Hey hey hey! Wookiee back with another WDTCF for your enjoyment. I still have a broken game but that’s not gonna stop me from writing for my favorite readers. Things can’t always go your way and you know what they say…
“When life gives ya lemons, make lemonade.”
How many times have you heard this ridiculous saying? Who they heck are THEY anyways? Just today, my teenage Ewok came home and told me this. She didn’t have an answer for me when I asked what to do when life gives me poop. Ah teenagers, they think they’re so wise.
Anywho… I find inspiration in so many little things and decided it was time to do a WDTCF for the Lemon Tree in our TSTO towns.
The Lemon Tree is a unique decoration in TSTO that can only be obtained in a mystery box. Every 5 days, you have a 10% chance of winning this decoration. It generates $200 and 20 XP every 6 hours which is pretty sweet for a decoration. Once upon a time in the early stages of the game, your neighbors could steal your tree and after 24 hours you could steal it back. Why EA scrapped this feature is up to debate. Current rumor is that EA didn’t like the idea of neighbors “stealing” from each other.
The Lemon Tree comes to us in the Simpsons in Season 6, Episode 24: Lemon of Troy. I love this episode and its Springfield vs. Shelbyville plot line.
The episode starts with Bart. He happens across some wet cement and gets caught by Marge writing his name in it. At home, she scolds him and tries to instill some Springfield Pride in her son. I personally don’t blame Bart… wet cement is very tempting but am I really wearing my town if I wear something with its name on it?
Marge’s parenting works and Bart is off to admire the town. He runs across Milhouse selling lemonade. Where does he find his produce? The answer is as easy as a quick little trip to the lemon tree!
At the lemon tree, they Springfield kids end up trading verbal taunts across the town boundary with some kids from Shelbyville. “I know you are but what am I” might be an endless cycle for garbagemen but “it takes one to know one” has always been the ultimate verbal checkmate. Why can’t the Shelbyville kids see that Springfield kids invented wearing backpacks over one shoulder? Jeesh… some people’s children.
Grandpa Simpson appears at just the right time to fill the kids in on the Lemon Tree’s origin story. The Springfield Lemon Tree dates back to frontier times. It all began back in the days of Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan. The two partners would have settled a town together but disagreed over whether they should be able to marry their cousins.
This age-old disagreement (according to one of my good military buds this is why there are 2 Virginias in the USA) results in the two separate towns of Springfield and Shelbyville being established. The lemon tree was planted to mark the day of Springfield’s birth.
Cool, eh?
Soon after this, while the Springfield kids are in school (you never know when learning roman numerals may come in handy, like when your locked in a tiger feeding area for instance), the lemon tree is stolen and the tracks go unto Shelbyville.
As a part of their town and the backbone of their economy, the children make the decision to go into their rival town and get it back. Of course Bart is the leader of the teuton invasion. Shelbyville is a weird place. Once weekly newspapers, yellow fire hydrants, Fudd Beer, the Speed-E-Mart, Joe’s Bar, statues honoring illegal incest… what a bunch of backwards cousin humpers.
Bart goes undercover with the Shelbyville kids to try and discover where the lemon tree is. It’s as easy as putting on a Beatles-esque wig and a fake facial scar. When the kids try to get Bart to spray paint Springfield Sucks on the bluffs, he ends up writing Springfield Rules Suckers instead. He is Bart Simpson after all, the kid with excellent spray paint hand control.
The Springfield kids end up finding the lemon tree at a car impound lot aka “the impenetrable fortress of Suburbia”. They can’t get it back and are foiled. Even with the help of their parents they can’t get it back. Could this be the end of the lemon tree, an icon from the time of Springfield’s Forefathers?
Nah… all it takes is parking Ned’s camper in a hospital zone and getting towed. The kids and parents rescue the lemon tree, escape a killer guard dog and make it out of the impound lot before the gate closes.
“Eat my shorts Shelbyville! EAT… MY… SHORTS!”
Sure the RV and tree take some damage, but this episode is all about the importance of town pride. Are you proud of your town? Got a lemon tree to prove it? Shelbyville can shake their fists as hard as they want… Springfield Rules!
Well, hope you enjoyed this little slice of a Simpsons back story for TSTO. TTFN… Wookiee out!
