Island Tours

Strolling around the island is relaxing and fun, but the real action occurs during tropical tours. A total of 64 different tours can be enjoyed, and some are more challenging than others. Talk to Leilani at the cabana’s tour counter to see today’s selection of tours.

At first, only a handful of tours are available, but many more will unlock as you participate in touring. Just keep taking tours, and you’ll steadily unlock more advanced and challenging versions. The selection changes daily, so visit the island every day!

After you’ve told Leilani the tour you’d like to take, simply sit down on one of the nearby chairs to indicate that you’re ready to leave. If you’re visiting the island with friends, then the tour won’t start until all players have taken a seat in the waiting area.

The tour begins shortly after everyone has sat down. You’re whisked away to an outlying island, where Tortimer stands ready to guide you through the event at hand.

All tours involve completing some sort of goal as quickly as possible. Some tours end as soon as you reach their goal—you’re then scored based on how long it took you to succeed. Other tours don’t end until time runs out—try to score as many points as possible before the buzzer sounds!

Perform well in a tour, and Tortimer will hand you a bronze, silver, or gold award at the tour’s end. The award you receive determines how many medals you’ve earned. Overachieve during tour games to stuff your pockets with precious medals, then spend those medals on rare goods at Grams’s cabana gift shop!

Tour Tips

There are 64 unique tours to enjoy, some more challenging than others. Let’s explore some helpful tips and strategies for each type of tour.

General Strategies

Every second counts! Don’t waste time during tours. Quickly skip past repetitive messages, and do your best to make the most of your time.

Know your tools! Most tours involve the use of gear like the rod, wet suit, or shovel. Check the “How to Play” chapter to learn about using this gear.

Use the map! It’s helpful to be systematic during many tours, searching the island one area at a time. Glance at the Touch Screen map to locate important objects like bridges, and to keep track of where you’ve been.

Fishing Tours

Fishing is fun, and plenty of tours involve spending quality time catching fish with your rod. Regardless of the type of fish you might be after, your basic strategies in fishing tours are the same: Get out there and reel in as many fish as you can!

Diving Tours

Many tours involve taking a refreshing swim and collecting deep-sea catches. Swim all around the island when looking for prey—don’t just stick to one spot. Keep a little closer to the beach than to the outer rope, too—underwater creatures can easily escape by fleeing past the rope and out of the tour area. And of course, beware of those nasty jellyfish! Rapidly press buttons to recover if you’re stung.

Bug-Catching Tours

Bug-catching tours are plentiful, and they all involve using a net to catch as many insects as possible. Some bugs can be tough customers, especially those that cling to trees, like beetles and cicadas. Walk softly with your net at the ready, then bring it crashing down when you’re close!

Balloon-Popping Tours

These fun-filled tours have you chasing down floating balloons that regularly drift past the sky. Listen for the telltale chime that signals inbound balloons, then glance at your Touch Screen map to see where they’ve appeared. Race over to those balloons, stand beneath them, and use your slingshot to pop as many as you can!

An onscreen weather vane shows the direction in which the balloons will drift due to the ever-shifting winds. Consider the wind when you’re racing toward the balloons, and plot a course that puts you in the best spot for popping. The island’s river is usually your primary obstacle—consider the placement of bridges and use them to your advantage!

Labyrinth Tours

Some tour islands are covered by a carefully manicured hedge maze. Tours held at these islands challenge you to race through the maze and collect a certain type of fruit for Tortimer. The fruits are just lying on the ground in the maze, which makes them tough to spot until you’re close.

Speed is key during labyrinth tours. Run through the maze as fast as you can, keeping track of where you’ve been and where you still need to explore. Be systematic, searching every inch of the maze until you’ve located all the fruit you’re after. Once you’ve reached your goal, race back to Tortimer to show off your fruit!

Gardening Tours

Get your hands dirty in these unique tours, which have you racing to fill a central flower bed with a specific type and/or color of flower. Gardening buffs have the edge in these tours, for being able to recognize flowers on sight saves you the time it takes to open your pockets and check their names.

Once you’ve identified the flower(s) you’re after, your next job is to find them. Race all around the island and fill your pockets with them, keeping track of where you’ve been to avoid searching the same area twice.

