Archives for category: Homer

By now, many people players have built the Itchy and Scratchy Store and got over the glitch that seems to bring the quests to a halt (just put the store in your Inventory and replace it). If you haven’t, though, go and take a look at the previous post, which you can find here. It’s worth noting that if you’ve rushed ahead and used donuts to build all your Boardwalk, the next part of the quest doesn’t seem to run as it should, and you may find yourself jumping ahead. For everyone else, the Sea Captain needs to be free to keep things moving along.

1. Squidport Part 6: It’s time for the Sea Captain to critique your work so far…

Homer: How do we do that? I mean, I know… but explain it slowly for people who aren’t as smart as me.
Sea Captain: Head ye over to the Squidport Entrance and then, er… I don’t know just build it. And ye can always speed the work along with donuts!
Homer: What a surprise.
So, head on over to the Squidport Entrance and tap on it. Make a couple more Boardwalk sections if you haven’t already. You only need to have a total of 8 pieces to start the next task, but you only need to build 1 to complete this task. If you already have 5 pieces in total, the “Goal Complete!” notice should pop up without you having to do anything more.

2. Squidport Part 7: The Sea Captain has a question for Lisa (who doesn’t need to be free)…

Lisa: Are you going out to sea again?
Sea Captain: Nay, I’m going to an Adele concert and wanted to unfurl a sign that says I heart her. I’ve got bad seats so it has to be a big one.
Lisa: Well, the boardwalk used to have a place that sold camping supplies.
Sea Captain: And it shall again. Fall on, men – the cheap seats await!
By this stage, you need to have 8 Boardwalk sections so that you can build the Malaria Zone, which is now unlocked in your Buildings menu and available for $47500. It’s a 24 hour build, and Bart needs to be free when you finish.

3. A Flair for Exploration Part 1: Bart is even more excited than he was at the arrival of the Itchy and Scratchy Store…
Bart: What kind of store is this? Thermal underwear, waterproof matches, flares… Oh my God! This stuff is awesome! Fires starter, extra long forks, something that turns pee into drinking water? Why haven’t I always been shopping here?!
And off he goes to spend 4 hours buying flares.

4. A Flair for Exploration Part 2: And that gives a new “Brown house” idea…

And for the next 12 hours, he sets off flares in the Brown House – no doubt disturbing Otto, Kearney, Shauna and a host of others in their slightly shady Brown house activities. Keep the Sea Captain free, as Squidport Part 8 could well begin while Bart is in the Brown House.

The walkthrough will continue…

Tags A Flair for Exploration, Bart, Boardwalk section, Homer, Lisa, Malaria Zone, Quests, Sea Captain, Squidport Entrance, Squidport Pt. 6, Squidport Pt. 7, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Walkthrough

Categories Bart, Boardwalk, Boardwalk Buildings, Gameplay, Homer, Lisa, Malaria Zone, Malaria Zone, Sea Captain, Squidport, Squidport Entrance, Walkthrough

What happens in the Squidport quests (stage 2)?

By TSTO Tips

June 15, 2013 //

In the last part of the walkthrough, which you can read here, we left Homer swearing at the ocean for 12 hours, quite possibly in another dimension. When he’s finished, he miraculously reappears in front of the Entrance to begin the handover to the Sea Captain, who’ll be your guide for much of the remainder of the Squidport storyline.

1. The Old Man and the Sea Part 1: Homer steps out of his Squidport Entrance netherworld and notices something unusual in the distance:

Homer: No, it’s real! It’s some kind of house/boat hybrid! Hmmm, I wonder what you call that?
Um… a houseboat? And it comes with the Sea Captain for only $15000. It’s in your decorations menu rather than your build menu because there’s absolutely no wait time for it to build once you place it on your newly purchased water expansion. That means you unlock the Sea Captain (Horatio to his friends) right away.

2. The Old Man and the Sea Part 2: Make sure that you read the Sea Captain’s script in appropriately pirate-y language…
and possibly Homer’s as well. Get ready to welcome to Springfield a man who could seriously challenge Grampa in the rambling story-telling stakes:

Sea Captain: Y’arr, who be doing all that squalling and cussing at the sea? Ye made me sailors blush. Seriously, some of them cried.
Homer: Sorry, sometimes I have a potty mouth. Anyhoo, who the F@#& are you?
Sea Captain: Captain McCallister. Just let in from a long haul at sea. Been at Madagascar and Malabar and spent half a hundred days floating ’round the giant garrrbage patch in the Pacific. Y’arr, that last one tweren’t intentional. But sit ye down and have a yarn with the Captain. I’ll tell of a ship that near went under, her belly laden with counterfeit Kindle Fires.
Homer: Eh, I’m really not much for listening to people.
Sea Captain: Did I mention there’s be rum by the bucketfull?
Homer: Yarn away! Don’t leave anything out!
And so, the Sea Captain spends the next 4 hours telling tall tales. You don’t need to keep Homer free for this. Let him slip away and earn money for you – you’re going to need it.

3. Squidport Part 5: Finished with his tall tales, the Sea captain surveys what Homer has done with the Squidport so far…
Sea Captain: Ya’rr, the Squidport! This old seadog has spent many a silver here, having me caricature made and eating Dipping Dots. Tho something’s different now, can’t lay a finger to it. Wait, I have it – it’s become totally lame.
Homer: I know, right? You can’t buy a fried anything or squoosh a penny into a worthless flat oval.
Sea Captain: Me men’ll get this place into ship-shape. The finest builders what sailed the seas!
Lisa: It makes sense that sailors would know carpentry. They have to constantly repair the ship.
Sea Captain: Aye. We’ll start by building a logo store to increase footfalls and up the spill-over effect.
Lisa: Okay, now it’s making less sense.
Sea Captain: Sailors must also be well-versed in mall-science and neuromarketing.
And now it’s time to build you first Squidport shop – the Itchy and Scratchy Store. It becomes available at this point in your Building menu for $32000 and takes 24 hours to build. This can only go on the Boardwalk, and if you try to put it anywhere else, “the pirate guy will get mad”. Keep Bart and Milhouse free as the build finishes.

