It’s May Day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so get your free stuff before it’s gone

Light spoilers below

As Tom Nook puts it, May Day is to celebrate “those who work hard.” Yep, it’s May Day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons from today through May 7, so make sure you make plans to boot the game up between now and then.

So what does May Day entail? Well there’s two facets, so brace for minor spoilers if you intend to go in completely blind (either way, I’m not spoiling the main surprise guest).

Oh look, it’s another generic New Horizons picture serving as an extra spoiler buffer. So let’s get to the small-time stuff first.

Upon booting up Animal Crossing during the May Day event (May 1 through May 7), you’ll have the chance to buy an item from Tom Nook: a “Thank-you Mom mug.” Cute. You can grab it at the terminal at the Resident Services tent/building in the seasonal section. It’ll only run you 600 bells, and will be delivered to you after a short time.

The other part involves something more intricate. Talk to Tom Nook at his desk to unlock a May Day ticket, which will be waiting for you at the airport (it’s not going to be in your inventory).

It’s a one-time use item, and will be in effect until May 7: after that point it’s gone.

To start up the “quest,” head to the airport and select “I wanna fly,” then pick your May Day Ticket. You’ll automatically head to the island. Here’s the caveat: the game will “stow” your items so you can’t cheat the hedge maze that awaits you.

Think of it like those old school Pokemon sections, where you need to “cut” (shovel) through trees and the like, picking up new tools as you go through it. The more you progress through the maze the more esoteric the solutions get, and there’s a special guest character at the end of it all. It’s predicated on your knowledge of how fruit and tools work.

And that’s May Day!

I won’t spoil the special guest or any puzzle solutions explicitly here (it’s easy enough), but we’ll no doubt talking about after the event is over and done with. If you need help, head back to Wilbur at the boat and he’ll provide copious amounts of tips.

Okay one hint: if you’re new to bushes and shrubs, you can dig up the pink and purple bushes with your shovel to get started. Good luck! If you mess up or get stuck, you can call rescue services on your phone to reset everything.

If you really want the main reward (there’s only one major item) and the guest spoiled, you can click here. I even attached it via another article so it didn’t mistakenly show up in the gallery.