Animal Crossing City Folk Guide to Decorating and the Happy Room Academy

Animal Crossing City Folk Guide to Decorating and the Happy Room Academy
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House decorating is another of the multitude of fun activities players can participate in (it’s one of my girlfriend’s favorites) in Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Nintendo Wii.

Aside from the simple joy that comes from having a well-arranged house, there are also a series of rewards that can be earned from Animal Crossing’s very own home decor critics, the Happy Room Academy. Check out some of the potential rewards and some great hints and tips for increasing your overall room score.

HRA Headquarters

You can visit the Happy Room Academy headquarters in the city to check out some of your friends’ room scores (updated via the Nintendo Wi Fi connection) as well as wander through a model room showcasing effective decorating techniques. You can also sign up for weekly HRA home decor evaluations by talking to Lyle.

Every Sunday, the HRA will send you an evaluation of your decorating technique, along with an overall score. There are rewards associated with reaching certain point totals. They include:

  • 70,000 points: House Model
  • 100,000 points: Wide House Model
  • 150,000 points: Two Story Model.

Decorating Tips

Acquiring multiple pieces of furniture from the same set will give you a boost to your HRA score. Tracking down the individual pieces can sometimes be a pain, but the point rewards are worth the effort. Additional bonus points can be earned by adding a set’s wallpaper and carpet to your overall aesthetic. Here are some examples of available set bonuses:

  • House Models

    Earn 20,000 bonus points for having all 10 pieces of furniture in a series on display.

  • Collect a complete series along with matching wallpaper or carpet, and you’ll earn 25,000 bonus points.

  • Add both the carpet and wallpaper to a complete 10 piece furniture series, and you’ll get 30,000 bonus points.

  • Adding a themed wallpaper or flooring will net you 3,000 bonus points.

  • For an incomplete set combined with a matching wallpaper or carpet, you still earn 3,000 points per piece of furniture in the set.

Check out page two for some great Animal Crossing Feng Shui tips, as well as a list of “lucky items” that can earn you thousands of bonus points apiece.

Animal Crossing Feng Shui

Happy Room Academy

Following the principles of Feng Shui can also result in much higher scores, as well as other in-game bonuses, including an increased likelihood of receiving items from your neighbors. Colored items need to be purposefully placed around the house:

Yellow furniture and items (examples include: hi-fi stereo, jasmine bonsai, judge’s bell, jukebox, and kayak) should be placed on the west (left) side of the house.

Red items and pieces of furniture (examples include: dog house, dolly, executive toy, extinguisher, and fire hydrant) need to go on the east (right) side of the room.

Green items (including hawthorn bonsai, holly bonsai, hospital bed, iris chair, and the iris table) should be placed toward the south (bottom) of the room.

Lucky Items

There are also a number of so-called “lucky items” to be found in the game. Simply having any of these items in your house gets you 7,777 HRA bonus points. Multiple copies of the same item have no effect, but you can add as many individual items as you can find and still get the bonus. Lucky items include:

  • Ivory Piano

    Arwing: Available from Tom Nook’s.

  • Dracaneana: a house plant available from Tom Nook’s.

  • Garden Gnome: available from Tom Nook’s.

  • Ivory Piano: available from Tom Nook’s.

  • Jack in the Box: available from Jack on Halloween.

  • Lefty Lucky Cat: available for purchase from Redd.

  • Lovely Phone: a gift from Katie and Kaitlin.

  • Lucky Black Cat: Buy from Redd.

  • Lucky Cat: Buy from Tom Nook’s.

  • Lucky Clover: Found on clover patches around town.

  • Lucky Gold Cat: Buy from Tom Nook’s.

  • Master Sword: Available for purchase from Tom Nook.

  • Music Box: Gift from Katie and Kaitlin.

  • Lucky Black Cat

    Piggy Bank: Deposit 10,000,000 into your ABD account.

  • Raccoon Figurine: Buy from Redd.

  • Samurai Suit: Available for purchase from Tom Nook.

  • Treasure Chest: Available from Tom Nook’s.

  • Triforce: Available for purchase from Redd.

  • Washer/Dryer: Buy from Tom Nook.

Home decorating is just one of the many fun activities in Animal Crossing: City Folk. Use the tips in this guide, and you’ll win those house models in no time. For more information on other Animal Crossing: City Folk activities including fishing, bug catching, and holidays, be sure to check out the other sections of the guide.

Animal Crossing: City Folk is rated E for Everyone.