Taking the Indians to new horizons in Animal Crossing

Listen, I know video games aren’t everybody’s thing on a blog dedicated to sports. If they aren’t yours, turn back now. There is no analysis of the Indians or transaction news here. It’s about to be all video games all the time for the next few hundred words.

Ok, are those people gone? Everyone cool here?

Y’ALL HAVE YOU PLAYED ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS YET?

The game is incredible and a giant leap forward for a series that has been one of my favorites since I was 12 years old. Given the current state of the world, New Horizons could not possibly have come at a better time. No baseball to speak of, not much to read or follow on the internet besides the crushing, depressing reality of the world we currently live in. Very few escapes exist when they’ve all been cancelled or consumed by news of a virus strangling the planet.

But then this little beauty called Animal Crossing: New Horizons came along and gave us all something amazing to do at the perfect time. Social distancing has never been easier when you can hop onto your Nintendo Switch, swing open your island’s gates, and invite your friends over to catch a few dozen sea bass or whack your unruly villagers until their net breaks. Explore a museum together filled with the creatures capture by the island’s inhabitants, or just check out the incredible originality on display in every new island. The possibilities are almost limitless.

I’m just saying: the game is incredible. If you or your kids happen to have a Switch, you should get it.

As for why I’m talking about this on an Indians blog, well, creativity comes in many forms. For some, that means plastering Indians pictures all over their island.

Inspired by artist Scott Brady and his portrait of Rajai Davis rounding the bases in Game 7 (which he did entirely by hand!), I wanted more Indians things on my island and in my virtual house. Being that I am completely void of talent, I was happy to eventually stumble upon this neat little tool that allows you to upload any image and it’ll convert it to a QR code that can be scanned into Animal Crossing. Only a handful of colors are available, so nothing looks sharp, but that’s also part of the charm. You can tell what just about every picture is even though it’s a blurry mess. Sometimes it takes a couple minutes, then it clicks and you realize you’re staring at Albert Belle showing off his massive biceps.

With this in mind, I asked Twitter for some of their best designs, and they came through. Mostly Scott, who I might have gotten addicted to the pattern tool:

Over on Reddit, /u/chief_meaf created jerseys for all 30 teams including multiples for several of them. They look perfect being worn or as displays. Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger, and Francisco Lindor are available for the Indians.

My own contribution is this sweet mural of Progressive Field after an Indians victory, tucked into the Indians-themed bedroom of my dreams that my wife refuses to let me play out in real life. Also a painting of Orel Hershiser’s legendary snarl.

If you want to add the mural to your own Animal Crossing house, simply download all the patterns using the Nintendo Switch app on your phone and put them in the right order on your wall as canvases. It takes some trial and error to get them all in the right order, but it comes out looking great.

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Is baseball back yet?