Emeralds and the Shop
The emeralds your pets earn at work all end up as things they like, and now and then as a gift for you. This chapter covers how the money flows, and what the Shop can do.
Where the Money Comes From and Where It Goes
| Who | Where the money comes from | Where the money goes |
|---|---|---|
| Pets | Pay from work, kept in their own backpack | Things they like for themselves |
| You | Taking it from your pets' backpacks; trading with villagers; selling crops at the Shop | Trading with villagers; buying supplies for your pets at the Shop; upgrading the Labor Board; pocket money for your pets |
The same rules allow completely different ways of keeping them:
- Spoiling them. Don't take their money, and give them pocket money too. The more they buy, the more there is in their backpack to give you.
- Letting them be. Leave them to it: they work on their own, spend on their own, and bring you a little gift now and then.
- Squeezing them. Keep a whole crowd at work, and collect all the emeralds before they get the chance to spend them. With no money to buy things, they have less to give you, though (Ovo).
How you treat them is up to you.
The Shop
Craft a Shop from planks, emeralds and a chest: a little stall under a pink and white striped awning, with bread, jam and a strawberry cake set out on the counter. The Shop is shared, so you and your pets can all use it.
Right-click the counter to open the price list, where you can buy and sell:
- It sells snacks and food, small flowers, cooking ingredients, name tags, Simple Dishes, Rucksacks and pouches, Pet Bells, Whistle Candy (4 for 1 emerald), the Weeding Licence Study Guide, and Hachiware's Camera and Film.
- It buys crops such as potatoes, carrots, beetroots and mushrooms.
The Shop doesn't sell things like diamonds or netherite that would let you skip vanilla progression.
Pets Go Shopping on Their Own
Pets decide for themselves when to spend and what to buy, and only spend the emeralds in their own backpack. Once a pet has saved enough for something it likes, it walks to a nearby Shop to buy it, and the chat tells you how many emeralds it spent and what it bought.
Each character likes to buy different things: Chiikawa loves snacks, Rakko loves sweets, Furuhonya loves books... See Meeting Them.
Pocket Money
Right-click your pet while holding emeralds, or just put emeralds in its backpack, to give it pocket money. It will be very happy.
If you give it other things, it really puts them to use: it eats food, equips tools and wears bags. If what you give it is something it likes, it will be even happier.
Gifts
Every so often (at least a quarter of a game day apart), your pet feels like giving you something. It picks one thing from its own backpack, carries it over and hands it to you: the item goes straight into your inventory, or at your feet if your inventory is full, and the chat tells you too.
What it picks comes from its backpack, such as snacks it bought and hasn't eaten yet, flowers it picked, or a roll Hachiware has finished shooting. It won't pick the tool in its hand, the bags it wears, emeralds, or things it keeps for itself, such as Hachiware's Camera. The more there is in its backpack to give, the more often you get gifts; a finished roll of film is the first thing it wants to give you.
It doesn't give gifts while you have it sitting. A pet on Free Roam only moves around near its home, so it waits until you are back near home; while you are away, it holds on to the gift. If it gets called away partway through, or you leave, the item goes back into its backpack.
Now that earning and spending are covered, let's see how to go about Looking After Them.