A dataminer who looked into the source code of Animal Crossing: New Horizons managed to figure out the algorithm that dictates what a player gets when receiving an art from the villagers via mail.
Consequently, the dataminer had solved a puzzle that people had been kept wondering since the feature arrived in-game.
The dataminer was a Twitter user, @_Ninji, claims to have nailed down the mechanics, suggesting who gives and what.
A ‘Chance’ Mechanism
Today's weird #ACNH fact: You can randomly receive art pieces in the mail from villagers
Assuming that I've understood the system correctly:
– Jock and Lazy may send any piece, real or fake
– Smug will only send fake pieces
– Cranky will only send sculptures (real or fake)— Ninji (has moved) (@_Ninji) May 22, 2020
The alleged dataminer, apparently from Europe, briefly reveals the information based on ‘villager personality‘ as follows:
- Jock and Lazy has a chance probability of sending any piece, authentic or otherwise.
- Smug will definitely only send counterfeits.
- Cranky will only send sculptures, whether real or fake.
That is truly an interesting piece of news and knowing what to get from the villagers themselves. However, to those who are seeking to complete the game’s art exhibit, @_Ninji also revealed juicy info regarding Crazy Redd.
As players would already know by now, Crazy Redd is the game’s peddler of art who, by chance, either sells genuine or fake art. But Redd is not always accessible on the island as he only appears periodically and his wares with him.
According to Ninji, there are four unique outcomes whenever that happens:
- 10 percent that there would be a fake item while the rest is authentic
- 10 percent chance of having all the items as counterfeit
- 30 percent probability that two items are fake and two are real
- 50 percent prospect that only one item is genuine and the rest is fake
Based on the revealed information, it only shows how the odds are often high when people browse through Redd’s merch.
At worst, players would be faced with a 25 percent chance of getting a real item. Followed only by the second worst-case scenario that faces the player with a 50 percent chance of acquiring an inauthentic piece.
The Problem with Fakes
Getting art pieces in-game is primarily aimed at completing the art museum quest which tasks players to bring over arts in the place. However, the museum only curates pieces that are genuine in quality, not fakes.
Getting counterfeits, therefore, only makes the completion of the quest less easy to accomplish, even when including the villager’s effort in the process.
There are literally dozens of art pieces to encounter and find within the island. Nevertheless, there is a way to identify whether an item is real or not based on face value.
Image used courtesy of YouTube/GameXplain