Archives for category: Update

That’s difficult to say. Most episode promotions end the Monday following the episode, but this is a bit bigger than the usual episode promotions. In fact, it seems more like the Winter update, which was launched on January 11 and ran through until January 28 (that update included Mr. Plow and some Simpsons snowmen and came with level 25).

To try to answer this question, I went into the files to look for an end date – and the only one I could find was May 29. Now, this could simply be a placeholder, or it could be the real end date. To me it makes sense as a real end date as it follows the month on / month off basis that Tapped Out events have kept to since September last year – and it also supports the educated guess I’ve made that the Squidport event will arrive at the end of May and continue through June (and before anyone asks, there’s a post coming on this – but type “seashore” into the search bar at the bottom of the page if you want to see what I’ve written on it so far).

If EA gives the usual episode-promotion “one-day left” warning, I’ll certainly let you know. But the short answer to the question that heads this post is that we can’t be sure at this stage when the Yard sale will end – it may be Monday, or it may be that it run through until as late as May 29.

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The Inflatable Gorilla and Baboons comes from the same episode as Frink’s Robot Dog: season 24 , episode 9, “Homer Goes To Prep School“. It appears in a dream sequence as Homer has an out-of-body experience following an injury during a fathers’ fight at a children’s fun center. The Gorilla and Baboons are how Homer sees a Santa and Reindeers Christmas decoration while he’s unconscious, as you can see in this video:

Is it worth 30 donuts? Surprisingly, it is, especially when compared to other similarly priced decorations. It offers a 0.75% bonus on all cash and XP collected from jobs and rent – the same as the slightly more expensive Frinkosonic MHV and the Giant Grasshopper. This is also the same amount as the non-limited time Piece-of-crap Car, and slightly more than the Ambulance, which both also cost 30 donuts. However, unlike all the others (with the exception of the Giant Grasshopper), it’s animated and sways gently in the breeze that apparently blows over the device you’re playing the game on.

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As with many of the other Yard Sale items, it’s not an essential purchase, and it’s probably more a matter of how you see it fitting in to your Springfield. Also, as it’s from a dream sequence, it’s not a “real” item, so you may also choose to bypass it for that reason (but then you’d also have to by-pass just about every Halloween building or decoration for the same reason!).

To help you out, here’s a screenshot of the Inflatable Gorilla and Baboons outside my Duff Stadium, where I’ve also put the Duff-Barney Blimp:

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9 new items were released with the Yard Sale update – they’re all limited time and possibly only available until Monday (although they could be around for a bit longer). 2 of them are available for game dollars, and 7 of them are premium items.

I’ve already posted on two of these – the Giant Grasshopper and Frink’s Robot Dog – and I’ll be posting on the rest before the weekend is out. In the meantime, though, here’s a poll designed to help people who are considering which one most justifies a little donut splurge.

So, here’s the question: imagine that you’re only able to buy 1 of them – which one do you buy? Cast your vote, and see what other people think. The poll will stay open for the duration of the Yard Sale, but vote early to help others with making the right choice.

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There’s a glitch with the update that seems to be affecting Tapped Out players in Europe, the Middle East and Asia – and that’s being told by their device that the game is not available in their country. Don’t worry – it is.

For some reason the automatic update is sending you to the US store. But resolving this issue is easy – search up the game in your App Store / Google Play store. You should be able to update directly from there.

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According to the game information, Frink’s Robot Dog comes from the season 24 episode “Homer Goes To Prep School“. While I don’t have a video that shows Frink with his dog, here’s a video from the ANIMATION on FOX YouTube Channel the out-of-body experience that led Homer to become a doomsday prepper (and you can also see the Inflatable Gorilla and Baboons):

So, is the Robot Dog really worth your 60 donuts? Here are some reasons it is:

1. It’s a dog – and robot or not, that’s a new member for your Animals and Pets character set.

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2. At 60 donuts, it’s much, much cheaper than the other member of the set, Santa’s Little Helper. And you don’t have to lash out on vet fees!