(T’s note: As you wait, resist the temptation to build too much Boardwalk – getting to far ahead on your Boardwalk progression seems to have a negative impact on the progression of the quest. There’s another glitch, too – the Store builds, but in some cases doesn’t clear from your task book. This is an easy glitch to fix, though, as putting the Store into your Inventory and taking it out again seems to get things moving.)

4. They Fight and Buy-It: Bart’s excited…

Milhouse: Yes! Luckily I went to the ER three times last month, so I’m flush with cash.
And off they go to spend four hours browsing the Itchy and Scratchy Store together. Unfortunately, it’s not all that they were hoping for:

Bart: This Itchy and Scratchy ball bounces funny and makes my eyes water when I smell it. Also, it’s stamped with the words “Warning: Not a Toy!”
Milhouse: I just found money in my other pocket.
Bart: What are we waiting for? Let’s buy more crap!

But that’s nothing for you to worry about – instead you can explore all the premium and non-premium items that unlocked with the completion of the Itchy and Scratchy Store. It’s over to the Sea Captain next to move the Squidport rebuild along.

The walkthrough will continue…

Tags Bart, boardwalk, Homer, Houseboat, Itchy and Scratchy Store, Lisa, Milhouse, Sea Captain, Squidport Entrance, Squidport Pt. 5

Categories Bart, Boardwalk, Gameplay, Homer, Houseboat, Itchy and Scratchy Store, Lisa, Milhouse, Quests, Sea Captain, Squidport, The Old Man and the Sea, Walkthrough

Why does Homer want us to make Reverend Lovejoy ride his train?

By TSTO Tips

May 19, 2013 //

As part of the dialog that launches the Yard Sale, Lisa and Homer have this exchange:

Lisa: So, this is our season finale – a fourth wall joke?! Aren’t there any characters or quests?
Homer: Well, I guess you could make Lovejoy ride his train for the finale – that kind of fits.

Why exactly does it fit? Because the last episode of season 24, premiering in the US on Sunday, 19 May, is called “Dangers on a Train“. Here’s the trailer from the ANIMATION on FOX Channel on YouTube:

Note: Homer also suggests that we make Carl celebrate his Icelandic heritage, and you can see why here.

Tags episode promotion, Homer Lisa, limited time, Reverend Lovejoy, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Yard Sale

Categories Episode promotions, Gameplay, Homer, Limited time, Lisa, Yard Sale

What episode is the Devil Donuts Cart from and what rating does it contribute to?

By TSTO Tips

May 19, 2013 //

The Devil Donuts Cart is from episode 7 of season 24 “The Day the Earth Stood Cool“. It’s the third promotional item from this episode – the two others, the Cool Brown House and Cool Homer, were released just before that episode in November last year and were only available for a few days. Both those items were free.

In that episode, the Simpsons family gets new cool neighbors Terrence and Emily from Portland – and the Devil Donuts business is how Terence earns his money, at least for the time being. Here are a couple of screen shots from the episode showing the Cart parked outside the Cool Brown House, and showing Homer and Terence enjoying a beer outside the Cart when it’s parked downtown:

Strangely, the Cart improves your Vanity rating rather than your Gluttony rating (in the same way that the Laramie Vending Machine adds to your Vanity rating rather than your Consumerism rating).
But that can be forgiven just because it’s a great new decoration for your town that costs game dollars rather than donuts! And it also gives you 520XP when you place it in your town.

As a bonus, here’s a video from the ANIMATION on FOX YouTube channel of Homer trying to be cool to fit in with his cool neighbors:

Tags Cool Brown House, Cool Homer, Decorations, Devil Donuts Cart, episode promotions, game dollars, Homer, limited time, The Simpsons Tapped Out, XP, Yard Sale

Categories Conform-o-meter, Cool Brown House, Cool Homer, Devil Donuts Truck, Episode promotions, Homer, Limited time, Vanity rating, Yard Sale

How can I avoid the glitch with the Open Air Stage?

By TSTO Tips

May 18, 2013 //

A few people have commented on the Open Air Stage glitch over the last week. The glitch affects the performances of Willie and Lisa, but can go on to have an impact on the performances of other characters:

From linzdrabble:
Noticed this glitch just now. Had sent Willie to play the bagpipes came back and the stage was flashing but he was standing in front bare chested. Clicked the stage and it’s still showing the task.

And from Jason, who also identified the solution:
If Willie is in his Bare-Chested costume before you select him to perform on the Open Air Stage he will just stand in front of it and do nothing, nevertheless you will still get your $ and XP, but the next time change his costume back to default before selecting him to play in the open air stage.

It seems that for your Willie and Lisa to successfully carry out their Open Air Stage task in a glitch-free way, you need to make sure that they’re in their regular costumes when you send them to perform. So, if Lisa is in her Gymnastic Lisa costume or Willie is in his Bar-chested Willie costume, the performance is likely to glitch. That’s because their performances are tied to tasks that they only carry out when they’re in the regular clothes.

And while we’re talking about the Open Air Stage, here’s a comment and a request for help from CruisyBoy:
Is it just me or does anyone else find that rotating the Open Air Stage doesn’t achieve the desired effect? The reason I say this is because I can’t position the bench seats to face the stage to create an open amphitheatre type of environment. Any suggestions would be great.

Tags bugs and glitches, donuts, Groundskeeper Willie, Homer, Lisa, Open-Air Stage, performance, premium buildings, The Simpsons Tapped Out

Categories Donuts, Groundskeeper Willie, Homer, Lisa, Open Air Stage, Open Air Stage performance glitch

Repost: Exactly how many donuts are hidden in the trash?

