Get rid of problem residents.
Maybe you’ve got a villager who rubs you the wrong way. Fair enough. Here’s how to get rid of them forever.
Many people struggle with getting their least favourite islanders to take a hint and get the hell out. We’re here to help though. Even though there are no bad villagers, and you’re a cruel person for kicking these cute little fuzzballs out, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
How to kick out villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
There are a few ways to kick villagers out in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. First, we’ll state that popular rumours like complaining to Isabelle about them or hitting them repeatedly with a net will kick them out are false. Isabelle can get your villagers to stop saying certain catchphrases or wearing certain clothes, rather than actually kicking them out, and physical abuse apparently counts as communication in this game.
No, you have to go the opposite direction.
Ignoring your villager
A method that takes a little bit of time is completely blanking them. If you ignore your villager for days on end, they’ll be more likely to decide to move out.
Keep refusing to talk to them until you see them walking around with a puzzled expression and a thought bubble above their head. Then, you’ll want to talk to them. Villagers will only move out if the player is present and selects the correct option to confirm their departure.
As mentioned, hitting them with a net counts as interaction, but entering their house does not.
There’s a more reliable way to get rid of your enemies though.
Using amiibo to get rid of villagers
If you have a full village of 10 people, you can use amiibo to kick a villager of your choice out. Just follow these steps:
- Step 1: Ensure you have a campsite and Town Hall unlocked and open in your town.
- Step 2: Scan the amiibo or amiibo card at the Nook Stop in the Town Hall. The amiibo has to be of an Animal Crossing villager, so unless you already have one, it’s not a freebie. This will bring up a window with the corresponding villager asking if you’d like to invite them to the campsite.
- Step 3: Head over to the campsite and talk to the villager. They’ll ask you to craft them a special object after you talk to them a couple of times.
- Step 4: Craft the object for the villager. It’s slightly tedious, but worth it. It’ll usually be something you can make with readily-available materials.
- Step 5: Return to the villager and give them the object. They’ll thank you for it, give you a piece of clothing, and tell you they’re off home.
- Step 6: Repeat this process until you’ve done it 3 times. You can only do it once a day, so unless you fancy changing your switch’s clock, this’ll take a few days.
- Step 7: Ask them to move to your island. Talk to them a couple times and a dialogue option will come up letting you invite the villager.
- Step 8: Choose which villager you’re kicking out. This is the important one – make sure you pick the villager you unfairly despise. They’ll all come up as options, so choose wisely.
That’s it! Now your new amiibo villager will replace your hated and despised one! Congrats, hope you’re proud!
Your friends can now come round and trade villagers, asking your jilted companion to go live on their island instead if they so choose.
Campsite villagers
Another similar way to get a villager onto your island is to wait until one shows up in your campsite of their own accord. When they do this, talk to them a bunch of times and they might challenge you to a card game where you need to guess a card’s suit or colour and they decide to move in.
You can try multiple times with the card game, just keep taking to the campsite villager until you get the answer right by chance.
After they decide to move in, they’ll ask at Resident Services about moving, but if your village is full, they won’t be able to. Instead, they’ll choose one of your villagers to ask to move out. Unlike with amiibo, you won’t be able to choose who to kick out with this method, but you can cancel at the last second if they choose the wrong person. It’s worth a try if you don’t fancy waiting a week and you have a full campsite.
Hope you’re happy to be rid of a friend. At least you have a new pal to share your island adventures with! Why not try making their life hell by crafting pitfall seeds, or prepare for all the upcoming Animal Crossing holidays and events to be ready for the upcoming special goings-on.