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3. It’s a limited-time character, that’s likely to be no longer available within a few days – and if you don’t buy him, there will always be a Robot Dog-shaped gap in your character set.
4. While it doesn’t have any tasks, it keeps your town looking busy when the characters are doing tasks inside.
5. It does bark when you tap on it, though, and you may be able to get a duet going if ever you can every get it together with Santa’s Little Helper.
6. It’s Frink’s dog – Good Glaven – that’s not enough for you. It’s a dog… and it’s a robot…and it’s Frink’s… It’s a geek’s best friend… Isn’t that enough?

Okay, best move on to the reasons against, then… So here they are:

1. Unfortunately, there are no tasks for the Robot Dog and there is no quest associated with it.
2. None of your characters interacts with it – not even Frink. This makes it exactly the same as Santa’s Little Helper and the Funzos.
3. If you already have Santa’s Little Helper, you don’t gain the $500 or the 10XP that comes with completing a set.

But really, the main reason against the Robot Dog is that, like Santa’s Little Helper and the Funzos, it’s another character that just runs around your town. Still, this is the Yard Sale premium item I’m most convinced about and was happy to buy – but that’s possibly because Frink is one of my favorite characters and I suspect that he’s as much of a completist as I am!

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The Giant Grasshopper is one of the easiest of the Yard Sale premium items for me to reference as it harks back to an episode that premiered only a couple of weeks ago – “Pulpit Friction”, the eighteenth episode of the 24th season and the 526th episode overall. (Or I thought so until I read Matt’s comment – see the update note below – turns out it’s from “Penny Wiseguys“. As I like the videos, though, I’ll leave them here!)

In the episode I thought it was from but stand corrected about, the Simpsons Family get a new couch – but it’s shipped from New York is full of bed bugs:

The bed bugs spread and attract a plague of grasshoppers that eat them. And then there’s the frogs (and I may have appreciated a giant frog a bit more):

So, it it worth 35 donuts? Well, it does give you 0.75% bonus money and XP on all job and XP collections. And it does have a nice animation. And it is big (much bigger than those Whacking Day Practice Snakes). But there are no tasks associated with it and no characters interact with it. And it just sits there – thankfully, it doesn’t hop around your town.

I’ll admit to being a bit lukewarm on it. I’m a completist (and it is a word), so of course I bought it. But if you’re on a donut budget, you probably won’t need to feel that you’re missing out on something special if you don’t buy it.

Update: Actually, it might be from the Penny Wisequys episode (see matt’s comments below). As my views on the Giant Grasshopper still stand and I like the videos, however, I’ll leave the post as it is. By the way, I’m having trouble referencing some of the items, so if anyone wants to send in something for a post, please be my guest!

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Miss Springfield was the 10th prize during Whacking Day when, with enough whacking, she was available free. Once Whacking Day was over and the Yard Sale update was released, she joined the ranks of the premium characters at a rather pricey 225 donuts.

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So,if you didn’t win her is she worth the donuts? Here are some reasons why she might be, and some reasons why you may decide to avert your eyes from the sordid goings-on at the Sleep-Eazy Motel. First, the reasons in Miss Springfield’s favor:

1. She’s a female character and, as many people have commented, those are few and far between.
2. The Motel, a bit surprisingly for something that’s meant to be sleazy, has a size, shape and color scheme that makes it a pleasing addition to your game. You can see what it looks like here.
3. She comes with a quest, which adds a bit of extra enjoyment to your game.
4. She has a nice range of tasks, with my favorite being her 60-minute task to open an event (it’s great if she does this while Mayor Quimby is giving a speech). My second favorite is her 3-minute joint task with the Mayor – but there’s only so many times you can send them off to the motel together for their “meeting”.

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And here’s why you may not think she’s not worth the high donut price:

1. She has no voice – which, all things considered, is a probably a good thing, partly due to reason 2…
2. She may be a female character, but she’s certainly a very stereotypical dumb blond. In fact, one of her tasks is to take reading lessons, underlining the game’s own joke that the writer’s don’t know how to write for female characters. But then Homer is not exactly the most positive male role model, either, so there you go…
3. As she was initially free, her tasks only earn you the standard rate, rather than the premium rate that everyone else earns. The same is true of Barney and Tatum.
4. You don’t approve of extra-marital relationships with Mayors or anyone else.