By TSTO Tips

May 14, 2013 //

I last posted this just before Whacking Day but it deserves a repost, particularly with all the new players joining the game with the Whacking Day update and the comments on the donuts in eggs post a few below…

As long-term players know, free donuts are hard to come by (and that’s why, new players, you should never spend your donuts on speeding up tasks!). You get 70+ throughout the game (depending on how many times you hit the bonus levels at the top end of the game), and a number of those are hidden in the trash – and that makes it a good enough reason to send Homer or Lisa to clean up your trash rather than piling it up in a corner somewhere. But just how many are there?

Nobody really seems to know for sure. I’ve been hunting for a definitive answer on this for a while now and, according to people who have acquired all the land, it seems that for most people the trash piles contain a grand total of 4 free donuts.

But comments posted on this blog say that for some lucky souls, 4 is really on the very low end of what’s possible. Take this comment from Renosis:

I would say I have gotten between 10 and 12 donuts from trash piles. I don’t have all the property bought yet either. I would say I have almost an 11×11 grid right now.

And here’s something just in from Rood:

I have been fortunate enough to receive close to 30 donuts or more while cleaning my Springfield but my wife hasn’t found a single one other than the one you get from the tutorial. Will she ever get them or what do you know about it?

So, exactly how many donuts are there hidden in the trash? Well, apparently, there’s a 2% chance of finding a donut in any given trashpile, which means that it’s just a matter of luck! And that means it’s worth keeping Homer and Lisa on regular cleanup duty.

Tags clean up, donuts, Homer, Lisa, The Simpsons Tapped Out, trash

Categories Donuts, Gameplay, Homer, Lisa, Trash

What does the Open Air Stage do and should I spend my donuts on it?

By TSTO Tips

May 11, 2013 //

The Open Air Stage is available as part of the level 29 update and is now officially one of my favorite buildings!

It works just like Channel 6 and Cletus’ Farm – you spend money to make money. But what makes it better than either of these two buildings is that it also gives some of your characters something extra to do.

To unlock a performance, a required character just needs to be free and in his/her regular costume. How much you need to invest depends on both the length of the task and the number of characters involved. Your return depends on the number of characters involved and whether the task is performed in whole or part by a premium character. Here’s a handy chart:

Task	Time	Character(s)	Investment	Reward
Lisa’s Sax Solo	60 minutes	Lisa	$25	$145/30XP
Krusty Standup	2 hours	Krusty	$40	$240/45XP
The Be Sharps	3 hours	Homer / Skinner / Apu / Barney	$175	$1055/245XP
Willie on the Pipes	4 hours	Willie	$60	$350/80XP
The Skinner Sisters	10 hours	Principal Skinner / Agnes Skinner	$230	$1385/300XP
Sideshow Opera	16 hours	Sideshow Mel	$165	$990/220XP
Man Being Hit By Football: The Musical	24 hours	Moleman	$220	$1320/250XP

Lisa’s, Willie’s and Moleman’s performances are pretty much what you see in their regular tasks. But, here are the others (you’ll have to forgive my undecorated park – that will come soon). First, Krusty and his standup:

Here’s Sideshow Mel:

And here are the Skinner Sisters:

And, finally, the Be Sharps:

So, the bottom line on the Open Air Stage is this: it’s well worth the donuts for those who are at level 29; it’s an especially good purchase for those who have Barney, Moleman, and Sideshow Mel as well; and if you’re at a lower level, you may want to hold off for a while until you can really make use of it.

And if you’re easily tempted into additional premium spending, consider this one carefully – it could well be a “gateway” building to more premium expenditure!

Tags Agnes Skinner, Apu, Barney, donuts, Groundskeeper Willie, Homer, Krusty, level 29, Lisa, Moleman, Open-Air Stage, premium buildings, Principal Skinner, Sideshow Mel, update

Categories Agnes Skinner, Apu, Barney, Donuts, Groundskeeper Willie, Homer, Krusty, Level 29, Lisa, Moleman, Open Air Stage, Principal Skinner, Sideshow Mel, Updates

What happens in Miss Springfield’s quests (part 1)?

By TSTO Tips

May 4, 2013 //

Whacking Day is in its final stretch, and I’m getting to the last of the posts on the Whacking Day prizes. Miss Springfield has the longest of the prize quests, so there will be two posts walking you through them. This post takes you through the first of her quests – More than a Pretty Face – A Pretty Body Too.

1. More than a Pretty Face – A Pretty Body Too Part 1 If you’ve whacked enough snakes to put 12,500 of them in your inventory, you’ve well and truly earned Miss Springfield:

Once you’ve completed the 24-hour Sleep-Eazy Motel build, she arrives and joins the ranks of your C-List Celebrities:

2. More than a Pretty Face – A Pretty Body Too Part 2 Miss Springfield appears slightly confused by her reception (she has a conversation with Homer, who doesn’t need to be free):

Homer: Excuse me, Ma’am Springfield, but those aren’t people. Those are snakes.
Miss Springfield: All men are.
Homer: We’re whacking them with sticks if you want to join in.
Miss Springfield: When I was awarded Miss Springfield, I said I wanted to protect all the creatures of the world. But I only meant the cute ones.
Taking Homer up on his offer, Miss Springfield joins in the Whacking Day festivities by attempting to whack snakes for the next 12 hours (and earning you 5 snakes for her efforts!).

3. More than a Pretty Face – A Pretty Body Too Part 3 Miss Springfield decides that she really isn’t cut out for exertions of this kind and, at the same time, inadvertently reveals one of the hidden tragedies of the pageant circuit:

Miss Springfield: …and mama always said that no one would love me if they knew how I smelled.
So, Miss Springfield heads back her room at the Sleep-Eazy Motel to spend 12 hours staying and washing her hair.

Her quest continues in A Model Life…

Tags Homer, Miss Springfield, prizes, Sleep-Eazy Motel, snakes, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Walkthrough, Whacking Day

Categories Homer, Miss Springfield, prizes, Sleep-Eazy Motel, snakes, Walkthrough, Whacking Day

What happens in Respectable Moe’s quest (complete)?

