How an Aniimo exchange works
There is no auction house and no anonymous market. The client is explicit that only friends can exchange Aniimo, and it routes the whole flow through a person rather than a shop: you open a friend Profile and start the exchange from there. The rules panel then asks both of you to meet up before the swap resolves, which makes trading a scheduled activity rather than something you fire off from a menu while offline.
The panel states the cost in two parts: an exchange consumes available attempts and specified items. Attempts are held per player, not per trade, and they refresh on a daily clock: the refusal line for the other side of the table says your friend has no swapping attempts left today, which is both the proof of the reset and the detail worth planning around, because your friend can run out before you do. The client also carries a maximum-exchanges message, so a ceiling exists even when neither of you has hit it.
Either side can back out. The client has a decline notice for a rejected invitation and a separate cancellation notice for an exchange that is called off after it starts, so an invitation is a proposal and not a commitment. Completing one is also tracked progress: a task in the same client asks you to exchange an Aniimo with a friend once.
What you can actually trade
The rules panel puts it plainly: the closer your friendship, the more Aniimo types you can exchange. It then lists three tiers, each marked with a friendship sprite rather than a written number. The same sprites appear in the Interaction Gesture unlocks, where they sit directly after the words at Affinity Level, which is what pins the tiers to Affinity Levels 2, 3 and 4. Each tier also has a matching per-friend status line that the client shows on the friend you are looking at.
- Level 2Regular Aniimo in Lumin Stage Basic Form. The entry tier. Both the stage and the form are restricted, so this is starter stock only.First Meeting
- Level 3Regular Aniimo in Basic Form. Drops the Lumin Stage restriction, so a basic-form creature from any stage of your roster qualifies.Peace Sign
- Level 4Regular Aniimo in regional and weather forms. Opens the regional forms and the weather forms. This is the widest scope the panel states.Perfect Sync
- Level 5A task tracks reaching it. The rules panel names no new exchange scope.Face Cradle
- Level 6The highest gesture unlock in the client text. No exchange scope is stated.Finger Heart
Every tier line uses the word regular, and the ladder stops at Level 4. The multiplayer and co-op guide covers offers that sit outside that ladder, including Alpha catches, Sparkling catches and evolved stages. The rules panel enumerates the regular-Aniimo ladder and says nothing above Level 4, so read the live exchange screen before you promise a rare copy to anyone.
Eggs are a separate question. The exchange flow in the client text moves Aniimo, not eggs. The only route that verifiably moves an egg between two players is the gift box payout below, which is why the egg and hatching guide is the page to read before you start valuing one.
Raising Affinity, the gate on both routes
Affinity is the friendship meter every part of this system reads from. The client names seven ways to raise it with one friend, and they are all ordinary play rather than a dedicated grind.
- Chatting with them.
- Meeting up in the world.
- Exchanging Aniimo, so the system feeds itself.
- Teaming up.
- Fighting alongside them.
- Giving gifts.
- Visiting their Home.
Levels are numbered, and the client confirms at least six of them from two directions. Tasks ask you to reach Affinity Level 2, 3, 4 and 5 with a friend, and the Interaction Gesture unlocks name a specific gesture at each level from 2 to 6. Those gestures are the marker to watch, because a gesture appearing in your list is visible proof that a level landed.
Affinity gates gifting as well as swapping. The client refuses a gift outright with Insufficient Affinity. Gift failed., and a sister message explains the case in full: your Affinity with that friend is not high enough to entrust them with an advanced Aniimo. Read that as a second, separate check on top of the exchange ladder rather than a restatement of it.
Gift boxes and the second transfer route
Three sendable gift boxes exist in the item catalogue, each logged as a Giftbox with the variant label Sendable gift. They pay the sender as well as the recipient, so sending one is an Affinity investment rather than a pure act of generosity. Every price below is a beta-era shop value read from the same client, not a launch price.
- Gift of EncounterUncommon
- Beta shop price
- 28 Voxel Coin in the Item Shop, or 500 Companion Coin in the Premium Shop.
- Recipient receives
- 20,000 Credits, with a 20% chance of 1 elite Aniimo egg
- Sender receives
- 10,000 Credits
- Affinity granted
- 50
- Beta shop price
- 88 Glimmer in the Item Shop, or 600 Companion Coin in the Premium Shop.