All original art and content © Up All Night, LLC and TSTOAddicts.com
All Screen Shots of Game Graphics & Dialogue and Game Graphics from files ™ and © EA, Gracie Films and FOX
Man, been playing for a long time, lvl 42 or 49, how do i get a mystery box? I play multi times a day and never got the tree..
No more free mystery boxes (with the introduction of the Daily Challenges). So now to get them you’ll have to buy them
How do i buy them?
Go to the Menu, swipe open all the individual tabs, Tap on Homer Buddha, scroll ALLLLLLLLLLLL the way to the first item til you find the Mystery Box.
I Won my lemon tree about two weeks after I got the game
Awesome! Took me like 8 months lol
I managed to get my lemon tree without knowing how in my first couple days of playing. It just seemed to appear. Only thing I can think of is the weekly mystery box but swear I had it before then. Haven’t been playing for a month yet so don’t think my mind is playing tricks.. Anyway I do have a question and that is how do you get the second Jebediah (Shelbyville) statue? Have only seen it in one friends town and I am now past the level where they were when we ‘met’. It appears to be Jebediah holding a gun in the air but not sure since it is partially obstructed by a shrub.
That statue was limited time and was offered during the Whacking Day event last year. Hopefully they bring it back.
Thank you wookieecorp. Since I am new to TSTO and have no idea how long the game has been out could you tell me if EA celebrates Whacking Day every year or was it a one time event?
Well hello, and welcome to the madness. 😉
TSTO just began in late 2012, so Whacking Day was a first time event just because the game was still new. Not sure if they’ll bring it back this year or not, we will see.
Hey I did not know you could get donuts from the sideshow you stall I popped the balloons one gave me 50 tickets another gave 10 tckts the last one gave me 5 donuts woo hoo
For every 300 balloons popped, you get 5 donuts.
The lemon tree episodes is one of the greats for sure. I have been playing Tapped Out for about 6 months now (on a daily basis) and still have yet to win a lemon tree. I have even received harder to come by items such as 10 donuts, 30 donuts, and the squeaky voiced teen. I’m sure it’ll happen eventually but still would obviously like it to happen sooner than later. What is approximately the soonest/latest that you guys won yours?
I JUST won my Lemon Tree right before Christmas hit…so about a year.
Oh wow, really? So I guess it’s not so crazy that I don’t have it yet. My brother got one maybe less than a month into playing and now he’s lost total interest in the game. If only I could steal his and keep it forever eh. 🙂
Nope not crazy! I was starting to think they didn’t put them in Mystery boxes anymore. It would be great if you could steal your brothers…but I’d be pretty bummed if mine disappeared. Took forever to get it so now I’d hate to lose it!
Ya it’s probably for the better that you can’t steal them anymore. Anyways, you’ve given me hope that I will one day get the Holy Lemon Tree and congrats on finally getting yours. Have a good day. 🙂
I won mine about level 12 ,but have never won any donuts or characters I am now at level 38
I wish I could sell my lemon tree stuck in my inventory! Or let me have 2 in my town
Have to say only one in Springfield makes sense but agree you should be able to sell the extra. Have you ever contacted EA about it?
Mr. Wookie another Great informative read…on a side note took me over 8 months of daily play to get the D@mn tree!!!
But the important things TS is you finally got it. Looks like it’s Lemonade time in Sharkfield.
Lemon Of Troy is probably my favorite episode of the Simpsons. I wish they would do a level with a story line similar to the episode.
It would be a genius storyline. Maybe get Ned’s RV, that Springfield sign from the end of the show, two Milhouses? Not too sure about having Shelbyville to contend with but I like the idea.
The Shelbyville stuff would have to happen off-screen, but they could do it. Are you reading this EA! 🙂
Had no idea! And that makes sense as to why you could steal it, too 🙂 I heard EA discontinued that because of complaints by people who used donuts to buy mystery boxes, and thus spent real money on content that was stolen from their towns. It’s a nice idea though – mind you, if mine had been stolen, I might not think so!
That probably is why. It was a great idea but we all know stealing brings out the best and worst in tappers. Probably safer the way it is.
‘I’m sittin here in a boring room…’