By TSTO Tips

May 4, 2013 //

There are only four tasks that make up Respectable Moe’s quest – but, as many of you will already have discovered, the length of a couple of the tasks means that it all takes at least 3 days to play in real time. So, here’s what happens once you get the message that Moe has a new suit and you can find it in your Inventory:

1. Moe’s New Suit Part 1 Once you put the suit on Moe, his quest begins (no other characters need to be free at this stage):
Moe: What’s this? A suit! And in my thin-shouldered hunch-backed Quasimodo size!
Homer: Wow Moe! When you wear it, it looks like you’re standing up straight!
Moe: That’s because I AM standing up straight. For the first time in my life I’ve got self-loathing!
Homer: You mean “self-confidence”?
Moe: Yeah, that one. I’m just so used to saying the other.
Feeling unusually good, Respectable Moe spends the next 12 hours strutting in the suit. Keep Homer and Marge free for the next part.

2. Moe’s New Suit Part 2 Homer really notices the difference in Moe:

Marge: I’m just glad to see him doing something other than leering at me from a bush.
Homer: Hey Moe! Marge and I were thinking of going out for a bite. Normally we wouldn’t invite you on account of you being unpleasant and unpresentable and… well, you, know, you. But now you’ve got that suit, we don’t mind being seen with you in public.
Moe: That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.
Homer: So what do you say we grab dinner at Luigi’s?
Moe: Screw that! Let’s go someplace fancy!
Homer: Um… okay.
Moe: And we’ll get drinks and appetizers and entrees and desserts!
Homer: I don’t know…
Moe: And the whole dinner will be your treat!
Homer: Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.
Moe: Too late! I already called ahead and ordered one of everything on the menu.
Now, if you already have the Gilded Truffle, you can continue with the quest. If you don’t, you’re going to have to get to it in your regular game (limited-time quests never let you jump ahead to the buildings you need). Once you have it, though, you’ll be able to send Homer, Marge and Respectable Moe to dine there for 2 hours at Homer’s expense.

3. Moe’s New Suit Part 3 Moe enjoyed himself…

Marge: You’re more than welcome Moe. It’s so nice to see you looking so slick. Is there “someone special” we don’t know about?
Moe: No. This suit can do a lot of things, but even it can’t make me attractive to dames.
Marge suggests that if Moe stopped referring to women as dames, that might help a little bit. And that it also might be an idea to clean up his bar because it looks like a pigsty.
So, Moe takes Marge’s advice and spends the next 2 days doing just that (2 days! With the task that’s part of the Rich Texan’s quest, this seems to be a something new to make shorter quests go for a little longer – and given its placement on the task list, it seems to be a permanent task!)

The conversation when the clean-up is over is one of my favorites of the game:

Moe: Yeah, but I still haven’t met anyone. Where are all the women in this town?
Homer: I hear you, buddy – it took me 15 levels to find Marge!
Moe: *sigh* It’s like I’m trapped in a world created by a bunch of writers who don’t know anything about women.

4. Moe’s New Suit Part 4 Moe is resigned to the fact that the town is short on female characters and, therefore, a potential love interest:

Moe: There’s a saying – unlucky at love, lucky at getting drunk. I’m going to distil some 15-year-old whiskey. Let’s hope it doesn’t actually take 15 years, like that growing corm at Cletus’ Farm job.
Luckily, it only takes 24 hours!

Ands that’s where Respectable Moe’s quest ends. If you’re in the US, be sure to watch Sunday night’s episode, Whiskey Business, to find out what it all means!

Tags episode promotion, Homer, limited time, Marge, Moe, Moe's New Suit, Moe's Tavern, Quests, Respectable Moe, tasks, Walkthrough

Categories Episode promotions, Gameplay, Homer, Limited time, Marge, Moe, Moe's New Suit, Moe's Tavern, Respectable Moe, Tasks, The Gilded Truffle, Walkthrough

Lisa and Willie have costumes now – what other characters have them (or will have them)?

By TSTO Tips

May 1, 2013 //

This is an update of a post from early last month, that also answers the questions about costumes for Carl and Chief Wiggum that keep coming up…

For many players, particularly those that joined the game very recently, Gymnastic Lisa and Bare-Chested Wllie are their first costumes (or “skins”, to use the term that serious gamers prefer). And while they’re Lisa and Willie’s first costume, they’re certainly not the first in the game.

Since October 2012, a few other characters have also been given costumes:

Homer – He’s acquired the most costumes so far with Mayan Homer (from Halloween 2012), Cool Homer (a free costume to promote an episode in November 2012), Santa Homer (from Christmas 2012), Mr Plow (a premium costume from Winter 2013) and now Ninja Homer (his premium Whacking Day costume). When Homer wears his premium costumes, he earns money from his jobs at a premium rate.

Marge – She only has one costume so far and that’s Witch Marge from Halloween 2012. This premium costume gives her the power to speed up crops.

Ned Flanders – He only has one costume, too, and that’s Devil Flanders, also from Halloween 2012.

Grampa Simpson – His Gorgeous Grampa costume came as the free element of a promotion for the Season 24 episode Gorgeous Grampa in early March 2013

Mr. Burns – He acquired his Fruit-Bat-Man costume as a premium purchase with the promotion for the Season 24 episode Dark Night Court in mid-March 2013. When he wears it, he acts like a premium character.

All of these costumes were limited time items and all of them are no longer available. However, like Gymnastic Lisa and Bare-Chested Willie, once you have a costume, it’s yours to keep. And if the information in the files comes to pass, it looks like Moe will have one, too, before the week is out!

But what about Carl’s Viking costume and Chief Wiggum’s female impersonation? They don these outfits for their 24-hour tasks, Carl to celebrate his Icelandic heritage, and Wiggum to go undercover.

