 20th)

I founded Wok at Rice but played in it as Brigitte, my roommate also had a house there but he never played that much. Having three characters in a town is useful on days you get things from Tortimer and when Gracie visits, but that’s it. My house was the only one that’s paid off completely, I had the full cabana set on the bottom floor and my Gracie shirt collection on the top floor. I also had the beginnings of a model Wok in my basement, which I was very fond of, even if it made my basement unusable. In Rice’s house there was a wonderful zen garden on the top floor (pictured above), a funky exotic set with lots of special items on the bottom floor, and the basement is full of gyroid sets and a few one time only items that don’t fit on the first floor. My roommate’s house had the space set downstairs, a zen garden upstairs, and he let me use his basement to store my snowman furniture. True! I messed with the population a lot before trying to go au natural again. I got a couple of characters that I loved, Lucky and Filbert namely, but no matter what I did they both left. Once I got Ozzie again (I’ve had him four times total, two in this town) I decided to call it a day and stop playing. It was fun while it lasted though! I managed to collect all the fossils and fish and I’m only missing the bee in my bug collection. Darn elusive bee!

Final Townies: Alli, Chuck, Coco, Groucho, Jambette, Leopold, Monique, Sandy, Savannah, Scoot, Snooty, Sprocket, and Winnie.

Former Residents Include: Anchovy, Bangle, Blaire, Bob, Bones, Cheri, Cube, Doc, Fang, Filbert, Gruff, Hornsby, Huck, Hugh, Iggy, Jay, Jeremiah, Kiki, Liz, Lucky, Mathilda, Nate, Otis, Ozzie, Paolo, Patty, Pompom, Punchy, Rex, Robin, Rosie, Stu, Sven, Sydney, Truffles, Weber, Wilbur, and Winnie.

Town #3: Chateau (Chateau Day is July 16th)

I founded Chateau as Monroe looking for one animal : Leopold. Why? Leopold looks a lot like my Dad and says thing like “homey” and “dude” like Dad does. I was so tickled that I became obsessed with getting a town with him in it. On top of that, Chateau came with Liz and Alli, two of the four alligators, which I was thrilled by, so I decided to settle down. I used Chateau to play in when Wok upset me and to travel to. I probably wouldn’t have played there long if Winnie hadn’t moved there, I really couldn’t bear to part with her. After that Iggy, who came from Karlen’s town, Gobi, moved over to Chateau, and since I promised to take care of him I had to keep the game. Once I finally got Winnie back, however, I stopped visiting Chateau altogether.

Townies: Axel, Blaire, Chief, Fang, Freya, Iggy, Kiki, Ozzie, Paolo, Patty, Robin, Savannah, Static, Sydney, and Tabby.