If you’ve played Animal Crossing: New Horizons this week one or all of your island residents will be abuzz about this weekend’s Bug Off! A Bug Off is similar to C.J.’s fishing tourney but with bugs. And in this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know before the first Bug Off coming this Saturday! For out other Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides be sure to tab this open for later.

 

The Event

To start the event just speak to Flick at the Residence Area. Speaking to her will trigger the timer and that’s when you’ll need to catch as many bugs as you can in three minutes.

Each bug that you catch will earn you one point, however, you will earn an extra two points if you’ve caught three or more bugs in that time. All bugs you catch will automatically be transported to Flick’s bug cage once caught, and you can then choose to sell them directly from the cage to Flick at 1.5x their normal sell value, or you can choose to grab any bugs if you wish to keep them for yourself – but you cannot begin a new attempt until the cage has been cleared.

 

How To Catch More Bugs

There’s not a ton of pressure during the Bug Off to catch all the bugs at once as the points that you collect end up being cumulative. And you can repeat this event as many times as you like during the Bug Off. The initial entry fee is free on your first attempt, and all other attempts will cost 500 Bells.

But if you do want to maximise your points per round, hey bells don’t grow on trees! Oh wait they do… We got some tips for you.

So it goes without saying that bugs tend to gather around flowers. If you have a flower field or a patch of flowers be sure to head there first to catch bugs. If not you have plenty of time until Saturday to grow some! Pro tip: Leave some trash or rotten turnips near them as well for extra flies or ants to catch.

I’m sure by now you all know about the different bugs you can catch in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. By far the easiest catches are the slow-moving butterflies and the hardest the fast-moving dragonflies. In the Bug Off competition, it’s quantity over quality so ditch those difficult catches for something easier to swoop on instead!

Last of all invite some friends to catch bugs with you! If you’re playing in a group and you’ve caught 5 bugs between you there will be an additional 5 points awarded to every player. Even if they didn’t catch any bugs. You’ll also recieve twice any points for playing on your friend’s island!

Bug Off Rewards

Every 10 points you accumulate at the Bug Off can be exchanged with Flick for a random bug-themed item. Below are all the different prizes you can receive when you trade in your points. After you’ve collected one of each you should then start receiving duplicate prizes.

On top of collecting points to exhange for prizes, Flick will also keep track of your daily total points for the day. If you’ve collected enough points she’ll award you with a trophy! It’s 100 points for Bronze, 200 for Silver and 300 points for the Gold Trophy.

 

When Are The Bug Offs

During the Summer on every last Saturday of the month Flick will host a Bug Off. The Bug Offs will run during the day from 9am – 6pm.

In the Northern Hemisphere the Bug Off will commence on:

• 27th June
• 25th July
• 29th August
• 26th September

And in the Southern Hemisphere:

• 21st of November
• 19th of December
• 23rd of January
• 20th of February