So, she’s a nice character to have, but it’s questionable whether she’s actually worth the 225 donuts that you’re being asked to hand over.

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A little bit. This is the dialog from the beginning of the Yard Sale for those who tapped through it too quickly:

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Homer: Except for Apu and Manjula’s octuplets, who age for some reason. Didn’t they used to be younger than Maggie?
Lisa: So, this is our season finale – a fourth wall joke?! Aren’t there any characters or quests? (Note: see here for the Wikipedia article on the fourth wall)
Homer: Well, I guess you could make Lovejoy ride his train for the finale – that kind of fits. And for the episode before it, you could have Carl honor his Icelandic heritage… if you had Carl.
Lisa: I know! What if we sold a bunch of cool premium items from this season’s episodes?
Homer: Pfft. What kind of idiot would want to buy that junk?

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The Yard Sale is likely to run through until Monday at least, although it could be longer. I’ll be going into the files soonish to see if I can find out exactly when. Remember, too, that the period after a big event is usually time to take a breath for a week or two before the next big thing happens. So, now that Whacking Day is finally over, go and reintroduce yourself to your families.

It shouldn’t be long before our towns are snake-free. It’s already the 16th, the last day of Whacking Day, in many parts of the world – but the event is scheduled to end when it’s Thursday 16th in the US.

So, what time exactly will it end? I’ve scanned the files, and there’s no time given – the information still includes false end dates (that are clearly identified as false). But 8am and midnight appear to have been the most popular end times for past events and promotions, with the major events (Valentines, Christmas and Haloween) all showing a midnight finish time, and everything since the beginning of March, including St. Patrick’s Day, showing an 8am finish time.

Looking back over the posts on this blog following updates to the game, I have a suspicion that this means that the game is running on Central time US – and if that’s the case, Whacking Day could finish at any time between 8am Central on the 16th and 8am Central on the 17th. I’ll be watching carefully to try and get a fix on the timing.

And finally, Happyhoney27 sent this comment through today:
Well, it’s 16th May tomorrow T, do you get a feeling of déjà vu coming on?

There’s a definite sense of déjà vu.

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I just came across something interesting in the files – a correction to the Sideshow Bob script that explains why we are seeing him so much more often in our own towns and in other people’s.

It seems that the chance of seeing Sideshow Bob on any given land visit (including visits to your friends’ town) is now 10%. Just beneath this in the game scripts is a note that the chance of seeing him was previously only 1%. Also of interest is that the Sideshow Bob you’re tapping on in a friend’s town is yours – not your friend’s. There’s something in the scripts that allows him to “spawn” in their towns when you visit them as well as appear in yours.

So, if you’ve been seeing Sideshow Bob more often in the game these days, that’s because the chance of seeing him after his initial visit is now much higher than it has been at any time prior to the Whacking Day update.

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Agnes Skinner arrives in New Springfield with the level 29 update to make Seymour’s life miserable – and just in time for Mother’s Day in the US and other parts of the world, too. (Mother’s Day is May 12 in the US and many other countries.)

If everything were behaving normally, the level 29 quests should begin right after Fat Tony’s quest finishes. With the current glitch in quest progression still in play, it’s difficult to know whether that’s still the case. Either way, you’ll need to be at level 29 for everything to begin. And Luigi and Skinner should be free to kick things off:

1. Principal Plus Interest Everything is going wonderfully in New Springfield and Seymour Skinner has a spring in his step, something that Luigi notices:

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Skinner: Who wouldn’t smile in this wonderful, new Springfield? Nothing could ruin it.
Bart: Hey Seymour, your office is full of anteaters. Also ants. Also you need to tell the cafeteria to order more honey because your office is full of that too. Heh heh.
Skinner: Delightful! I needed some busy work for Willie. When he has nothing to do, he keeps inviting me to play board games. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to relax and take in the avian grandeur of our fair town.
Luigi: And I will-a-romance the air with a-beautiful sounds of the accordion, the bagpipe of Italy.
Skinner: Terrific. Hopefully, there aren’t any trees near your restaurant.
So Skinner goes off to watch birds for 24 hours, while Luigi spends 12 hours outside his restaurant playing the accordion. Remove all nearby trees for Skinner’s sake and keep Milhouse free as Skinner finishes his task.

