Full Island Rating Guide

[MayorBenjamin]

The official companion guide arrived on time for me so I thought I'd share one of the most sought after parts for people who can't access the guide.

Star Rating Values
The star rating values are split into two separate categories: Development and Scenery. In order to increase your star rating, you must meet certain thresholds in both of these categories

Development	Scenery	Rating
Less than 80	Less than 200	1 Star
80 to 159	200 to 269	2 Stars
160 to 399	270 to 349	3 Stars
400 to 664	350 to 449	4 Stars
665+	450+	5 Stars

Island Scenery

Plantlife	Added Points
Trees (including bamboo)	+1 point for each fully grown tree up to 190 points
Flower Sprout	+0.5 Points
Flower Stem	+0.7 Points
Flower Bud	+0.7 Points
Adult Flower	+1 Point

Furniture placed is graded on an 8x8 tile basis known as a block.

DIY Furniture within a block	Added Points
For each unique piece of DIY furniture that is 3x1, 3x2 or 3x3 tile size	+1 point
4 or less different types of furniture	The number of furniture placed x 0.25 points
5-10 different types of furniture	The number of furniture placed x 0.25 points
10 or more different types of furniture	The number of furniture placed x 0.25 and the number of types x 0.75

Island Development

Condition	Added Points
Museum built	+15
Nook's Cranny has been upgraded	+15
Able Sisters is built	+15
Bridge	+ (Number of Bridges) x 15
Incline	+ (Number of Inclines) x 15

Non-DIY Furniture is still graded on the 8x8 tile basis

Furniture within a block	Added Points
Less than 5 unique types of furniture	Number of placed furniture x 1
5 to 10 unique types of furniture placed	Number of placed furniture x 0.5 + The number of types x 0.5
10+ unique types of furniture	Number of placed furniture x 0.5 + The number of types x 0.75

Furniture Type and Bonuses

Bonus	Added Points
The placed furniture is recommended for the outdoors	Number of outdoor furniture x 0.5 additional points
The placed furniture costs 2000-20,000 bells	Number of applicable furniture x 1
The placed furniture costs over 20,000 bells	Number of applicable furniture x 2
Placed fences	Number of fences x 0.2

Negative Conditions
Clutter

• Clutter is gauged in the same 8x8 tile divisions as furniture
• If 45/64 or more tiles are covered in the block, the block is considered cluttered
• Buildings, bridges, buried items, rocks, cliffs, rivers and inclines will not count towards this

Littering

• If there are more than 15 small items dropped on the ground, your island will be deemed messy
• Naturally occurring items such as tree branches, stones and star fragments do not count

If either of these conditions are met, your town can not achieve five stars.

PS: Sorry for the awful editing

 

[Katie97]

I just got the guide too and sharing info! Thanks for doing this!

 

[JKDOS]

I was told by Amazon the book was delayed until end of April. I hope to get mine in the mail in a few days.

 

[Underneath The Stars]

omg thank you!!! this is really helpful as i'm trying to get it.

does it say anything about the mystery islands? lmao

 

[MayorBenjamin]

omg thank you!!! this is really helpful as i'm trying to get it.

does it say anything about the mystery islands? lmao

Doesn't say too much other than the changes in probability of finding each mineral in rocks

 

[Underneath The Stars]

Doesn't say too much other than the changes in probability of finding each mineral in rocks

inch resting. thanks again!
the villagers and rare islands must be completely RNG. there are rumors going around that you can trigger a rare island by interacting with orville. seems untrue though.

also i was hoping they'd answer why everyone sees the octopi so much

 

[Katie97]

inch resting. thanks again!
the villagers and rare islands must be completely RNG. there are rumors going around that you can trigger a rare island by interacting with orville. seems untrue though.

also i was hoping they'd answer why everyone sees the octopi so much

The book has two big pages on both Orville and Wilbur and it doesn't say anything about triggering rare islands unfortunately!

 

[JKDOS]

I don't understand the clutter one.

 

[CrankyPirate]

What counts as littering? Is putting items on stall counts as littering? Putting items on barrels? Placing a radio outside? Don't really get that part. Obviously if you not place but drop an item it could be littering, but placed items too?

 

[Red Cat]

What about having too many trees? I don't see anything about that here, and it's not possible to hit the clutter criteria with trees alone.

 

[Bioness]

inch resting. thanks again!
the villagers and rare islands must be completely RNG. there are rumors going around that you can trigger a rare island by interacting with orville. seems untrue though.

also i was hoping they'd answer why everyone sees the octopi so much

Datamining shows nothing about the Dodos affecting island rarity. The Octopus thing is very likely just anecdotal bias e.g. people notice the Octopus more and are more likely to report that they have a high number.

I've personally used over 100 tickets and haven't once seen an Octopus, but even that doesn't matter because a single person or few don't determine statistics.

 

[Krissi2197]

Oh man I cant wait for my guide to come! This is really helpful info.

 

[Boundingfeather]

Does the guide say anything about if and when trees start affecting your island rating negatively?

 

[Mairen]

thank you so very much for taking the time to post this! this information will really help people narrow down how exactly to get those ratings they are seeking

 

[MasterM64]

Thank you for sharing this info, I’m glad to see that Nintendo made it possible to grade your island, but yet have flexibility for customization at the same time!

 

[Krissi2197]

I was told by Amazon the book was delayed until end of April. I hope to get mine in the mail in a few days.

I checked my Amazon and it still says the delivery date isnt determined. Does it say that for you too?

 

[Zura]

Too many items next to each other is cluttered?! I wish there was a visual representation of this

 

[LuchaSloth]

Really not a fan of the island rating system this time around. I tend to like a minimalist approach, and it's hard to find items that still look "natural" in the environment without cluttering things up. It honestly feels like a 5 star rating caters towards people who like stuff everywhere. I was cool with past games where you needed flowers and trees, and to have no weeds. But, I think the requirements this time around leave a lot to be desired.

 

[stiney]

What counts as littering? Is putting items on stall counts as littering? Putting items on barrels? Placing a radio outside? Don't really get that part. Obviously if you not place but drop an item it could be littering, but placed items too?

I had a whole bunch of DIY recipes in my town, on tables, and nothing else on the ground, and Isabelle kept telling me that people were complaining about the litter. As soon as I moved them to my house she stopped complaining.

I also have a lot of small items placed on things like stalls/tables, and a couple of small items that are straight on the ground--I hope the ones on the ground don't count against me because I think they look cute there. The ones on the stalls haven't been triggering the littering complaint.

 

[mystery]

Do trees that are just sprouts count towards the 5 star town?