Tags Bare-Chested Willie, Carl, characters, Chief Wiggum, Cool Homer, costumes, Devil Flanders, episode promotions, Fruit-Bat-Man, Gorgeous Grampa, Gymnastic Lisa, limited time, Mayan Homer, Mr. Plow, Ninja Homer, Santa Homer, skins, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Witch Marge

Categories Bare-Chested Willie, Burns, Carl, Chief Wiggum, Cool Homer, Costume, Fruit-Bat-Man, Gameplay, Gorgeous Grampa, Grampa Simpson, Groundskeeper Willie, Gymnastic Lisa, Homer, Marge, Moe, Ned Flanders, Ninja Homer, Respectable Moe, Witch Marge

What happens in Tatum’s quest?

By TSTO Tips

April 30, 2013 //

Drederick Tatum (Springfield’s thinly-disguised answer to Mike Tyson) arrives with the Springfield Coliseum as part of the ninth prize in the Whacking Day event – and with him comes a short quest that involves a tiger, a dinner at the Gilded Truffle, and some differing views on what it takes to stay in shape.

1. The Champ’s Come-Back Part 1 Whack 10000 snakes and win the Springfield Coliseum and Tatum. The Coliseum will be delivered to your Inventory (the cardboard box in the left-hand corner of your build menu) and its construction will take 24 hours.

When it’s done, Drederick Tatum join your merry band of New Springfielders as one of your new and improved group of B-List Celebrities.

2. The Champ’s Come-Back Part 2 Tatum is less than happy to be back in Springfield. One of the first people he encounters is Apu (who doesn’t need to be free).

Apu: Drederick Tatum! What an honor! I studied your “Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em” workouts to learn how to defend my Kwik-E-Mart.
Tatum: Those DVDs paid for a lake house in Switzerland… for my accountant after he stole my money. I’ve had to scale back my extravagant lifestyle. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go walk my tiger.
Which is what he does for the next 4 hours. Keep Homer free as he finishes.

3. The Champ’s Come-Back Part 3 Homer is impressed by Tatum’s tiger…

Tatum: Homer Simpson! It’s been too long since I gave you severe brain damage.
Homer: Oh, don’t worry. My tough is brain.
Tatum: Let me buy you a big unhealthy dinner. After the beating I gave you, I think it’s only fair I help you die faster so you can no longer feel pain.
If you haven’t got to level 16 yet in your regular game, you’ll have to wait until you do to build the Gilded Truffle and send Tatum and Homer there to dine together for 2 hours.

4. The Champ’s Come-Back Part 4 It’s a good meal at the Truffle as always – and it also serves to highlight just how the phrase “stay in shape” can mean different things to different people…

Homer: And I need to take a nap so I can stay in shape. That shape is spherical.
Tatum gets into his running gear and spends the next 24 hours jogging around New Springfield – while Homer assumes his favorite position and spends only 4 hours way over-sleeping for a power nap (which is much better time management!).

And that’s where we leave Tatum and Homer – which means that if you want to send Tatum to fight at the Springfield Coliseum, you’re going to need to do it yourself.

Tags Apu, Homer, ninth prize, prizes, snakes, Springfield Coliseum, Tatum, the gilded truffle, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Walkthrough, Whacking Day

Categories Apu, Gameplay, Homer, prizes, snakes, Springfield Coliseum, Tatum, The Gilded Truffle, Walkthrough, Whacking Day

Will the side-quests still be there after Whacking Day?

By TSTO Tips

April 23, 2013 //

As part of the Whacking Day event, Lisa, Willie and Homer all have side-quests that take them away from their snake-generating tasks. Many readers are asking whether it’s worth doing these and whether they’ll still be there once Whacking Day is over.

Honestly, that’s hard to say. In the past, event quests have disappeared once the event is finished. The only exception is for Barney – a Christmas character that became a premium character. His quest was still available once the Christmas event was done, but possibly only because he stayed around. In recent times, the Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day quests have all come to a halt at the end of the event, even if you have all the necessary buildings and participants.

At the moment, there’s no way of telling what will happen at the end of the Whacking Day event. Certainly, you’ll still have all Gymnastic Lisa and Bare-chested Willie’s tasks to play, but whether or not you’ll still be able to carry out their quests is another question altogether. Given the Whacking Day references for these two in particular, it seems unlikely. It really may depend on whether they’re still available for donuts at the end of the event, and that’s just not clear at this stage.

My advice, though: if you’re only just on or behind the snake collecting target, keep them in snake-earning tasks for now – it won’t affect the progress of your game. Only send them off to their side-quests once you’re closer to your target prize level.

Tags Bare-Chested Willie, Groundskeeper Willie, Gymnastic Lisa, Homer, Lisa, prizes, Quests, snakes, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Whacking Day

Categories Bare-Chested Willie, Gameplay, Groundskeeper Willie, Gymnastic Lisa, Homer, Lisa, prizes, snakes, Whacking Day

What happens in the Duff Stadium quest?

By TSTO Tips

April 22, 2013 //

Once you’ve made the 6th prize level and built the Duff Stadium, there’s a very short quest featuring Homer and, if you have him, Duffman. Don’t worry if you don’t have Duffman, though – having or not having a premium character has no impact on your progress through the free game.

So, here’s the walkthrough of the Duff Stadium quest, America’s Former Pastime:

1. America’s Former Pastime Part 1 All you have to do is collected 4,250 whacked snakes and you’ll win Duff Stadium (all!):

You should be able to find it in your Inventory:

All you need to do then is place it and wait for the 24 hours it takes to build. Keep Homer free as it finishes.

2. America’s Former Pastime Part 2 Homer is more than a little happy about this:

Homer: I can’t wait to smell the grass . . . after I drink too much and fall over the railing onto it.
And Homer goes off to the Stadium to spend 24 hours drinking lots of beer and yellling at the Umpire.

