Archives for posts with tag: limited time

Last week, I began posting on the points you need at each level and how many points each of the decorations contributes to which of your Conform-o-meter ratings. So far I’ve posted on:

  • The game dollar decorations up to level 14 here;
  • The game dollar decorations from level 15 to level 29 here;
  • The premium decorations here;
  • The aspirational buildings here; and
  • The points you need at each level here.

But what about the limited-time decorations? If you have them, what points do they add, and, like the Snake Rocks, Stumps and Logs, do they do anything else? As you’ll see from the list below, not only are they available for only a very short time, they are often the decorations that work hardest for your game. And as there’s rather a lot of them, I’ll be completing this series over two posts.

Decoration Available during Price XP Rating Points Notes
Spooky Tree Halloween $325 35 Tree-hugging 90
Pumpkin Patch Halloween $450 45 Vanity 110
Jack-o-Lantern Halloween $135 15 Vanity 50
Dead Tree Halloween $270 27 Tree-hugging 80
Crashed UFO Halloween Vanity 200 You needed to buy Kang and the Ray Gun, then shoot down his ship
Ray Gun Halloween 100 donuts 150 Vanity 200 Also gives a 3.75% bonus
Cauldron Halloween 90 donuts 90 Vanity 200 Came with Witch Marge; also gives a 2.25% bonus
Mayan Calendar Halloween Vanity 100
Scratchy Balloon Thanksgiving $1000 105 Vanity 790
Blinky Balloon Thanksgiving $16500 1500 Vanity 790
Santa’s Little Helper Balloon Thanksgiving $30000 3000 Vanity 1010
Snowball 2 Balloon Thanksgiving 20 donuts 20 Vanity 200 Also gives a 0.5% bonus
Itchy Balloon Thanksgiving 40 donuts 40 Vanity 400 Also gives a 2% bonus
Holiday Tree Christmas 75 donuts 20 Vanity 200 Pays out $500 and 50 XP every 12 hours; also gives a 0.65% bonus; one was given free at the start of the event
Reindeer Christmas 20 donuts 20 Vanity 100 Also gives a 0.5% bonus
Homer Snowman Winter 20 donuts 20 Vanity 200 Also gives a 0.5% bonus
Lisa Snowman Winter $10,000 1000 Vanity 610
Bart Snowman Winter 20 donuts 20 Vanity 200 Also gives a 0.5% bonus
Marge Snowman Winter $20000 2000 Vanity 870
Maggie Snowman Winter $30000 3000 Vanity 1070

More tomorrow – unless there’s an udate…

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According to The Files (and I’m now going to start capitalizing this term to give it that extra air of mystery), the Yard Sale is due to end at midnight on Wednesday, May 29 in the US. Now, exactly which midnight they’re referring to depends very much on what the developers are referring to. In some quarters it means the first moment of Wednesday, but for other people it means the last moment. Based on what I’ve seen in the past and other start and end dates, I think they could mean the second but I really can’t be sure. And as to which midnight – the US has a lot of them. I’ve long suspected that the game runs off Central time, but can’t quite be sure (just due to the fact that the “morning” updates often seem to hit soon after the business day has begun in that time zone).

There’s been no indication from EA through Facebook or Twitter that there’s only one day to go, although this isn’t unusual. It wouldn’t be unheard of for it to be extended, either (please don’t mention the-event-that-shall-not-be-named AKA Whacking Day), and that may happen if something isn’t ready to launch or there are some bugs that need ironing out in the next big thing.

Either way, don’t plan for any of the Yard Sale items to be around for too much longer – so if you think any of them are worth adding to your town, you’ll need to stock up while you can. And if you haven’t bought any of them yet and would like some help, see this post.

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Some of you may have some donuts burning a hole in your pocket as a result of the Gil sale. While my advice is to hang on to them for a couple more days while we see what happens at the next update, I realize that temptation to spend a few may be too great, especially when it comes to the cheaper items.

In response to the post “What should I do with my Day-old Donuts?” post, budvugger came up with this great set of calculations:

I bought a bundle of 2400 and used half to increase my bonuses and I am going to save the other half for future use. I made a quick breakdown of the premium items that are available for multiple purchases for their values. The following is a calculation of bonus percentage per 100 donuts spent. Obviously you can’t spend exactly 100 donuts on all these items: for example, 100 donuts would only buy 2.5 Police Cars (it’s not possible to buy a half, I know) but at 2% a car, that would hypothetically equal a 5% bump if you could do it.

