Here’s when every Animal Crossing visitor might come to your island
Know when your favorite pal comes to town.
You’re the resident representative in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so you’ve got dominion over the villagers on your island and can invite more or evict others as you please. Event- and merchant-based Special Characters like Saharah and Redd, however, are chained to a specific schedule, which was made public due to a data-mine. But how exactly do you get each of them to visit your island?
While you’re busy trying to fill your island with villagers, you might notice a few of these uninvited anthropomorphic guests like Gulliver, who washes up on your beach, or C.J., who really loves to fish. These are known as Special Characters in most circles. Unlike Villagers, Special Characters aren’t residents and therefore cannot move permanently to your island. They’re NPCs that sell specific goods, run island establishments, and provide side quests resulting in exclusive rewards.
How does the Special Character appearance system work?
After fulfilling an initial unlock requirement for an event- or merchant-focused character, they’ll be added to the Special Characters pool. The Special Characters within this pool can be classified into three tiers: guaranteed Special Characters, variable Special Characters, and nighttime Special Characters.
Guaranteed Special Characters will consistently visit your village once per week. On days when guaranteed Special Characters are absent, variable Special Characters will appear instead. You can meet up to two variable Special Characters each week. Variable Special Characters who didn’t visit in a given week, will be given priority to appear during the following week. In Animal Crossing’s current form, a variable Special Characters can theoretically not appear for two weeks straight at maximum. Given the algorithm, they’d be guaranteed to appear during the third week.
Lastly, there are nighttime Special Characters who only appear at night. Their schedule currently operates independently from the other two pools. Here’s a list of when each Special Characters will appear, their unlock requirements, and what they offer.
Guaranteed Special Characters
Daisy Mae, the turnip dealer
Unlock Requirement: Build Nook’s Cranny
Appearance Day: Sunday from 4 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Location: Everywhere. She can be found wandering the island
You can buy turnips from her to partake in the lucrative stalk market.
K.K. Slider
K.K. Slider and his instrument
Unlock Requirement: Get your island rating to three stars
Appearance Day: Saturday from 6 p.m. to midnight
Location: Town Square
K.K. Slider plays tunes on your island every week. A new track will be unlocked every session.
Saharah
Sarahah and the rugs
Unlock Requirement: Upgrade your tent to a house
Appearance Day: Any weekday from 5 a.m. to midnight
Location: Everywhere. She can be found wandering the island
Saharah offers purchasable rugs, flooring, and wallpaper. Each purchase adds a ticket to your inventory, which can be spent on a special rug or wallpaper from her shop Or you can just use our QR code wallpapers.
Leif
Not so new Leif
Unlock Requirement: Update your game to version 1.2.
Appearance Day: Any weekday from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Location: Town Square
Leif will purchase your weeds for double what Timmy and Tommy offer. He also sells rare seeds, shrubs, and other garden specialty items.
Kicks
Kicks
Unlock Requirement: Open the Able Sisters shop (Check out our guide on Kicks for more information.)
Appearance Day: Any weekday from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m
Location: Town Square.
Kicks will sell you some stylish foot coverings like leggings, socks, shoes, and oddly backpacks. He can also be sold those same items.
Variable Special Characters
Redd
Redd and his 'art'
Unlock Requirement: Submit 60 exhibits to Blathers. Check out our guide on Redd for more details.
Appearance Day: Any weekday, all-day
Location: Town Square, initially. He’ll move to his secret beach on your island’s northern half.
Redd visits to sell paintings that can be donated to Blathers, they're often fake. You need to pick out the real ones from the forgeries. Use our guide to circumvent guesswork.
Label
Label and her luggage.
Unlock Requirement: Open the Able Sisters shop
Appearance Day: Any weekday from 5 a.m. to midnight
Location: Town Square.
Label will ask you to dress in accordance with a theme. In exchange, she’ll give you a clothing item and a Tailor ticket. Tailor Tickets can be traded for any Able Sister that costs 3000 or fewer Bells. You could also obtain outfits with QR codes.
Gulliver
Gulliver all washed up
Unlock Requirement: Begin construction on the museum
Appearance Day: Any weekday from 5 a.m. to 5 a.m. the following day
Location: Washed up on the beach shore
Complete Gulliver’s quest to obtain a random item from his travels. To finish his quest properly, check out our Gulliver guide.
Flick
Flick crossing a bridge
Unlock Requirement: Resident Services has been upgraded to a building
Appearance Day: Any weekday from 5 a.m. to 5 a.m. the following day
Location: Everywhere. Flick can be found wandering around the island.
Flick will buy bugs off you for 1.5 times their normal rate. He can sculpt your favorite bugs on commission. Find out everything about Flick from our guide.
C.J.
C.J. in their element
Unlock Requirement: Resident Services has been upgraded to a building
Appearance Day: Any weekday from 5 a.m. to 5 a.m. the following day
Location: Wandering the island, though he’ll often stay near bodies of water.
You can sell C.J. fish for 1.5 times their normal rate. C.J. can be commissioned to sculpt your favorite fish as well. Sometimes he’ll host a fishing tournament as well.
Nighttime Special Characters
Wisp
Wisp in their incorporeal form
Unlock Requirement: none. You can meet a ghost on day one.
Appearance Day: Any night from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Location: Near coast side forests at night.
Wisp will give you a short quest. Complete it to receive a random something expensive or something new. Check out our guide for full details on the ghastly quest.
Celeste
Celeste
Unlock Requirement: Blathers’ museum is built (she’s Blathers’ sister)
Appearance Day: Any night with clear skies or a meteor shower from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following day. If there are multiple nights with clear skies or a meteor shower, Celeste will pick a random one
Location: Celeste is usually situated close to the beach.
Celeste gives you a magic wand or a space-themed D.I.Y. recipe after every encounter. It’s one of the many daily things you can do to obtain more D.I.Y. recipes.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available only for the Nintendo Switch.