The quest ends there unless you have Duffman. If you have him, there’s just one more part to go (I told you it was a short quest):

3. America’s Former Pastime Part 3 Homer isn’t the only Springfield citizen who’s overjoyed by the re-construction of the Duff Stadium:

Duffman takes the opportunity to try out some new promotional tech at the Stadium in true Duffman style for the next 2 hours (reminding everyone of why he’s coming top of this week’s premium character poll here).

Tags America's Former Pastime, Duff Stadium, Duffman, Homer, prizes, snakes, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Whacking Day

Categories America's Former Pastime, Duff Stadium, Duffman, Homer, prizes, Quests, snakes, Whacking Day

How can I keep up with those snake targets and get the prizes I want?

By TSTO Tips

April 21, 2013 //

After criticism that the Valentine’s event was too easy, EA and the studio seem to have gone completely the other way and given us an event that sometimes feels more like work than work does!

A number of readers have been giving some great advice on how to make those targets (and you really should read all of Robert’s comments!). Here’s some advice from L.A on how you can get to the top prize levels:

For people who are struggling, I have a few tips to give WITHOUT USING ANY DONUTS WHATSOEVER:

1. Add a lot of people and visit them at an organized schedule everyday

If you have more friends, then that obviously means you have more snakes to whack. A good tip for whacking your friends’ snakes is that you should set a time of day to visit your friends’ towns and whack snakes, tap buildings, leave eggs, etc. What I mean by this is that you will use your time better if let’s say you have 88 friends, you visit 22 of them at 11:00 in the morning, you visit the next 22 at 3:00 in the afternoon, the next 22 at 6:00 in the evening and the last 22 at 9:00 at night. This way, you won’t have to get on the game all the time and watch if a friend or 2 is going to time up their 24 hour clocks so you can visit them and whack snakes.

2. Have an egg buddy

I have many egg buddies, friends in real life that I divide most of my eggs to everyday, and vice versa. I give 85% of my eggs I gain everyday to each of them equally, and they follow the same ratio. The rest of the 15% I give to the rest of my game friends, following the formula of 1 egg + any eggs I gain whacking snakes at their place. Also, if a friend has more than 15 unopened eggs at their Springfield or if they already obtained all 10 prizes (excluding whack boxes) through the lazy usage of donuts, I skip on placing eggs in their towns.

3. Make an account so that can be your personal egg farmer (very cheap way that I’ve devised!)

The day the Whacking Day event started and I had Homer and Lisa do their 24 hour tasks, I created a separate account that was to be my egg farmer. On that account, I harvest around 100 eggs per day that I give to my main account. (Note: You can do this on the same device, but you need to set it up with a completely different email address and ID.)

4. Hold off any quests and tasks that don’t have to do with Whacking Day.

Homer, Lisa, Flanders, Milhouse, Cletus, Apu and Willie all have their own respective tasks that gain you snakes. Have them do those tasks back-to-back-to-back until the event is over.

Using these tips I have provided, I guarantee that you will obtain at least the 10 main prizes of the event. Good luck everyone and last but not least, enjoy Whacking Day (or specificaly, month)!!!

-L.A.

Tags Apu, Cletus, egg buddy, Groundskeeper Willie, Homer, Lisa, Milhouse, prizes, snakes, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Whacking Day

Categories Apu, Cletus, Gameplay, Groundskeeper Willie, Homer, Lisa, Milhouse, prizes, Quests, snakes, Tasks, Whacking Day

What happens in the Gymnastic Lisa quest (the Lugash version)?

By TSTO Tips

April 20, 2013 //

As I mentioned here, the Gymnastic Lisa quest comes in two varieties – a short version and a longer version involving Lugash. Now, you don’t need to have Lugash to complete the quest – if you haven’t bought him yet, the quest finishes with Lisa’s dream of getting an “A” in gym class coming true. In the Lugash version, however, something a little different happens after her dream and there are a few extra steps she needs to go through before she gets that top grade.

Lugash: To be great takes total dedication. All time invested in training. Until when mind think of losing, it also think “I AM DYING! THIS IS DEATH!”
Homer: If you’re promising to take up all of my daughter’s time with grueling psychological torments, then I think we have a deal.

Here, then, is a walkthrough of the additional parts that Lugash brings to Lisa’s quest:

1. Little Girl in the Big Ten Part 5 Lisa wants to talk to Lugash, but he cuts her off mid-sentence:

Lisa: I just wanted you to sign my petition against Whacking Day.
Lugash: Petition cannot stop Whacking Day – only gymnastics can stop it. By celebrating it! By doing gymnastics!
Taking his advice, Lisa goes to spend the next four hours training at Lugash’s Gym while Lugash trains children.

2. Little Girl in the Big Ten Part 6 Lisa doesn’t find training with Lugash a totally positive learning environment:

Homer: Sorry, we already paid for the lessons.
Lisa: But I saw a girl set her own broken leg in the middle of a somersault.
Homer: Wow. Next time that happens, film it and put it on YouTube. I’m tired of watching videos of cats.
So Lisa goes back again to spend another four hours in training and Lugash spends another four hours training children.

3. Little Girl in the Big Ten Part 7 Surprisingly, Lugash is impressed:

Lisa: Thanks Lugash. I still hate this, but thanks. So you think I can get an A in gym class?
Lugash: If gym class is balance beam, yes. God gave you greatest gift. Big head. Like beach ball made of bone. Give you perfect balance. Go home now. Rest your giant head. You will now pass gym examinations. I am certain of this. I am Lugash!
Lisa is so happy, she spends an hour doing cartwheels.

And it seems to have all worked:

Homer: Woohoo! Wait, I mean D’oh! Now what will distract you from getting all moral and judgement-y about Whacking Day? There must be more quests to keep you busy.It’s not like we constantly have nothing to do as we wait for another set of tasks to fill up our time.