2. Hey Milhouse — Eureka! Milhouse his missing his parents…

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Milhouse: For dinner last night, I sucked on pasta shells until they got soft in my mouth.
Bart: Hmm, Springfielders do tend to appear when we build a new building. That gives me an idea…
Milhouse: To help me not to be an orphan?
Bart: No, to really prank Skinner! We need to bring back the one thing that can get inside his head and ruin his happiness. His mother.
Milhouse: Okay. But if we’re going to build Skinner’s house, we’re going to need a lot more pillows.
This prompts the build of the Skinner House ($196,500 and 24 hours) and unlocks Agnes Skinner. Keep Seymour free as the build finishes.

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3. There are Skinners and Winners Part 1 Skinner instantly notices the change…

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Agnes: Thought you’d gotten rid of me, did you. Now put on an apron and tidy up. Turns out limbo is pretty dusty.
Skinner: But Mother…
Agnes: No buts, Seymour. Get to work! When I get back from Bingo tonight, the table top better be clean enough for me to see my disapproving face in it!
And Agnes goes off to spend 4 hours hustling at bingo.

4. There are Skinners and Winners Part 2 Agnes appear to be great at multi-tasking as Seymour notices a few more changes now that she is back.

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Agnes: You’re darn tooting. There are a lot of naughty pictures in the Wikipedia.
Seymour: I don’t have time to fight you right now – I have to get to work… where no one can tell me what I can and can’t look at, because we don’t have any computers.
Seymour heads off to the relative peace and quiet of a 12-hour day monitoring the halls. Keep Comic Book Guy and Agnes free as he finishes.

The walkthrough will continue…

One of the two premium buildings released with level 29 is the Sprawl-Mart, and it’s certainly big (8×12 squares). But is it worth the 90 donuts that seems to be the current going rate for stand-alone buildings (this was the price for Swanky Fish, although Asia de Cuba costs a little more at 100 donuts)? Here’s some pros and cons.

First, some reasons to buy it:

1. It’s a 6 second build and gives you an XP boost on its construction (I forgot to make a note of just how much, so I’ll check this out in the files and let you know when I go in on Sunday).
2. It boosts your income by $300 and 30XP every 12 hours.
3. It gives Agnes an extra 16 hour task to greet customers that pays $750 and 200XP.

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4. It gives a boost to your Consumerism rating (which probably dropped as you hit level 29).
5. It’s another store for Legs and Louie to threaten and collect protection money from.
6. Your Springfield residents need a place to shop that sells a wider range of goods than Apu does at the Kwik-E-Mart.
7. You’re a completist, so you want every building!

The list of reasons against is short but powerful:

1. Sprawl-Mart comes without a character.
2. Only Agnes, Legs and Louie seems to interact with it in any way – and only Agnes has a task that keeps her there. Marge seems to ignore it completely, which surprised me.
3. It doesn’t seem to generate any additional quests.
4. As it’s not a limited-time building, there’s really no rush to buy it.
5. It seems to have nothing special in the way of animations, other than an open door reminiscent of the Kwik-E-Mart.
6. Do you really want a large global mega-chain to chase local businesses out of your town?

So, not an essential purchase, then. It’s greatest benefit seems to come from the boost it gives to your Consumerism rating, giving you an alternative to opening another Kwik-E-Mart if you want to keep it at 5 stars.

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Every time a new level is released, the prices of some or all of the more expensive buildings at previous levels are usually adjusted downwards. Following the level 29 update, some new prices have already been confirmed by readers of the blog.

However, I still need your help to update this list. If you’re able to buy a building at a price lower than the one you see here, please let us all know and I’ll revise this post. While this list is in the order that the buildings should unlock for you, the glitch that messes up the normal level progression is still at work, so you may find your buildings unlocking in a slightly different order.

