Besides just shaking it. It always seems to take a while to get up to 1000. It feel like there should be some better technique like spinning it or something. If only the 3DS was actually worth carrying around.

Keep it in your pocket while sitting down and keep bouncing your leg up an down...

Walk to China.

You want those puzzle pieces enough to try and cheat the system? Seriously, it takes about ten minutes of walking to get your 10 for the day.

Keep it in your pocket while sitting down and keep bouncing your leg up an down...

You want those puzzle pieces enough to try and cheat the system? Seriously, it takes about ten minutes of walking to get your 10 for the day.

Attach it do your dog and tie he/she to a treadmill...
 
If I want coins I just put the damn thing into sleep mode in my pocket even though I'd have no intention on using it when going somewhere.
When you return home later check how many you've gotten.
 
Edit: Tape it to the inside of a salad spinner?  ; )

Surely the point of it is to:

1. encourage you to LEAVE THE HOUSE and do some walking. Hey, it's a reward!

2. carry your 3DS with you so you can contribute to the Streetpass ecosystem. I always have my 3DS in my bag and I get one or more Streetpasses most days (which, by the way, are much better for getting the pieces/hats than those coins).

Sorry if I came off sounding like a dick - you should get those coins however you want. You just make me feel INCREDIBLY depressed.

The problem is I don't like having that much stuff in my pockets when I'm going out and I almost never get any streetpasses. I brought it to my crowded school of nearly 3000 people and I only got 2. The only other place I've gotten any is Disneyland and even then I didn't get more than 20. I do enough walking I just don't think carrying a 3DS is worth it.

@recharge330 said:

The problem is I don't like having that much stuff in my pockets when I'm going out and I almost never get any streetpasses. I brought it to my crowded school of nearly 3000 people and I only got 2. The only other place I've gotten any is Disneyland and even then I didn't get more than 20. I do enough walking I just don't think carrying a 3DS is worth it.

It's a portable game system. Why carrying it with you not be worth it?

@Hailinel: Because there aren't many good games out for it. As they've been saying in the podcast Ocarina of Time is really the only thing worth getting right now and I don't really have any desire to get it. I still like Street Fighter but the main draw is multiplayer which really can't be done on the go. Besides, I don't normally get 10-20 of downtime while out doing errands. I think for a lot of people most of their handheld use is done while at home.

@recharge330 said:

@Hailinel: Because there aren't many good games out for it. As they've been saying in the podcast Ocarina of Time is really the only thing worth getting right now and I don't really have any desire to get it. I still like Street Fighter but the main draw is multiplayer which really can't be done on the go. Besides, I don't normally get 10-20 of downtime while out doing errands. I think for a lot of people most of their handheld use is done while at home.

I might agree with you, if I didn't find Samurai Warriors Chronicles, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II, Dead or Alive: Dimensions, Super Street Fighter IV all fun, as well as the notion that hey, the 3DS eShop isn't a piece of shit and has both Virtual Console games and many of the DSiWare games that are actually honestly worth playing.

But no, please, just go along with the staff's opinion and pretend that there's nothing worth playing on the system other than the Ocarina of Time remake. Don't bother coming to your own conclusions regarding what is and isn't fun and worth playing.

Samurai Warriors doesn't look very interesting to me and I'm don't feel like getting another fighting game right now so for me there aren't any other games worth getting except maybe ghost recon but I prefer to have a fair amount of time to play strategy games so there would be few opportunities to play outside the house. If you're still playing games on your 3DS, great but for a lot of people that's not the case. I still think find mii is entertaining enough to mess around with every few days which is why I was wondering if there was an easy to get play coins. No need say I'm blindly following others just because my tastes differ from yours.

Strap it on.
 
No seriously, take it with you whenever you go out, do chores or whatever.
You do get out right?
I get more then needed just doing groceries each day, even the odd streetpass hit. 

When you shake it, make sure you do it at the same angle it would be if it were in your pocket and you were walking. I can get to 1,000 steps in just a few minutes this way.

I don't really know of any effective methods besides doing it this way or keeping it in your pocket throughout the day. I recommend the latter as you also have StreetPass opportunities, which as mentioned above, are crucial if you're interested in completing Puzzle Swap, as you're able to easily waste Play Coins on duplicate pieces you don't need.

just something i wanted to add, This has been nintendo's goal for awhile now (for people to get exercise while having fun/getting rewarded, not cheating the system) i don't want a huge debate about pokemon GO but this reason is the reason nintendo is working with pokemon and niantic labs to make this, to get people to go outside, meet people, and not be coupled up in your little bubble with a computer getting no outside interaction whatsoever, i mean seriously its just sad that you too lazy to walk for about 15 minutes a day, its just so sad that the world is like this, video games are the reason why a lot of americans are obese its because they don't stop playing video games to go outside, I personally like to play Ingress and walk around my neighborhood looking for portals, its not that hard to walk about 1 kilometer (about 0.6 miles) a day, so as Shai Lebeouf once said, "JUST DO IT".