So, Lugash adds an other layer to the Little Girl in the Big Ten storyline, which may make it worth you spending your donuts on him. It’s worth remembering, though, that if you want to keep Lisa in snake-earning tasks, you should be able to save this quest until later on in the Whacking Day event, although whether or not it will be available after Whacking Day is another question altogether.

Tags Gymnastic Lisa, Homer, Lisa, Lugash, Lugash's Gym, Quests, tasks, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Walkthrough, Whacking Day

Categories Gameplay, Gymnastic Lisa, Homer, Lisa, Little Girl in the Big Ten, Lugash, Lugash's Gym, Quests, Tasks, Walkthrough, Whacking Day

What happens in the Gymnastic Lisa quest (the short version)?

By TSTO Tips

April 19, 2013 //

As you gain the buildings and characters that come as prizes, there are also quests that come with them. Some of them are short and some are long and most of them don’t give you opportunities to earn extra snakes. The Gymnastic Lisa quest is one of those.

The Gymnastic Lisa quest comes in two versions – a short version and a long version. You’ll only get the long version if you’ve bought Lugash, though, and not having him won’t affect your ability to complete the quest in any way – he just makes it a little more fun.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the short version which involves Homer and Lisa, although only Lisa needs to be free.

1. Little Girl in the Big Ten Part 1 Whack 1000 snakes and win Gymnastic Lisa and the Balance Beam.

2. Little Girl in the Big Ten Part 2 Lisa is pretty happy about the new outfit and the Balance Beam, but Homer had an ulterior motive in getting it for her:

Place the Balance Beam anyhere you like.

3. Little Girl in the Big Ten Part 3 Lisa doesn’t really care – the Balance Beam will help her pull up her grades in gym class and that will mean perfect grades. With that thought as inspiration, she spends a good 12 hours walking the Beam.

4. Little Girl in the Big Ten Part 4 Homer’s impressed, but Lisa thinks that his genes are stopping her from doing as well as she needs to. And that means the only way she’ll pass gym glass is to dream that she will. So, off she goes to spend 24 hours dreaming of success.

In the short version of the quest, this is enough for her to get the grade she wants. But in the long version, she needs the help of Lugash – and I’ll post on that tomorrow.

Note: If you prefer to keep Lisa releasing snakes from the Other Springfield, it’s quite okay to save this quest until later.

Tags Balance Beam, Gymnastic Lisa, Homer, Lisa, Little Girl in the Big Ten, prizes, snakes, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Walkthrough, Whacking Day

Categories Gameplay, Gymnastic Lisa, Homer, Lisa, Little Girl in the Big Ten, prizes, snakes, Walkthrough, Whacking Day

What happens in the Whacking Day quest (parts 5-8)?

By TSTO Tips

April 14, 2013 //

Where we left of in the first part of the walkthrough, Apu was just recovering from what was probably the most ill-judged in-store promotion in the entire history of in-store promotions (you can read about that here). When he finishes cleaning up, though, the quest continues.

Just a reminder: this quest doesn’t seem to work like the others we’re used to. Except at a couple of points, the characters don’t need to be free for the next stage of the quest to appear. In fact, for each of the parts below, the dialog boxes will come up without a character walking around with an exclamation mark over his or her head to tell you that he or she has something to say. The quest then sits in your task book ready to begin when the character is free.

Homer needs to be free, though, to begin the next stage of the quest and it’s also a good idea to try and keep Lisa free at each key point. Quest progression is a little glitchy at the moment, so the ease with which all this has happened for me may not be your experience:

1. Whacking Day Part 5 Homer wants Ned to get involved in all the Whacking Day fun:

Ned: Oh I couldn’t. Killing defenseless animals is wrong.
Homer: Just pretend you’re Ehud, and the snakes are Eglon, king of Moab.
Ned: I don’t know where you got such an obscure Biblical reference, but it works for me.
And Ned goes off to spend 24 hours sending the snakes back to Hell.
2. Whacking Day Part 6 Cletus is the next to get involved:

Homer: If you need a weapon, what about that shotgun in your back pocket?
Cletus: Doesn’t seem very sporting…
Homer: Oh, Cletus. Whacking Day is just like any other beloved tradition: the point is to murder as many snakes as possible. By any means necessary.
Cletus: Well said, fat man.
So, Cletus takes Homer’s advice and spends the next 12 hours shooting snakes.
3. Whacking Day Part 7 Lisa isn’t taking any of this well:

Homer: They also committed the crime of being slimy. And the crime of scaring Indiana Jones.
Lisa: Those aren’t crimes!
Thoroughly appalled, Lisa goes off to spend the next 5 hours releasing snakes from another town. And if you really want to be a good neighbor, send her to Other Springfield for this, rather than reducing the hard-won snake count of any of your friends.
4. Whacking Day Part 8 It’s Milhouse’s turn next, and despite being bigger and stronger than the snakes, he spends 12 hours getting bullied by them (Note: If you’ve just started the game, though, you’ll need to reach level 8 and build the van Houten House in the regular quests before you can get Milhouse to carry out this particular task).

Ned will need to be free for Part 9 of the quest to appear, and you can read about this when the walkthrough continues…

Tags Apu, Cletus, Homer, Lisa, Milhouse, Ned Flanders, quest, tasks, The Simpsons Tapped Out, van Houten House, Walkthrough, Whacking Day

Categories Apu, Cletus, Homer, Lisa, Milhouse, Ned Flanders, snakes, Tasks, van Houten House, Walkthrough, Whacking Day, Whacking Day

What happens in the Whacking Day Quest (parts 1-4)?

By TSTO Tips

April 14, 2013 //

The Whacking Day quest is quite long and should keep you going for several days. It seems to operate differently from the quests that we’re used to in that, except where indicated, the characters don’t need to be free for you to get the next stage of the quest. if they’re not free, the quest seems to come up, but they start just as soon as they’re ready. That means you don’t need to use donuts to speed anything up (and, honestly, you should never hit that donut button to skip or get through a quest anyway – it really is a waste of donuts).