When your pockets are full of flowers, rush back to the flower bed and plant them. Simply stand in a bare spot, open your pockets, and then quickly choose to plant all of the flowers you’re carrying. You can plant up to nine flowers at once if there’s room, filling in all of the empty dirt spaces around you.

Item-Matching Tours

These unique tours are designed to test your memory. Several pairs of items have been buried on the island, and you must use your trusty shovel to dig them up and match them together. Begin by simply running to the nearest dig spot and seeing what you find.

Now hurry and dig at another nearby dig spot. If you guessed right and dug up the matching item, the pair will be completed and removed from your pockets. If the item is not a match, then you’ll rebury it automatically—for you can only carry one item with you during these events!

Just keep digging up items, trying to match the one you’re carrying. Whenever you dig up an item that doesn’t match, memorize where you found it. You’ll need to find it again soon!

Scavenger Hunt Tours

Scavenger hunts are among the few tours that let you explore the houses of the tour islands’ mysterious inhabitants. Your goal is to search their homes for all of the items on Tortimer’s scavenger hunt list as fast as you can!

Scavenger hunts can be easy or tough, depending on whether or not you recognize the names of the items on Tortimer’s list. Regardless, your first move is always the same: Glance at your Touch Screen map and race to the nearest house.

Each home features an array of items. You can scan the room quickly if you know exactly what you’re after—otherwise, you’ll need to examine each item individually. Simply pick up an item and then view its name in your pockets (or call up Tortimer’s list) to see if you’ve found something good.

Just keep raiding those homes, looking for the items on Tortimer’s list. Drop anything that isn’t on his list, though—he’ll deduct points for bringing him unwanted items. When you’ve found every item on the list, return to Tortimer to show off your scavenger skills.

Hide-and-Seek Tours

A number of playful animals have hidden themselves on an island, and it’s up to you to find them all during hide-and-seek tours! These guys know how to play and are pretty well hidden—search for them behind houses, trees, and anything else they might use as cover. The faster you find them all, the better you’ll score!

Be systematic in your search for the hiding animals. Take it nice and slow, and use the Touch Screen map to keep track of where you’ve been. If you search the whole island and somehow missed some, you know they must be really well hidden! Time is short now, so race around and try to find that straggler.

Ore-Hunter Tours

Hunting for ore is both easy and profitable—a shovel is all you need! During these tours, sprint all around the island and smack every rock you see with your trusty shovel. Some will break apart, leaving behind a certain type of ore. Every piece of ore you pick up is worth one point, so stuff your pockets full!

At the start of these tours, Tortimer may tell you that a certain ore is worth more points than the others. Keep that in mind, and if your pockets are ever full, be sure to trade out less-valuable ore for the special kind Tortimer mentioned.

When time runs out, Tortimer peeks into your pockets and tallies up your score. Every piece of ore you’re carrying is worth one point, except for any ores that provide special bonuses. Score big to earn loads of medals!

Toy Hammer Tours

When you’ve just got to hit something with a hammer, nothing satisfies the urge like one of these tours. Tortimer hands you a toy hammer and gives you a few minutes to whack a moving cart with it. Chase down the cart and hit it each time you get close enough. You’ll stop running when swinging the hammer, so try and land a few good whacks before the cart pulls away.

Fossil-Finder Tours

Fossil fanatics can have great fun on these tours. Fossil-Finder islands feature two small buildings: one houses a sample of a museum exhibit; the other is just an empty room. Your mission: Recreate the sample exhibit in the empty room!

The number of fossils you must find varies with the tour’s difficulty. If possible, inspect the plaque in front of each fossil in the sample room to view their names. This isn’t an option during the more challenging tours, though.

Once you know the fossils you’re after, simply scour the island in search of them. Bust out your shovel at every dig spot to excavate the fossils you need.

After you’ve found all of the fossils, head for the empty room and display them. You must place each fossil in the exact same spot it appears in the sample room next door. You know you’ve placed a fossil correctly when a light briefly shines around it. Complete your exhibit in record time to rack up those medals!

Tropical Island Tours