5% per 100 spent: Miniature Nuclear Warhead (45 donuts), Burns Limo (40 donuts), Channel 6 News Van (40 donuts), Picket Fence (1 donut), Homer’s Hammock (5 donuts), Police Car (40 donuts)

4.5% per 100 spent: Duff Party Bus (no longer available)

4.16% per 100 spent: Bench (6 donuts) and Hot Tub (60 donuts)

3.92% per 100 spent: Duff-Barney Blimp (no longer available)

3.33% per 100 spent: Apple and Orange Trees (15 donuts)

2.5% per 100 spent: Excellence Prize Statue (no longer available), Tetherball (20 donuts), Cannon (20 donuts), Burning Bush (20 donuts), Tree Swing (20 donuts), Dumpster (10 donuts), Flower Planter (10 donuts)

2.49% per 100 spent: Worldwide Broadcast Dish (30 donuts), Piece-of-Crap Car (30 donuts), Inflatable Gorilla and Baboons (no longer available)

2.15% per 100 spent: Frinkosonic MHV, Giant Grasshopper (both no longer available)

1.66% per 100 spent: Ambulance (30 donuts)

That covers all the premiums that you can buy more than one of on my menu currently. Have fun

It’s worth noting that the Police Car also gives you 200 Obedience points, the Wordwide Broadcast Dish and the Channel 6 News Van open up new tasks for you at Channel 6, and that the Yard sale items will only be available for another day or so.

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As of the time of posting, there’s less than 10 hours on old Gil’s timer and that means the day-old donuts will soon be a thing of the past. So, if you’ve been putting off making a purchase decision, later may well be too late.

While you’re deciding whether to make a purchase (or another purchase!), here’s what happened when Gil arrived in tha game (he was hiding behind a tree, though, when he arrived in my game):

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Homer: Mmm… donuts.
Lisa: You’re not really planning to eat those stale donuts, are you?
Homer: No. I’m going to purchase Professor Frink, have him build a time machine, then travel back in time to when the donuts were still fresh. And then eat them.

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But old-Gil doesn’t give up – he just keeps trying. On successive taps, these are some of the sales tactics he’s used:

  • C’mon, Gil really needs this. They’re going to take my kidney!
  • Please buy some something this time. I’m going to lose my kids!
  • I’m just trying to earn enough money to get my real eyes back.
  • Please buy something. I can’t sell anymore blood. Uwooh…
  • Alright Gil, remember… ABCD: Always Be Closing Donuts!
  • Just one more sale and I’ll finally have that hot plate paid for.
  • If you won’t buy something, can you at least push me in front of an expensive looking car?
  • Oh boy, oh boy, you’re back! Come on Gil., don’t screw this up again.
  • You have no idea how much I need this.
  • Alright Gil. You can maybe do it this time.

I think I got them all – but if I missed any, please comment and I’ll add to the list of Gil-isms. It doesn’t look like Krusty is convinced though!

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With Gil and his day-old donuts here and Squidport on the way, it’s easy to forget that the Yard Sale to mark the end of season 24 of the series in the US is still going on. Homer very unkindly calls the selection of items on offer “junk”, and it may well be the right term for some of this rather odd selection of items.

So, on the basis that many of you have Gil’s donuts burning a hole in your pocket, is any of it worth buying? Here’s what you said in the poll that ran on this site over the last 10-ish days:

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Here’s the breakdown:

Duff Party Bus: 47.13%
Duff-Barney Blimp: 22.6%
Frink’s Robot Dog: 15.56%
Frinkosonic MHV: 5.3%
Excellence Prize Statue: 4.74%
Inflatable Gorilla and Baboons: 2.82%
Giant Grasshopper: 1.85%

The poll makes the Duff Party Bus a clear winner, but if you’d like to make up your own mind, you can take a look at the following posts:

What episode is the Excellence Prize Statue from and should I spend my donuts on it?
What episode is the Inflatable Gorilla and Baboons from and should I spend my donuts on them?
What episode is the Frinkosonic MHV from and should I spend my donuts on it?
What episode is the Giant Grasshopper from and should I spend my donuts on it?
Should I spend my donuts on Frink’s Robot Dog?
What episode is the Duff Party Bus from and should I spend my donuts on it?
What episode is the Duff-Barney Blimp from and should I spend my donuts on it?

Remember, the Yard Sale items are likely to only available until Wednesday or Thursday US and you may never have the chance to add them to your game again. Although, honestly, for at least a couple of items, that’s unlikely to generate much crying, wailing or gnashing of teeth.

