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Looks like Animal Crossing is about to get a luck system

Bad luck for now!

Animal Crossing villagers use poppers. Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ second summer update brought about the Dream Suite, save backups, fireworks, and even a new camera feature, but the most interesting addition has to be the quietest one: tripping.

Players who download the update may find that, on occasion, their villager slips and falls to the ground, like so:

If you happen to be holding a balloon, which is one of the new items, it’ll float away. Boo.

Players have also found that when you hit a rock and get a gold nugget, your character will now be inspired to craft a new DIY, the King Tut mask. It looks extremely cool, except for one hilarious issue: If you wear the King Tut mask, you’ll trip way more often than you normally would.

Why would it happen more often when you’re wearing this mask? Well, in the past, Animal Crossing has had a luck system that affected all sorts of day-to-day things. On a good luck day, everything is amazing: You’ll get more money from rocks, it’ll be easier to befriend villagers, and you’ll even have a better time avoiding bees, because they’ll move more slowly. The world’s your oyster.

On bad luck days, it’s the complete opposite. You’ll find fewer resources, it’ll be harder to raise friendship levels, the money rock will become stingy, and — just to pour salt on the wound — you’ll trip and fall on your face. Wearing the King Tut mask will immediately lower your luck, which is why you’ll trip way more often. It’s probably an Easter egg hinting at the masks’ cursed nature.

Tripping wasn’t in New Horizons until now, and fans are taking its sudden inclusion as indication of not just a luck system, but a totally new character. You see, prior Animal Crossing games also had a black panther named Katrina who could, for a price, give you a fortune. These fortunes were an indicator that you were about to have good luck days or bad luck days, including times when you’d trip all the time. She could even foretell days when your villagers would try and avoid you!

All of this is to say: If New Horizons has tripping now, it seems very likely that future updates will get a full-blown luck system, and perhaps a new visitor type to go along with that.