So, based on current information (and thanks to everyone who’s helped out), here are the prices for all the buildings from the van Houten House onwards:

van Houten House – $1,800
Pink House – $3,400
Springfield Elementary – $10,500
White House – $7,700
Willie’s Shack – $12,000
Gulp ‘N’ Blow – $13,500
Cooling Towers – $15,000
Reactor Core – $18,500
Control Building – $15,000
Bart’s Treehouse – $25,000 (instant build)
Springfield Library – $20,500
Android’s Dungeon – $30,000
Orange House – $24,500
First Church of Springfield – $32,500
Java Server – $26,500
Moe’s – $32,000
Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace – $29,000
Springfield Downs – $34,500
Gilded Truffle – $31,000
King Toot’s – $37,000
Police Station – $40,500
Skip’s Diner – $35,500
Luigi’s – $39,000 (an increase! – thanks to Kevin and Mickus20)
Springfield Penitentiary – $46,000
Retirement Castle – $37,500
Town Hall – $48,500
Muntz House – $46,500
Krabappel Apartments – $54,000
Post Office – $69,000
Channel 6 – $46,000
Hibbert Family Practice – $69,550
Springfield General Hospital – $85,150
Burns Manor – $98,150
Pimento Grove – $72,800
Wiggum House – $81,600
El Chemistri – $101,100 (and 36 hours to build)
Springfield Buddhist Temple – $118,400
Adult Education Annex – $96,800 (and 36 hours to build)
Businessman’s Club – $126,000
Fat Tony’s Compound – $170,000 (and 36 hours to build)
The Skinner House – $196,500

Escalator to Nowhere – $1,000,000 (and 3 days to build)
Popsicle Stick Skyscraper – $2,000,000 (and 3 days to build)
50-foot Magnifying Glass – $3,000,000 (and 3 days to build)

Buildings on the list take 24 hours to complete, except where I’ve indicated otherwise. I look forward to your updates!

Once Skinner has finished bird-watching for 24 hours at a safe distance from Luigi’s accordion-playing, Milhouse has a conversation with Bart (who doesn’t need to be free) that prompts the build of the Skinner House. He really wanted his mummy and daddy back, but Bart has other ideas.

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The Skinner House costs $196,500, takes 24 hours to build and unlocks Agnes Skinner:

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And this is what it looks like once it’s up:

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There will be a full building price update once I’ve returned from Japan. Right now, I’m in the lounge trying to clear as many comments as I can before I board my flight – and, no, there’s no wi-fi on this one! :-)

The Limo is a 40-donut premium item that comes as part of the Respectable Moe episode promotion. As I mentioned in the update post, as with many other decorations, it gives you a 2% bonus on all the cash and XP you collect from rent as well as jobs – and you’ll only be able to add it to your game until Monday US at the latest.

Buying it also gives you a 60 minute task for Moe. A little bit unusually for a task involving a premium item, though, Moe’s “Fun in the Limo” task only pays the standard rate of $70 and 17XP.

It looks great outside Fat Tony’s Compound, though.

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And it looks even better when Moe is doing his “Fun in the Limo” task:

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Check into your game now – Respectable Moe has arrived as an in-game update!

The best part of it is that Moe’s new costume is free and it also comes with a whole lot of new tasks and a quest for Moe. You’ll find it in your Inventory (the cardboard box in the left-hand corner of your build menu, as shown in the screenshots.)

And there’s a Limo available as a premium item, too. The Limo gives a 2% bonus on the money and XP you collect (just like the Police Car, the Burns Limo, and the Channel 6 News Van).

If you’ve just joined the game and don’t have Moe yet, his Respectable Moe costume (and the quest that comes with it) will stay in your Inventory until you get him. As usual, all you need to do is open his task menu and swipe the picture of Moe to switch between his regular clothes and his new suit.

Respectable Moe and the Limo are limited-time items to promote Sunday night’s new episode of The Simpsons. Both items will only be available for a few days – expect them to be no longer available by the end of Monday.

Of course, now you have them, they’re yours to keep!

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One small change to the game with the recent updates that’s largely gone unnoticed is the change to the fences. While you can’t turn them in any more directions, they can now overlap.

Prior to the recent updates, this is the best you could do (look at how the fence doesn’t quite reach the road – you could do nothing to make that happen unless there were two complete squares free):

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That you couldn’t get them to overlap often meant jutting corners and fences that didn’t quite reach where you wanted them to reach.