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Note that ANIMATION on FOX have now taken down some of the videos used in some of the posts.

This question came through from jaydiggity shortly after TSTOTips came back to life after its brief stint in the land of the forbidden:

I’m not a huge donut guy and I do not have many premium buildings or characters. I am going to buy 900 donuts from Ol’ Gil and I wanted to ask you:  What you would purchase (rank order) with 900 donuts — items and characters available today? How many donuts would you hold onto for the near term (4-6 months)? I’ve read your premium guides but I’d love to see your “top to bottom” list of the major premium items. Thanks!!

What does everyone think? What should jaydiggity do with those day-old donuts? What do you think are the best premium items to buy – and should he really spend them now or would it be wiser to hang onto them?

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According to the poll here , somewhere around 49% of the readers of this blog have been tempted by Gil’s 25% donut deal. Now, with just on 24 hours to go at the time of posting, here’s another poll on a question many readers have been asking (mostly through Twitter, strangely :-) ) – which package are you buying.

I’m leaving a “none” option so that everyone can play, so why not vote and see what everyone else is doing. If for some reason, you can’t access the poll (and I’m prepared for all eventualities now), here’s a direct link. Otherwise, cast your vote below (and you should be able to guess my purchase decision from the picture below the poll!).

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Gil’s tempting you with day-old donuts through to Monday – and there’s a really helpful countdown timer to let you know how long you have to decide. As of the time I’m writing this post there’s 3 days, 2 hours, 29 minutes and 38 seconds before they’re even too old to sell at Sprawl-Mart.

So, to help you decide, here’s the unit price breakdown (in $US) of each of the donut packages Gill is tempting you with:

If someone needs a reference, the prices are:

Package Quantity Original Price Original Unit Price Sale Price Sale Price
A Dozen Donuts 12 $1.99 $0.1658 N/A N/A
A Stack of Donuts 60 $4.99 $0.0832 $3.99 $0.0655
A Tray of Donuts 132 $9.99 $0.0757 $7.99 $0.0605
A Truckload of Donuts 300 $19.99 $0.0666 $14.99 $0.0499
A Store of Donuts 900 $49.99 $0.0555 $37.99 $0.0422
A Boatload of Donuts 2400 $99.99 $0.0416 $74.99 $0.0312

Thanks to the reader that produced this – unfortunately, I lost the comment in the transfer, so please let me know if this originally came from you. And if anyone would like to do the same for their local currency, please feel free.

By the way, if you’re still having issues with the game crashing when you tap on Gil, remember that you can go straight to the Donut Store, buy there, and still help Gil pay off that hot plate.

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One of the changes that came with the Gil update was a tweak to the Snake Rocks, Logs and Stumps left over from Whacking Day. This extra benefit gives you another good reason not to put them in your Inventory, despite those pesky snakes peeking over the top of them.

  • The Hollow Snake Trunks now earn you $300 and 30XP every 12 hours as well as a 2.75% bonus on collections from jobs and rent
  • The Snake Stumps now earn you $200 and 22XP every 8 hours as well as a 2.5% bonus on collections from jobs and rent
  • The Snake Rocks now earn you $135 and 15XP every 4 hours as well as a 2% bonus on collections from jobs and rent

And that means you should be able to tap on them again when you visit a friend’s town as well.

So, I’m reluctantly taking them out of my Inventory and trying not to think of Whacking Day and snakes. After all, it looks like I’m going to need the cash for Squidport!

Note: These decorations were available during Whacking Day only and aren’t available for purchase anymore.

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The Duff-Barney Blimp appears very, very briefly in the opening couple of minutes of “A Tree Grows in Springfield“, the 6th episode of the 24th season of the Simpsons. Like many of the Yard sale items, it’s one of those blink and you’ll miss it appearances, and it’s taken me since the update to acquire an image I can use in this post (which is why it’s the last to appear):

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In the episode’s opening sequence, Homer dreams of being in the World Series, but his food and beer fixation keeps adding some very strange touches to his dream, including Barney as the Duff-Barney Blimp. In its few-second appearance, the Blimp drifts gently over the stadium, lets out a belch, and shoots backwards. But those few seconds were enough for the Duff-Barney Blimp to make its way into the Yard Sale at a price of 70 donuts.