For people just joining the game, none of the great Whacking Day stuff appears until you complete Whacking Day Part 1. When Homer and Lisa are done, the world of Whacking Day is miraculously revealed, and you’ll be able to whack away to your heart’s content. Until then, though, you’ll just have to do what the game tells you to do and wait patiently for the 24 hours it takes Whacking Day Part 1 to complete.

So, on with the walkthrough – it’s going to take several posts:

1. Whacking Day Part 1 Homer notices that something’s up with Lisa:

Lisa: It’s Whacking Day.
Homer: Woohoooo! the greatest day of the year!
Lisa: but Dad, killing snakes is eveil.
Homer: You know what snakes are, rght? Slimy, slithery guys? Always up to no good? Deserve a good solid whacking?
Lisa: Just try to whack quietly, please, so I can get some work done.
So, for the next 24 hours, Lisa does next week’s homework while Homer runs around Springfield on a snake hunt. As soon as they finish, you’ll see the Whacking Guide, letting you know that Whacking Day has begun!

2. Whacking Day Part 2 With Whacking Day in full swing, the next part of the quest is easy. 50 snakes are slithering around your Springfield. You just have to whack and collect them all following a conversation between Ned and Homer.
3. Whacking Day Part 3 Apu is never one to miss out on a chance for some extra cashflow. The Kwik-E-Mart is now the official Whacking Day headquarters, and he has an idea for a promotion:

Apu runs the Whacking Day promotion for the next 24 hours. It doesn’t end well, though.

4. Whacking Day Part 4 Realizing he should have put more thought into his promotion, Apu now has to do an 8-hour shift to clean everything up.

The walkthrough will continue…

Tags Apu, Homer, Lisa, quest, snakes, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Walkthrough, Whacking Day, Whacking Guide

Categories Apu, Gameplay, Homer, Lisa, Quests, snakes, Walkthrough, Whacking Day, Whacking Day

Outsiders’ Musings V

By rcsprinter

April 13, 2013 //

The latest post from Rcsprinter

Hey, y’all! Last week the challenge was to create a picture of something using decorations in Tapped Out. I’ve decided the winner is… Anthony Damiano, for his inventive use of hedges, fences and and the Valentine’s heart pond to honour New York City.

Now, this week I thought I’d take a look at a history of the splash screens, or loading screens, we’ve had in the game.

First: This is the original and regular one, which displays when there is no event.

Second: This splash screen comes on sometimes for a bit of change of scenery

Halloween event: A hand stripped to the bone chases Homer for the Halloween event in October 2012

Winter event: Over the winter period this gloved hand tapped Homer as we were following the Christmas quests

Valentine’s event: A Cupid Bart shoots an arrow at Homer as we shared hearts over February

Whacking Day: The current one you’re all seeing, a snake is chasing Ninja Homer, which seems the wrong way round.

And finally, if you’re a fan of the music that plays on Tapped Out and would like to have it on its own as a song or ringtone, you can download it to PC and Mac at http://u.to/4v88Aw ; you can listen on iOS device but not download.

Keep the ideas and comments coming, my address is rcsprinter.wikipedia@gmail.com . OM is reblogged at my blog, where you can also find other great posts daily.

Rcsprinter

Tags competition, music, OM, Outsiders' Musings, splash screens, winner

Categories Christmas, Free, Halloween, Homer, Outsiders' Musings, Valentine's Day, Whacking Day

Should I spend my donuts on Ninja Homer and the Practice Snake?

By TSTO Tips

April 13, 2013 //

Yes – absolutely. And that would be the end of the post, except for the fact that I know you want to hear the pros and cons.

Ninja Homer and the Red Practice Snake are available as a bundle for 120 donuts. As the other Practice Snakes go for 10 donuts, this makes Ninja Homer the most expensive character costume we’ve had so far at 110 donuts. But, let’s leave that aside for the moment and take a look at his tasks.

During the Whacking Day event, all of Ninja Homer’s tasks earn you snakes and XP (and after the event, it’s likely that his tasks will earn you the premium character rate of 50% more cash and XP than regular characters for same-length tasks):

Task	Length	Snakes	XP
Fake-Whack Pretend Snakes (outdoors)	60 minutes	1 snakes	26XP
Smash Up Flanders’s House (indoors)	4 hours	4 snakes	70 XP
Steer the Mob in Wise Directions (indoors)	8 hours	8 snakes	105XP
Twirl Whacking Stick (outdoors)	12 hours	10 snakes	150XP
Polish Stick for Whacking Day (indoors)	24 hours	15 snakes	225XP

So, should you spend your donuts on Ninja Homer? Here are some reasons why I think it’s a good idea:

1. He earns snakes and snakes are a path to all of those great buildings and decorations that we may never see again. That’s probably the best reason for buying Ninja Homer. Usually a costume takes a regular character out of the game – but this one gives you a greater variety of snake-earning tasks for Homer to do, and makes him much more useful in achieving your Whacking Day goals.
2. He has a quest (and I’ll be doing a post on that before the weekend is out) that adds nicely to the Whacking Day event. And it ends with the Whacking Day song.
3. The Practice Snake adds to your game, too, by earning you a bonus of 0.25% on all your cash and XP collections.
4. Ninja Homer is a limited-time costume, which means that it won’t be available after the Whacking Day event ends on May 9.
5. In his ninja-wear, Homer gets quite acrobatic, as you can see here:

And some reasons why not:

1. Don’t be fooled by the size of the Practice Snake. The picture in the Whacking Day store may lead you to believe that it’s some kind of mammoth mega-snake, it’s not. It’s really, really small.
2. 120 donuts is quite a lot of donuts for a costume (even if you discount the Practice Snake).
3. If it’s snakes you’re after, the snake-generating decoration are a far better buy.

On balance, though, I think Ninja Homer is worth the outlay – if only for the additional boost he provides in helping you get all that free Whacking Day stuff.