Archives for category: Lemon Tree

A few new players have asked whether all you get from the Mystery Box is decorations. So here’s a repost of something from March on those Mystery Box odds.

While the Mystery Box is a premium item, you also get one for free every 5 days. While it no longer promises premium items (see here), there are still premium items in there. And, of course, a Mystery Box is the only way that you’re currently able to get one of those coveted, income-earning Lemon Trees.

There’s a game going on behind the scenes every time you either buy a Mystery Box for 6 donuts or collect one as a daily reward. The game first internally generates a random number between 0 and 1. Each item available through the Mystery Box has a number assigned to it and you win the item that has the first number that’s greater than the random number generated.

So, what are the chances, then, of winning anything really good? Here’s a list of what you can win and the probability that it will be inside any given Mystery Box:

Mystery Box - 10.983% (strangely, the item you’re most likely to win)
Lemon Tree (or $250 if you have one already) – 10%
Parking Lot – 10%
Brown Fence – 10% (although some additional calculations apparently boost the probability that this is what you’ll get)
Tree – 10%
Large Hedge – 10% (although some additional calculations apparently boost the probability that this is what you’ll get)
Newspaper Dispenser – 10%
Picket Fence – 4% (although some additional calculations apparently boost the probability that this is what you’ll get)
Gazebo – 4%
Angel Topiary - 4%
$500 – 4%
Bench (with towel) – 4%
$1000 – 4%
10 donuts – 2% (the first thing the Mystery Box every gives you!)
Squeaky Voice Teen (or 30 donuts if you have him already) – 2%
Homer Buddha – 1%
$2500 – 0.01%
30 Donuts – 0.004%
Tire Fire (or 40 donuts if you have it already) – 0.002%
Lard Lad – 0.001% (there appears to be no donut alternative, probably because you can have multiple Lard Lads in your town)

So, it’s all a matter of luck – and I was lucky enough to get my Squeaky Voice Teen this way!

Acknowledgements to j_3xx9 at http://tstappedout.proboards.com for the information used in this post.

Tags donuts, Lard Lad, lemon tree, mystery box, Squeaky Voice Teen, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Tire Fire

Categories Decorations, Donuts, Lard Lad, Lemon Tree, Mystery Box, Tire Fire

What exactly are the chances of winning something good in a Mystery Box?

By TSTO Tips

March 29, 2013 //

While the Mystery Box is a premium item, you get for free every 5 days, which makes itv very different from the Homer Buddha. While it no longer promises premium items (see here), there are still premium items in there. And, of course, a Mystery Box is the only way that you’re currently able to get one of those coveted, income-earning Lemon Trees.

As with the Homer Buddha, there’s a game going on behind the scenes every time you either buy a Mystery Box for 6 donuts or collect one as a daily reward. The game first internally generates a random number between 0 and 1. Each item available through the Mystery Box has a number assigned to it and you win the item that has the first number that’s greater than the random number generated.

So, what are the chances, then, of winning anything really good? Here’s a list of what you can win and the probability that it will be inside a Mystery Box:

Mystery Box – 10.983% (strangely, the item you’re most likely to win)
Lemon Tree (or $250 if you have one already) – 10%
Parking Lot – 10%
Brown Fence – 10% (although some additional calculations apparently boost the probability that this is what you’ll get)
Tree – 10%
Large Hedge – 10% (although some additional calculations apparently boost the probability that this is what you’ll get)
Newspaper Dispenser – 10%
Picket Fence – 4% (although some additional calculations apparently boost the probability that this is what you’ll get)
Gazebo – 4%
Angel Topiary – 4%
$500 – 4%
Bench (with towel) – 4%
$1000 – 4%
10 donuts – 2% (the first thing the Mystery Box every gives you!
Squeaky Voice Teen (or 30 donuts if you have him already) – 2%
Homer Buddha – 1%
$2500 – 0.01%
30 Donuts – 0.004%
Tire Fire (or 40 donuts if you have it already) – 0.002%
Lard Lad – 0.001% (there appears to be no donut alternative, probably because you can have multiple Lard Lads in your town)

So, once again, it’s all a matter of luck – and I was lucky enough to get my Squeaky Voice Teen this way. What’s the best item that the Mystery Box has opened up for you?

Acknowledgements once again to j_3xx9 at http://tstappedout.proboards.com for the information used in this post.

Tags donuts, Homer Buddha, Lard Lad, lemon tree, mystery box, Squeaky Voice Teen, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Tire Fire

Categories Donuts, Homer Buddha, Lemon Tree, Mystery Box

Repost: How do I get the Lemon tree?

By TSTO Tips

March 18, 2013 //

I posted this back in the early days of the blog, but with new players joining all the time, I think it’s worth a slightly revised re-post…

The elusive Lemon Tree is only won from a Mystery Box – you can’t buy it with either cash or donuts, which is why you can’t find it in any of your stores. It gives you a cash and XP bonus every six hours when you click on a basket of lemons.

Until October 2012, if you saw a Lemon Tree in a friends’ town you could steal it from them and plant it in your Springfield. Then, after 24 hours any of your friends could steal it from you!

As of 15 October 2012, however, the Lemon Tree was disabled and couldn’t be stolen. EA describes this as a glitch and say that they hope to get this ability restored in the future, although they also say that they can’t estimate when that may be. I suspect that, as the only way you can get a Lemon Tree is through a Mystery Box, and a Mystery Box is a premium item, no longer being able to steal the Lemon Tree might have more to do with players complaining that something they paid good money for was stolen from them than any technical issue!

Personally, I’m glad this aspect of the game is gone. I like my Lemon Tree. It took months to get, and I would hate anyone to steal it!

Tags donuts, lemon tree, mystery box, premium items, steal, The Simpsons Tapped Out

Categories Donuts, Lemon Tree, Mystery Box

Why can’t I steal my friends’ lemon trees anymore?

By TSTO Tips

February 11, 2013 //

Early in February, EA posted the following on Tapped Out Help page:

“ATTENTION: The Lemon Tree is currently disabled and cannot be stolen at this time. Sorry! We do hope to get this ability restored in the future, but at this time we cannot estimate when that may be. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, and we greatly appreciate your patience.”

My guess is that this has less to do with technical issues and more to do with Apple. After all, the only way the Lemon Tree could be acquired in the first place is through a Mystery Box. And while some people may have been lucky enough to get their Lemon Tree through the free Mystery Box that appears every 5 days, others would have bought one or more Mystery Boxes hoping to acquire the elusive Tree. And, under those circumstances, that makes stealing a Lemon Tree akin to real life theft, something Apple may not have been happy about.

So, perhaps the loss of the ability to steal Lemon Trees together with the promise to restore it in the future is really all about finding a way to distinguish between free and paid-for trees. And that’s likely to minimize complaints to Apple that something that people had paid good money for had been stolen by another game player.