Beep beep boop… blop bleep bloop…. Schereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeechhhhhhhh….
Anyone besides me remember the days before computers? I know I’m not that old but it’s hard not to operate in today’s modern world without some sort of computer, tablet or tapping device. Remember when parents gave their kids a pager and a few quarters? I still reminisce about when my Step-Dad probably spent more money than we should have to build his own computer and I got to go on AOL. There were also great DOS servers you could go to for lots of text based games via your modem. Ah… the good old days…
Anywho… Level 44 arrived for tappers and the one of the buildings was Honest John’s Computers. Let’s take a look at just where this item originated.
In “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes” (S12:E6), Homer misses out on a free day off work because he didn’t get the e-mail notifying him. Why no e-mail? Easy, he didn’t have a home computer. Also funny to point out he didn’t know what an e-mail was. Naturally, Homer is off to buy a PC and the store he picks for his purchase is Honest John’s Computers because nothing says integrity and bargain prices like a converted gas station/tire store.
Honest John’s sells basic computers which are essentially overpriced paperweights but also has high-tech models. You know, the kind astronauts use and since Homer was one, he’s suckered into it. To buy a $5000 PC, all you have to do is swipe your house deed through Honest John’s weird deed analyzer.
I love that EA added this one-time building to the game especially because it includes Database. It’s also just a funny looking building and I have a soft spot for things like that. If for no other reason than it reminds me of Homer dragging his brand-new expensive computer behind the car, this new items will always make me smile.
That’s it for this round of origin stuff. We’ll be back with more. Until then, tapa-tapa-tap your classy towns and enjoy all the goodness of TSTO and Level 44.
TTFN… Wookiee out!
Hi, I sold Honest John’s Computers to resolve a “stuck” quest, I can’t seem to find it anywhere to repurchase. Where can I find it?
You sold it? Or just put it in Inventory? Normally we would suggest to just store it. If its not available for repurchase, you may need to contact EA.
Can someone help, this is the next building I need to purchase but it’s not even on the building list anymore, it vanished somehow. I completely the itchy and scratchy studio missions and homer was in krustyland. When he had the “!” And I brought him back to springfield it was gone… I’m going to do the princess and pea brain next but I don’t get why it was takin out of the building list completely…
It won’t show so you don’t try to get something you can’t have yet. It means you have not completed all you need to from previous level to unlock it. Keep following quest line for each level and when it triggers, you’ll see it again. (Your XP also has to hit the new level too)
The problem is that other locked things after it like ziff corp are showing (although locked). I was able to see honest johns at the end and locked, but now it’s gone. But I will do the missions left which are only krustyland and Halloween and see
I’m almost to level 45 (XP-wise), but I still have not been prompted to build Honest John’s Computers (nor can I find it in the building menu). What are the prerequisites?
Building the Wheel in Krustyland, unlocking Princess P and placing the balloons. Basically completing The Princess and the Pea Brain Pt. 1
My first ‘puter was the ps2, I am 13.
🙂
Lol… some day you’ll be telling the youngins about your life before phablets and Oogle glasses.
I like the way the tire sign is in the show with “Honest John’s” written fancy and then “computers” like it was spray painted
I had loads of different models of the early home computers as a child. Started with an Amstrad, moved to a Commodore 64, then 2 models of the Commodore Amiga. I remember having to use a floppy disk to boot up every time you turned it on. My dad is very good with technology (but not mobile phones!) and used to try to buy the latest ones out. Much to my mum’s disapproval.
Finally moved to a Windows 95 PC in about 1996. I also had a MS DOS/ Windows 3.1 PC that I used to use as a teen. I got really adept at using all the commands but I can’t remember many now. Although all the work computers still run off DOS code to some degree.
I’m sure Database and I would be good friends if it was real life.
When I was a kid my dad who worked on computers took me to work with him one day to show me the computer. The thing was a while room of noisy spinning reels, and he had a group of people who’s job was to punch the holes in cards so it could be programmed. My how times have changed. Our first home computer was a TRS-80, that was cool cause the games were on cassette tape, so coping and sharing games was easy. And the modern required placing the phone receiver into a cradle…… enough, I feel like grandpa Simpson now.
I learned basic on a TRS-80! I took the very first computer class offered in my school in the 8th grade–first time “computers” taught! and we had 4 apple 2cs and 4 TRS-80s. With a tape drive.
My house was a weird one–most people in the 80s did not have home computers, but we had a couple because my Dad belonged to a businessman’s coop, where instead of exchanging services for cash you exchanged services for goods. He did taxes, and we got computers.
I went to college in 1988 with one of the first mass-market portable computers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Portable (you can’t really call it a laptop–it didn’t have batteries). It was the size of a suitcase with a green screen monitor, 2 floppy drives. It probably weighed 25 lbs? The monitor was about the size of a tablet monitor. But it was awesome to have. It got killed by one of the early boot sector viruses called Stoned–on a random day the word stoned flashed across the screen for hours and then the motherboard fried. We knew it was on the computer, but the techie dudes could not get it cleared off, so it was infected for about a year before it died.
As us oldsters know, you haven’t lived until you’ve written a 25 page paper in Longhand and then needed to add a paragraph in the middle and pretty much had to rewrite the entire thing. Or used a typewriter. Editing was something totally different in those days.
Oh yea, john’s computers, yeah! m m;-)
I recalled the building from that episode, even though I don’t believe I have seen the episode since its first broadcast. Being a tech geek, it covered familiar territory. It is located around the corner of my tire fire in my Springfield, but I swear, it wasn’t premeditated. It just worked out that way. It’s also a couple blocks from my Lard Lad Donuts shop. Which means they both kind of clash with each other being that they both have a large oversize figure holding a large ring-shape object. I may wind up moving one of them, or more likely, I will simply get used to them being close to each other.
Heh. I remember the ZX81 and it’s flat keyboard! I had a ZX Spectrum though. Spent hours typing games listings from Your Sinclair and Crash magazine into it only to find the end game either didn’t work or was unplayable rubbish! Still got mine in the loft somewhere 🙂
I remember when I was young we had that old Macintosh with this awesome modem.
Ratatatatatat clack clack beep beep ratatatatat
I was wondering were that came from.
I like to scare the young whippersnappers at work by telling them what computers used to be like. “In my day a color monitor was pink and green. And mice? You babies. We knew HOW to use a keyboard back then.”
Uhmm, in my day the monitor was your black and white 14″ TV set that could manage 40 characters across the whole screen.
I was 13 and my dad wanted to learn about IT so he bought the cheapest home computer that was available, the Sinclair ZX81. This had a whole kilobyte of RAM. It was one up from the 0.5Kb ZX80 which you had to build yourself (as in, get the soldering iron out).
You loaded programs from cassette tapes using your own tape player and it made that wonderful white noise screeching sound as you heard every single 1 and 0 load into computer.
Ahhh! The good old days.
“Ooh they have the internet on computers now”
I placed mine so that the tyre appears right in the Springfield tyre yard. I’m intending to put the Worlds biggest magnifying glass down so that the beam shines right through the tyre – or at least as best I can manage. But that’s a while away from being built.
The tire fire works perfect for this building. Mildy ashamed I didn’t think of it. When your creation is done, please share.
I have sent it to you, hopefully it won’t end up in a spam folder.
great post! I was really wondering if this was a episode tie-in or an original creation. Thanks!