Animal Crossing: New Horizons ‘May Day’ event guide

May Day has arrived in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Here’s what to expect with the new event, which lasts for only a limited time.

May Day is finally upon us in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nature Day is still going on (because Nintendo knows what “day” means the same way Square understands the word “final”) until the fourth, so don’t panic if you thought you missed your chance to buy bushes and shrubs from Leif.

In addition to it being the first day of a new month, bringing in new insects and fish (like this thing that never makes me want to go in the water again) May brings with it the fun May Day event.

Right out the gate Isabelle will remind you that it’s May Day and that there’s a special island where you can go to get away and relax. Just as I was making the comment in my head, she points out the absurdity in the fact that you’re already on an island to do that.

Once you get in the game, run over to the services department and talk to Tom Nook. He’ll will tell you all about May Day and how it’s a day to celebrate people who work hard. I could go into the fact that that’s actually how you celebrate “International Worker’s Day,” which takes place on the same day and is to celebrate workers and commemorate those that died in the Haymaker Affair in the 1800’s. But this isn’t the site for that.

He then tells you to head on over to the airport where a May Day ticket waits for you. So Isabelle told me to talk to Nook who sent me to the airport. Good communication, gang.

When you decide to go to the airport, they’ll ask if you’d like to use the ticket to go to May Day island.

NOTE: YOU CAN ONLY USE THIS TICKET ONCE AND ONLY GO TO THE ISLAND ONCE. So, you know, make sure you have some time.

Upon arriving, you’re met with a surprisingly fun maze. Everything you had on you is left behind and you start with empty pockets. From there you have to find the things to make shovels and axes. You eat pears to uproot trees and break rocks. You carefully manager your resources so you don’t get stuck.

If you get to the end of the maze the beloved Animal Crossing character, Rover (who I’ve talked about before) is waiting for you. He gives you a prize, a replica of his suitcase (with cute stickers that vaguely resemble elements from past games). The thing that makes the maze tricky (and that took me five tries to do) is if you manage your pears correctly, there are two extra caches of bell tickets. If you can make it to the end of the maze with three pears left you can get them all.

If you goof and have to start over, call the Rescue Services on your Nook Phone and Resetti will not only bring you back to the beginning of the maze but he’ll also reset the entire maze so you can try again. If you give up, don’t worry, you don’t lose Rover’s Suitcase once you’ve earned it.

Just remember though, once you leave the island, that’s it. You go, your Bell Tickets and Suitcase are mailed to you and you are not going back again. It’s a quick event that’s honestly surprisingly fun. It felt like a Zelda dungeon came out of nowhere and I’ve talked in the past about how much I love minigames in Animal Crossing.

It’s a quick event but May Day is a great way to start off a new month and makes me look forward to seeing what else Tom Nook (and the people at Nintendo) have up their sleeves in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.