Now, overlap is possible with all your fences (not just the iron railings, as was previously the case), as you can see here:

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Yes, you still can’t build anything right up against the fence in the area it sits. But now it’s possible to tidy the fence line on all your properties simply because the individual pieces can now overlap.

For those new to the game, this wasn’t possible prior to the recent updates (and believe me, I tried enough times!), and was a source of minor annoyance. And while this may not seem like a big thing for people who don’t play the town design aspect of the game, for people who take pride in their Springfield, I’m sure it will be a very welcome change.

Update: I’ve been able to do this my moving fence pieces. Try building your fence first without trying to overlap anything, and then, when you’re done, go into the move menu. When you move the fence pieces, you should be able to get them to overlap.

When we left Fat Tony, he had just started building his compound (you can read part 1 of the walkthrough here). 36 hours later, his rather palatial residence is complete, and Legs and Louie are back. Read on to see what happens next:

1. Badfellas Legs and Louie return and Fat Tony welcomes them back. Assured that they’ve kept their law-breaking skills sharp, he’s now looking forward to bleeding the town they all love dry. But first, it’s important to toast their touching reunion – so the three of them go off to drink at Moe’s for 8 hours. Keep Bart free as they finish.

2. El-Bartito’s Way With Fat Tony and the gang back, Bart sees an opportunity:

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Legs: Maybe. Do you know how to mix a Manhattan?
Bart: Umm…booze, some hooch, and then whiskey?
Legs: That’s pretty close, boss. I’ll vouch for him.
Fat Tony: Congratulations, urchin. You are my new bartender.
Bart spends the next 24 hours at the Businessman’s Club serving Manhattans. Keep Marge and Fat Tony free as he finishes.

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3. Casino Racino Marge really isn’t happy about her son’s involvement with the mob. As well as suspending Bart’s TV privileges for a week, she decides to take the matter up with Mayor Quimby:

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Marge: There are even reports of unsavory characters down at the dog track. Of all places!
Mayor Quimby: Marge, I promise you – this office will not rest until it looks like we’re doing something about the whatever-you’re-on-about. In fact, I’m so against corruption that many people say “Corruption” is my middle name.
Marge: Hmmmm…
So, Marge spends 24 hours protesting while Fat Tony spends 2 hours at the track fixing races. Keep Luigi free as they finish.

More to come…

Springfield’s newest high-end restaurant, the Asia de Cuba is available for 100 donuts in your premium store as part of the level 28 update.

One consideration in buying a premium anything is how useful it is. Earning rent and boosting your Gluttony rating is one thing – it’s a more attractive option, though, if your characters actually use it. After all, who would be completely happy about spending their precious donuts on a restaurant only to find that it’s essentially a premium Pimemto Grove (how that place stays in business, I don’t know!)?

The good news is that at least two characters take the opportunity to sample Asia de Cuba’s cuisine. This is the venue of choice for both Legs and Louie to discuss private business in public in their 3-hour tasks. Fat Tony still prefers Luigi’s, but Legs and Louie have opted for something a little more up-market.

The restaurant doesn’t have any animation to show when it’s occupied. It does have a color and lighting change, though. The top screenshot shows the restaurant as it normally is. The one below shows how it looks when Legs and/or Louie are dining there and having a conversation that you’d probably rather not overhear:

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I’ll be doing a full post on the Rich Texan soon, but it’s important to know that there may be a glitch in one of the tasks that makes up his quest. He needs to ride on a mechanical bull, which is a great animation, but for some people he really seems to have trouble staying on. As soon as you’re not looking, he’s off it and you need to start all over again.

This is very similar to the glitch that people are seeing with Smithers and Burns exercising together. The problem is that the Rich Texan’s task is 12 hours and it takes 6 donuts to skip over the task, which seems to be the only way to complete it.

My advice would be that unless you don’t mind spending 85 donuts on him and then 6 more to get through the task, to hold off buying him until the glitch is fixed, despite the fact that he’s a great character. It’s important to relize, though, that not everyone is experiencing this glitch (as you can see from the comments below) and that your Rich Texan may be perfectly fine.

Oh – and if you’re a Tea Party supporter with no sense of humor, you may want to give him a miss altogether!

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