The Stalk Market has gotten so rowdy that some players are hiring bodyguards in order to keep traders in line.
There are so many ways to get rich in Animal Crossing: New Horizons that it almost feels like the game is giving a false expectation of how capitalism works, and nowhere is that more true than in the Stalk Market. By purchasing turnips every Sunday at a low price, you can then sell them to Timmy and Tommy for a profit. Buy low, sell high–the mantra of the free market.
However, sometimes you can’t sell your turnips at a high price. Timmy and Tommy’s going rates are completely random, and if you don’t sell your turnips before the week’s out, they go rotten and you get nothing. That’s the risk you take for engaging in turnip speculation.
But Animal Crossing: New Horizons allows you to go to other people’s islands, so if Timmy and Tommy are being cheap bastards on your island, you can just go to someone else’s where they’re offering a better price. There’s an entire subreddit dedicated to advertising turnip prices and even a dedicated website where turnip traders can set up sales.
Turnips are big business, and some players have dedicated entire portions of their island to set up a turnip trading post. And some have even hired bouncers.
Speaking with Polygon, New Horizons player ottermochi said that they’d heard “horror stories” online where strangers would squelch on deals at the last second or would use the turnip market as a way of finding an island to perform some mindless vandalism.
To keep everyone in line, ottermochi not only created a trading post that prevented traders from going elsewhere on their island, but they even got two friends to act as bouncers. One sits in front of the entrance and doesn’t allow anyone else in unless they honor their deals, while the other goes around and collects “tips” before anyone else can steal them. Both bouncers get a percentage of the profits for that day’s trading.
It’s a good system and one that is getting some attention. The concept of turnip bouncers has since gone viral with other turnip traders following suit.
Source: Polygon, Twitter