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The question, of course, is this: is it worth 70 donuts? There are a number of arguments in its favor:

1. It gives out the largest bonus multiplier of all the Yard Sale items at 2.75% on cash and XP from all your characters’ jobs and all the rent you earn. As with the Duff Party Bus, there are very few other decorations that will give you a similar return per donut spent. For example, Mount Carlmore, at 120 donuts, only gives you a bonus of 3.5%, and the Springfield Sign at 170 donuts, gives you a bonus of 4.5%.
2. It has animation – it gently wafts in the breeze but looks like it’s belching when you tap on it.
3. It’s a limited-time item.
4. It’s Barney and Duff – what a winning combination!

There are also a few arguments against it:

1. No characters interact with it or even acknowledge its existence in any way.
2. It stays tethered very close to the ground rather than floating upon high (although that could have been both distracting and difficult to position properly).
3. It’s from 2 seconds of a dream sequence and, like the Inflatable Gorilla and Baboons, doesn’t really have anything to do with “real” Springfield” – although all of the Halloween buildings and decorations would also fall into that category.

So, again, The Duff-Barney Blimp is not an essential purchase, but it’s still an interesting addition if you’re decorating your Duff Stadium.

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Just a reminder about the poll on the site this weekend…

As just about everyone reading this blog will know by now, 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. And as of Saturday, I’ve now posted on all but 1 of the premium items. Here are the links to those posts:
Should I spend my donuts on Frink’s Robot Dog?
What episode is the Excellence Prize Statue from and should I spend my donuts on it?
What episode is the Inflatable Gorilla and Baboons from and should I spend my donuts on them?
What episode is the Frinkosonic MHV from and should I spend my donuts on it?
What episode is the Giant Grasshopper from and should I spend my donuts on it?
What episode is the Duff Party Bus from and should I spend my donuts on it?
What episode is the Duff-Barney Blimp from and should I spend my donuts on it?

So, here’s the question: imagine that you’re only able to buy 1 of them – which one do you buy? Cast your vote even if you can’t or won’t buy donut items, so that we can help out people making this decision (and that’s why there’s no “None of them” option).

The poll will stay open for the duration of the Yard Sale, but vote early to help others make the right choice.

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.

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.

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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:

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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:

Like the Frinkosonic MHV, the Excellence Prize Statue comes from the 8th episode of season 24, “To Cur with Love“. At the beginning of the episode, the residents of Springfield are pitching their energy-saving ideas to Mr. Burns in the hope of winning an award. Professor Frink is pitching the Frinkosonic MHV , but he loses control of it and it crashes into the Springfield Retirement Castle. Here’s a screenshot of Kent Brockman reporting on the event before all that happens, with the Excellence Prize Statue in the background:

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The Statue costs 20 donuts and is the cheapest of all the Yard Sale premium items – but is it even worth paying that price? Like all the Yard Sale items, it’s limited-time, which means that once it’s gone from your premium store it’s quite likely to be gone forever. And for its price, it earns you a quite respectable 0.5% bonus on your cash and XP collections from all jobs and rent (the same as the Burning Bush, the Cannon, and the Tree Swing). But the best point in its favor is the one Mike Shuman makes:
The Excellence Prize Statue goes well in a well laid out Burns estate (I have 2 for each side of the main driveway to the estate).

I just have one, though, and here’s what it looks like in my game:

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It’s quite a nice addition and, for a limited-time decoration, it’s relatively affordable. In fact, there have been very few premium decorations in recent times at this price-point, so that alone may make it worth snapping up if you don’t have many donuts to spare.

However, if you’re buying it purely for the bonus, it’s worth noting that the Apple Tree and the Orange Tree give the same bonus amount for only 15 donuts. So, if you’re going to buy it, buy it because it looks good, it’s relatively cheap, and it’s limited time – which means people joining the game in the near future will be asking how they can unlock that Statue they see in the grounds of their friends’ Burns Manors!

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The Duff Party Bus comes from season 24, episode 6, “A tree Grows in Springfield“. Like all the Yard Sale items, it’s not really a central feature of the episode and only appears outside Moe’s Tavern in one brief scene:

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So is it worth your 50 donuts? Here are a few reasons why it is:

1. It gives you a 2.25% bonus on your cash and XP collections, making it one of the highest bonus-earning premium items in the game. Only the Duff-Barney Blimp, Mount Carlmore, and the Springfield Sign pay out more – and two Party Buses at 100 donuts gives a better bonus percentage per donut spent than the Springfield Sign!
2. It really does look good in your town, as you can see in the screenshot at the end of this post.
3. Like all the Yard Sale items, it’s limited-time – so the chances of ever being able to add it to your town again once the sale is over are very slim.
4. It’s a Duff decoration – and goes nicely with Duffman, the Duff Brewery, and Duff Stadium to really Duff out your town.