- Recipient receives
- 60,000 Credits and 1 elite Aniimo egg
- Sender receives
- 30,000 Credits
- Affinity granted
- 99
The phrase elite Aniimo egg is the client wording, and the client never names which egg item it hands over. Treat it as an egg of stated quality rather than a specific named egg until the launch build resolves it. The currencies involved are covered in the currency and shop guide, and Glimmer is the one worth protecting: an 88 Glimmer gift box is a real conversion decision, not pocket change.
A gift box is also the fastest way to move the meter on purpose. One Gift of Celebration grants 99 Affinity in a single send, the largest single gain the client text states. How many points each Affinity Level needs is never printed, so treat gifts as the accelerator on top of the daily actions rather than a guaranteed jump to the next tier.
| Route | Where it happens | What it requires | What moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aniimo exchange | A friend Profile, with both players meeting up | Friendship, an Affinity tier, available swapping attempts on both sides, and specified items | One Aniimo each way, within the tier scope, locked for 30 days afterwards |
| Companion Mode gifting | Inside a Companion Mode group adventure | Sufficient Affinity with the friend receiving it | An Aniimo caught by the guide, given to another member of the group |
Companion Mode is genuinely a second route, not the same screen described twice. The client says an Aniimo caught by the guide can be gifted to other members of the group, and a second line adds that gifting in Companion Mode requires sufficient Affinity with the friend. That makes a guided session a way to hand over a fresh catch without spending a swapping attempt on it.
Crops travel too. Mutated crops, the rare output of the farmland at your Home, can be collected, gifted to friends, or sold at the relevant shop for a higher price. If you are running the farm anyway, that is a repeatable gift with no gift box attached. The Homeland guide covers the farmland that produces them.
Which copy to trade away
The rules panel adds one bonus that changes how you pick: during an Aniimo exchange, the Aniimo has a chance to randomly gain an Individual Value level. That is the client phrase, and the client does not map it onto any stat the interface shows elsewhere. The site records the hidden per-creature numbers as Innate and Acquired Potential in the potential and personality guide; whether the launch build presents the exchange bonus in those terms is not something the beta text answers.
Two consequences follow. The upside rides on the creature that moves, not on the player who moves it, so a swap of two spare copies gives both a roll neither would get in storage. And because the bonus is a chance rather than a guarantee, it is not a reason to route a creature you actually use through a friend and back: the 30 day lock lands on it either way.
The practical filter is simple. Trade the copy whose ceiling you already know you will not raise, and keep the one you have invested in. A duplicate catch, a species you are not building and anything sitting outside your team plan are the natural stock. What you are buying with them is the part of the roster that catching cannot reach quickly: a regional form from a region you have not routed yet, or a weather form that needs a condition your world has not rolled.
That last point is why trading is worth setting up early rather than treating it as an endgame social feature. It is an unpaid acquisition route: two players with different regional coverage and no money spent between them can each close gaps that would otherwise take a shop, a rare egg or a long hunt. The ceiling is real, the ladder tops out at regional and weather forms in the beta text, and both sides spend attempts. Within those limits it is the only route in the game where somebody else does the collecting for you.
Frequently asked
Can you trade Aniimo with other players?
Yes, with friends only. The final beta client states that only friends can exchange Aniimo, opens the flow from a friend Profile, and asks both players to meet up. There is no auction house or anonymous market in the client text.
Is Aniimo trading limited?
Yes, in four ways. An Affinity tier decides which Aniimo qualify, each exchange spends attempts that both players need, a traded Aniimo cannot be exchanged again for 30 days, and the client carries a maximum-friend-exchanges message. The client prints no numbers for the attempt allowance or the cap.
Can you trade Sparkling or Alpha Aniimo?
The Aniimo Exchange Rules panel lists only regular Aniimo, through basic forms at Affinity Level 3 and regional and weather forms at Level 4, and says nothing about scope above Level 4. The multiplayer and co-op guide covers Alpha, Sparkling and evolved creatures being offered outside that ladder. Check the live exchange screen before committing a rare copy.
Does trading Aniimo cost money?
No real money changes hands at the exchange screen: it consumes attempts and specified items. There is no friendship discount and no premium fee on an exchange. The paid corner of the friend system is the gift boxes, which are optional and pay Credits to the sender as well as the recipient.