Archives for category: Springfield Downs

Do you ever feel like you’re on a losing streak at Springfield Downs? Do you sometimes think that the only good thing to come from the track was Santa’s Little Helper? Then you’re probably not alone – because most players regard Springfield Downs as a bit of a loss-making venture. And the information available in the files supports that, because the odds of winning anything aren’t particularly good.

Some people bet according to the name of the dog – but the game doesn’t work that way. The dogs switch around and are accorded different odds each time they race. Instead, your chance of coming up a winner is tied to odds attached for the current race to the dog you’re betting on.

So, here are your chances of coming out ahead whenever you’re tempted to gamble away your $5000 game dollars at Springfield Downs:

Odds	Dollar Winnings	XP Winnings	Chance
1-2	$6,250	75XP	50%
1-1	$7,500	100XP	20%
2-1	$10,000	150XP	15%
4-1	$15,000	250XP	10%
9-1	$25,000	500XP	5%

And if you lose, you get what the game terms 50 “consolation XP” – which is not that much consolation, really. Just as well it’s game dollars you’re being asked to gamble away and not donuts!

Tags bet, gamble, game dollars, odds, Santa's Little Helper, Springfield Downs, The Simpsons Tapped Out, winnings, XP

Categories Cash, Gameplay, Santa's Little Helper, Springfield Downs, XP

What have you done with Fat Tony’s Club?

By TSTO Tips

April 22, 2013 //

A couple of people have asked for some ideas for what to do with the Legitimate Businessman’s Club, which makes it a perfect candidate for a “What have you done with…?” post.

Mine is sitting between Springfield Downs and the Duff Stadium, making it a convenient location for Fat Tony and his gang to monitor two of their major income sources – fixing races and fixing baseball games (although there’s only a task for the first!). It’s next to Lugash’s Gym, to allow for convenient workouts without undue interuption the the business day, and it’s just up the road from Krustylu Studios just in case they want to get involved in the movie business. Both Asia de Cuba and Luigi’s are a short walk away:

What have you done with yours? Send a screenshot through Twitter to @TSTOTips where I’m back to checking in once a day now that the pace of game change has slowed, or upload your screenshot to an image site and post a link in the comments below. And if you can’t do either of those, just tell us all what you’ve done!

Tags Asia de Cuba, Businessman's Club, design, design ideas, Duff Stadium, Fat Tony, Krustylu Studios, level 28, Luigi's, Springfield Downs, The Simpsons Tapped Out

Categories Asia de Cuba, Businessman's Club, Duff Stadium, Fat Tony, Krustylu Studios, Level 28, Luigi's, Springfield Downs

Outsiders’ Musings VI: Which dog should I bet on?

By rcsprinter

April 21, 2013 //

Greetings, fellow players. This is my weekly post Outsiders’ Musings, and we’re up to the sixth edition. I’m looking at how often one can expect to win with each dog at the Springfield Downs, so I did a bit of an experiment. Over the last couple of weeks every hour I noted down which dog was the winner. The resulting conclusion is bet on Raised by Wolves; you have a 30% chance of winning.

Raised by Wolves IIIIIIII
Obedience School Dropout IIIIIII
Not a Chance II
Drool Britannia IIII
Dogbiscuit IIIIII

Secondly, if you want any extra friends to collect money and snakes off, there’s a good website at http://www.simpsonstappedout.eu/ where you can advertise your Origin name to gather friends. Comments and suggestions to rcsprinter.wikipedia@gmail.com .

Goodbye
Rcsprinter

Tags chances, Outsiders' Musings

Categories Gameplay, Money, Outsiders' Musings, Springfield Downs

What have you done with Springfield Downs?

By TSTO Tips

April 1, 2013 //

Springfield Downs is really the first of the buildings you unlock in the game that takes a little bit of extra design thinking to get it to fit into your town. It doesn’t seem to fit comfortably onto a block of land, and feels awkwardly shaped compared to all the buildings that come before it. Getting it to fit comfortably takes a bit of creativity – but that’s all part of the game.

So, to help out players looking for ideas on what exactly to do with it, I asked you to send in some screenshots showing how you’ve approached Springfield Downs. But first, here’s mine, which includes some patio tables and a small park in the grounds of the racetrack:

And here’s one from Superangel, who included Springfield Downs as one of the places that the plant workers might like to visit after work:

And here’s a really interesting one from Adora, who included a walled off area to the side of the track park containing lots of seating space in a really nice 3D design:

So what have you done with your Springfield Downs? Post a link in the comments section below or send it through on Twitter to @TSTOTips and I’ll post it here for you.

Tags design, design ideas, screenshots, Springfield Downs, The Simpsons Tapped Out

Categories Design, Springfield Downs

How do you know when a character is doing a task inside a building (part 2)?

By TSTO Tips

March 19, 2013 //

With business as usual in Springfield (although that still inlcludes some extended St. Patrick’s Day business), here’s part 2 of the list of animations that tell you when a character is inside a building.

While you can tap on a building to see who’s inside, the animations are an extra bit of fun. Part 2 covers all the regular buildings currently available from Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace on. You can see Part 1, covering all the buildings up to Moe’s tavern here. Premium buildings will be covered in a separate post.

Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace - there doesn’t appear to be any animation
Springfield Downs - the dog-racing animation runs when the dogs are actually racing and when characters are visiting the track
The Gilded Truffle - the windows on the second floor light up (flickering candles and people having a good time)
King Toot’s - no animations
Police Station - flashing red and white lights
Skip’s Diner - no animations
Luigi’s – smoke rises from the pipes on the roof
Springfield Penitentiary - searchlights
Retirement Castle - no animations
Town Hall - shadows moving in the windows
Muntz House - a raccoon runs onto the roof and chews some electrical wires
Krabappel Apartment - a window on the second floor opens and cigarette smoke is blown out
Channel 6 – the satellite dish rotates (when either someone is doing a task or a program is being made)
Springfield Post Office - the front doors open and mail blows out
Hibbert Family Practice - shadows move in the windows
Springfield General Hospital - the lights on the helipad on the roof flash
Burns Manor - a vulture flies out of the dome and sits on the roof
Pimento Grove - sadly unused, so no animation
Wiggum House - flashing red and blue police lights
El Chemistri - it doesn’t get any use after the level 26 quest, but I’m sure there was animation…

Part 3, focusing on the premium buildings, is still to come.

Tags animations, burns manor, Channel 6, El Chemistri, Gilded Truffle, Hibbert Family Practice, Jake's Unisex Hair Palace, King Toot's, Krabappel's Apartment, Luigi's, Muntz House, pimento grove, Police Station, Retirement Castle, Skip's Diner, Springfield Downs, Springfield General Hospital, Springfield Penitentiary, Springfield Post Office, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Town Hall, Wiggum House

Categories Burns Manor, Channel 6, El Chemistri, Gameplay, Hibbert Family Practice, Jake's Unisex Hair Palace, King Toot's, Krabappel's Apartment, Luigi's, Pimento Grove, Police Station, Post Office, Retirement Village, Springfield Downs, Springfield General Hospital, Springfield Penitentiary, The Gilded Truffle, Town Hall, Wiggum House

How do I unlock Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace and Springfield Downs?

By TSTO Tips

March 5, 2013 //

This walkthrough continues from here, and begins with the completion of Moe’s Tavern and the arrival of Moe and Marge.

Just a reminder on how game levels work: if you play often and have a lot of friends that you visit every day, your XP level may rise faster than your game level. So while the game information says that you get Moe’s Tavern and Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace at level 15 and Springfield Downs at level 16, you may actually get to a much higher XP level before these buildings actually unlock. This is because you need to have unlocked all the other buildings that come before them first.

So, let’s continue the walkthrough (and remember that you need to have kept Homer free as the build finishes):

1. Is there an Al Coholic Here Part 2 Marge is back, but Homer goes for a drink at Moe’s! (8 hours)
2. One in every Flock Reverend Lovejoy may be continuing his tasks during or after the Moe’s Tavern build. At this point he may decide to walk his dog (1 hour)
3. Once you’ve Gone Organic With no food in the house, Marge goes and shops at the Kwikimart (1 hour – you may also get a task just before this to send Marge to Church)
4. I’m Stalking on Sunshine! Now you need to plant a shrub (if you haven’t done so already) so Moe can hide in it and spy on Midge… er… Marge (12 hours – keep Marge free as he finishes if you haven’t already received the prompt to build Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace)
5. Free Band-Aids with every Cut Part 1 Now that Marge is back, someone needs to maintain that hair, so she prompts you to build Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace (24 hours and $29,000 – keep Marge free as the build finishes)
6. Free Band-aids with every Cut Part 2 Marge visits Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace (4 hours – keep Homer free as she finishes)
7. Double Down on She’s a Loser Part 1 Homer prompts you to build Springfield Downs (24 hours and $34,500 – keep Homer and Marge free as it finishes)

Immediately after Springfield Downs completes, you’re asked to place your first bet of $5,000 before you can move on. For a post on winning (or losing) at Springfield Downs, you can go here.

The walkthrough will continue…

Tags Homer, Jake's Unisex Hair Palace, Level 15, Level 16, Marge, Moe, Moe's Tavern, Reverend Lovejoy, Springfield Downs, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Walkthrough

Categories Buildings, Free Band-aids with every Cut, Gameplay, Homer, Is there an Al Coholic Here?, Jake's Unisex Hair Palace, Level 15, Level 16, Marge, Moe, Moe's Tavern, Quests, Reverend Lovejoy, Springfield Downs, Tasks, Walkthrough

I never seem to win at Springfield Downs!

By TSTO Tips

January 27, 2013 //

Got a bit of money spare and want to try to make a bit extra? Then perhaps it’s time to visit Springfield Downs. But many people have asked whether it’s really possible to make money at thre and how often the really big payouts happen.

The tip here is not to place your bet based on the name you like best, and not to try and win big. Instead, if you want to come out ahead, the way to do it seems to be to place your $5000 bet on whichever dog is running at 1-2 odds (usually the one at the top of the list – the name changes each race). The payout is small – only $6500 – but still better than any of the other buildings.

Now this is not guaranteed. The winner is randomly generated, and even playing this way, you’ll sometimes lose. But the random generation seems to favor the 1-2 dog. While another dog will sometimes win and you’ll lose your $5000 “investment”, the big payouts only happen rarely.

In the 10 or more times I’ve placed a bet on the 1-2 dog, I’ve only lost twice, so this seems to work. So try it out, see what happens and let me know.