And here’s a couple of reasons why it might not be:

1. Like all vehicles except the Respectable Moe Limo, there are no tasks that involve it. Not even Duffman gets to party down on the Duff Party Bus.
2. Because you can’t place vehicles on roads (something I’d like to see change in the future), you can’t park it outside Moe’s Tavern, where it was in the episode it’s promoting.

In the interests of full disclosure, though, the Duff Party Bus was an easy purchase for me. And that’s because – if it’s Duff-branded, I’m probably at the head of the queue. Oh yeah!

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This post has been updated to reflect the new requirements introduced with level 30. It looks like the requirements were increased in advance of the Squidport expansion, and will become easier to satisfy once it arrives.

Some time ago, I wrote about the Conform-o-meter and how it works (you can read the posts here and here if you missed them). It’s an important part of the game because getting it to the maximum 5 stars will boost the cash and XP you collect from everything in the game by 5%. And this week, I dug deep into the files to look for a definitive answer on which building contributes to which rating:

  • Part 1 from the beginning of the game up to Moe’s Tavern is here
  • Part 2, from Jakes Unisex Hair Palace up to the Skinner House is here
  • A post on the premium buildings is here
  • A post on the limited-time buildings here (Duff Stadium, the Springfield Coliseum, and the Sleep-Eazy Motel can be found here as they were all limited-time at the time – however, their contribution status did not change with the Level 30 update)
  • A post on the points needed in each category at each level is here

You can open up your Conform-o-meter and check where you currently are with your Consumerism rating by tapping on the stars at the bottom left of your main screen.

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You keep your Consumerism rating high, and help to maximize your conformity bonus, by having enough shops for your town (or, as the game says, by buying stores for suckers to drop dough). And every shop, whether it’s regular, premium or limited-time, contributes 10 points towards the rating. So what can you build that will help you boost your Consumerism rating? Here’s a list:

Regular Shops:
- Kwik-E-Mart (and the Kwik-E-Mart Franchises)
- Android’s Dungeon
- King Toot’s
-Herman’s Military Antiques

Premium Shops:
- Try ‘n’ Save
- Sprawl-Mart

Limited-time Shops:
- House of Evil (Halloween event – no longer available)
- Mapple Store (Christmas/winter event – no longer available)
- Howard’s Flowers (Valentine’s event – no longer available)
- Sir Putt-a-lot’s (Valentine’s event – no longer available)

I was a little surprised in putting together the list – Springfield doesn’t have as many stores as I’d thought it did! And that means that players who missed out on the limited-time buildings or who don’t want to buy premium buildings may have to buy a second or third Kwik-E-Mart to take their rating to its maximum.

But just how many shops do you need to get that 5-star rating at each level? Fortunately, the answer is “not many”, although the release of level 29 raised the bar a bit. Here’s the breakdown:

Level Points Shops
1-4 12 2
5 24 3
6-11 60 4
12 72 8 You can add one or more Kwik-E-Mart Franchises at this level
13-14 84 9
15 132 14
16 144 15
17-18 168 17
19-29 180 18
30 192 20

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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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The Frinkosonic MHV comes from the 8th episode of season 24, “To Cur with Love“. The episode begins with Professor Frink demonstrating the Frinkasonic MHV vehicle (the spelling in the game differs from the spelling in the epsiode) which runs off sound waves instead of fuel. However, he loses control of the car and it eventually crashes into the Springfield Retirement Castle. As a result Grampa has to move into the Simpsons house for a while. Here’s how the Fink’s super car looks in that episode:

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So is it worth 35 donuts? Like all the other vehicles it doesn’t move. It’s sole purpose is to add 0.75% to your cash and XP collections on rent and jobs – and to look good parked somewhere in your town, as you can see in this screenshot:

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There are two problems with it, though:
1. For only 5 donuts more, the Police Car, the Burns Limo, and the Channel 6 News Van add 2% to your bonus multiplier (although for 5 donuts less, the Ambulance only adds 0.5% more).
2. Unlike the Limo from the Respectable Moe promotion of a couple of weeks back, there are no new tasks for Frink or anyone else that allow your characters to interact with it.

But, it’s a limited-time item – and if you’re a fan of Frink, it’s almost certainly worth buying. And if you really like Frink, as with all vehicles, you can buy more than one.

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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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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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