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This 87-year-old grandma eats, sleeps, and breathes ‘Animal Crossing’

Animal Crossing
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How much Animal Crossing is too much Animal Crossing? One 87-year-old grandma knows the answer to that question: You can never play too much. But we imagine she’s logged many more hours in Animal Crossing: New Leaf than you. Paul Hubans’ grandmother has put 3,580 hours into New Leaf. Yes, you read that right.

In a viral tweet, Hubans shared a picture of the Nintendo 3DS‘ Activity Log with the proof.

My 87-year-old grandma has played Animal Crossing New Leaf on her 3DS every single day for the past 4 years now.

Her 3DS finally broke this year, so we got her a new one for Christmas. During a system transfer I checked her activity log: pic.twitter.com/R33KycrW4q

— Paul ⚔️ Hubans (@phubans) January 1, 2019

Hubans made the discovery while performing a system transfer for his grandmother, whose 3DS died after four years of daily use. Given the fact that his grandma played New Leaf every day for four years, she averaged close to 2.5 hours of game time per day. That’s a staggering and beautiful love for New Leaf. She has spent nearly 150 full days inside the adorable community simulator. We think she’s an inspiration.

Hubans was kind enough to give the people what they wanted by sharing a picture of his grandma (our hero) playing 3DS. We’d like to think the look of satisfaction on her face was caused by a great day of picking perfect fruit.

Here she is! pic.twitter.com/JfETQ2FEJm

— Paul ⚔️ Hubans (@phubans) January 2, 2019

So how does grandma typically spend her time in New Leaf? Hubans said she likes to do the “daily village chores, like hitting rocks, digging up fossils, etc.” That makes sense considering grandma does, in fact, play the game daily.

With Animal Crossing coming to Nintendo Switch in 2019, we sure hope grandma will get the chance to restart that clock and play for another 3,000-plus hours. Hubans said that the family wants to save up to buy her a Switch for the next iteration of the popular franchise. After his tweet went viral, Hubans, an indie game designer from California, shared a link to The Indie Game Legend 3D, a game of his that launched in early access on Steam late last year. He is also working on UFO 50, a retro-style collection of indie games.

Hubans’ grandmother isn’t the only one around with a passion for a single game. Grandma Shirley is an 82-year-old YouTuber specializing in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Shirley is so beloved in the Elder Scrolls community that fans want to see her as a character in The Elder Scrolls VI.

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Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
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