Chai is a peppy Elephant Villager in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. If you’ve come across Tia, then you may already have heard of this Villager and know a little more about what she is. For those who haven’t, she’s sort of a chai tea equivalent to Tia’s teapot reference in the game. It’s an odd food link, but with over 400 Villagers in the series at this point, the references were going to have to start coming from drinks at some point. In this Animal Crossing: New Horizons Chai Villager Guide, we’ll cover all there is to know about Chai. We’ll also throw in some secrets that you might not have been aware of until now.
Who is Chai?
As we’ve mentioned, Chai is a peppy elephant Villager. She was first introduced to the Animal Crossing series in the Amiibo update to Animal Crossing: New Leaf. She’ll initially live in an RV, but you can ask her to join your town once you meet her. Her Amiibo card is part of the Sanrio packs, so you’ll need to be buying those if you want to be in with a chance of getting her.
Her name is a reference to chai tea, which is a type of tea that people around the world drink. That’s why she has a teacup on her head. It’s not meant to be her hair or anything crazy like that. It’s literally a teacup. Interestingly, her Japanese name actually comes from the Swedish noun/verb “Fika.” This means to consume tea or coffee with food on the side such as cake, cookies, buns, and other sweet treats like that.
Birthday
Chia’s birthday is on March 6. On this date, you’ll need to head to her house, because that’s where she’ll be hanging out. You won’t see her outside all day. Once inside, you can celebrate her birthday with her in style. There will be games, and you can even have some cake. This cake will help you in all the things you do in the game, so it’s well worth picking up if you happen to be playing on Chai’s birthday. Don’t forget to bring a present for her though. This can greatly enhance your relationship, and it’s something that all players should push to do when they play on this Villager’s birthday.
Chai’s Personality
Chai is a peppy villager, so she’s got one of the best personalities in the game. Peppy Villagers are generally always happy, and they’re very easy to get on with as a result. You might find that Chai overreacts in conversations, acting like she’s overly shocked or happy, but this is just part of what all peppy Villagers do. As a peppy Villager, Chai is also hard to discourage from doing anything. If she sets her mind to a task, she’ll get it done, particularly if it’s anything to do with her hobby.
Chai’s dream is to be featured in Ms. Nintendique, an in-game magazine that you can’t read. However, snooty and normal Villagers read it, so they’ll know what she’s talking about when she’s sharing her ambitions. One of the best things about Chai being a peppy Villager is her tiny attention span. She struggles to remember pretty much anything, and you can use that to your advantage. You can fail her quests, and she’ll forget that she even asked you to do them. You can also fall out with her and argue, and she’ll forgive you within a few minutes.
Chai is going to get along with most other Villagers, including normal, lazy, jock, sisterly, and peppy Villagers. She’s really easy going, and is a joy to have on your island. The only personality types she might clash with are cranky and snooty Villagers. That’s just because cranky Villagers hate everyone, and snooty Villagers are critical of everyone. There’s no winning with these personality types.
The best thing about Chai being a peppy Villager is that you can get on with her very easily, and build your relationship much faster than you can with other Villagers. This is important because it gives you a Villager to work on if you can’t be bothered with complex tasks for other Villagers.
Chai’s Appearance
We mentioned this early on, but we’ll mention it again. Chai has a teacup on her head. It serves no purpose other than being a reference to chai tea. That’s dedication to your source material if we’ve ever seen it. Her coloring is interesting. She has yellow hands and feet, and light blue skin. Her head is covered in a white blob, making it look like the milk from the chai tea in the cup has overflowed. However, that white blob is actually her hair. No, it doesn’t look very good. The shirt that Chai wears is a direct reference to the Sanrio character Cinnamoroll. There’s an image of him right there on her shirt. That’s why this villager was made in the first place though.
Chai’s House
The exterior of Chai’s house is blue and pink, exactly like her. It’s a good one for those collecting colored houses in a street. But it’s awful if you like the boring house colors. Inside, the house is filled with exclusive Sanrio gear. This is all built around the character Cinnamoroll, and it’s lovely to see it return to the latest game. There’s loads of unique stuff in here to collect, and it’s well worth doing so if you feel like you want something unique on your island.
Facts About Chai
This is the most interesting part of our Animal Crossing: New Horizons Chai Villager Guide. For example, Chai is an elephant, but, like all Sanrio characters, she doesn’t match the species of the character she’s inspired by. One of the aspects of Cinnamoroll is long ears, used to fly. It’s thought that in a way, Chai is inspired by this, because you could say that the character is a reference to Dumbo, a flying elephant with huge wings.
Chai is similar to Tia, another elephant Villager themed around tea. But there’s nothing more to know other than that.
Finally, if you wear the bug Mask around Chai, she’ll be scared. She hates bugs. Probably because everyone hates getting a fly in their cup of chai tea.